I found George hiding with the child inside its sarcophagus. The crack in between the shifted lid and the body of it was large enough to let him squeeze inside during the fight. Now, he was sitting on the lid, gently being scratched behind his head. I was worried about him for nothing.

“They’re. Gone. Now.”

“Told’ya, should’ve hidden when I said so.” He sounded awfully sure of himself, almost happy that he’d been proven right.

“I. Glow. I. Can’t. Hide.” I said in a tone that conveyed a tinge of anger.

Calm down Rye. He’s just a kid. He likely didn’t know how bad it is out her. Or that I’m not carrying a torch I can just snuff out. He could’ve at least been a bit more specific in warning me!

“Smartass.” I added.

“Wow. Language. You’re being pretty rude to me after I tried to help you out.” He scratched under George’s head, making entirely too happy noises for a child stuck in a stone coffin.

“Rude? RUDE? I. Almost. Died!”

“Yeah, I heard. When you walk, it sounds like a knight would, but you’re not very good at fighting, are you?” He said that with the such child-like innocence, I couldn’t help but dislike him all the more for it.

He’s doing it on purpose.

I wasn’t about to get into an argument with a kid. It would take too much time and even though I was exhausted, I had places to be. So, I picked up George and put him on my shoulder.

“H-hey, I wasn’t done petting him yet!”

“Well. Too. Bad. Get. Your. Own. Rat.”

“Can I just pet him for one more minute? Please? Pleeeeease?”

“No. Mine.” Ugh. Kids.

I have a key to find. But everything hurts. I’m tired. I should just go, quickly now, leave this place behind. No idea if I’m even going the right way. This kid can’t give me any useful directions, obviously. He’s stuck in a sarcophagus, probably has been ever since he, well, came back from the dead.

I kind of feel bad about taking George away now. I look like a complete jerk.

“Pleeeeeeeeeaa–“

“Fine. Fine. Here. Just…. Be. Careful.”

I gave him my squishy friend again, much to George’s confusion. He quickly settled down again, as the kid’s arm reached around and stroked his chin. Quiet, happy child noises quickly filled the immediate area. I could feel the tension in my body release, my arms and legs growing limp and tired.

I survived. I need to rest anyways. Might as well do it now, do it here.

I sat down, slumping against the stone coffin, massaging my legs. They felt like I fell off a tree, then climbed up just to fall down again.

I… really don’t like the feeling of my wrinkly skin beneath the bandages.

“Kid?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

“Earlier. You. Heard. Them. Coming. Before. I. Did.”

“Who? Oh, right. Uh-huh. I’m great at hearing things! Got big ears. I’m Bekki.”

“Ok…” That explains some of it. Not the ridiculous idea that he heard the singing a full two minutes before I could, but it’s enough of an explanation to satisfy my curiosity for now.

“So. You’re. Name. Is. Bekki.”

“Nuh-uh.”

Wait, what? Didn’t you just say it was? I swear, kids sometimes.

“So. What. Is. Your. Name?” That shut the kid up for a bit.

I really got him thinking on that one. To be completely fair, the only reason I even knew my own name was because it was engraved directly on the sarcophagus, I woke up in. Engraved on the outside, that is. The kid was still stuck inside his, unfortunately.

The more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed that the child even knew anything at all besides that he was trapped in a stone coffin. Poor little fella. I reminded myself that whatever happened to me out here, it wasn’t the kid’s fault. With me here, it would probably be the first time he’s talked to anyone in a very, very long time.

“How. Long. Have. You. Been. Here. Kid?”

“Huh? Oh, actually I dunno. Tried keeping track. It’s hard. I wanted to count the beats of my heart, but, well, I always lose count at one-hundred and twenty.” A long time, then.

There was silence, for a while, only interspersed by the squeaking of George. Me and the kid took turns petting him and he was getting all the attention a rat could ever ask for and then some.

“So. You. Don’t. Know. Your. Name?”

“... yeah. Sorry. I know it’s not polite to talk to someone when you don’t know their name.“

I realized that I had, in fact, not given my name either. Oops.

