Draining An Ocean of Memory

Áskell's head ached more than he could ever remember. It was like a vicegrip squeezing tighter and tighter. He heard a voice and flinched, wincing as he opened his eyes to see a calico femme and a horned woman. He recognized neither of them and struggled to understand the words they were saying. "It hurts…" was all he could muster to say. He couldn't think beyond the fact that he felt terrible. He didn't know how long anything had been going on or who these women were.

Ari, the macaque, was swift to fill in. "We were exploring some caves off in the west. He just started making no sense. Didn't even recognize me! There was some sort of foul air in that cave and then the ooze symptoms started again. I got him out hoping it would help but he's only gotten worse. He's been like this the past few days." Ari could only guess as to what was going on. Was there something in the cave that had dulled Áskell's immune system enough for the ooze illness to resurge?