I spent the next few days bouncing in and out of consciousness, unsure where I was. Unsure if I was even alive. The fragments of light and sound that I got at first seemed unreal. I wondered if I had become a ghost, wandering and waking only as the flames set for the dead reached my vision. I was unable to move, cold and yet numb in many ways. I didn't feel like I had a body at all, merely a consciousness that could register moments in time and nothing more.
After a few days, I became aware of something that let me know I was alive - pain. Pain everywhere in my body, pain that made breathing hurt. I was able to wake for a few minutes at a time, seeing flames dancing behind the screens around my bedding. My chambers were being kept warm, cloth piled high upon me, and priests chanting in t
