[https://i.imgur.com/VGCFMQy.png]

As the hard rain fell, Nox was no longer even jogging. He didn't have the strength left for that.

He was in a bad way. He'd relieved himself while running. The dark stain of blood across his trousers spoke of his dying body.

He stumbled every few steps he took, his mind drifting in and out of concentration.

He knew he had to keep running, though. The group behind him looked tired, too, but nowhere near as bad as him.

He managed to focus his eyes and looked forwards. The tall reeds of the fen were getting near only a hundred feet away now. Maybe he'd make it there. Maybe he'd reach its cold dark waters. For the first time in hours, he felt a hint of hope.

Despite how foolish it would be to drink, the thought of drinking deeply from the dirty black salt water of the fen in the distance sounded more heavenly than anything he could imagine.

He heard the woman leading the group behind him say something, but his mind was too tired to decrypt what his ears had heard.

He heard the steps behind him increase and split to either side of him. He slowed as he watched the group run ahead of him, forming a wide line between him and the fen and blocking any chance of his escaping there.

"No more running. You can die like a dog, ghoul, or you can have that clean death." The short woman said, holding up her crossbow.

He'd been close, so close, he realized he'd sunk to his knees. He'd have laughed bitterly if his mouth wasn't too cracked and dried to whisper even the slightest sound.

He wasn't going to live, he decided. The only option left now was to choose his death. He pulled himself up with a strength he didn't know he had left and began to run towards the group, towards the woman who had kept him on this torturous run that felt like it stretched on for eternity.

She raised her crossbow and fired. He was too tired to dodge the bolt that hit him in the stomach. He stumbled slightly but kept running.

He let go of it all as he ran. He let go of the fear, of the despair, of his humanity. All that he kept was the savage drive of his ghoulish nature.

The woman drew a short sword, and the men began to close in.

As he drew close to her, she stabbed at him. He didn't try to dodge. Instead, he bit down on her upper arm.

He felt the blood moistening his dried mouth and the sword deep in his shoulder.

He grabbed her with his broken hand and kept running forwards.

He ran, his body invigorated with dying strength as she stabbed at him again and again.

He heard the footsteps of the men running behind him. He ran as fast as he could. They were gaining on him. he released his bite and threw the woman behind him.

He heard people falling and swearing behind him as she collided with the men.

He saw the reeds in front of him.

"Don't help me. Get him, you fucking idiots!" The woman screamed from behind him.

He could smell the slight rotting smell of the fen, the tall reeds inches from his face.

He felt someone roughly grab his shoulder, pulling him back.

He would live. He would live. No matter what it took. He would live. His mind focused on how close he was to safety and freedom.

He balled up his broken hand and punched the person grabbing him. He felt his fist collide with the throat of one of the men, powered by both his ghoulish strength and his desperation as his body died.

He saw the man fly back. He heard the neck snap, but he didn't have the time or energy to process what had just happened.

He ran into the fen, the rest of the men in pursuit.

He only made it a few more feet before his foot met water where he'd expected squidgy land, and he fell into the water.

He fell into the inky blackness, his broken mouth still open in surprise. He felt his mouth moisten, but the salt burned, his whole body throbbing with once more new pain.

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He panicked, thrashing wildly, losing which way was up.

He swam for what felt like a heart-stopping eternity, his blood leaking out into the cold water as its strong currant pulled him along. His already weakened mind faded further and further.

He felt his hand tangle into something and panicked for a second before realizing it was reeds. He pulled his hand free and felt it breech the surface. He followed its direction and found the surface.

He flopped onto the ground on his back, trying to breathe, but every breath felt like a struggle.

He could hear the woman and the men yelling in frustration as they searched dangerously close.

As he lay there, he felt the rain falling harder and harder until it became hale.

He didn't know if he was supposed to laugh or cry, the icy hail covering the rasping sound of his breathing but battering his exposed wounds.

He settled for opening his mouth. The stones hurt as they hit his teeth and mouth, but it was drinkable water.

He knew, despite that, he was dying. Even before the dozen stabs across his body, he'd wrecked his body in his desperate flight to survive.

This was beyond even his ghoulish healing, though that would prolong things much longer than they otherwise would be.

He heard one of the men traipsing through the thick reeds only a couple of feet away, seemingly utterly oblivious of Nox's location.

He tried to turn his head to look, but even this small movement felt like too much as he lay there and the hours passed. The hail soon returned to rain, and he occasionally heard the group, but as time passed, he felt sleepier and sleepier.

