Touji gasped as he awoke; his limbs were shaky and his breath shallow. His neck felt sore from sitting in a slouched position. The room was quiet, the walls and ceiling hardly visible to the naked eye. The air smelled stagnant with mold and dirt, like a storage cellar or a prison cell.

He never would have imagined death to have felt this way.

-I died here, didn't I?

His eyes adjusted to the poor lighting as the darkness receded, revealing a corridor. Last he'd remembered, his cause of death had been from exhaustion and loss of blood. Then he awoke, not in the temple or garden, but in the center square of the village. Once Maphori had slit his throat, he was now within the bounds of the tunnel, with no sign of the wound around his neck.

It was all coming together. A sick realization of the day's past events had become apparent.

-I can't die. I'm just respawning.

The place of his return changed upon every respawn. Specifically, he seemed to be returning to the last location his soul should have left his body. He was immortal.

Touji ruffled his hands through his hair. Whatever was happening after he found himself dead probably had some correlation to the mass amnesia of the villagers.

On a different topic, the surrounding people were seeking his demise wherever he went, though what made things even more complicated was that monsters, or just the world in general seemed to really want him dead.

He laughed to himself. The pain from the wound still lingered in his neck. He ran his fingers around his throat.

-I don't want to die. Not again. Not ever.

There would normally be tears forming under his eyes, but he had already done that enough.

He felt around the cold stony wall behind him; his hands getting covered in slime and dirt as he searched for something to lean on. Finding a grove between the bricks, he managed to stand. A distant blur on the ceiling came into view a few meters away. It was a pale white, and it bore no distinguishable shape.

Approaching the hole in the ceiling, he winced, remembering the fall and broken ribs. The roof was low, so he had little trouble reaching up and pulling himself through the gap.

As he emerged on the other side, he was greeted with an unbroken view of the midnight sky. Hundreds of white dots flickered across the stratosphere, the moon taking the prominent place. He paused for a short moment, staring blankly as his mind wandered aimlessly.

For a second he could feel a quick gaze land upon his back sending a shudder down his spine. His head hurled back and forth, snapping from side to side to glimpse this elusive something. It startled him as his eyes caught sight of a large and hunky glob lying on the road nearby. Roots as thick as his waist jutted out. There was certainly something curious and out of place about it, though he could not put a pin on it. As he drew closer to it the uneasiness began to settle in, regretting every step closer he took.

Finally reaching it, Touji extended his shaking hands, making contact with the mound.

It was cold and stringy, but most importantly soft. Touji jumped back, expecting to already be between the monster's jaws. Still, nothing happened.

"Is it dead?"

He dabbed the fenrir's back once again but with no reaction. Nonetheless, he backed away cautiously, willfully keeping his teeth from chittering. He peered at the road and then back and through the hole, unable to make a decision.

-City equals death. Town equals death.

A light pink strand flickered in his imagination. A thought arose 'I didn't do it. To prove that I need the killer.'

There was no doubt in his mind that the doctor was involved. The only one who remembered him and the one who contributed the most to his framing. It was a start and maybe he would die again, but at least progress would be made. All this time he had let the situation he was in control him, he wasn't going to let that continue. He glanced back at the fenrir doubtfully, thinking he was being tricked, but the animal remained motionless.

Touji proceeded towards the path, glancing over his shoulders to see if he was being followed. Not a sound could be heard, though this was the part which scared him the most. He began hallucinating as every tree and bush he laid eyes on turned into a paw or head or the jaws of a wild beast, very often almost causing him to hold his mouth closed, fearing he'd let out a scream.

All too soon, he reached the village. It was dark and dreary, without the usual light of the aposs. If he didn't know any better he would have thought it to be a ghost town. He passed through the front gates without interference or greeting by the men who would usually be guarding it. Of course, they could have been on break but that seemed unlikely. Moving passed the merchant's drop off he noticed that the horse's stalls were left empty. Peering inside the guest house he found the front till to be deserted, which wasn't entirely odd due to it being the early hours of the morning but it was certainly not a comfort to his already hightening suspicions. The ground outside was strangely uneven, covered in lumps and small trees growing out at random. He reached the well in the center square, giving his all to avoid the black wooden stake planted beside it.

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-Don't think about anything Touji. Focus on finding Emar.

He then made his way over to the rundown shack known as the village clinic. As he knocked, the sounds clashed so distinctly with the silence he retracted his hand and backed away in fright. No one answered, but the door slid ajar with a loud creak. Touji pushed it aside to make enough room for him to enter. As he did so, an object lay on the floor to greet him. Touji froze, his eyes locked on it, unable to turn away.

The eyes were missing, and the skin was shriveled, as if drained of blood. The dark red hair still clung to its head, though many strands lay scattered across the floor.

-Odja?!

Touji stood there in shock and disbelief. Although the face and shape of the body were almost unrecognizable, the hair and clothes were unmistakable.

