POV -> A Splat Mark Shaped Like Corian

Corian felt a sharp pain when he shifted.

That was always a crappy way to start the day. He must have slept in an awkward position again.

A memory fluttered into his mind. Right. He had died. He was locked in a wagon. Quibbis was probably in the wagon with him.

The wagon wasn't very comfortable to sleep in.

But when had he slept in it?

Another memory fluttered into his mind.

Right… He couldn't sleep.

But he had slept once.

The thought fell back as yet another memory came. No… that wasn't sleep. He had blacked out. He had managed to injure Inprobus.

Inprobus…

Inprobus was injured. He was-

He felt the ground easily separate as he clenched his fist. He could feel webbed roots resisting his pull.

Grass?

Another memory came.

Justin. Inprobus was injured. He was going to escape. Justin was going to help him take Rikka. He couldn't be slacking trying to nap right now.

Corian cracked his eyes open, cringing at the light that assaulted them.

They were going to escape at night.

He had time. He hadn't missed it.

But why was there grass? Why? Was he outside?

His eyes finally adjusted. He could see his arm, sparse pieces of metal armour covering it alongside a mix of mud and leaves. But in the lovely greens and rotted browns, he could see another colour, poking out from between his fingers.

A bright blue flower.

And then, a memory he did not wish for came back.

The pain, the anguish. Falling. The plan had failed. They were both gone. He had convinced Justin to play chance at a loaded game, and he was dead because of it.

He had given Rikka false hope. And she was gods knows where, with their father, who had seen her directly try to betray him.

Corian felt a sharp pain spear into his back, forcing his entire body to flinch. A drumbeat of wings retreated, a couple black crows staring down at him from the tree branches.

A few more cuts made themselves known as he struggled to his knees. One of the braver crows swooped back down, pecking at the crusted blood and debris covering a sharp stone where his head had been resting. He swiped at it, earning a couple cross squawks as it returned to the trees. Corian pushed through the dry blood in his throat to growl at the hungry scavenger. "I'm not dead you bastards."

One of the birds squawked in response, grinding on his nerves.

He grabbed a rock, striking a branch to force the murder to flee. The pack didn't leave his sights, the dark omens dotting a tree out of throwing range.

Corian stumbled to his feet, cradling the small blue flower in his hands. He skimmed the bloodied mess of leaves he had been lying in, wondering how long it had taken for him to recover. Days? Weeks? Most of the armour was hanging loose on his body, his chest plate bent at an awkward angle to poke his chest.

He tugged its straps loose, pain blooming on his exposed hand that had burned raw under the sunlight. He had fallen, but where?

Corian cranked his head skyward, a pain like no other driving into his skull when he saw the sun. He held his teary eyes, swears aplenty as he stumbled into some shade to recover from the attack. Having something so mundane become a giant pain in the ass was just the cherry on top of the catastrophe called his life.

And the painful growl he felt growing in his stomach was another such treat. He had to eat something. Something he wouldn't feel awful about would be ideal.

Corian set his blurry gaze deeper into the forest, gauging how bad he would feel about a fish. He had seen a small river from the bridge. If he wandered around enough he was bound to come across it.

And maybe he would find-

Corian killed the thought.

He was going to find a stream. Then he was going to find a fish. It was a two step plan. If he didn't somehow screw that up, he'd think of a three step plan.

He grabbed the dented helmet, shovelling in some loose dirt and carefully planting the blue flower inside. "How's that Rikka?" He nudged the lopsided flower to sit a little straighter. "Cozy?"

It already looked happier than it did in his fist.

No matter the plan, he had to keep Rikka safe.

Corian dragged his feet as he walked, still trying to blink off the blur the sunlight had left. It was slowly recovering. Like his burnt hand, and the various cuts he could feel on his back and legs. But it was far slower than usual.

He had not felt tired since the day he came back to life, but now it was a chore to move his stiff legs. Perhaps the spell that gave him life was fading. If that was the case, there wasn't much of a point to fishing.

