'It's so hot. I cannot concentrate. But it is peaceful at the same time. I do not want to get out of the water.'
"Meria, snap out of it. This place is clouding your mind."
Someone kept calling his name, but Meria could not concentrate on the voice calling.
He wanted to reach for that sound and focus his mind on it, but he could not bring himself to that.
Whenever he tried to concentrate on the one calling out to him, his instincts pulled him back to relax.
"Meria, please! You need to respond to me. Do you even know who I am?"
This time, the voice asked from just adjacent to Soma's ears, and he turned in that direction to focus on the fuzzy face.
Relief and elation forced their way through Soma's frozen heart as he tried to put a name to that familiar face.
'Alpha! He's our bounded. He can put an end to our horrible condition.'
Soma forced his way back to the surface as he called out the familiar name.
