I heard faint sounds at first, as if they were reaching me through layers of water, muffled and broken, making it hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. Slowly, those sounds began to sharpen, the dull noise separating into something more defined, until the clash of metal, the scrape of movement, and the weight of voices pressing into each other started to take shape around me.
A voice rose above the rest, clear enough to cut through the noise.
"With the blessing granted by my god, I have already used the Soul Extinguisher on your Prince," it called out, carrying a strange mix of pride and certainty. "Even your king will fall soon after. There is no future left for you. Join us, Baron, and accept what is inevitable. Stand with us, and you will have eternal glory."
I kept my eyes closed, focusing instead on the unfamiliar weight of this body and the faint, lingering sensation of something being wrong deep within, like a wound that hadn't settled yet.
