I opened my eyes to nothing.
Not darkness. Not light. Just absence. A white void that stretched infinitely in all directions, featureless and cold.
I tried to breathe and found I didn't need to. My lungs didn't burn anymore. My chest didn't ache. The water was gone, along with every other sensation of being alive.
I was dead.
The realization should have terrified me. Instead, I just felt tired. So tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of drowning. Tired of being broken and put back together only to break again.
I looked down at myself. My body was solid, real, but different. I was still half-shifted, caught between my human form and my wolf's. Silver fur covered my arms. My hands ended in claws. But my face, when I touched it, felt mostly human.
"You're not quite dead yet."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. I spun around, searching for the source.
