Consciousness returned like waves against a broken shore. First came the pain, sharp and immediate, then the cold, then the gradual awareness that something was terribly wrong.
Radji's eyes opened to unfamiliar stone ceiling, his vision blurred and doubled without his glasses. Every muscle in his body ached, but worse was the crushing weight of memory returning. The trials, the Warden, the sickening realization that they'd walked straight into a trap.
He tried to sit up and immediately discovered the restraints.
Stone bands, grown directly from the slab beneath him, encircled his wrists and ankles with just enough space to prevent circulation loss but no possibility of escape. The bonds felt warm against his skin, almost alive, and when he tested them with his earth connection, they simply absorbed his power like hungry mouths.
"Radji?" Osa's voice, weak and hoarse, came from somewhere to his left. "Are you awake?"