-Why? Why is he dead? Why now?

Touji bent down to touch the body, turning it over. The arms were clenched around an oval sack covered in white cloth. As he pulled the package out of the corpse's grip, he felt a strange sensation at the texture and softness of what was inside. He removed the white blanket, letting his eyes fall upon what was hidden underneath.

The tiny hands and small delicate face of an eleven-year-old girl fell outside of the sack and onto his lap. She wore her favorite white dress, the one that she wore every time their cousin stayed or whenever she visited a friend. It was Odja's youngest daughter, Chylum. Her face was an unearthly blue, her eyes wide open, with her pupils rolled to the back of her head.

Touji's legs gave out as he fell to his knees.

-No. This isn't right.

She was still warm. There was a chance. Hastily placing her on the ground, he immediately began to resuscitate her. After a few minutes with no sign of recovery, his motions grew more and more aggressive.

"WAKE UP! CHYLUM WAKE UP!" He screamed.

His hands ceased to move, and he sat down beside the two bodies, unable to do anything.

"Screw this. It's not working." She still wasn't breathing and was becoming colder by the minute.

-I must find that doctor.

He glanced back at Odja's corpse, deciding on his next course of action. Something strange caught his eye. He peered down at the old man's neck, trying to decipher what he was looking at. There was a small tree branch sticking out of his throat. Its roots had burrowed under his skin like a parasite.

-This isn't funny.

Without hesitation, he scrambled outside, leaving the girl inside as her body was slowly drained of color.

The light of the moon had grown brighter, illuminating the ground to reveal a terrible truth.

-This can't be real.

He stared blankly at the square, his mind tripping over itself, unwilling to recognize what was in front of him. Large piles of bodies lay strewn across the village square. Each had the parasitic plants protruding from their necks.

His stomach churned as he gazed upon the hell that lay before him.

"Wha-"

At this point, he was inherently lost. Things were only becoming more unreasonable.

-If Chylum dies.

His brain went blank, letting the emotions drain and cease. He stepped out into the square, mindlessly looking for the physician.

"Emar. Where are you?"

He whispered, as his voice could no longer be maintained without a crack in it. He began to search each corpse, to see if the doctor was one of them.

He passed the body of Derra and Milo hunched over each other like in a sick game of twister. Weeds sprouted from their necks and crowned with dark red flowers at their tops. Foam dripped from the corpse's mouths as their flesh seemed to rot at an extremely fast rate as if in time-lapse. The stench was unbearable. Touji held his hands over his nose and mouth holding back the urge to vomit.

"EMAR!!"

He stumbled from house to house, checking each body's features and clothes. There was no feeling of despair, nor did he rage. He simply could not feel a thing. Urgency was the only drive he had left and soon the reason for that would die.

He scanned the ground, searching for more victims when a white coat leaning beside the chief's house caught his attention. He rushed over, kneeling beside it and turning it over to expose the face.

The doctor's skin had completely dried out and his expression was nauseating.

"Of course, he died before I could get to him." Touji could not help but laugh to himself. It was starting to feel like it was all on purpose. "Hahahaha! It's dead. My only lead. Dead. What was I expecting?"

Using his knee as a support, he slowly stood up, unable to control the grin on his face. He turned, sliding his hands through his hair as he walked away. Suddenly, he stopped. Turning back, he rammed his foot at full force at the corpse.

"YOU BASTARD!"

A snap of bones could be heard. He raised his foot again, preparing for another kick.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" He brought his leg down again. "WHY? WHY?! WHY?!! WHY?!!!"

Each word was followed by another stomp. Again and again and again, his foot ponded.

"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY!? WHY!? Wh-"

Slowly, his legs grew tired, and his kicks began to miss. He dropped down beside the body and curled into a ball. He was slowly breaking. His eyes glazed over as he stared blankly at the night sky.

-What now?

A loud squeak entered his ears. He looked about to find the direction it had come from. A white dress fluttered in the corner of his eye.

-Chylum.

The girl was slowly approaching him, her small delicate feet lightly tapping the ground beneath her. At last, she stood beside him. Touji tried to speak, but a lump formed in his windpipe. She bent down beside him, pulling her dress under her knees as she did. Her face was expressionless, her eyes soulless and her face paler than the moon. Touji thought that perhaps she was in shock.

He sat up straight, confused and bewildered at the sight of her. Still, a sense of relief breathed into his lungs.

-She's alive. Thank God.

Suddenly she spoke.

"Where is my papa?" Her voice was cold and monotone, seemingly lacking any emotion.

He was unable to answer. Instead, he grabbed her hand and clung tightly around the palm. As he did so, a feeling of shock quickly replaced the relief in his heart. He placed his hands over her cheeks. The temperature was off. Quivering, he placed his ear over her heart.

There was no sound.