Kaelen's scream echoed through the void, the pain was still fresh as the darkness that swallowed him.
Then, without warning, something small but sharp jabbed at his head, causing a fresh jolt of pain to shoot through his skull, causing him to cried out.
"Gah!"
He instinctively swatted his head. He blinked, confused. The searing agony was gone, replaced by something far less dramatic—yet just as irritating.
"Young man?"
A voice, muffled and distant at first, slowly became clearer. He blinked again as his vision was adjusting.
Suddenly, the haze of darkness evaporated, replaced by the desolate village he had left behind. The broken buildings, the twisted remnants of the past… he was back.
A light weight shifted on his head, and he realized the culprit of the earlier pain—a tiny bird was pecking insistently at him. He muttered with a hoarse voice.
"Kali...?"
The bird chirped in response, hopping off his head onto his shoulder.
