The last words of the Jade Oracle were still ringing inside my head, "Die."
Then there was the pain that lingered as my body was reduced to atoms. You would think that if your body were shattered, there would be no more pain, but that is if the shattering happened to a mortal; as mages, our souls are our greatest sensory organs, and it could persevere for longer than any mortal's, especially a soul like mine.
However, I was grateful that death still came fast, as the same force that shredded my body also shredded my soul.
I woke up into darkness, but this was not the familiar darkness of the unknown grand engine that took up my soul and spat it into the past; this darkness was different, almost soft, like the darkness behind your eyelids when you are not quite asleep and not quite awake.
Hmm, I could feel my eyes, and I did not know if I should open them. Was I dreaming? Did my soul suffer such great damage that it had fled into a dream to restore itself?
