(Ereshgal POV)
Kisaya's footsteps echoed ahead. She should have been too far to hear by now, yet every step reached me clearly. My gaze dropped to the ground.
Five years, had it really been that long?
What the hell happened?
What had happened to Uruk? To my family? To me? The thought pressed down on me, heavier than anything else.
Why is my father imprisoned? Why did he send Ennari with Ishtal? Is my mother really safe?
I pressed my palms against my face, then dragged them down slowly. My skin felt cold, too cold. I lifted my head slowly.
Was this real?
A breeze passed through the trees. I barely felt it on my skin, but I saw the tree bark in perfect detail, every line and crack sharp. The colors were too vivid, the bark too dark, every groove standing out unnaturally.
I needed answers.
My fingers dug into the dirt beside me, grit packing beneath my nails. Solid. Real. But even that… didn't feel right. No discomfort. No resistance. Just the mechanical fact of contact.
I couldn't sit here.
Clenching the dirt in my fist, I let it fall through my fingers, then pushed against the tree behind me to stand. The wood split with a sudden crack.
My hand shattered the bark and punched straight through the wood like wet parchment.
How strong am I now?
The thought barely formed before my legs buckled and I dropped hard to the ground, balance slipping away in an instant. I tried again, slower this time, careful with every movement, applying less force. The effort paid off—this time I managed to stand without issue.
My legs felt longer beneath me, my chest broader. Am I taller?
I moved my neck from side to side. Nothing tense, nothing sore. Only movement. Lowering my gaze, I studied my limbs: veins that hadn't been there before ran over new muscle, the skin pale, unmarked, and cold.
I tried to walk.
The first step sent me crashing to the ground, my legs refusing to move as they should. I pushed myself up, unsteady, and managed two steps before stumbling again. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself upright, only to collapse once more after a few paces. My body felt foreign, unresponsive, as if strength and control were no longer aligned.
This time, I caught myself against a stone, fingers digging into its surface. The rock cracked under my grip.
My fingers moved on their own, as if testing limits. I looked at my hands—clean, unmarked, not a single scratch.
Not even after crushing stone.
What am I?
I moved again. One step—smoother. Then three more. With each stride my balance shifted, the strength inside me didn't obey like it used to. Every motion overreached, forcing me to pull back deliberately, carefully, just to stay on my feet.
But soon I was walking normally, no stumbles, no strain. Just movement, steady and controlled.
Then, a sound.
Footsteps.
I turned.
Far ahead, where shadow met trees, I saw her.
Kisaya.
I saw her clearly, too clearly. Even at this distance, I could make out the strands of her hair, the curve of her shoulders beneath the weight of the sack she carried now, one she hadn't before. I saw the exact place her boots bent the grass beneath her.
It was night. But I saw as if the sun hadn't set.
She spotted me, her steps slowing slightly as she approached. Her voice reached me before she did.
"Are you okay? Are you sure you can stand already?"
I nodded. "I can't stay still. I need to move at least a little. Where did you go?"
She replied "You remember Darek? He came with me, along with some mercenaries, to find you. I suspected he probably saw everything through shared vision, so I went to handle it."
I narrowed my eyes. "By 'handle it' you mean…"
"I didn't kill him" she answered, calm and steady.
The breath I didn't need escaped me anyway.
"So then, how did you handle it?"
"He made a Divine Oath."
I blinked. "A Divine Oath?"
She nodded, her tone a little more careful now. "There's a lot you've missed. It's basically a vow made to the god with whom you've formed a pact. You can't break it. The consequences are extreme."
"And I went to..."
The gods again.
My hands clenched into fists, so tight I felt skin break. My own blood, spilled between my fingers.
This whole situation… it's their fault.
Why didn't they choose me?
Why did they refuse to heal me?
Why was I left to rot beneath dirt?
Is this... the price of their rejection?
A beast wearing a name that no longer fits?
"Ereshgal!"
Kisaya's voice cut through the spiral.
"What?" I snapped, too sharply.
"You weren't responding. I was saying something."
I stared at her, mind catching up. "Sorry, I didn't notice. What were you saying?"
Her expression softened just slightly. She nodded, then reached into a sack slung across her shoulder.
"I went to the cart to get you a change of clothes. Here, I think they'll fit."
She stepped forward and held them out.
I took them. My hands looked strange, already healed—too steady, too pale. The fingertips tingled, like they still remembered the bark I'd crushed earlier.
I stared at the fabric in my grasp for a long moment. Only then did I look down and notice what I wore, just a cloth wrap at my waist. I hadn't even thought about it until now.
Kisaya didn't say anything. She just stood there, watching.
The silence grew teeth.
So I spoke.
"Can you turn around while I change?"
A faint flush touched her cheeks.
"Sorry. I wasn't paying attention." She turned, a little too quickly.
I slipped off the cloth wrap and pulled on the tunic and trousers she'd brought. The fabric clung to muscle that didn't feel like mine. Everything sat wrong on my body.
I held the wrap in my hand for a moment. "This was yours, wasn't it?"
She glanced back briefly, a trace of embarrassment in her face before she nodded. "Yes."
"Thank you."
After a pause, she asked quietly, "Eresh… what do you want to do now?"
I adjusted the fit of the tunic and met her gaze. "First, I have to get used to my body. After that, I was going to ask you where Ennari is, I want to find her. Then I'll head to Uruk. But before any of that…" My voice dropped.
"Tell me everything. What happened while I was gone?"
She let out a long sigh—half resignation, half bracing for pain.
"I figured… Don't you want to rest for a bit? You basically came back from the dead."
Came back from the dead.
The words hung in the air like smoke from an extinguished fire.
Ereshkigal, I thought.
The goddess of the dead.
That's where my name comes from.
Ironic.
If this is resurrection, then it's the cruelest joke of all.
I looked at Kisaya and gave a faint, humorless smile. "You know how I am."
She chuckled.
"I figured you'd say that."