Coming in and out of consciousness, Luke struggled to survive, driven by pure, primal panic. Guided by whatever his instincts roared to him.
Frothing water filled his lungs with every sharp breath he tried to take, and his skin scraped against the porous stones as he tumbled away, carried by the sickly water. Occasionally, he would hit something that almost resembled skin or fur, but it disappeared too quickly for him to fully register. His body tightened, muscles screaming in pain, sinews on the edge of shredding, and joints cracking with every toss.
His mind was assaulted by constant changes in position, drowned in murky, thick water that filled his lungs and robbed him of the air needed to think. He couldn't orient himself, couldn't even see where he was for more than a second.
He felt his whole body on fire. The water must be either acidic or polluted to the point of being a pure toxin.
His inner self screamed even louder. The left arm he tried to channel energy through now felt hollow and ice-cold. The nerves and bones were filled with that energy, still pumping without restraint, overflowing into his hand and corrupting it. Black lines sliced through his arm, forming cracks of pure darkness. They started at the heart, weakly following the main artery until pushing against his skin in the middle of his bicep, and spread like the roots of a dying tree until finishing at his fingers, which now resembled fleshy obsidian.
His other energy roared with the bursting flames of a steam engine on the edge of explosion. It sucked in all the outside energy particles through his every cell, pumping with the power of blacksmiths' bellows, spreading its healing properties throughout his body. It tried to stave off the Void, expand against that which consumes, and force an equilibrium to prolong his tortured body's lifespan. Cells mutated, multiplied, and adapted to the new influences acting upon them. The heart, covered in oily sickness, became denser, bones grew harder, and muscles ripped and shredded, recasting into a new form.
His nervous system suffered the worst of the tug of war between the forces. The Primordial Energy enhanced him in ways not possible before, adapting the brain and the senses to comprehend the new reality.
The Void Energy consumed his mind, twisting and magnifying all that was enhanced. The Primordial allowed him to see the new reality, while the Void forced him to behold a reality that wasn't.
Something smashed hard against his skull, scraping against his scalp, knocking him out completely.
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Unknown amount of time later, he awoke.
He could swear his eyelids were replaced by lead shutters. His head hurt more than a curb stomping and two liters of vodka combined. His body didn't just hurt; it was practically made of pain. Even the smallest movement elicited a grunt, yell, or barely audible scream. Every breath was like sucking on the air above a raging fire. He was aware of his body better than ever for some reason, but in this moment, that only spelled more agony invading his already shattered thoughts.
He could feel his legs and the twitching of his arms, which, if it weren't for the immense torture it caused, would be good news. No one wants to be suffering and be paralyzed. The upper left part of his body was weirdly numb, not physically. Everything burned and throbbed, but it seemed almost hollow, covered only in that sickly Void feeling.
He couldn't focus his thoughts. Through the curtain of pain, he finally recognized he was delirious with a high fever. All those wounds must have become infected after his little bath.
After who knows how long, he finally registered that he was lying face-first on some slimy stone covered in what he hoped was brown algae. His body was still half-submerged, but at least he had been thrown ashore... in a dumpy sewer, under a city of over 2 million people. God, did he hope poop wasn't transdimensional.
With every beat of his heart, he could feel a tiny sliver of energy expanding in waves, revitalizing him. Time became putty in his mind, stretching and expanding without any way to ascertain how long he had spent cosplaying as a tea bag.
Finally, he managed to move his arms forward. Eternity later, he pushed off the bottom with his knees, making sounds more comparable to a rusty building falling over than a human.
At last, he left the polluted waters. He even managed to flip onto his back while heaving for air and spraying spittle mixed with sewage all over his face. The droplets allowed him to focus, and the deep breath that expanded his chest let his mind realize what state he was in.
*Not my proudest moment.*
And so he laid there, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, his mind trying to stay awake, delirious with fever and toxins coursing through him.
He tried to register his surroundings without making any movement. Even his eyeballs hurt, the one with the Void Taint a bit differently. The normal one promised only the jolt of electricity piercing his brain, while the Tainted one drowned his mind in icy cold waters, cutting his brain with ice shards whenever he tried to focus on something or move his field of vision.
*Aww! Ow, ow, ow... Fine, that ceiling is interesting enough, Jesus... this stinks, fuck the Nazis, fuck the magical world, and fuck this city's sewage facilities. It's dark as shit in here. I can feel that my eyesight got better, and the more hurtful one even filters out the darkness... or not? It feels more like I see without the need for light or registering the lack thereof... wow, that was smart. For such a retard, you outdid yourself... Ow, ow...*
Minutes turned into hours.
“Haaah... ow, ow...”
When the pain became bearable, his mind drifted off into a dreamless sleep, allowing the mind and body to recuperate for the coming trials.
The first one, already seeming insurmountable, was to get up and not shatter like a porcelain plate against the floor.
And so he slept.