Consciousness slowly awakened amidst a burst of severe pain. He felt as if his head had been hit by a heavy hammer, and the clang of the hammer striking the anvil echoed in his ears. He tried to open his eyes, but the light was so harsh that he almost lost consciousness again. Lying on the cold stone floor, every inch of his body was protesting, as if he had just experienced a desperate struggle.
His memory was like smoke blown away by the wind, sporadic and blurry. He remembered that he was a special forces soldier on a secret mission, and then there was a loud bang, and then endless darkness. Now, he was lying here, in a completely foreign place.
