Each breath was painful. And his head. His head was ready to explode. Nothing he did, nothing he rubbed made the slightest bit of difference. One eye was mostly swollen and his lower lip resembled an inflatable. His whole upper body tingled as if his limbs had fallen asleep and only now came back to life. So he’d been in a fight. But whom with? How had they inhibited his natural healing? And why did he sit in this room staring at a huge crystal across from him? He tilted his aching head and blinked at his surroundings. There were more crystals, pretty crystals, all around him. Some made him smile with their sparkle, some made him cringe with their blinding light. The big one was the worst. When he had to squint through burning eyes to avoid the painful glare he had enough. Duncan stumbled to his feet and nearly fell flat on his face. His legs wouldn’t move. He covered his face with his hands and tried to remember. Something about a guy telling him to sit and not move. Thinking became easier when he shut out the crystal glares.
