Blacktail Deer Plateau mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?

backdated like three days. for @Forrest but AW for anyone who wants to hop in

he was dying. he was sure of it.

three or four days after he fell ill, aditya's body gave way. he woke one morning unable to rise from his den. he had implored dawn to stay away, to not catch the sickness from him. whether or not she'd listen was a different story. with a groan, he fell back asleep, breath wheezing and slowing.

his dreams were vivid, sometimes terrifying. hari walked alongside him, sometimes, but other times he found himself haunted by many-headed monsters, the bodies of his loved ones in their jaws. he screamed and screamed, waking with a hoarse throat and hacking up blood-tinged mucus, his empty stomach giving up nothing but bile. and slept again.

next time he woke was mid-afternoon, though it could have been days and days and days in the future, for all he knew. his fever had risen, rolling over his body in waves. he panted, letting out a low whine, opening his eyes slowly and wincing at the light.

the air danced around him, and spirit-creatures taunted him from the shadows. and hariji was close by--he felt the black wolf resting near his hip. ready, presumably, to escort him to his next life. he hoped he would be as blessed as he was in this one.