The attunement took seven days, and Azaroth returned to his body on the fifth day. He tried to get back to Corvus, but his mind touched nothing.

By this time, his body had lost a lot of functions. He could not see or hear. He could not smell. He was locked in his mind, left there to do the only thing his body was capable of.

Feeling.

He could feel every inch of his body, muscles, veins, blood, bones. Everything. And it was pain he felt in all of them.

On the sixth day, Azaroth was getting a little used to the pain. Then, on the seventh day, it stopped. Everything stopped.

At first, Azaroth didn’t know it had stopped; he still felt the echo of the pain crowding his mind. But then he realized that he was starting to hear things: murmurs and soft cries and the clink of metal.

He thought it was his mind playing tricks at first, but sensation began to return to his body. He could feel again, and it wasn’t pain. He could feel cool air against his body. And Azaroth could smell again, alhough he wished he couldn’t.

Everything stinks. Of old piss. And rotting shit. Of blood and sweat. It smells like pain.

Azaroth opened his eyes and closed them again. It was natural light, but it burned his eyes and they watered.

"You’re awake, Azaroth?" Kael Hound asked.

Azaroth ignored him as he tried to get his eyes to open. His eyes were gritted; layers of dried tears and mucus had made them heavy. Thankfully, his hand had been uncuffed, so he rubbed them as best as he could.

He opened his eyes. He was still lying on the metal bed, the chains removed, and he squinted at the ceiling. A red light crystal burned there, and he looked away.

Alex was watching him. He was the one with the bed beside Azaroth to the right, and his eyes were on him. He must have woken up earlier and was already sitting up.

Alex looked like shit. His hair was matted, his skin covered in dried sweat. Dark circles ringed his eyes. For once, he wasn’t talking or smiling. He looked worn out and tired.

Azaroth counted him not talking as one of the advantages of whatever Kael did to them. He sat up on the bed, ignoring the mess he had created on it. Kael didn’t clean their shit.

Kael was waking the rest up, his hand smacking them on the neck while his voice called their names. They woke up like Azaroth, slowly and with care, but eventually all four of them were sitting up on the metal beds.

They were all tired. Dirty. Messy. Aching.

But Kael was in a happy mood. "Congratulations!"

They winced as Kael’s voice boomed in their heads. He spoke normally, but their senses were still raw, so everything seemed loud and unnecessary.

Kael didn’t mind them and continued. "Your cores are now attuned."

Azaroth checked it. His normal core had now turned red—molten red, like a heated metal ball. His essence was the same color too.

Everyone checked theirs, and their expressions showed as they felt their attuned cores for the first time.

Kael clapped. "Before anything, go upstairs and bathe. You stink, and that’s saying it nicely. I’ll be waiting here with answers and food."

Not much encouragement was needed. Everyone wanted to get out of that bed and remove their sweaty clothes.

They said nothing to each other as they made their way up. Azaroth shut his door firmly, leaned on it, and closed his eyes briefly.

He tried to hold onto the sensation of the pain he felt for seven days. It was the type of pain he wanted to inflict as his revenge—but harder and more brutal.

But for now, Azaroth satisfied himself by thinking about it, then he left his bedroom for the bathing room. He could smell himself, and he didn’t like it. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Water must have been taken up earlier, and he washed himself. The water was cool against his skin in the way that he liked, and it didn’t take long to finish. He left his discarded clothes on the floor for someone else to deal with.

Then he wore the new training robe on the bed. It was a black robe with a slash. The bath had loosened his muscles enough that his body remembered something important.

Food.

He went downstairs and met a large table with food and drinks. The room had been cleared of the beds, and any lingering mess had been cleaned.

Kael sat at the head of the table, an empty plate in front of him and a knife in hand. His mask moved in a way that made Azaroth think the man had just finished eating.

Stallus was already sitting at the table. She looked the same, but her blue eyes shone even brighter than normal. She held a small teacup in her hand and raised it above her head towards Azaroth. "Kael said it’ll be good for getting our bodies up and working!"

Azaroth didn’t reply; he drew himself a chair instead.

"Getting our bodies working! Ah! Isn’t he the one who made us like this?" Alex descended the stairs. His hair was still wet, but the bath must have returned him to normal.

Kael chuckled. "That’s me."

Azaroth poured himself tea. It was green and hot, the aroma already doing the job of settling his head. He sipped it and found it bitter, but it was heavy with medicinal herbs, so he continued drinking.

Stallus rolled her eyes. "Just get to eating or drinking."

Alex shook his cup at her. "You don’t know the pain I felt! And there was no passing out and such. It’s amazing that I can now stand here normally."

Catena was extra slow today, and he finished most of his actions with a sigh. He sat like a snail, his eyes half-closed, almost shut, and drank his tea in one go.