The first thing Heiko felt was cold.
Not just on his skin, but inside his very soul.
A suffocating, endless cold that blanketed everything in black. He was floating—adrift in a void, weightless and disconnected. There was no sky, no ground, no light. Only the dull throb of pain echoing through his skull, like war drums pounding in slow, heavy rhythm.
He groaned softly as his senses started clawing their way back into his body. The darkness began to pull away, replaced by flickers of light, sound, sensation. A pounding ache in his head roared to life, as though someone was driving nails into his temples. His mouth was dry, his throat felt scraped raw, and his wrists… his wrists burned.
Blinking slowly, he opened his eyes to find himself in a dimly lit stone room. The air was heavy wit
