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My nose was assaulted by the smell of burning machinery.
And then, with one final, earth-shattering jolt, everything went black.
The last thing I remember before the darkness claimed me was the sensation of the shuttle crashing, being swallowed by the vast, unforgiving jungle below.
16
THILLAK
The darkness engulfed me, a suffocating shroud of cold, despair, and confusion.
I was in pain; a dull, persistent throb echoed in the recesses of my mind.
My senses floated in a haze, a formless void where perception and time blurred.
* * *
A distant noise pricked my ears, pulling me closer to consciousness.
The chirping, beeping, and occasional electrical fizzling of the shuttle’s systems became the soundtrack of my drifting mind.
I tried to move, but my limbs felt heavy, disconnected.
My senses ebbed and flowed.
One moment, I could clearly smell the burnt remnants of the shuttle; the acrid odor of molten metal and charred wires stung my nostrils.
But just as suddenly, it was gone, replaced by damp vegetation and rich, moist earth.
* * *
What felt like the next moment but could have been hours later for all I knew, I was bathed in a blinding white light, so intense it cut through my closed eyelids.
There was a gentle swaying motion, a feeling of being lifted.
My body felt weightless, as if floating.
The cool air gently brushed against my exposed skin, its touch both comforting and alarming.
Emerging from the veil of half-consciousness, I caught fleeting glimpses of my surroundings.
The vibrant jungle sprawled in all directions; its massive trees with thick canopies provided fleeting patches of shade.
Beneath them, bizarre creatures, unlike any I had seen before, stared back with unblinking eyes.
An insect, the size of a hand, hummed past me with wings that shimmered in iridescent colors.
A creature, resembling a floating jellyfish but with feathery tendrils, wafted lazily among the trees, casting an ethereal glow.
Every so often, my mind would grasp at reality, offering fragmented, disjointed memories.
Panic surged, and I tried to scream, to move, to escape.
But every attempt was in vain, quelled by a numbing weakness that consumed my strength.
* * *
Another flash of awareness, more vivid than the rest, painted the entrance of the temple in my mind’s eye.