“I’m. Rye.”

“I’m, well…” He went quiet again. I felt the need to do something.

“I. Can. Give. You. A. Name. If. You’d. Like. I. Like. Names.” He seemed very pleased with that.

“Yes! I mean, yes please.”

“Hmmm.” I hmm–ed.

He, and I’m pretty sure he was a boy, was a child stuck in a stone coffin. Mind you, a stone coffin engraved and embellished like a whole heckin cathedral, sitting in a graveyard made for monarchs and greater people yet, but it was a very broken looking one. He seemed relatively happy with his lot but then again, I’d barely known him for more than an hour. He was probably just happy to have a warm, fuzzy rat to pet and someone else to talk to and oh boy, could I relate to both of those desires. I would’ve gone crazy if I hadn’t found the temple and Harris within it when I did. Or George.

I tried putting some more thought into it, but nothing really came to me. I probably didn’t remember nearly enough things, people, places and so on, from my first life to find something fitting, sitting ready to be used in my mind.

So, I did the best I could and winged it.

“Pim.”

“Pim?” He asked.

“Pim.” I said more firmly. It was a short and happy name. I could pronounce it without pausing or coughing, too.

“The third.”

“The. Third?” Did he remember something from his past life? Was he a king, or someone else like that? A royal, a duke?

“Yup. Pim the third.”

“Why. The. Third?”

“Dunno. Just fits me, I guess.” Very well. Pim the third it is. If I could name myself, which I did to an extent, then I’d want it to sound like it fit, too. Just ‘Rye’ fit like a well-worn boot.

“Pim. The. Third. Your. Royal–cough–Highny-ness.” I said in a mock tone.

“Yes. Bow before me, oh Rye, weakest of all knights.” The absolute sass on this cheeky little brat.

“Only. The. Weakest. For. You. My. Liege.”

He started giggling and before we knew it, we were both cackling like two old crows, one small, the other smaller. As I let out a breath of air, exhaustion once more crept from every part of my body to over my eyelids and into my eyes. But I couldn’t bring myself to sleep, jolting up every time I dozed off even a bit, always accompanied by that feeling of falling, of imminent danger.

I can’t sleep now. It’s not safe here! It’s not safe!

I looked over my shoulder. Nothing there. The pain within it and my right hand didn’t help at all with calming me down. I felt like I’d need to fight or run at any moment. Tiredly, I looked at my other options.

“Pim.”

“The third!”

“Yes. Pim. The. Third. Can. You. Keep. Watch. For. Me?”

“Why?”

“Ugh. I. Need. To. Sleep. Injured. Tired.” There was another pause as he mulled it over.

“Sure! I’ll tell you if anything sounds like its coming closer to us.”

“Mhm.” That was reassuring, if only a bit. If he could hear as well as I thought he could, well, he’d be able to give me plenty of warning ahead of time if anybody approached me. I was willing to take a gamble on that rather than break down from exhaustion later on.

“Just. Wake. Me. If. There’s. Danger.”

I felt a hand clasp mine. It was thin, and I almost instinctively pulled back, before realizing that it was his. Mine looked almost healthy in comparison. He grasped for mine again and this time, I didn’t resist.

In spite of my initial impression, Pim was an alright child. With a quiet whisper, I vowed to myself that I’d get him out of his cold, stony tomb. He might have heard it, as when I finished, his grip tightened for a moment.

“Ok.” He said, seriously. We held hands and, somehow, it was enough comfort to allow me to slowly but surely dose off.

Two sisters they were, running along the April stream.

Jump! Jump-jump!

From rocks to rocks they leapt and screamed.

Jump! Jump-jump!

One was an owl, the other a sheep.

Jump! Jump-jump! Jump-eeeek!

And then both fell into the running creak

and laughed it all away.

Yet when darkness came, a fruitful tippity top-top drizzle.

Jump! Jump-Jump!

They didn’t see beyond the stream.

Jump! Jump-Jump!

