Kai awoke to the scent of something that left him gagging. Something earthy, yet sour. His head throbbed, and his limbs felt like they'd been cleaved off, tenderised, and reassembled crookedly.
He blinked.
Laying on his back in a cave, he felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him.
There was a low fire crackling nearby, the kind that barely kept the shadows at bay. Above it, a pot bubbled with greenish ooze, the texture gelatinous, the smell somewhere between sulfur and moss.
His stomach turned. He knew it too well.
"Slime stew," he croaked, voice dry as dust.
His body never recognised it as food, but somehow… it had always helped. The same concoction Vepice had nursed him back to life with before.
He sat up sharply, groaning. And nearly screamed. Not due to pain, but fright.
Mari's face hovered over his own.
Wide-eyed. Pale. Unblinking.
Her undead body knelt beside him, posture perfect, hands resting on her lap like a porcelain doll waiting for orders.
