Saki

  I made a waving motion to the others and we all grabbed our stuff, hidden under another illusion, and began walking towards Drestor. Luckily we weren't an army, and it only took a couple of hours for us to outpace the undead.

  I kept reconnecting to undead Saki to see where they were. She was near the front of the lines. Probably part of the Lich's plan to anger Tama. That's what I would have done after all. Being forced to fight your best friend was hardly fair play. But it seemed the Lich used a similar playbook to mine.

  "So, let me get this straight. Are you the real Saki or the clone?" Tera asked. I looked over at her. She was frowning and looking me up and down. I sighed.

  "It's not that simple. Technically speaking, I am not even my body, Tera. I am my essence. This form is the form I am most comfortable in as I was born as a fox, so being Foxkin feels natural," I said, trying to explain.

  Tera stared for another moment before saying, "Okay, but that didn't answer the question."

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "If you're really that worried, this was the clone body. You never saw me move from that ridge, remember? I didn't have time to, and moving to hide if I was being watched would have been insanely stupid."

  David spoke up. "So, if you're the clone, that means the original Saki is actually an undead now?" He sounded less scared and more curious.

  My eye twitched. "Not exactly. Like I said, my body is a form, it is not me. I am my essence."

  Tera: "That doesn't make any sense, weird Kitsune Gleeblet excrement is what that is!" She sounded annoyed but amused.

  "Well, I am sorry if..." I trailed off, not willing to play Tera's game. I had literally just died and was not in the mood for this. "Never mind, Tera. Let's just get going. Please no more questions for now."

  Tera harrumphed but went quiet. We walked in silence for the rest of the day. No one wanted to speak of what happened. For all intents and purposes, we had succeeded, but we had underestimated how cunning the Lich was.

  When we set up camp for the night, David said he would keep guard, and Tera walked over to me. She looked at me for another long moment before saying, "I know you asked me not to bring it up again, but it's driving me crazy. How can you be so casual about literally dying and now being in a clone body? You have never lived in that body before, and yet you act so natural in it..."

  I sighed, about to repeat myself. Then I thought better of it. Instead, I looked over at Tera and chose my words carefully.

  "Tera, if you have a cup of water, and you pour the water from that cup into another empty cup that is exactly the same as the first cup, then smash the first cup into pieces. Is the same water still there with you? Or is it all over the floor with the first cup?" I queried her.

  She was silent for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, the water is in the new cup, not the old one. So all you lost was the cup." Her eyes went wide as the realization finally set in and she smiled. "That makes a lot more sense. So, your body is the cup, and the water is you?" she asked curiously.

  I nodded and smiled back. "Now you are getting it!" I wagged my tail and my ears perked up.

  She seemed to think for a moment. "That means you didn't really die, your body did!" she said excitedly.

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  I froze. That was technically true and not true at the same time. While my essence was me, my body was a part of me too. It wasn't exactly like the cupthere was some loss. But it was hard to explain.

  It was more like losing a pet than an object. A close pet. It hurt on an emotional level, and the phantom pains still existed. Even if the body itself was not exactly me.

  I was similar to a parasite inside of a host, in the simplest form of the word. Without me, my host would not function though. I also created my host, and it literally existed to be my host.

  It was complicated. Even so, I felt I shouldn't lie to Tera. After all, we had started to be better and she was trying her best. Instead, I considered how to respond before it hit me.

  "Okay, Tera, think of it like this. My body isn't exactly me, but it's a piece of me. Like owning a pet. When that pet dies, it hurts me immensely. I may not have died, but it felt like I did when it happened. It's like a very, very close symbiotic relationship." Hoping that would be clear enough, I looked at her curiously.

  She frowned, seemingly lost in thought for a long moment before asking, "So, you are your body, but you're not your body?" She finally asked, clearly confused. I facepalmed, hard.

  I stopped talking after that, and Tera didn't push. Instead, we both got a few hours of sleep, then I replaced David as lookout and he got a few hours.

  After that, we all left while it was early morning. After all, the undead were slow, but they didn't sleep.

  We made our way traveling through the path, hugging the Trelloark forest and staying a decent distance from the undead army. I prayed to Earth that Tama had made it and told the city what was going on.

  She should have definitely made it by now and already found Talia... if she hadn't gotten lost. That worried me more than anything. I could just imagine Tama ending up somewhere random, like in some small side village or something.

  I shook my head. I needed to trust Tama more. Besides, we would find out very soon if she managed to deliver the warning.

  Two days later, we arrived at Drestor. We were exhausted and barely awake, but we managed to see the town walls in the distance. As we got closer, I smiled weakly. The town was shut down, there were guards on the walls and adventurers in front of the gates.

  "Tama made it," I said weakly, as I rubbed my eyes. We must have looked like zombies with the way we looked, because we were accosted by a group of adventurers thinking that because I was pale and my team was staggering with me, we must be undead. After a large misunderstanding, they let us in and I nearly collapsed right there. But first, I needed to find Tama.

  It seems Tera had the same idea and immediately called out, "Tama, where are you!" She yelled at it and I frowned at her. After a moment it struck me that Tama would definitely hear that if she were in the city at all.

  I mimicked Tera, calling out Tama's name. "Tama! It's me, Saki! Come here!"

  I managed to blink my bleary eyes once, and suddenly Tama was standing in front of me. She smiled at me, but I saw the worry in her eyes. What was worse was the way she looked. She had heavy bags under her eyes and her face was pale. She looked like she hadn't slept in a week. "Nya!" Tama said weakly, her voice barely audible. "Tama is happy Saki is..." There was a look of genuine relief on Tama's face as she looked at me. Then she fell forward, passing out on the cobble street.

  It took me a moment for it to click. Tama had just... passed out from exhaustion. Implying she had no sleep since she left us. I stared down at her. I needed to bring her with me... but I was so tired I wasn't sure I could lift her.

  Suddenly Tera leaned down and lifted Tama gently off the cobblestone, carrying her on her back. I watched as her eyes seemed to glaze over for a second before they came back and she turned to look at me. "Empress Tama needs... needs sleep. I am going to take her to get some."

  That's all she said before she turned and left, going to the nearest inn. I couldn't help myself. I giggled quietly as I followed behind Tera. Tonight, we were going to finally get some rest.

  Sleep came, and I never wanted it to leave again. I'm not sure how long I was asleep, but I did know that when I finally woke up, I was in my fox form, on top of a naked Tama. When did she even have time to undress while she was passed out?! Had she woken out of a dead sleep to remove her clothes?

  In the end it didn't matter. She looked cold, so I grew my tails out and covered her. I felt her body relax and her arms grab my tails like a blanket. I smiled, well as much as a fox could smile, before closing my eyes and going back to sleep.