After the witch left, the bear creature began wandering alone through the village, sniffing and snuffling at various log houses before stopping in front of a particular one. Sniffing some more, it began scratching at the door of the house, intrigued by a new smell. It was a smell the creature hadn’t noticed previously, as it was busy fighting its meal. But now that the village quiet had resumed, a subtle smell of urine and terror wormed its way into the undead bear’s senses, enticing it to find its next meal.

The monster quickly lost patience with the sturdy door as it refused to budge from its scratching. However it began to splinter and crack when the creature leaned its full weight against the door, before giving way and collapsing into the house. A delicious morsel of a tiny girl, shaking and shivering inside the empty fireplace greeted its eyes. The monster lurched forward, eager for dessert and the girl let out a final scream, curling up against the impending claws and teeth.

But they never came.

After a moment, the child looked up to see the monster wedged in the doorway, its shoulders too large to let it pass. The thing pushed and strained, snapping at the kid but try as it might it could not get through. It growled in frustration; the log cabin walls were far thicker and tougher than the door. Just as its frustration reached a climax, the creature suddenly froze. Its stomach felt… weird. Uncomfortable. Like something it ate hadn’t quite stopped moving yet. It pulled itself out of the door, confused by this new sensation.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through its body. The former bear suddenly yowled; it had never felt this way before. The tiny kid in the fireplace could only stare in amazement as the monster suddenly thrashed desperately about. It rolled around on the ground, yowling and screeching in a horrible tone as it pawed at its own stomach. Then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. It collapsed to the ground, its eyes suddenly as dim and lifeless as the day it died.

The girl remained frozen at first, shocked by this sudden turn of events. But as the dead bear continued to fail to move, her courage grew and she slowly approached the shattered doorway, peering around at the lifeless corpse. Black acidic blood had already begun to spill out of its body as old wounds and scars reopened, the wounds Fena had inflicted included.

The little girl stared at her own hands in amazement. Did I do that?

Suddenly an extra large spurt of black blood burst out of the corpse’s flank. There was… something moving. Moving inside of the body. The girl could only continue to stare as something punctured the dead bear’s hide from the inside. A slit opened up and amongst a sudden massive gush of black blood rolled out a humanoid skeletal shape. Coated in the monster’s fluids as it was, it was impossible to tell what it was. But the way the shape was screaming in absolute agony in an inhuman broken voice terrified the little girl to her core, chasing her back into the house.

The shape somehow pulled itself free from the corpse, moaning in agony with each movement of it’s thin and skeletal limbs. Once free of the corpse and the pool of black blood around it, the shape rolled over onto its back and lay still, still moaning in agony as it desperately tried to recover. The child once again peered around the edge of the shattered doorway, staring at this strange new skeletal monster birthed from the dead corpse. Whatever it was, it wasn’t doing anything. Just laying on the dirt, though it appeared to be...panting?

Do Skeletons breathe?

The child made no move to approach; who knew what this new threat was. She simply stayed put where she was, watching this strange thing slowly recover. And recover it did; over the next half hour the shape slowly changed and reformed its shape.

Firstly, the black blood of the monster began to thicken and slow, turning from an acidic fluid to a neutralized, thick tar. Though it no longer acidically burned, the grass and everything it touched withered and died, as if it sucked the life out of them.

Meanwhile the thing that had crawled out of the body slowly began to look a little less like a skeleton. Its limbs and torso thickened out, from a spindly skeleton to normal human proportions. The now tar-like blood also mysteriously began to bubble and dissolve, reacting with newly formed skin. The thing seemed to be in less pain as well as its screams and moans lessened and grew more human-like. Finally, long black hair spilled out of its scalp and steel grey eyes could be seen as a newly reborn Fena opened her eyes.

The child could only watch with fear and amazement as a naked but whole Fena finally sat up out of the mess of dissolved blood that only moments ago had been burning her skin to the bone.

The girl remained hidden behind the doorway, just peeking out far enough to keep an eye on the strange woman. Despite the fact that this new monster now had a human appearance, her instincts screamed that it could still be a threat. But the human looking thing remained seated where it was, head bowed and shoulders gently shaking.

Completely oblivious to the girl, Fena trembled and gasped for air as she tried to expel the tension that gripped her like a vice. The pain had been so much worse than she was expecting. The undead bear’s first bite was mercifully quick, crushing her head in an instant. Even when she awoke reformed inside, its stomach acid was still bearable. But when she plunged her wakizashi in the direction of the monster’s heart, hoping the closer distance would be enough to pierce it, the powerful acidic blood had sprayed all over her.

It was like being dumped into a vat of unceasing liquid fire, eternally burning her to death.

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But Fena did not die. She couldn’t; her body’s regenerative abilities wouldn’t let her, essentially plunging her into the middle of an endless tug of war between the acid and her regeneration, while she suffered as the rope. It was a miracle that she managed to grow enough muscle before it burned away to cut herself free of the corpse. If she hadn’t… well she may have never escaped, trapped in an eternal burning hell.

