There was nothing he could do but stare at the man's dead body. Aren set him down slowly onto the floor before standing up.
Oran had gone completely silent, his knees still pressed against the wooden floor while Miu held him by the arm. The old mayor's eyes were fixed on the body lying on the thin mattress, as if staring long enough might force it to breathe again.
But the body didn't move, black substance already leaking from the throat before staining white mattress in black.
Aren slowly turned his gaze back toward the talismans covering the walls, scowling.
Oran had believed they calmed the Ghouls, Half-Ascended, whatever they called them. The village believed they were protection, a way to stop their loved ones from tearing themselves apart.
But all it did…was suck whatever little amounts of ether out of them until they became nothing but a hollowed-out shell.
Aren clenched his hand around the talisman he had peeled from the wall.
