37.
It is burning. The world itself is on fire. That's exciting.
Taiki opens his eyes and doesn't at the same time. He is standing in the dark, which, in retrospect, makes him consider shutting his eyes again. It's the same blindness. He licks his lips. Cold, like he's dead. Well, that is a trite difficult. He has to work around this. He's probably not dead, that's too much effort. Him being dead means they have an army of angry family to deal with, and that is just too much killing for some weapons to bear.
Something is hissing in his ear. It's not very frightening, have they met his mother yet?
"In the way."
He smiles, lips curling his cheeks until it hurts."Yes, playing is a dreadful habit of mine. I am afraid you have to get used to it."
It croons, dips, snarls. "Play with us."
Taiki raises a hand to cover his mouth. "Certainly. Where should we start?"
Eyes open around him, tendrils of smoke and shadow wrapping into his skin and beginning to squeeze. The world is patterns of swirling red and black and blinking, waiting for screams. Well, he isn't that quick to cry.
Well, he has never been strangled with tentacles before. It would be a fun experience.
Assuming he survived.