A flash, a fizzle struck them both,

the river from down below,

now did much deeper seem.

Jump! Jump-jump! Jump-eeeek!

I woke up with a start. My face was wet. Coincidentally, my everything else was also wet. It was raining again. And besides the vague unplaceable feeling that I was a better poet asleep than awake, I was also immediately assaulted by a directionless dread.

Shit. I’m drowning – no, no no, no, I overslept, why, why did I sleep too long, my hand hurts and I…just… Gah!

Focus. Calm down. It’s only a light drizzle. It’s not that bad. I still have time.

Carefully, I looked around. I was still in the graveyard. Still holding Pim’s hand. I was alive. Nothing had decided to kill me in my sleep. Which was good because I slept like a log. I wouldn’t have heard his warnings even if he’d yelled them right into my ear.

“Rye?” A childlike voice asked.

“Yeah. Pim?”

“Oh, you’re awake.” He yawned.

“I. Am.” More or less. I was starting to reorient myself at least.

Not that easy when everything around you was just a variety of shades, dark and darker. The warm feeling of George nuzzled into the crook of my neck was nice compared to the deep chill I felt in every bone. I hadn’t slept long but I felt ice-cold.

“You were moving a lot while you were sleeping. Did you have a bad dream?”

“I. No. Yes? I. Don’t. Remember. Water. Fun. Lightning. Splash.”

He didn’t ask further, probably as confused about that as I was. Sometimes after a good sleep, I’d abruptly wake up, suddenly remembering some small sensation from my past. The smell of dry hay, the texture of apples. A face I couldn’t attach a name to.

Today, I remembered the sound of lightning. A distant roll, a rumble. Then a flash, followed by a boom so loud, I’d thought the sky was about to fall on us. And then that smell, of warm rocks and rain and metal.

There was currently no thunder, but there was rain. Not much, but it reminded me that I had places to be. I stood up, wiping a layer of slick mud and rainwater off my cheek.

“…are you going already?” Pim asked.

I almost didn’t want to. Hells, to be completely honest, I wanted to turn around right this moment, find a way through the deeper parts of the swamp and run back to the temple. At least there it’d be dry. I’d have someone to talk to and no one would try to kill me. It was safe, somewhat, and I was in need of a lot of ‘safe’ after this day.

Or, well, yesterday, since I think I slept long enough to technically start a new one going by my personal timescale. I was already way past what I thought could take, in mind and body, but the short nap gave me enough strength to move on.

I also made a promise. I swore and promises always must be kept. I probably couldn’t lift Pim’s lid or make it back without the wolf’s help, and even setting that aside, finding the way would be at least as hard as making the journey.

I let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. Gotta. Find. The. Warden.”

“Who’s that?”

“I. Uh. Dunno.”

“…what does he sound like?”

I thought about it for a bit. What did the wolf say? Heavy, with an armored beard and a key hanging from his neck. And clad fully in mail.

“He’s. Large. Got. Mail.”

“What’s a ‘mail’?”

“…Ring. Shirt. Metal. Jingly. Bits.”

“Oh! Oh, I know who that is! I hear him all the time, always comes and goes from the right or straight ahead.”

That was… oddly helpful. If I waited here, he’d probably just walk past at some point.

But I didn’t have the time. I couldn’t just sit around, doing nothing, waiting for whatever I was looking for to be dropped at my doorstep at my convenience. It felt wrong, and it was not the way I wanted or could afford to do things. I had to keep moving.

“Hey. Pim.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll. Be. Back. I. Promise.”

I let go of his hand, marching onward into the wretched dark.

It didn’t take long for the surroundings around me to change. Cracks ran through stone, many of the graves were opened or otherwise desecrated and the statues that dotted the architecture every now and again were crumbled, withered and dead. It looked like at some points in the road as if a massive bull had plowed through, cutting into earth and stone like butter.

Suffice to say, I wasn’t too surprised when the broken cobblestone road in front of me suddenly gave way to a deep, dark chasm. As far as I could tell, it didn’t have a floor.

I chucked a rock down and didn’t hear it impact at all.