A wave of tears spilled down her face as her body trembled. She couldn’t help it; she could still feel the sensation of her muscles and bones being stripped down to the core as she screamed out without a voice. A slight whimper slipped from her lips as she hugged her naked body tightly together.

It’s over. It’s over. You can relax now. Fena repeated the mantra over and over in her mind, trying desperately to feel normal again.

A slight creaking noise from behind suddenly interrupted her thoughts. She spun around, hurriedly wiping the tears from her eyes as she spotted a small girl peering at her from around a destroyed doorframe. She couldn't be more than eight years old, and wore a ragged old dress that hadn’t been washed in weeks. Fena sniffed and wiped her eyes clear, trying to hide her unstable emotions.

“H-Hello. What’s your name?”

The child did not answer, only staring at her in surprise at being caught.

“Do you live here?”

The kid continued to stare, contemplating whether to answer. Her expression switched from surprise to fear, and then to resignation.

“Are your parents still around? Did anyone else survive?”

Finally, the child opened her mouth.

“You’re naked.”

Fena sighed. “Yes, I am, aren’t I. Happens more than you think.”

She got up and made her way over to where she left her other weapons and supplies. Digging through her bag, she pulled out bloodstained and ragged clothing and began to get dressed.

“Do you know if anyone else survived?” Fena repeated her last question.

“Dunno. Don’t think so, it’s just been me for the last week or so,” responded the child in a deadpan voice. “Are you going to eat me?”

“Eat you? Why would I eat you?”

The child stared at her, head slightly tilted. “Well, you looked kind of like a monster climbing out of that… bear thing. Though you look a lot less scary at the moment.”

Fena heaved a sigh of resignation. It was normal the kid would think of her as a monster considering how grotesque her reforming body appeared.

“I’m not going to eat you. I only came here to get rid of that thing.” She gestured towards what was now quickly turning into a decayed skeleton, its flesh and blood turning tar-like and poisonous.

The girl turned to look at it. “I never seen an animal just fall over like that. Did you kill it?”

“Yes, I killed it. Stabbed its heart from the inside after I got eaten.”

The child’s eyes turned back to her in surprise, but her expression remained resigned. “Huh… that’s good I guess. Everyone in the village said the monster couldn’t be killed. Mom said it was our divine punishment, coming to punish us for our evil deeds. I didn’t know Mom did any, but I guess I didn’t know her as well as I thought.” The girl’s voice suddenly quieted at the end of her sentence, looking at her feet.

Fena didn’t know how to respond to that, so she didn’t. Buckling on her last sword, she looked around. “That thing cost me two swords… good thing I brought spares.”

“Ummm,” The child spoke up again. “That’s great and all, but what happens now? Are you gonna stay?”

“Right, right sorry.” Fena ran a hand through her hair as she sighed. She opened her bag and removed all of her rations. She handed them over to the child, including a spare dagger.

“What was your name again?”

“Tami.”

“Great. Listen here Tami. I’m going to head back to the city now. When I get there I’ll send some people to rescue you and take you to safety. The supplies should last about a week, more than enough time for them to get here and back.”

The girl gave her an incredulous look.

“Sorry Tami, I don’t think anyone’s coming back to this village, and you won’t make it back to the city alone.”

Tami kept staring. “Can’t you just take me back with you? What if another one shows up?”

Fena held up an arm as the Crow suddenly fluttered out of the woods. It landed and crawled up Fena’s arm, burying its head in Fena’s hair. Fena paused to give the kid a long hard look, then shook her head.

“It’s too dangerous. There are a lot of monsters in the woods, but the stench of the dead bear’s corpse will keep them away from the village.”

“Too scary,” added the Crow, its voice muffled by her hair. “Too much to handle.”

The kid gave the rotted bear skeleton a scared look, then back to Fena. She suddenly found herself terrified by the idea of staying alone in this abandoned village, despite already surviving here for a whole week. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked to her rescuer.

“Are you sure…? I don’t want to stay near that thing...”

Fena knelt, placing a hand on Tami’s shoulder and stared into her eyes.

“I can’t protect you. But this village now can, as long as you don’t touch the corpse. You’ll be fine. You survived a whole week in this place while that thing was alive. There’s no need to worry now that it’s dead.”

Fena stood and swung her bag over her shoulder.

“Stay safe. Don’t wander into the woods, and remember; Do not touch the body. Someone will be here in a couple of days. Good luck.” With that, Fena turned around and began walking back along the path she arrived on.

Startled by the sudden farewell, the child stammered. “Ye-yeah, you too. Umm… don’t get eaten again!”

Fena walked back to the end of the village. By this point the wind in the trees had died down and a faint sliver of light could be seen in the clouds as dawn approached. Pausing at the edge, she looked back at the ruined village and the rotting corpse as it poisoned the earth around it. Nothing would grow here again for a very long time, the earth cursed with the corpse of a creature once worshipped.

“That little acid bath must’ve really hurt,” muttered the Crow as it shifted to find a better position.

“Mmm.”

“You deserved it though.”

“... yeah.”