Oh!
Shade, moving through the Great Fog in the forest, suddenly fell and was unable to get back up.
The black-and-white cat struggled for quite some time before crawling out from beneath him. Then she saw the slender, straight wound on Shade's back. His clothes had been torn open, and a thin line of blood marked his skin.
Although the injury looked as though it had merely been sliced by a sharp silver dinner knife, she knew what it meant.
Her transformation had not ended yet. She called out to Shade several times, but when he did not respond, she struggled closer to his neck to feel for his pulse. The woman's voice was filled with panic and sorrow: "John Watson, wake up! You absolutely cannot—"
Oh!
Shade abruptly raised his head, startling the black-and-white cat. The way he stared wide-eyed and gasped for air proved beyond doubt that he was not dead yet: "I even triggered False Immortality!"
The pain in his back made Shade's voice tremble slightly as he spoke: "As expected of a Thirteenth Ring. If we weren't on this island, neither of us would have escaped. Apothecary Miss, is your luck bad, or is mine? Both times we came ashore, something went wrong. Last time, it was a monster from some unknown space. This time, it's a Thirteenth Ring. I can't even imagine what it'll be next time."
He tried to support himself and stand, but in the end could only weakly shift his body until he was sitting up, leaning against a nearby tree.
"Stop talking about that. How are you? There are healing potions in my satchel!"
The cat that Apothecary Miss had transformed into asked anxiously. She could tell that Shade was nearly on his last breath. "You shouldn't have appeared just now.