Worrying.

Actually, who says I have to keep going down here? I can just go… that way!

I turned to one of many smaller diverging paths to my right and quickly walked over. It led further away from the main pathway, and I could see less embellished coffins and sarcophagi in that direction. They gave way to more normal, oversized tombstones set in a considerably muddier ground. No doubt you could read half a life’s story off of some of the larger ones.

Which made me realize that if I ever saw someone crawling out of the ground, neither of us would know more about them than what was written in stone. It was kind of sad when you thought about it, but then again, dead people shouldn’t have to worry too much about being forgotten or forgetting themselves. They weren’t supposed to be alive after the fact, but now they were, and they’d have to deal with it.

Like me. And look at how well that’s going.

I guess I barely even know more than my own name and I’m getting by, somehow. Then again, anything I do know is so tattered as to be almost completely useless. I don’t know how my parents looked or the name of my siblings. I didn’t know what an ocean was but at least I know my name. It helps.

Sadly, there were worse things out there than forgetting who you were, something I was reminded of every now and then when I stumbled across a completely desiccated corpse, lying on the ground far away from any grave. It looked kind of like the people that had attacked me when I first came here, besides for the complete lack of clothes. They were also way, way thinner, like someone who drank nothing but water and ate too little bread for a year.

The corpses also looked like they hadn’t died of starvation. One looked like something had bitten out its throat, another had its head bludgeoned into a pulp, yet another, a large person wearing entirely too rotted clothes, was punctured in about ten different locations. That corpse was even more dried out than the rest.

Fleas got that one, probably. As for the rest? No idea. Better not worry too much about it. Oh, but that is a very nice copper necklace. Is that a gemstone? The red ones, what are they called? Rubies!

I yoinked it off of one of the corpses and stashed it in one of my pockets. As payment for burying their bodies. I wasn’t going to let them rot out on the surface. And the necklace was very pretty.

I tried finding them an open grave to bury in, but after the first half-dozen or so, I had to face it: I was wasting too much time. If I buried everyone here, assuming that I could even find each individual corpse, I’d be damning somebody who was still alive.

Two somebodies now. Pim wouldn’t die from drowning in the rain, I was sure of that. But there were other ways to die out here.

Wait, what does he eat? How does he get water? Shit, am I not taking this seriously enough?

Squeak.

…you’re right, George. The two people are counting on me and that’s worth more than the dignity of the dead. I’ve gotta hurry, gotta go and find this damn warden.

As I moved on through the water-soaked mud before me, I found tracks. Human tracks. Large footsteps, deep and wide that were filled with rain came from my right and led straight ahead. I let out a small victory-shout and pumped my fist.

Ow. Owowow, no clenching my thumb too much. Shit, that smarts.

Anyway, I had a lead. The footprints were a bit hard to make out, but I thought I could manage. They couldn’t be that old, the rain would have washed them away otherwise. Wait, was it starting to rain harder?

It is. Dammit, I can’t waste any more time.

I decided to follow it, walking at a slightly uncomfortable pace. Cutting through withered plants and past broken grave markers small and big, I found myself drifting closer and closer to the large chasm. I kept on looking over towards it, with some speck of fear in my heart.

What, am I expecting something to jump out of it and pull me under? T–that’s stupid! Why am I afraid of anything coming from specifically that way when evidently, it’s just as dark and scary all around? I should be equally and reasonably scared of an attack from every direction.

I looked over my shoulder again. Nothing but the pitter-patter of rain. No fish.

Wow, thanks me. Now I’m not just scared of falling off a cliff, but absolutely terrified of every bit of noise all around me.

I slowed down.

I was nervous, unreasonably so, and I knew that. Still, I couldn’t do anything but focus on the tracks that sometimes led closer, sometimes further away from the cliffside. I was almost so focused on just trying to make out the glint of puddles and footprints in the ground that I almost overlooked a distant speck of light appearing to my left.

I thought it was an illusion at first. The kind that happened after you’ve been hit on the head one to many times. But no, the light was there, far, far in the distance, in the middle of the chasm.

