I was neither asleep nor awake.
My left shoulder was burning. Was this the power of the tattoo or had I clumsily bumped into yet another wall and never realized the pain until this point?
The room temperature dropped. A cold gust of wind brushed my face, causing me to shiver involuntarily. The shadows around me seemed to be moving, circling me, dancing in some cosmic rhythm.
Then, a soft, melodic tune started playing from nowhere in particular. It sounded perfectly balanced, harmonizing with my heartbeat. The melody was eerily familiar, like a song from a distant memory.
Wait a moment… Where the hell am I? Nothing around me looked like my house, this was not my room.
An old-fashioned rotary phone appeared on the table in front of me. It rang softly. But who would call me in this unearthly realm?
With trepidation, I picked it up, only to hear a voice I hadn’t heard in years.
“Remember who you are,” it whispered.