He didn't know when had he closed his eyes.
Or if they were closed at all.
The Void played such tricks with you once you entered it.
First, you started questioning whether anything could exist outside of here.
Then you start questiong your own existence. But you know that you must be, for the cold is never ending, and if you are not, then you could not feel it.
Something slimy and ancient reached out for him from between the branches of Yggdrasil, but he slipped past the tendrils of its power, to his relief. The sensation made him feel like he himself was unclean.
Great Norns, will this fall never end?
It did.
In a hard, shocking crash agains something not entirely solid but not soft either, which shook him to the very soul, and almost broke his spine.
He welcomed it wholeheartedly. It meant that he still did possess a body.
"You think he survived that?" said a voice from far afar.
"I'm Groot," came a deeper voice. That's what it sounded like. But that's not what was said.
"I agree. Hey! If you'rte still kicking, give some sign of that! He isn't moving, he's a goner for sure."
"I am Groot."
"All right, all right you big softie!" the first voice grumbled.
He wanted to scream, to fight as his eyelid was pried open and the light assaulted the iris which was used to the endless night by now. But the most he could produce was a weak groan.
The animal flashed his teeth in a grin.
"Groot! You were right!"