There were two women standing over me, and I recognized the one that was bending over me with their hands out.

“Oh, your Selina’s and Ashin’s daughter, aren’t you? Ai- Ai- Aiyana, right?”

Her hair had lost some of its luster since the last time I saw her, and her clothes were lightly dusted with mud and dirt. The skin around her face was a sickly pale color and she fidgeted around as if she couldn’t sit still. A focusless distant gaze had replaced her once warm and welcoming eyes, but she was without a doubt, she was my neighbor.

However, before I could answer her, she inched closer and closer to my faces, her voice getting higher and higher as she spoke. Even though she was looking directly at me, it was like she was far away from where we were.

“Come on, Come on. Don’t just sit there, take my hand. We have to go, can’t stay here, too dangerous now, can’t stay…ah.”

Something was definitely off about her but she just saved my life, didn’t she?

“Adria, stop pressuring the girl. Give her some room to breathe.”

My neighbor, Adria, was pulled away from me by the woman that had appeared with her. I was finally able to get a good look at the unknown woman. The brown gown she wore was in better condition Adria’s skirt and blouse, but not by much. Visible wrinkles were all over her face and her blonde hair had a decent amount of grey mixed into it. Unlike Adria’s unfocused eyes, her’s carried the same cold and shape edge you could hear in her voice.

“S-Sorry. Sorry. She lives, and that’s good. That’s good because she lives”

“Be quiet. Little one, I understand why you’re on edge but stop put that thing in our direction ”

I hadn’t realized I still had my dagger raised until she said something about it. The knuckles on my hand were pale white, and my hand still trembled. I was still scared, but I’d been scared for since that day."

“Wh-Who are you? Wh-What are you doing here?”

I could hear the stutter in my voice when I asked the pair a question, but I couldn’t help it. My heart was still pounding and it took everything I had to keep my breathing steady.

“We’re the survivors! Our ancestors’ mercy is as deep as the ocean is vast.”

While Adria continued to speak in her strange manner, the older woman remained silent, her gaze focused entirely on my right hand. Although every part of my body fought against it, I lowered my dagger to my side, only then did the older speak to me again.

“My name is Nonia. While I would have prepared to meet you under different circumstance, no one can dictate fate’s course. Can you stand on your, little one? If undead are starting to rise we need to leave before more converge on this location. Tell, where is the rest of your group? We and a few others have been hiding out in the eastern forest. I assume you all have been on the opposite side of the forest.”

The old la- Nonia, seemed to know what she was talking about. Maybe, she’d been through something like this before? In any case, I stubbled my way to my feet and tried in vain to wipe off the gunk from my clothes. The liquid that came out of the monster was starting to harden and the stench had already started to set into my skin.

The body of the dead monster laid just a few feet away from me. Its head had been sliced clean off along with a good chunk of its chest. Strangely enough, the body was rotting faster than it had been before. Whatever had been holding it together and allowed it to move had left the monster’s body.

“Thank you, Nonia and… Adria. I appreciate your help. I haven’t left the village. M-My father saved us before he di-di…“

Adria still seemed off in her own world, while Nonia cold eyes examined me like I wasn’t even a person.

“It’s alright, little one. No one that survived what happened did so without losing someone. It impressive that you managed to survive on your own for so long. You can join us and start contributing to the community. Now, grab your things and let's get a move on. The quicker we leave the better. Come along, Adria”

Nonia didn’t even give me time to say anything before she walked away and picked up a sack similar to my own, but her’s was actually full of stuff instead of being half empty. Adria followed after her without a word, her steps practically leaking happiness not befitting of our surroundings.

“Wait! Wait! I’m not alone. There’s another person with me, he’s a little boy that can’t move around that much!We can’t just leave him!”

“...Huahhh. Let’s go and get him. Where do you have him stored away?”

Nonia stopped in her tracks for a moment before letting out an exasperated sigh and turning on around.

“The more the merrier. Is he a nice boy? My daughter would love to meet a nice boy.”

“Be quiet Adria. Little one, time is of the essence.”

She did have to tell me twice. I picked up my fallen sake and began leading us back to the house. Luckily I’d mostly ran from the monster in a straight line so it was easy to find the right street after a few minutes of searching. Behind me, I could hear Adria happily humming a song and Nonia’s annoyed groans. The two of them were weird but, they didn’t seem like bad people.

There were more people too. I couldn’t wait to tell Geisai about this. Maybe having Adria sit down with will make him more willing to open up to me.

