The moment Gray's eyes shut, it was as if an unseen force yanked his consciousness deep within himself. He found himself standing in an immense, endless expanse. Above him was a sky of swirling storm clouds, and below stretched a vast black ocean that shimmered like tar, its surface unnaturally still.
As he observed this eerie place, the ocean suddenly came alive. From its surface, thick tendrils of inky blackness shot upward, reaching for him like hungry hands.
They wrapped tightly around his limbs, chest, and neck with impossible strength. Without warning, the tendrils yanked him downward with such force that he was pulled into the ocean's suffocating embrace.
The sensation was immediate and brutal. The cold liquid closed over his head, filling every pore of his being. He couldn't breathe, couldn't move.
