He opened his eyes and was greeted with a sight of a boundless black sky filled with numerous unfamiliar stars. Like thousands of precious gems that shined high above, outside the reach of any mortal hands. With starlight reflected in his eyes, he could only think, " What a beautiful sight."

But after he laid there and admired the sky for a while, his thoughts turned to his more immediate situation. For one he felt like his head was in pieces. He could remember places, names, people but for heaven's sake, he couldn't put those things together. All of it was in fragments and incomplete. So, in essence, he had no idea who he was or where he was.

In hopes that a familiar sight might jog his memory, he thought of surveying the surroundings.

*CRACK*

*CRACK*

He craned his neck to the sides, the simple action took visible effort, and each movement produced the same sort of sound as a tree branch being broken. From his position the first thing, he noticed was the wreckage he was surrounded by. He was inside what probably used to be a spirit boat or some other wooden flying vessel. The next thing that grabbed his attention was the ground, long stalks of green grass as far as the eye could see each one shined with a bright green light ever only ever broken by other wreckage or some other bizarre-looking fauna. " Where in damnation am I? ".

He couldn't see much of anything while on his back so he tried to sit up, but even that proved to be difficult. His body felt heavy like it was filled with led, and there were boulders tied to each of his fingers. It took 3 painful minutes for him to finally sit up and his body creaked like an old door all the way through. While he caught his breath afterward, his sight opened up to more of his surroundings. There was nothing he didn't expect there to find: more wreckage, broken furniture, a dead body in black robes, and a balding old man that solemnly stared at him. Well, the last thing might not have been something he expected.

The two men stared at each for a good minute before he finally broke the silence. In a voice as coarse as sandpaper he asked, " The hell you looking at? "

The old man's face bloomed into a smile as he answered in a cheerful manner, " Oh not much, I just managed to see something slightly interesting. Not every day you get to see a talking corpse. " The old man had a balding head with a few strands of hair and a messy little beard, his face seemed wisened by experience but there was still this little mischievous light in his eyes. He sat on a broken-down wooden beam in a casual, almost carefree, manner and wore a tattered brown monk robe, with several holes in it.

He immediately objected. " My heart is still beating, and my blood is still flowing, maybe you're the one reaching the end of the line if you're seeing corpses everywhere. "

The old man wasn't offended he simply continued in a slightly amused tone, " Now, is it truly beating? Why so sure, did you actually check? "

He was somewhat unnerved by the old man, but still, in an awkward and slow manner, he lifted his hand and pressed it against his chest. Seconds passed and nothing, no heartbeat, no sound. " Am I truly dead, but then how..." He felt afraid, confused, and unsure of what happened with him, is he some sort of a zombie now, or is he just slowly dying. His mind became his worst enemy as one thought darker than the other wormed its way through his mind. So as 30 seconds passed he almost missed it, a single loud and unmistakable.

*THUMP*

It was more comparable to a beat of a drum, rather than a simple heartbeat, still not totally convinced he waited for another half a minute, and only after hearing another loud *THUMP* did he let out a breath he didn't know he held. With a smile, he then confidently declared, " I'm sure old man, I'm alive!" Somehow despite the shitty situation, just saying this made him feel somewhat better.

The old man quickly apologized. " Sorry, sorry little fellow. Maybe I have truly gotten old, I hope you will forgive this old man honorable...." With expectations in his eyes, the old man waited for the name of his conversation partner.

His smile turned awkward. " Would you believe If I were to tell you I have no name or title to give you? I seem to have forgotten them with everything else about my past. "

" Amnesia, eh." The old man sounded a bit disappointed but not too surprised. " Well let's just say I'm a trusting person, so I believe you. Still! It's going to be awkward to go around without a name, Why not choose one for yourself. "

He shrugged his shoulders in a stiff manner and sighed. " What should I call myself then? " The old man tapped his chin while thinking. "How about....hmmm... Corpse. "His face twitched in annoyance. " Are you sure you just don't want me dead old man? "

The old man leaned back and pulled out an expensive-looking silver plater from somewhere, he threw it in a precise manner and it landed precisely on his lap. He looked downwards and he had to begrudgingly agree. " A corpse indeed. " His skin was pale as that of a ghost and he had corpse gray hair. The only thing that seemed alive about him was his eyes that shined with an unnatural green glow.

He couldn't lie, the name truly did fit him. So for now, he could only resign himself to this name. " It was just a temporary name anyway. " Corpse then asked," What do I call you then? " All the air of frivolity that surrounded the old man suddenly disappeared and he solemnly declared. " You can call me the honorable Buddhist! ". Corpse simply sneered, " Old Monk or bald monk, choose one! " The old man fiercely protested, " DON'T CALL ME BALD, I FINALLY JUST STARTED GROWING MY HAIR OUT!!! " Corpse shrugged in a dismissive manner, the motion started to feel more natural to him. " Old monk it is then. "

The old monk silently fumed for a while, but when he saw the dismissive attitude of the corpse-like youth, he closed his eyes and forcefully calmed down. With his previous composure regained he asked." What are your plans now, little corpse? " While Corpse didn't have a concrete plan in mind, there were still things he could immediately think of, " Find a landmark, find people, gain information. " The old monk nodded in approval." Not a bad idea, but I'm willing to help you skip a few of those steps if you agree to satisfy a few curiosities of my own."

Corpse hesitated, there wasn't anything wrong with the deal, but something inside him still told him to be vary of the old man. Yet there was no one else around, and if left on his own in this unfamiliar place, he might truly turn into a real corpse, so he didn't have much of a choice. " Deal! As long as it isn't anything unreasonable I'll help you satisfy your curiosities.. "

The old monk's eyebrow twitched. " You didn't have to say it like that, but I'm sure you won't regret this. This first piece of advice is for free. " The old monk's tone turned much more serious. " You don't want to stay here for long, there is a city nearby and it's going to be much safer to talk there. "

" Sure," Corpse, despite his initial hesitation, agreed. Finally, it was time to stand up. He wasn't just comfortably laying on his ass, all this time. He slowly adjusted to the condition of his body and it was time to see the fruits of his labor. He decided it was finally time to stand up.

It took considerable effort, just to move, so anything more proved to be a challenge and the constant giggling in the background from a certain old smelly geezer also didn't help. Still, Corpse grit his teeth gathered his courage, and with the sound of metal bending his backside left the ground.

Corpse allowed himself some time for his body to adjust and simply stood in place. With nothing better to do, he inspected his own clothing and with a slight frown asked the old monk, " You wouldn't happen to have any spare clothing?" The old monk waved his tattered sleeves around. " Does it look like I'm hiding silk in these? Just hurry up, we're wasting time here."

Corpse snapped back, " Yeah, yeah just give me a bit of time to get decent. " He truly didn't have much when it came to clothes. His pale chest was bare, he had 2 black bracers, tattered black pants, and boots full of holes and that's it. He looked around to find something that he might add to his arsenal. Slowly he took a step and almost fell on his face but he took his time and managed to do something some folk might identify as walking.

After a short while, he found something that caught his fancy. A pitch-black cloak still worn by a skeleton that waved around like some sad flag. Corpse sensed some sort of familiarity seeing it. " I feel like fought someone with a similar cloak. Maybe I'm the one that ended the poor fellow? Well. beggars can't be choosers." He tried it on and it fit like a glove. It hid his features from shoulder to the tip of his toe.

The old monk complimented with both of his thumbs up, " Looking good little corpse, so how about we get a move on already. " But his compliment fell apart at the end. It revealed just how impatient he currently was. Corpse relented, " Fine, I got it, let's go." Finally, he felt at least a little ready to face whatever hell awaits him outside.