Corian moved towards the closest tree, slumping against it. His legs gave out completely once he'd found rest on the ground, void of the strength to get up again. He closed his eyes, resting his head and taking in the sounds of the forest around him.

It was peaceful. The tree was hard, but the support it provided was enough comfort to sleep.

And then a fluttering set of wings disturbed his peace.

He cracked his eyes open, eyeing the fat crow staring down at him from the tree branches. It's kin were close behind. Corian gave the creature a defeated sigh, closing his eyes to relax again. He didn't care about being food enough for the whole family, so long as they waited.

Stolen novel; please report.

His mind drifted after a few seconds, the sounds around him a distorted blur. He heard the bird land closer. A scuffle. He didn't feel anything though.

Maybe it had listened to his request.

He heard another shift, but this time it was a soft flutter. Like a page turning in the wind. He wondered if it had something to do with the weight that had grown on his lap.

Before he could open his eyes again, he felt something tumbled down the side of his leg. He instinctively caught it, jolting awake to stare at the round object.

An apple.

He looked around for where it could have come from.

It was bright. But the sun didn't burn.

The ground he sat on belonged to a courtyard full of trimmed grass. The only leaves to be seen were scattered about like little three pointed embers from the ornamental trees surrounding him, shedding their fiery crowns at the first hint of fall.

He gazed at his lap. There was a book, heavy and thick with its pages spread wide.

It was his least favourite textbook. He hadn't put it past the wall of complicated text to cause him to drift off and vividly hallucinate.

Thank the gods that was a hallucination. It was already drifting from memory, and from the way it had jolted him awake, he was glad to forget it.

He bit the apple, the juicy fruit immediately hitting the spot.

Then he tried to find his spot in the book. He remembered the text being a lot neater.

He took another bite, trying to squint at the page and get a sentence out. He could see some letters sprinkled around, maybe a word or two in no particular order.

Corian frowned, nibbling on the apple in ponderment. The gibberish did look a bit cursive in places. He may have grabbed the wrong language version. Elaren was easy enough to speak to his mother, but a downright blight to learn to read.

He put the book down in defeat. Fate just didn't want him to study today. Nothing he could do about that. All his extra energy would just have to be put towards sword swinging and sister chasing.

Corian bit the last bit of the apple, wincing when something sharp poked the roof of his mouth.

He pulled the shard out of his mouth, the milky white object stained with a little bit of red from where it had gotten him.

A bone…

A bone?

Corian twisted the sharp piece at different angles, eyeing the apple. Apples didn't have bones.

He shot his attention to the book, only the empty grass staring back at him, now rougher from the tree roots that twined through it. Now a forest floor instead of a well kept courtyard.

His body froze as he stared into the familiar forest. It wasn't a dream. He hadn't admitted defeat under an apple tree either.

Slowly and painfully, he looked at what was in his hand. To his dream's credit, it was as red as an apple.

But the similarities stopped there. Gripped in his fist was a mushy pile of what used to be a crow.

Corian gagged, dropping the bloodied heap in the dirt. "Ew." He felt his tongue brush a feather stuck between his teeth. "Ew!"

He shot to his feet, worked his tongue around his mouth, and spat out every piece of debris he found. For some god awful reason he peeked at the dead crow again, and dry heaved at what little was left of it.

"Ra'zerun please strike me down, I can't live like this." Corian whined, hauling away some dirt to roll the pile of feathered mush into it and bury it out of sight. He couldn't even apologize - the rest of its murder was long gone. And with good reason.

Why had the dumb thing been so curious?

Corian spat again for extra measure, his attention perking to a distant trickle of water. The fish plan was out the window, but at least the stream could erase the rest of his guilt with a good head dunk.

He grabbed his helmet, checking on the flower to make sure he hadn't done anything to it in his daze. The stream was easy to find. The distant trickle became a loud slosh when he reached its banks, and despite the lack of foliage to keep him from the sunlight, he was willing to endure the pinch to approach the flowing water.

