Three days had gone by before Liu-Ken removed the white sheet over the bodies. Their faces were still burnt, part of their bodies rotten, ribs already powdered and their eye sockets empty.

"Look and don't turn away. You will have to get used to being surrounded by dead bodies. Pale faces, burned, destroyed, skeletal or chopped bodies, the stench of burning, sulfur, the death that follows them," Liu-Ken said to Aurora. He sat down on one of the steps and ordered the girl to stand still, a few meters from the bodies. She clenched her fists, struggling not to move her gaze.

Aurora had come a long way in the last few days. She was now able to absorb the mana near her and focus her chi on the parts of her body that she wished. Well, at least, most of the time. She also had improved her sword technique, even though she still couldn't take more than two successive blows from her mentor and was on the same path in the hand-to-hand fight. They had spent their mornings and afternoons under the sun, a mild breeze, and overseen by the ever so shy moon at night. Aurora's muscles had become stronger and her durability and stamina increased.

But, as Liu-Ken would say at the end of each day, there was still a lot to do. The man had also started to teach her how to cook. The first few times it had not gone very well, and the girl ended up letting the noodles overcook. She would still be momentarily distracted by the demon's voice on the cuckoo clock. It took her a few seconds to break the connection between the two. The world moved forward, and she ran after, one day at a time, preparing her body and mind for what awaited her beyond the forest.

Looking at the three soldiers' bodies proved beyond difficult as the memories of that day flooded her head. Aurora could not stop thinking of how the boys' families were doing, whether their pain would be the same as her and if they would also seek her for revenge. For someone who had lived a life of peace, moving through and across a world where death was the main coin was an arduous task. The burnt smell still lasted even if three days had gone by. It was constant, bound to the scarce skin they still had on their arms and legs, the only recollection of what they had once been. Rays of the sun heated the metal blades that were set on the grass. Sunlight stretched over the water's surface, creating a prism effect over the water.

"Remember what I taught you. You must accept them as they are. You can have no doubts, or they will not follow you. Take a deep breath. Put into practice our breathing exercises. Slowly. Let your black chi flow through your hands and go through the body of one of them. Don't forget. Not only will they have a part of you, but they will also be part of you. The many more you control, the more difficult it will be to keep control of what is going on in your head. You don't want them all at once," Liu-Ken told her. The man was still seated on the steps, the white robe with blue patches covering his legs. Kagu, the deity who inhabited the purple stone in his ring, was also awake, wanting to see if the girl was a good successor.

Aurora took a deep breath. The dantian was calm and so were the meridians. She did not close her eyes. She sought to do it with uttermost respect, looking at the bodies, accepting them as they were, and, to some extent, marveling at the very beauty of a second life. Black chi swirled around her arms, lodging on the surface of each of her fingers. It made its way to the bodies. Aurora placed a knee on the ground next to the smaller soldier. Her teeth were grinning, and a tear ran down her left cheek.

"I can do it. This is my duty," Aurora said to herself before resting her hand on the mutilated body's forehead, a few light hairs still present on the scorched upper lip.

Her chi slipped into the holes where his eyes previously stood, winding through his body, activating his meridians, and providing the dantian with an energy source. It didn't take long for the body to be able to sustain itself. It drained her mana's power and fed on it. The nearby plants slowly faded away. The green was replaced by a light-dark grey, black under shadows.

"First lesson. Each body you bring back to life has the same skills it used to have in life. Second lesson. Your chi gives them energy they can feed on, but the rest comes from mana. They have to be constantly absorbing it. Imagine them as babies who can walk and do not cry or feel anything but still have to eat. At the end of the day, just one plate won't be enough.”

"Worst analogy ever," Aurora replied. She tried to take her hand off the body, but it had gotten meshed with the skin. Her fingers now had brown and black particles clinging to the skin. The black chi didn't want to let her go. It called her, dragged her, sank her so far that the body's weakened forehead eventually cracked and broke. Aurora's fingers were catapulted into a sticky substance, a dead pink goo that had black threads in each open gap. The female voice returned.

"Let yourself go," she said, "the vengeance you seek will be much easier with me on your side," she repeated. Aurora's thoughts wrapped themselves in a ball of sad memories. Her heart raced faster. Same rhythm as a musical instrument, same anxiety of an orchestral climax.

"Aurora, get your hand out of there. Free yourself, quickly. Don't listen to the voice. Just focus on mine," Liu-Ken said, getting up, going down the steps, and moving close to the girl.

"Can you hear her too?" Aurora asked.

"Stay away!" Liu-Ken shouted, now moving closer.