Ren woke up to the sensation of a thousand tiny hammers pounding against the inside of her skull.
She groaned, her voice a dry rasp, and tried to lift her head. It felt impossibly heavy, like a bowling ball balanced on a toothpick. A wave of nausea rolled through her, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut until the world stopped spinning.
She was cold. Bone-deep, shivering cold. And wet. And sticky.
And the smell.
Oh god, the smell.
It was a pungent cocktail of stagnant water, rotting vegetation, and something distinctly biological that Ren prayed wasn't what she thought it was.
"Where..." Ren mumbled, her teeth chattering. "Where am I? What happened?"
[System: You are in a holding pit, Host. A glorified hole in the ground, really. The fox abandoned you. He sprinted into the forest like his tail was on fire, leaving you at the mercy of the self-proclaimed tiger Queen and her wasteland boyfriend.]
The memory hit Ren harder than the rock Vara had used to bash her skull in.
