Kahlan couldn't remember having ever felt so awful in her entire life. Her limbs ached, her fever raged, and her mind was foggy. She was subconsciously aware of Zedd lying on a cot near hers, his breathing ragged. Sometimes she got lost inside herself, retreating to the furthest corner of her mind she could possibly find and resting there awhile. She had vague and violent dreams when she slept and she blamed it on the fever. She saw the world through red hues and slashed at men and women and children she'd never met before. She cut them down mercilessly, and sometimes she could hear herself laugh. It was a wicked laugh, and it made her sick to think that she could dream such things—even in the state she was now. At times she would stir awake and her eyes would flutter open for a matter of seconds, but before falling shut again they would catch glimpses of blood covering her skin and dress. She figured it was just hallucinations. She could barely move when she was this sick, let alone kill innocents and bathe in their blood. Sometimes she thought she was the one bleeding, but she knew that didn't make sense. There was too much blood for it all to be hers. She'd lost her sense of time who knew how long ago, but much of the time she wasn't retreated inside of herself, she thought of Richard. When would he be back? Was he safe? Would he bring the cure?

"Kahlan."

From where she'd withdrawn to in her mind, she heard a voice coming from the real world.

"Kahlan."

She shivered as she tried to gather the strength to open her eyes. Her body convulsed violently and she ran to the place where she found safety.

When she came to, her head was clear and she could think somewhat straight. She sat up, dazed, and gasped when she saw a pair of blue eyes inches away from her own.

"Castiel!"

The strange man she'd met when she was but six years old—he hadn't aged a day!

"We have to get away from here," he said in that very blunt way of his.

"How…you look just the same." She caught sight of a body behind him and stopped breathing for a moment when she saw Zedd's still form, guts strewn all over the dirty ground. She could make out his intestines and her stomach lurched.

"There's no time to explain." He reached out a hand and suddenly they were somewhere else entirely.

Kahlan jerked away from him. "What did you do!"

"You were being possessed," he explained calmly. "You couldn't control your actions—"

She looked down at her hands, horrified. All the way up to her elbows entirely red. There was little white left of visible white on her dress and she could feel her hair was matted with blood.

"I killed him, didn't I?"

"It's not your fault," Castiel said, attempting to keep her calm. "Leviathan have been released…I was sent back to help. You were being possessed by one."

She shook her head in denial and shock. "It was a plague…Richard went to retrieve a cure…"

"A plague would be simpler," he stated. "But I'm afraid Darken Rahl did worse than that. He's unleashed a terrible breed of monster. I'm sorry, Kahlan. Stay safe. Stay hidden until this is over."

And then he disappeared, just like all those years ago.

And Kahlan was left alone and lost. She had no idea where she was, she had to find Richard, and she didn't understand anything Castiel had said.

She had to find him.