>>5324431Pine wakes up in a forest, devoid of color.
Only shades of black and grey exists, and the sun is reduced to a white sphere in the sky.
As she wanders aimlessly through a forest, Pine sees a tall entity with long limbs and a tiny mouth with a diameter no larger than the hole of a needle.
The ghoul tears the leaves off the trees and tries to eat it. No matter how many leaves it amassed, the hunger could never be satiated.
Time passes quickly. The white orbs that could be considered the sun and moon dash across the sky in a blink.
The forest become nothing more than a collection of sticks of wood,
the dirt is covered in layers of leaves. Before the layer could reach her head, she wakes up.
Pine remembers an old memory.
These ghouls are souls that are unable to pass on, and cursed with hunger. Sometimes people would offer them a meal in an attempt to help them pass on.
During the early days of her life, when she was still a camp follower, she used to make batches of food whenever the temples have a religious ceremony in cities the mercenaries visit. It was a decent source of income.
She can barely remember those temples and monks anymore. Their religious influences seems to have fade away nowadays. The government concerns itself funding more important projects to the military, and the livelihood heavily is dependent on local powers.
(Cont.)
