The priest glared at me in confusion. “Why would you think that? Did your parents not teach you anything?” He sighed and tried to explain. “Think of it like this. You are in an undead forest and injured. You cannot get out. The undead are eating you alive. You won’t be able to escape nor die. As your healing system is overpowered, the only way you’d die as if all the undead ate you alive as fast as they could. You’d still die after a few days but won’t you suffer a lot more than any normal human?”

The way he used the example was terrifying. This guy really knew how to evoke fright. I displayed an artificial smile and grinned as best as I could. “I-I see. I’ll try my- to be careful.” But I still wasn’t convinced. I did get his point though. After all, if it weren’t for this curse, I’d probably be long, long dead.

I was finished being treated by the evening. Most of my wounds felt painless. However, the priest’s last sentence really invoked fear in me. That could have happened to me the night I came to this world. I thanked the gods though I didn’t believe in them fully. It was the least I could do. Am I becoming religious?

When I was little I was very religious; the very image of a pious kid. But as my life continued to become shittier and shittier I gave up on religion. I blamed God for everything and before I knew it, faith wasn’t part of my daily routine anymore. And here I was clinging to faith in desperation. Talk about irony!

From experience, I could tell that my wounds weren’t fully healed. But they were good enough for me to walk around. If someone told me about healing wounds with priests even just a month ago, I’d laugh at their faces. And now here I was, walking around by the blessing of some priest whose name I didn’t even know. Life really was full of holes and ironies.

The villagers seemed unified. All of them gathered by a large fire by in the middle of the village; so did we, or rather me and the guys. It was evening and the stars barely peeked from the heavens. Everything felt surreal and too fast. Was I in some sort of trance?

Everyone was here except Lianne. I remembered that by night, her eyes glowed, so it was better that she’d stay away.

They prepared for dinner. The rule in the village was to share their hunt with everyone, so no one would be left hungry. However, the villagers didn’t take any risk with the monsters. At all times there were at least three people standing guard.

“I don’t see your friend…” said the cross-dresser.

“She must be resting.” I couldn’t conjure up a better excuse.

“What a shame! This meat is delicious,” said the middle aged man.

I laughed awkwardly.

The guy with the spear sat behind me. He still had his spear at the ready. How attached was he? “How did you survive?”

I could get what he meant. Lianne had told them that we were attacked my some demon raiders- whatever that was. But we managed to escape. I didn’t think they’d buy it, but it looked like they did.

“I guess, it was a stroke of luck,” I said. I tried to laugh it off with a nervous chuckle but kind of failed big time.

“Was it now?” He was wiping his precious spear with cloth.

I didn’t know how to react to that so I just smiled like an idiot. It certainly was not just luck and I knew that. But saying something like, mysterious arrows saved me or a sinister voice called them back would be even stupider.

“Did you try this? This one’s better.” The middle aged man shoved some skewered meat in his mouth. He almost choked.

We laughed. The awkwardness dissipated a little. The spear guy didn’t push me too hard. The laughter took over the atmosphere after all.

The environment was loud in a pleasant way. The only thing missing was the half dead elf. With the laughter I was distracted from the fact that we were in the middle of monster territory. But it didn’t feel that bad. I didn’t feel that lonely. And I didn’t want Lianne to feel lonely either. So, after I had my fill I started searching for her with a stick of meat and a glass of fruit juice in my hands.

The path was relatively straightforward. Lianne was supposedly resting in a hut nearby. The door was made of cloth so I cleared my throat. “I’m coming in.”

I waited for a reply but there was none.

I went inside; she wasn’t there. Well I wouldn’t be alone in a hut like this either. It was expected. But this gave me the hint that she might be on the other side.

Without any surprises, I continued to the other side of the village. It was dark. However, the stars were bright. Apart from the sounds of insects, not much could be heard. I wasn’t in a bad mood: in fact, my mood was never better. With a fluffy yet wonderful feeling, I went on. The grass was comfortable.

There was a silhouette close to the other edge of the village. Her red eyes were beautiful in the dark. A striking contrast of darkness and crimson.

“What are you doing here?”

“Not much,” she said.

She stared distantly at the stars. Although for just a second, my heart fluttered as I witnessed her hair swaying in the night breeze. Her hair reached up to her thighs, rather long if you asked me. She always kept it tidied, so I never really paid any attention. But now that I look at her again, she really was beautiful.

“I brought some for you,” I said as I made the gesture of giving them to her. We were basically alone.. The crowd was all partying on the side of the village.