~ZEPHYRUS' POV
Silence woke me before the pain did.
I slowly opened my eyes, and a wave of migraine hit me. The world around me refused to settle. One eye was focused while the other lagged behind, turning the horizon crooked.
The storm had passed. The sky above the Spire looked almost harmless now, pale and distant, as if it had not torn through me moments before.
For several slow breaths, I didn't understand where I was, and then the strain in my shoulders dragged memory back into place.
I was still chained. My numb arms hung above me, and when I tried to flex my fingers, nothing responded.
The ringing in my ears was constant, swallowing whatever other sounds might have existed.
I tried to straighten, but my body didn't obey.
The movement triggered a wave of vertigo so violent that black spots crowded my vision. Something inside my skull moved with it, a dull grinding sensation that made it impossible to ignore what had been done.
