Huff... huff...
General Mike jerked awake from a nightmare. His bloodshot eyes flew open. He tried to sit up, but his whole body felt weak and sore, and he couldn't move at all.
A disheveled staff officer immediately helped him up and asked anxiously, "General Mike, are you feeling any better?"
"Water... water."
"Yes! Get him some water! Quickly!"
The staff officer supported General Mike's back, keeping the weakened man from falling back onto the bed, and helped him drink from a military canteen, little by little.
Only after his cracked lips and hoarse throat had been soothed did General Mike raise his eyes to take in his surroundings. He wasn't in a hospital, a civilian house, or a military camp.
He was in a cave. A bonfire burned nearby, and several bandaged soldiers stood around his bed, watching from beside the walls and the cave entrance.
Strangest of all, a man lay on the ground, eyes closed and face deathly pale, his body stiff. Yet no one in the cave paid him any attention.
"What..." General Mike's memories were jumbled. "What happened? What's going on?"
"Don't you remember?" The staff officer looked troubled. "That makes sense. You passed out after you were hit by the 'curse.'"
He pointed to the corpse, already stiff on the ground. "Nen Exorcist Maclenn gave his life to remove the 'curse' from you and bring you back from the brink of death."
General Mike blinked his dry eyes. Gradually, he understood what had happened. He glanced at the corpse and looked horrified.
Nen Exorcist Maclenn had been one of his bodyguards, and General Mike knew exactly what Maclenn was capable of. The fact that the "curse" had taken his life showed just how dangerous it was.
"You... tell me everything that's happened during this