A Sea Of Pain.

Pain was the sea Ying Lan swam in, a swelling surge of agony that swept her up and tossed her down, a dull and drumming ache that crawled along her limbs, pinching and biting at her nerves until it reached her heart. From there it climbed into her head, throbbing in tune with the feeble beat of her heart.

She was bound, she realized. Something, like a wooden post, pressed against her back. Her arms — outstretched like the wings of a bird bound for flight — were shackled to the same hard surface with bindings that dug into her already throbbing skin.

She tried to raise her head, to resist the weight that kept it bent, but it was a hopeless effort. The weight was a mountain, immovable and relentless. Her eyes, when she tried to open them, were met with a searing pain that shot through her skull like a bolt of lightning. Her voice, when she tried to speak, was a dry rasp that struggled to escape her throat.

Voices, distant and unclear, danced at the edges of her awareness. Their words were elusive, whirling through the fog of her disoriented mind and reaching her as only mere murmurs.