It’s moving. It’s flickering, shimmering like a torch. Oh, now it’s gone.

No, wait, there it is again. It looks like it’s just floating on… nothing at all.

Aaand, it’s gone again.

Dammit.

I stood there, pausing for a moment. What was that? That was light, but very, very far away. Hundreds of feet at least. Was it a person, like me or the knight lady? It didn’t look like a fire to me.

No, I was pretty sure that was a person. Someone else was there, behind trees and rocks or something. At the other side of the chasm? Yeah, yeah that had to be it.

Instantly, my mind focused on one question: How do I get over there? I didn’t even know this person, I hadn’t even seen them, but I knew, deep within my soul that we needed to meet. We had to meet, the sooner the better. Or else, something bad would definitely happen, to me or them.

The light appeared again, closer this time. It bobbed up and down, growing dimmer whenever it passed by a tree. It was hard to make out details for a time and I strained my eyes to see better, in the hopes of somehow getting a good look.

It started moving to my right and I followed. The tracks were leading in the same direction anyways and I just needed to know for sure who that light belonged to.

My clumsy walk turned into a jog, then a run as the light became faster and faster. Every time it dipped beneath the earth or something else in the foreground, my heart clenched tight. It pounded incessantly as I ran, reminding me that I couldn’t keep up this pace for long.

I ran for my life anyway. The tracks were forgotten, pushed out of my mind and into the mud. I stumbled; it was inevitable. I fell, rolling past dry brushwork that quickly broke under my fall. I rolled, coming to a stop on a stone cobbled floor.

It was another road, but that wasn’t important. The light was far away but still seemed closer than ever.

And then, I saw them. A figure in the distance, emitting light that was both pure to behold and very, very dim. There was bright light, but not much. Barely enough to cover the entire figure. I was not too sure because of the distance, but they looked to be a large square-shouldered person. Not quite as large as the one-armed giant, but large enough that I’d feel uneasy being around them. Like being around a large horse you knew could trample you underfoot as an accident as much as on purpose.

Stupid horses.

Still, that sight, that singular person running in the distance was all it took for me to almost forget to breathe. My body forced me to, and I reluctantly gave in. I wanted to shout, to yell that I was here, but between catching my breath and trying to make out any details on them, I couldn’t.

They were running, somewhat diagonally towards me, then a bit straighter.

Wait, don’t they know about the cliff? I have to warn them.

“Hhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” I wheezed, still desperately trying to catch my breath faster, somehow. It was not working very well.

“Hhhheeee–cough–eeeeey.”

Not loud enough. They didn’t hear me. I tried to gather myself with deep, strong breaths. So deep my chest started hurting. But I needed to warn them.

I breathed out, then in one last time. Then, I yelled at the top of my lungs, so loud it felt like the first time I had tried to talk, razors cutting the inside of my throat.

“HeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEYYYYY!”

It came out worse than I’d liked. They were still far away, and I couldn’t make out their face, but they seemed to be running towards me now.

NO, no you idiot, don’t run towards me! There’s a cliff, you’ll fall, you’ll–

They tripped and fell.

“I killed them” was my first thought.

“That makes four, at least” my second.

They hit the ground before them and to my infinite relief, it was not a steep drop at first. They fell, yes, but it was more of an uncontrolled roll down a very dirty and crumbly slope. I still held my breath; they didn’t stop tumbling down until what I’d wager were a good twenty feet.

They got up, shaken, but seemingly unharmed. Thank the gods. They looked nervously at the ground they were standing on – a relatively wide ledge of sorts, with trees and stuff hanging down from above –, then back up to where they had come from. They looked towards me.

I froze, not knowing what to do.

Do I apologize, do I give them directions, will they even be able to understand me?

Pulling in a fresh lungful of air, I went for option number one.

“SSSSSSSoooOOOOOOOOOORRRRYYYYY! CLIIIIIIIIIFFffffff!” I just hope my voice can reach them.

