Devis walked forward, seemingly out for a stroll, apart from the facts that she was deep in a forest and had on not a stitch of clothing. However, surprisingly, she came across no animals, friendly or otherwise. While passing by a brook, she stopped to wash the dried blood off her body, not because she was repulsed by it, but rather because the stale smell was annoying. Cleansed, she continued walking in the direction she had initially chosen at random. Oddly enough, especially considering her former condition, she did not tire, but felt full of vitality.
"Must be one of the advantages of being dead," Devis hummed to herself as she ambled along, not noticing that her frail and battered body now had a bit of muscle on it, as though she had the benefit of good nourishment.
Devis was not sure how long she had walked, but the bits of sunlight wafting through the deep trees gave her the notion it was past noon. Without warning, she stumbled onto a wide trail through the forest. It might even be considered a proper road.
"Hey lady, are you alright?!" a voice called out. Devis looked down the road to see a stout man with a heavy rucksack trotting in her direction, his eyes widened in shock at her nude state. Devis simply gave him a detached gaze as he approached.
"You're not hurt, are you?" the man asked, huffing and leaning on his knees as he finally reached Devis. Upon her shaking her head, he gave a short sigh of relief, but averted his eyes the next second, blushing. "Here," he said, reaching inside his bag and pulling out a cloak, which he placed over her shoulders and tied. "I'm not sure what happened to you, but you'll get sick wandering around like that."
Do dead people get sick? The afterlife is awful strange, Devis cocked her head and looked at the man in puzzlement.
"Ahem, I'm Lutik, by the way, I'm a traveling peddler," Lutik indicated the rucksack he was busy closing after providing Devis with the cloak. Seeing Devis did not respond in any way, Lutik assumed the trauma of whatever had left her alone wandering the woods was still fresh.
"Look, the next closest town is two days from here...since I'm headed that way, why don't we travel together? You can get some help there, or contact your family," Lutik suggested, feeling sorry for the stranger he stumbled across. Devis still did not respond, but when Lutik rose to his feet and began walking, she followed. Although a bit unnerved by his silent companion, Lutik was truly a merchant, which meant relying on his people skills.
"You know, it's best to stick to the road here. There are fearsome beasts in the deep woods. While every road has bandits and the like, you're more likely to survive an encounter with them than those monsters," Lutik chattered on, filling the air with his one-sided conversation. Just as the sun was dropping and Lutik was looking for a place to make camp, Devis stiffened and reached out, pulling Lutik's sleeve.
"Huh? What is-" Lutik turned, but before he had a chance to finish his question, he caught sight of shadowy movement around them.