Chapter 101: Ch99. Pain as a teacher (23) - Lost to self
Darkness swallowed Miles as he plummeted, the ruined structure collapsing above him in a storm of shattered stone and twisted metal. Wind rushed past his ears, his limbs flailing against gravity as his stomach lurched. For a split second, he felt weightless, adrift in the void.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shi-"
Then, he hit something.
Hard.
The impact drove the air from his lungs. He tumbled across jagged debris, rolling uncontrollably before slamming into a pillar with a sickening crack. Stars exploded behind his eyelids, and pain seared through his ribs. His scythe clattered somewhere into the dark, immediately dismissing itself in a storm of black sparks.
Everything went dark, and after a while, Miles woke up with a startle, but everything around him was silent.
No Revenant, No Kurt. Just him, pain, and stillness.
Miles coughed, tasting iron. Every part of his body ached, but he was alive.
Barely.
He groaned, dragging himself up on shaking limbs, his fingers brushing across damp stone. The air down here was different. It felt thicker, heavier.
It carried a strange scent, like burnt parchment and something else he could not quite name.