Corian set the helmet down, giving the flower a few splashes of fresh water. Then, he dunked his head, feeling the current rush against his cheek. The flow wasn't as strong as he had expected, and the water felt strangely warm.

But despite the roar of gushing water in his ear, he felt a sense of peace.

He could just stay there. Like that.

Corian let out the bubble of air in his mouth, staring at the sand and small creatures that drifted with the current.

He didn't need to breathe. The water was a pleasant temperature. He'd already screwed up his two step plan and grabbed a snack that wasn't a fish.

Staying there wasn't going to accomplish anything.

But trying hadn't accomplished much either.

Corian closed his eyes, imagining the possibilities.

Maybe a fish would come by.

A fish big enough to eat his head.

In a flowing river that only really came up to his thighs.

Corian frowned at the chances, opening his eyes to check for other dangers in the water.

Maybe a bear then.

Corian backtracked on that wish. Ghoul or not, a bear didn't sound like a good way to go.

His entire body seized with terror when he saw a shadow pass. It looked dark from the corner of his eye, and large. If karma was a bitch, irony was its twin sister.

Corian flailed onto his back, spitting river water as he held up his open palms like claws. The shadow's owner froze. They made eye contact, Corian's fear melting to shock at the person standing over him with a smirk.

Justin.

He blinked. Then rubbed his eyes. But the man still stood there. "What the fuck?"

"Hi Justin, also works."

Corian didn't pay back his friend's smile, still working through his bewilderment. It didn't make sense from a fall like that.

He slowly moved into a sitting position, keeping a wary gaze on the man. The confusion remained on Justin's face while Corian gave him the silent crazy eyes, enough for him to edge his open palms up.

Corian scooped up a small pebble, and flung it at him. The pebble bounced off his leg and tumbled to the ground.

Justin stared at it, thinking. Then he eyed Corian. "You okay?"

"You fell…" Corian muttered. "How…?

"You know that training? Wall patrols? How they told you if you fell off to tuck your legs and become a little ball?"

Corian barely nodded, most of his focus spent on scouring Justin's body for injuries. His face was more than a little bruised from when Inprobus decked him. But he couldn't see a scratch anywhere else.

Maybe Ra'zerun had seen the danger, and used a little extra magic to cushion Justin's fall. It would make sense for the deity to look out for the future White Knight. But if Ra'zerun had been watching, why did the god do nothing to stop Inprobus from abusing his blessing?

"Did you use magic?"

"No…" Justin shook his head, laughing away his frustration as he sat down and tucked his legs in. "Like this. This is actually a really good position when you're falling. It shields all of your organs with your skeleton-"

"Where's the bruises?"

Justin stopped, squinting at Corian, then pointing at the bloodied hole in his shirt. "Where's your stab wound?"

"Don't deflect." Corian said, narrowing his eyes.

Justin sighed. "I think this forest heals people."

"With magic?"

"No. Maybe some kind of spore or pollen in the air."

Corian stared at his friend, "So your face is immune to it?"

Justin poked his cheek, wincing and seeming to just notice the discomfort. He looked around the forest, then at the bloodied rags Corian was trying to keep as a shirt. "Luck."

"Luck?"

"There was a lot of leaves where I landed."

Corian thought on the explanation. It was a dumb thing to say. Which was usually on brand for his friend. "Fine."

"Okay." Justin replied. "Your turn Mr.Stabbed-through-and-still-walking."

"I can explain that." Corian looked at his bloodied clothes, realizing he really couldn't. Not for someone who vehemently didn't believe in magic. "I… can't die? I'm super fast at healing."

Justin laughed pumping his fist. "Me neither apparently! We sure showed that cliff who's boss."

Corian watched him jump to his feet, wary, but excited. Something wasn't right. Something had saved Justin. But he had time to figure that out, for now he just had to be grateful.

"I'm sure there's an explanation for your condition, I just need some time to think about it." Justin continued, shielding his eyes as he looked up to the land above. "For now, let's get out of here and find a road."

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