I became aware of Nekrosi stirring before I technically 'woke up'.
It was unsettling, honestly. One part of my mind registered the soft rustle of fabric, the shift of weight on the mattress beside me, the faint warmth radiating from her body—all while another part of me remained locked in what should have been unconsciousness.
My body lay still, unresponsive, caught somewhere between sleep and waking in a state I hadn't anticipated.
Parallel thinking, Thaumanthus had called it during the vessel reconstruction. Multiple cognitive threads running simultaneously under a unified consciousness.
I had thought it meant faster spell analysis or better combat multitasking, not this bizarre half-aware limbo where sleep became a spectator sport.
Apparently, my reconstructed brain interpreted the act of sleeping as a potential vulnerability.
So it compensated by keeping one thread of consciousness alert while the others handled bodily restoration.
