Ah.

That may have been a little too close after all.

At this range, with such little light, Allereun was quickly overwhelmed by his own senses. The smell of decay, of rot, of blood, became sharper and sharper, and suddenly, he was reminded of the parts of his mind that were still tender, still suspect to emotion, to irrationality.

He was reminded of faces that he didn't want to see, reminded of all the stones that he had stepped on, all the weights that he had discarded, all their grimy, lightless eyes and choking smell of ashes mixed with blood. In retrospect, a calmer part of himself thought that it would have been better if he hadn't tried to scare them away with fire. Now, the stench of their charred flesh invaded his nostrils, sending the Galmin retreating into the back of the room. He scrambled away from those beasts, those memories, those regrets, those sins. There was no where to hide, but even then, he fit himself inside that stone conclave, gripping the torch that he had set there before hand.

As if the fire could burn away all scents. As if it would ward away the beasts.

In moments, his plan proved effective, and if he was in a normal state of mind, Allereun probably would have allowed himself to celebrate, just a little bit.

But in death, their murky blood staining the ground, turning into mere piles of meat, stacked up against each other, the monsters seemed to further brand unpleasant images into Allereun's mind. There were only three of them dead, but that was such a powerful number.

Three symbolized a mother, a father, and a child.

Three symbolized the number of moons that were shining at night.

Three symbolized a trio of friends.

He shut his eyes, closed his mind off from the outside world, and curled into a ball.

It was over now. It had to be over now. Day was coming, and the nightmare will end. The cycle of karma has already gone full circle. There was no need to dwell in the past. There were more things to do than breathing. His teeth were clenched tight, and his knuckles were bone-white, as if he was trying to grind the torch in his hand into nothingness.

His breaths became deeper, and his pulse began to slow. Complicated thoughts began to unravel, and slowly, Allereun opened his eyes once more.

They had brought the battle outside now.

Two monsters remained.

He was alone.

And the corpses, though he dared not move out of the irrational fear that they might suddenly awake, as if they were just sleeping, no longer struck fear into him.

The dead were dead, and ghosts were only phantoms of the past.