I woke up, and the first sensation that hit me was the cold. Not the comforting chill of a breezy morning, but the biting, numbing cold of being submerged in icy water. My eyes flew open, and I gasped, sputtering as saltwater filled my mouth. I was in the ocean, floating on a wooden board.
Panic surged through me. My mind raced as I tried to make sense of my surroundings. What the hell was going on? One moment I was in my warm bed with Lise, and now I was stranded in the middle of the ocean. This had to be some sort of twisted joke.
"What the actual hell is this?" I muttered, clutching the edge of the board, my knuckles white from the grip. The ocean stretched endlessly in all directions, a vast expanse of blue with no land in sight.
As I tried to steady my breathing and calm my racing heart, a shimmering light appeared in front of me. The light coalesced into a hologram of a stern-looking figure I recognized from my system.
