Marcus understood enough to begin thrashing with renewed desperation. His entire body twisted beneath the invisible hold keeping him against the tree while his hands clawed frantically at anything they could reach. Broken teeth ground together behind sealed lips, and naked terror flooded his eyes as Phei's hand approached.
Phei's smile barely shifted.
"Oh, now you understand something bad is coming? Good. I was worried the missing teeth weren't communicating clearly enough."
His fingertip touched Marcus's forehead.
The world changed.
Marcus's body went limp so suddenly that it looked abandoned.
Every muscle that had been fighting the Void released at once. His arms dropped uselessly beside him, his neck sagged forward and his eyes remained open for only the briefest instant before whatever living awareness had filled them disappeared.
His consciousness vanished.
—the resistance disappeared with it.
