Plot hole (Spoiler)

Maybe he was still alive. Maybe his head mush was somehow still alive and his limbs were wiggling and squirming around until they rotted so much they could no longer move. How long did he endure this horrible fate? Until his brain mush and heart rotted away, all the while futilely wiggling his decaying flesh? Or would his bones retain that "dark gift", forever aware but unable to move or communicate. Dark Gift indeed.

That's not a plot hole. It's just left up in the air. We don't know, and neither does the main character know if it worked.