I woke up. Somehow my wounds were gone, and my hand was reattached.
"What happened…" I asked myself.
"I borrowed your body. You're welcome." The ghost said, she seemed proud.
"That doesn't explain how my wounds are healed." I said, staring at my new hand. I might've been imagining it, but my skin seemed paler.
"Consuming human flesh has a regenerative effect on demons." She said, rather casually.
"But I'm the only human here." I didn't understand how that was related.
"No you're not". She said, pointing into the darkness.
I followed her hand with my gaze, and I saw the woman, mostly a skeleton, but it was her. My stomach churned, and I threw up.
The color of the puke was a deep red, seeing it come out of me made me even more sick.
"Oh come on, it's not that bad." The ghost said, standing over me. "Now that we've bonded, even if you were the one eating, it would taste good to you."
"What do you mean bonded?" I asked as I wiped my mouth.
"You're stuck with me. You're pretty much half demon now." My heart sank.
"Does that mean I'll have to eat….. eat people?" I stuttered, the notion made me feel like puking again.
"No, you're still partially human, so you won't need to."
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I was relieved, just the thought of having to eat people made me sick. However, as my gaze hovered over the woman's remains, thoughts pierced my head. I was curious. What did it taste like, it healed me, should I really be afraid of it? Something inside of me wriggled, as if wanting to answer these questions for me.
I pushed the thoughts away with disgust. Most of my belongings were scattered across the ground, so I began to gather them. The map I had of the area was torn and drenched with blood. It was completely ruined.
"Damnit." My only way out was gone. But should I really leave? People would call me a monster, and I couldn't really hide the ghost floating around me.
"You need to leave. Any human stuck in the labyrinth for more than a month will turn into a monster." She said, reading my mind.
"And I've been asleep for god knows how long." I realized. I needed to get out ASAP. I picked a path and walked, slightly faster than I did before.
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The paths were confusing. It wasn't called a labyrinth for nothing, but the cold of the area I started in faded away into warmth, giving me hope.
As I was walking, I saw what I thought was a shadow flickering. There was no light near it, so I investigated.
The moment I got even a toe closer to it, the shadow lept out of the ground and covered me. It was similar to being submerged in honey, or another viscous substance. I was terrified. I couldn't breathe, but I didn't have the panic that usually came with being stuck underwater.
I grasped at my face, but I grabbed nothing. After a few minutes of struggling, the shadow vanished. I didn't know what happened to it, but I was drowsy and nauseous. I felt horrible. My head, my skin, my eyes, all of my body was itchy and on fire.
I didn't know what was happening to me, but I could see the ghost panicking beside me. She seemed worried, but I couldn't hear her. Soon I couldn't even see her, everything was black.
With my fear, there was anger. Why did these things keep happening? I just wanted to go home, eat a good meal, and sleep for more than a few hours, but did I even have a home to go back to?
I couldn't die before I found out. I quickly rummaged through my items and grabbed a bottle with red liquid inside. I didn't know if this would help, but when I grabbed it, the ghost seemed to get excited, so I had a good feeling.
I drank it all in one gulp. It was hot, but cold at the same time. It burned as it flowed through my throat, but it also froze everything. The feeling passed, and what replaced it was pain. Not any specific type, just pain itself. It was unbearable, so I collapsed. My last thought being that I've been passing out too much recently.