Over the next few hours following waking up again, Bereth came to find more issues with his body: first of all, his fingers did not obey him well enough to type, forcing him to use text-to-speech systems to write on the tablet he had been given. Second of all, his sense of smell was gone. Third of all, so was his sense of taste.

Bereth awoke on a bed. A legitimate bed. Despite his body's protests at moving, he sat up and checked the ring. It was still there, untouched. Good.