Graveyard Jollin
awkwardYears later, the two took a trip through the forest to purchase supplies. Both loved the forest; Matthias took meandering paths while Zsane jumped at butterflies and fluttering leaves. When darkness grew, they fell asleep to the sound of distant thunder. They awoke, gagging, to smoke and the smell of burning.
Matthias lept up and ran, Zsane following at his heels. But after what seemed like hours of running, Zsane stopped at a tree and looked around. He realized there was no one else in sight. Panicked, confused, and completely exhausted, Zsane did the only thing he could; he took a nap.
Zsane awoke in a completely unfamiliar area. He scrambled to his feet and found he was completely soaked in a liquid that smelled vaguely like cinnamon. He took a step and winced in pain -- there was a gash on the bottom of his paw.
At first, Zsane considered taking another nap, but now his desire to find Matthias was overwhelming. He kept walking without having the faintest idea where he was going, but it wasn't long before he collapsed by a river. He was looking around when a dark shape lept at him. As blinding pain shot through his body, Zsane lept into the running water.
Zsane felt hot breath on his neck but the river swept him along and soon there was no sign of his attacker. This left Zsane with nothing to distract him from the burning, stabbing pain which seemed to be enveloping his whole body as he bobbed along in the river, black edges intruding on his vision.
This time, when Zsane opened his eyes he could dimly see a flickering fire and wooden shelves full of various containers. He heard a sharp intake of breath and he looked around. The pain seemed to have mostly subsided, but he could see a deep gash in his back, covered with coagulated blood. A woman with large amounts of frizzy hair was bent over it. She glanced at him, her eyes wide.
"You should be dead!" she informed Zsane. "I thought you were! A little corpse floating in the river, but I couldn't just leave you there, it was awful, blood everywhere, oh dear oh dear oh dear."
She bent over him again, examining his body. "Oh," she said. "That's fascinating. You've got a curse, dear," she said to him. "A nasty one. Immortality. Probably one of the cocky witches or wizards in the town. It's a tricky curse though. Whoever it was, I don't think they did it right. You should be healing yourself, but that wound of yours hasn't made any progress -- at least it's not getting worse."
Zsane got to his feet and immediately stumbled. The woman caught him. "Oh dear, be careful. You've got to live with this body a long time. A long, long time."
