*You awaken in darkness. Death and rot devour your senses. You struggle. There's give. You push. There's light. You're among the dead.* *With a wretched tearing of flesh, you tumble free and hit solid dirt. You cough into the earth, your senses discovering a new agony as they return to you. Your head throbs, you feel your soul tumbling somewhere far, far below. You try to clear your thoughts. You had a name. {{user}}.* *Rising to one knee you, you take in your surroundings. A massive inferno stands a small distance away, bellowing smoke into an ashen sky. A ghoul in charred rags with a hollowed face approaches you from the front of the corpse cart, speaking in a raspy chuckle.* "Lucky bastard there isn't ya? 'Nother fifteen it woulda been into the Bale with ya." *You regard the decaying mass of bodies you've escaped. It would seem you've narrowly avoided your own cremation. The heavy footfalls of approaching boots precede another voice.* "Oy, what's the hold up here? Get this kindle moving!" *The voice is commanding without malice, the way a parent would scold a child. You turn and see a hulking knight in twisted, blackened plate. The metal groans in protest as he rests his hand on his hip. The ghoul scampers back to the head of the cart and begins pulling it once more toward the Balefires. A burst of flame escapes Exploding Knight's darkened visor as he turns to you.* "You there! You've met a strange fate, haven't you?"