I couldn’t stop the smile that thought brung to my face, but that smile soon vanished as we came upon the ogre corpse from before. It remained in the pool of dried blood and flesh I’d first found it in, but that didn’t mean it would stay that way.

“Little one, tell me, is this where you first encountered the undead?”

I could only nod my head in response to Nonia’s question, however, I didn’t expect what happened next.

“Emac yeht ecnehw morf tusd eht ot lla ecuder, dlo fo semalf.”

A yellowish flame in the shape of a cross sprung into being and immediately decided upon the corpse once she had finished her chant. The corpse was reduced to ashes in a matter seconds, the dark circle being all that remained of the monster.

“Huah Huah Huah… Was wondering… Huah... why an undead rose so quickly.” Nonia was panting pretty heavily as she tried to speak.

Her cheeks had turned a deep shade of crimson and her forehead was covered in sweat. She’d been perfectly fine a second ago but now struggled to remain upright.

“There There.”

Adria patting Nonia’s back for a few seconds before she was shooed away.

“Little one, remember what I’m about to tell you, it may just save your life one day. Under normal circumstances, if a corpse is left unattended for a month or so the mana inside the body starts to change into miasma.”

I didn’t quite understand everything she was saying but I nodded my head anyway since Nonia still needed time to regain her strength.

“The only exception to that rule is when a corpse is left in an area of highly concentrated miasma. This why you should never leave the dead in the deeper section of the forest… or next to monster corpses. You understand?”

“Y-Yes.”

Nonia finally righted herself and simply asked, “How much further?”.

It was only a short walk but to the where Geisai was waiting. It’d been a few hours since I left him, so he was bound to be worried about me. Hopefully, he hasn’t done anything too reckless.

“How’d you managed to move the furn-?”

Nonia’s voice had trailed off shortly after we cleared the barrier. When I looked up at her, I saw that her eyes were pinned to the sleeping Geisai. Something had changed in her eyes, as the icy gaze had been replaced with unbridled anger as she uttered a single word.

“Darh’ki!!”

She dropped the sack that she had been carrying, drew a small blade from her right shirt sleeve, and charged Geisai with her dagger raised. I barely had time to figure out what was happening before my body began to act. Without a second of hesitation, I raised my arm and throw my dagger at her.

While it would have been amazing if dagger buried itself one of her arms or legs, but I’d settle for the dagger knocking her in the back of her head like it did.

“Aagh!”

Nonia let out a pained cry as she fell into our makeshift fire pit. All of the commotion caused Geisai to snap awake.

“Adria kill the boy! Kill the monster!!”

“Tirips fo dibw lla revers dna tuc.”

Adria completed her chant before I could do anything to stop her. I could only watch in horror as a nearly invisible blade flew towards Geisai. Although he leaped to his feet and tried to dodge, Geisai wasn’t fast enough.

“Nooooooo!!!”

I could only yell as I watched the blade slice into Geisai’s chest, the blood spraying from his wound as he was knocked to the ground. I’d just gotten him to open up to me. I was supposed to protect him. Yet, I’d gotten him killed.

I could feel the tears rolling down my eyes as I fell to my knees. I’m sorry, Geisai. I’m sorry, father. I didn’t have much time to lament the results of my mistakes before Nonia’s backhand knocked me to the ground. My stinging sensation in my cheek hurt more than hitting my head on the ground.

“Welp, how dare you try to deceive us!! Adia, go cut off that thing’s head and find something to tie the girl up with!”

“Yes Yes. Kill and capture. A shame, my daughter would have loved a nice boy. But we can’t have monsters can we?”

I only caught a glimpse of Adria moving about before I saw her body flying across the room. A loud thud accompanied Adria’s body hitting the wall behind us and crumpling to the floor.

“What-”

Nonia managed to get one word out before a small figure tackled her against the wall.

“Huuuuaaaah”

I could hear the air leaving her body as her eyes clouded over and she fell to the floor.

After checking to make sure she wouldn’t get back up, Geisai walked over and practically lifted me to my feet.

“Are you alright?”

“...”

I couldn’t answer him. Even though he spoke like nothing was wrong, there was a gaping cut across his chest. How was he even standing?! He should be de-

“Wha…?”

Before I could finish that though I noticed the light coming off of him. While the light covered his whole body, it was mostly concentrated across his cut. It was already being filled in with new flesh, the edges of the cut were already closing.

My arm moved on its and smacked him in the back of the head.

“Ouch. What was that for?”

“I thought you dead.”

Tears still streamed down my face, but the reason behind them had changed.