"How much time has passed? How long has it been?"
The questions echoed endlessly within the mind of the Dark Blood King, repeating in a loop that refused to break.
"A century? A millennium? Or just a few seconds?"
"Am I still alive… or did I already die?"
"What is happening?"
"Why is nothing moving?"
"Am I still breathing?"
Those thoughts multiplied without control, branching into thousands of variations, each more desperate than the last. His consciousness remained active, yet everything else had ceased to function in any meaningful way.
The disconnect between perception and response was absolute. Information still reached his senses—somehow—but it never translated into action. His body would not move. His soul could not react. Even his instincts, once razor-sharp, were now useless echoes trapped in a void.
It was not simply fear that consumed him.
It was something far worse.
It was the complete collapse of reality as he understood it.
