The rushing sound of water faintly echoed in his ears.
As if he were near a waterfall, or beside a riverbank.
The chaotic noise flooded his mind like twisted, shifting shadows, making him nauseous.
Lu Li slowly woke up, turning over with a searing pain in his chest, lying prone on the cold, hard rock as he dry-heaved.
There was nothing to vomit; Lu Li thought perhaps a long time had passed.
The retching seemed to clear the tangled confusion from his mind, and his consciousness slowly became clearer.
Lu Li sat up and observed his surroundings. He seemed to be on a rock jutting from the center of a river, with a rushing river surrounding him, and darkness encircling them both.
A weakly glowing oil lamp lay beside him, a coat spread beneath him to shield him from the rock, preventing his body from becoming as cold as the stone.
