After all that pain, all that noise and darkness, there is finally light and softness. Was it all just a bad dream?

Zuri's eyes finally open, now seeing blurry light. There is a lot of dust and a feeling of relief in the air. There is a familiar and comforting voice, the farmer is there to put Zuri's glasses back on. It's nothing perfect, but the villagers had done their best to fix and clean the glasses. There are a lot of questions in Zuri's head, he tries to get up but is too weak, the farmer easily stops him.

Z: Dude, what happened? I think I'm dying. I hit my head too hard last night. What is going on? Is everyone okay?

The farmer stays silent, waiting for Zuri to finish.

Z: What happened? I swear I saw, like, a person with you! Am I dying? Was I dying and having a vision of my ancestors or something?

Zuri runs out of breath for a second. The farmer signals Zuri to stay where he is.

The farmer looks excited, he runs off and disappears.

Zuri takes a bit of time to look around and notice the structure around him. He and the whole village are gathered in his unfinished library. A lot of villagers are asleep and others were tending each other's wounds.

In comes the farmer with Alex.

Z: WHAT!?

Al: Hey, you're awake!

Z: WAIT, WHAT!?

Al: …

Z: Oh my god! You don't know how excited I am to see you!

Al: Wait, did I get this famous this fast?

Z: I thought humans were extinct! I mean I really doubted that we were extinct just an endangered species but then– actually, I thought the human population would be in the billions then I looked around and thought that we were very very endangered and for the longest time well actually it was just a couple of days I thought humans were completely gone and I was the last in the world ARE THERE MORE HUMANS WHERE CAN WE FIND THEM TAKE ME THERE PLEASE!

Zuri loses his breath once again.

Al: Wow, alright listen… Yes, there is me, I don't know about other humans though.

Z: Ah…

Al: Anyways, you got hit with two arrows, you're lucky they didn't do a lot of damage.

Z: What is happening? The village doesn't just get attacked by monsters like that because of the terrain.

Al: The monsters that attacked you are kind of a "new addition" to the world. I call them "the bogged".

Z: Okay… Keep going.

Al: Just like every other undead creature, the bogged come from the underground, but not just any place like the zombies or lava pools, like the skeletons. The bogged were buried in mud and took too long to emerge because of that, but the mud also preserved their bodies really well.

Z: So, they're like zombies. Mummified zombies that are just now coming for us? I know a thing or two about the undead, I've read a bit.

Al: Nah, they're more like skeletons. Skeletons get modified by the material they get buried in, zombies get modified by the context from when they were alive or the environment above the ground.

Z: … That doesn't really make sense.

Al: I mean, it's just a theory. Husks spread diseases because of the past of their people, strays are slower and mostly made of ice because they were inside of icebergs. Zombies turned into zombies because they got infected when they were alive, skeletons lost their skin from the heat of lava pools and caves. I hope we can find more variants to see if I'm making sense.

Z: Alright, anyways. The "bogged". There may be a way for us to deal with them.

Al: Oh, yeah, we kill them. That's probably the only way of dealing with monsters.

Z: No, not exactly. We can maybe control the rhythm in which they appear.

Al: Okay, what?

Z: Yeah, and we need to finish the thing as soon as possible. How long until the sun sets?

Al: Oh, it's not even lunch time, we should be fine. Just tell me what your plan is.

Zuri got up slowly, still trying to recover from the previous night.

Al: Dude, chill, you need to rest a bit more. You got a lot of poison in your system

Z: No, did you just see what happened last night? I'm not allowing that to happen again, I shouldn't have trusted the swamp. Did anybody get hurt? I think I already asked that. Did you say poison?

Al: Oh, yeah, a kid got hit with an arrow, but they're fine now. Yes, poison, the bogged developed poisonous saliva that they put at the tips of their arrows.

Z: Oh, that's why it burned.

Al: That's why it burned. Listen, you can rest for today. I'll go to sleep and I'll protect the village at night. You can come out tomorrow and start your project.

Z: Are you sure?

Al: I mean, yeah, that's my job.

Z: Really?

Al: I have vowed to destroy every single undead creature in the world. I will protect you and your village while you sleep.

Z: I'm not sure I trust you. But I'm not really the best at combat, and whatever you did last night, you did well and everyone survived. We don't really have another option.

Al: Rest a bit and plan the… Thing you were planning, I'll go see if I can get some rest, I don't usually sleep this late.

Z: Ya know what? I think I need some more rest.

Alex starts to walk towards the door.

Al: Okay, you better not get up and do things during the day. Remember: you're still poisoned.

Z: Ah, Zuri, by the way.

Al: Oh, I'm Alex.

Zuri sits on his bed and Alex goes on her way to sleep.

Zuri really doesn't rest too much, he spends most of his day talking to the cleric and making sure that everyone is fine and that they have enough materials for his plan.