"Hak!"
"Hak!"
"Hak!"
The coughing was violent, guttural—wet with blood, pain, and injury.
"What… what was that?!" a man screamed, collapsing to his knees on the cracked, smoldering ground, 20,000 miles away from the point of impact.
He vomited a thick stream of blood, splattering the earth beneath him in crimson streaks. His chest heaved as he gasped for air, eyes wide with disbelief and fear.
Moments later, space twisted beside him. Two more figures emerged, teleporting in with flickers of unstable qi. They looked worse than he did—barely standing, drenched in blood and dust.
One of them was missing an arm, torn off at the shoulder. The other's robe was half-burned, exposing skin marred with deep lacerations and internal injuries.
Every breath they took seemed to cost them something. Blood continued to drop from where they stood.