[https://i.imgur.com/oMrGBK6.png]

He woke to the croaking of a nearby frog. The sun had moved in the sky. Late afternoon maybe? At least the rain had stopped.

He woke again. It was night. He focused on the stars above him for as long as he could before sleep took him.

The sky was the golden red of an early dawn. He looked around, not sure what had woken him this time.

Schw.

Schw.

He heard a distant noise getting closer. It sounded almost like slow footsteps through the fen.

Schw.

Schw.

The steps were coming closer. He could feel the vibrations of each one as if some titanic beast had made them.

He woke again to the sound of the steps only a few feet away, he tried to turn his head to look, but he couldn't as he felt a shadow loom over him.

His eyes began to droop, but he fought to stay conscious as he heard the voice of a woman humming. It was a slow tempo humming, haunting and soothing at the same time.

He wondered if it was a sign of his death. He'd never really known what to expect when you died. He knew some believed a skeletal reaper came for you. Others put their faith in System or other gods.

Nox had never had much faith in those, but maybe the soft, sweet humming was death approaching. Perhaps death was here to take his soul.

The thought brought him peace. He'd escaped his pursuers. He'd done the impossible. For one brief, terrible, wonderful moment, he'd pushed himself beyond everything he believed possible. If he died here, it would be a death on his own terms.

His death now wasn't the price. His living til now was the reward. This time he had to come to peace with his fate. He realized the pain had faded from his body some time between when he'd first washed up here and now. He felt like he was drifting on a bed of clouds.

If he'd had the strength left to, he would have smiled.

He heard the humming getting closer, and the reeds next to him rustled.

The humming suddenly stopped, and a woman's face peered over him. Something seemed odd about her. It took him a moment of staring to realize it was her unnaturally large yellow eyes.

She knelt down beside him. "What do we have here? What an interesting little one." She softly crooned.

A monster, he realized. He tried to laugh, but all that came out instead was a weak cough.

She put her hand softly on his brow, "What a strange one to find lurking in my fen."

She cocked her head slightly as if in thought. "Should I help you or eat you, little one? Perhaps a little of both?"

She gently put her arms under him and lifted him carefully to avoid pushing on the arrows still lodged in him. She stood with such ease it was as if he weighed nothing.

His head started to lull back, but she held it carefully. As it did, he saw what had been towering over him.

A large two-storey stone cottage stood, towering out of the mud, the beginnings of birds legs visible stretching down into the dark waters.

She began to hum softly again, and the cottage moved, leaning down so she could easily step onto its porch. She carried him through the door.

Once inside, she carried him through to the kitchen, still humming as she did, the tune both soothing and carefree.

She seemed to look around the kitchen for several moments, "Dinner or guest, you'll need somewhere to stay."

She closed her eyes, and to Nox's amazement, the room began to shift with a clacking sound as furniture shifted and moved. A wall next to the cast iron stove drew back into an alcove.

A bed folded out within the alcove, and iron bars and a door that was ajar formed at the edge, turning it into a small cell.

She took him into the alcove and gently sat him down on the bed, holding him upright as she did.

She sat on the edge of the bed and brought her hand to his brow. It felt warm after the cold of the watery fen.

"You'll do no good for me if you're dead before I decide what to do with you."

With a sudden motion, she yanked the first arrow out of him. His body spasmed, and he managed a weak wordless groan at the pain. She pulled the other two out in rapid succession, making him twitch and groan further at the sudden agony.

As he twitched, still riding the waves of pain, she closed her eyes, and he could feel his body begin to mend and heal. After a moment, she stopped. "That's the best I can do."

Nox still felt too weak, barely able to move, but he no longer felt at death's door.

"Who are you?" He managed to rasp out to the strange woman.

She shrugged, "I'm me. I don't have a name. I've never needed one before. What are you? You seem like a human but wrong."

"Ghoul. I'm a ghoul." He managed.

"Well, rest well, Mister Ghoul." She said, starting to stand.

He tried to reach out to grab her wrist to find out what was happening, but she easily evaded and laughed at his feeble attempts.

She stepped out of the cell and shut and locked the iron bar door.

She stood there watching him with the wide-eyed curiosity with which a child might watch a new pet.

He knew no one was coming. Refenial and Nia, even if they were still alive, had no idea where he was. He was alone in this strange magic house, far from civilization, with this monster that didn't even seem to know if it was going to eat him.

The monster began to hum again softly.

[https://i.imgur.com/3vZaHAB.png]