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Wow. In a secondary thought process, he was able to assess his own sorry state. How trashed his body felt. How clouded his thoughts were. How disorienting everything was. How flat this floor was. Hmm.

Beyond that, though, the thought process wasn't good for much else. The world was a gray blur around him.

Well, maybe that was okay. Maybe he just needed some sleep or something.

Or something? What did or something mean? What was comparable to sleep?

Nothing, probably. But it did feel kinda weird, because had he not been sleeping a moment ago? Where had his mind been? Hell, where was it now?

Confusing.

Come to think of it, he wasn't sure if he was actually awake, right now. His body and mind both felt sluggish enough that he could have been asleep. Maybe this was a dream.

Nah. He almost never had dreams. Oh, or maybe he just never remembered them?

Nah.

Maybe he was just stupid. Yeah, that seemed fairly likely.

His head was swimming with images. And feelings. Sensations.

"--ctor? Hector? Come on, Hector, look at me."

Hector? Wait, he was named Hector. Whose voice was that? It didn't sound like his own.

"Say something, Hector. Just let us know you're all the way back. Then I'll let you sleep. As much as you want."

Back? Back from where?

Oh, right.

That's where all these images were from. All these sensations.

The Forge.

He'd seen so much.

Too much, probably. All this information. All these memories. They weren't his. They didn't belong in his head.

Who knew a tree would have so much to tell him?

He wondered if he was even the same person, anymore. How long had he been in there? Maybe the voice would be able to tell him. If he could figure out how his mouth worked again.

Ugh, that seemed like a pretty tall order, right now.