They were very far away, but I could see them now, somewhat better in fact as they were standing to their full height. They looked roughly in my direction.

Can’t they see me?

I only have dim light.

The thought hit me like a truck.

They can’t see me. Not at this distance. Is their own light blinding them? Is it the rain? Who knows, but I have to get their attention and then meet up somehow.

Immediately, I tried waving my hands. When that didn’t work, I tried jumping. Their head turned slightly more in my direction, but I was convinced they still couldn’t quite make me out.

I tried yelling, but as I did so, something horrible caught my eye.

“HEEEEEE-“

One of the hanging trees moved. It wasn’t swaying; there was no wind yet it leaned down, further and further, until I realized: that was not a tree.

The head of something like a man was dangling from where the person had fallen, long wispy thin hair trailing down like moss, backlit by the dim light of the person below. Slowly, ever so gently, they descended, and I saw now how their almost fleshless upper body reveal itself.

Whatever that thing is, it isn’t human.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to yell, but all that came out was a croak interrupted by a fit of coughing.

RUN! What are you doing you idiot, don’t go looking for me, RUN YOU BLIND FOOL!

“RU–cough“. It was no use.

I can’t say anything, I can’t do anything, George is squeaking in alarm, but it’s not helping, they can’t hear him either and I’m just so damn useless again!

I saw a puddle. I jumped towards it, smashing my head into the ground as I took probably the biggest and most desperate gulp I’d ever taken. The water flowed thickly down my throat. It was horrible, but I could feel it soothe me. The feeling faded almost immediately, but I took my chances and yelled as loud as I could.

“AAABOOOOOOOOOOOVEEE!”

The person looked up, as the creature let itself plummet down towards them.

It was wrong, such a wrong thing, with arms like a human, a head like a human, but a spine that was way too long and folded in many places like a twisted stick. There was nothing where the guts should have been, everything from the ribs down to the hip just a single, jagged line of bone.

A demon. An honest to gods’ demon. I can’t take my eyes off of it. I can’t move, can’t run, can’t say anything.

I felt an indescribable, paralyzing terror clamp its jaws around me. Even though it was so far away, even though I was very much so not what its attention was on, a single, embarrassing thought flowed into my mind.

Thank the gods it didn’t see me.

It fell on to the person like wet rope, coiling with the thickness of runny water, the light revealing a second hip under the first one. The full body showed its horrifying proportions as even with its first hip slightly above ground level of the other person, its legs were still holding on to something beyond the dim light.

Then, suddenly, they were fighting. The person was actually trying to fight this abyssal horror.

How? HOW?

Madness. This is insane. I don’t know what I’m looking at. A twist of limbs, a frenzied, desperate yell. Pain. Madness and struggle, a struggle for life, for death, for survival. It’s not primal, not human, not anything I’ve seen before.

A realization I’d already had long before starts creeping back in, seeping deep into my bones. There was no doubt now.

This place is hell.

Everything that dies, every foul abomination that has ever sunk below the seas or crept from some dark place or fallen out of the sky that was judged and found wanting. Things that could only take, take, take, rape, destroy, murder. These things were now here with me.

In Hell.

Where I am.

I didn’t take my eyes off the ensuing struggle for one second. I couldn’t, doing anything at all just seemed so futile. The long demon creature was winning, that much was clear. There was no escaping it or denying it its victim. It was just that much larger but moved with too much strength and speed than something without any meat on its bones could. I watched, silently, as it unfolded.

I saw the person half escape its grasp, struggling to get away from the thing. The ledge didn’t extend far enough, though.

I saw how they get caught by two long, gangly arms hooking their legs, pulling them closer.

I saw the creature rear its human head back and bite into the person’s shoulder, then plunge a hand into the person’s stomach.

That’s it. They’re dead.

Then, a gleam of metal and two screams ripped through the air.

I saw how the ground beneath gave way, and both of them tumbled down, rolling, and falling. I ran towards the edge of the cliff, peering over in hopes that I could still see the abomination, the person, the light, or anything anywhere.

But it was all gone, and nothing remained.