An ear-splitting scream heralds Emet-Selch's return to life.

He doesn't realise the sound is coming from his own throat. His body convulses on whatever slab or bed his previously dead body has been left on. Bios surges into him like an electric shock straight to the heart. Static noise shrieks through his head. He goes from dead to alive in the span of seconds and it's agony.

Eventually the noise subsides. He lies limply in place, breathing raggedly, as all the material and immaterial colours of the world spin nauseatingly. But even as the cacophony subsides, new whispers replace them: voices of the past and visions of his long life ghosting before him like smoke.

It's enough to make him wish he'd stayed dead.

He's tired. He's drained. Not magically - as far as he can tell, being restored to his initial state hasn't come with any side-effects. No, it's his mind that suffers.

Dying is never pleasant, and oh, he has died many, many times over the course of his long life. Usually deliberately. Sometimes not. Each time he hopes it will be the last but it never is. Not even now. The effort of clinging to life is like hanging by one's nails off the side of a sheer cliff. Finding the will to keep going has always been the hardest challenge of returning.

So he volunteers to work on the hexes, hoping that the work will distract his mind from its darker inclinations. For the most part, it does. He holds magic in his palms like it's a spindle, pulling threads of Bios back to normalcy.

He's not really watching the others who are here with him. But he's quick to spot imminent catastrophe and speak up.

"Watch out there--"

Emet-Selch thinks it's laughable that something or someone would try to challenge him in utter darkness. The gleam of a soul defies all attempts to douse it. Mayhap the Cipher itself doesn't have a soul worth commenting on, but everything in this world is made of magic. Bios. And that Emet-Selch can see just fine.

He watches the flash and arc of the creature's movements and moves out of the way with ease. Sends forth his own attacks when he's reasonably sure of a strike. But he has learnt his lesson from the first time: he won't commit to an exhausting attack unless victory is certain.

I'm happy to have Emet help with any other part of this, just drop me a DM or discord message.