By the light peeking through the small vents, it was probably morning already.
I did end up dozing off a few times myself but managed to avoid falling asleep completely, afraid of what might happen. Planting my feet firmly on the floor and shifting slightly with a grunt, I stood up. It had been hours since we last heard a sound.
The girl had slept through the entire night in the exact same position she'd sat down in. There was no way something wasn’t severely wrong with her health. Not that common sense had proven to be a particularly useful tool of analysis in this godforsaken place, but that was definitely not normal.
Hopefully, my idea would work.
My body was in a sorry state — even walking was awkward. But that paled in comparison to... well, getting eaten alive.
Other than that, apparently, we'd survived another day.
Poking the girl with my right foot, not finding success, and then poking her three more times, she flinched and woke up a bit confused, eyes unfocused. Her face was sunken and pale, and her arms and legs had a multitude of bruises. She was wearing the sheets I brought from 01.
"What do you think? Should we go?" I asked her
She looked at me, tilted her head, and said:
"Wh-wat?"
"Do you think it's safe?" I said, pointing to the door but keeping my voice low.
She glanced at me and then at the door, her gaze alternating back and forth a few times. A slight frown adorned her face as though trying to decipher my words before she finally nodded.
Wait, don't tell me...
It took me a while to process the situation.
"Can you understand me?" I asked, now pointing to my mouth, looking straight at her face.
She lifted her right hand and crossed the index over the middle finger, making a weird gesture.
"Little," she said.
Wasn't the amulet working? I tapped the necklace a bit, as if that would solve the problem.
"What language am I speaking?" I did my best to enunciate the words clearly for her.
She stopped getting up, paying rapt attention to my mouth, and repeated, "Little."
Urgh, this was not working. Taking off the necklace, I asked again.
"What language am I speaking?"
She stared, squinting her eyes, but looked puzzled this time. After a few seconds, she ended up shaking her head. I nodded and put the necklace back on, giving her a thumbs up, which she didn't seem to understand.
Ok, apparently this thing translates to a specific language only, one she barely speaks. Her mother tongue is different.
Yeah, no English to be found here.
With my curiosity satiated, I went back and opened the supply sack. Taking out half a piece of bread and cutting one good slice of cheese, I offered her some. She hesitated for a moment but took them both, promptly nibbling at the bread. I decided not to give her too much, for fear of refeeding syndrome or something similar.
After we both finished breakfast, I pointed to the door again, making a motion for her to accompany me. She nodded and stood up.
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Opening the door cautiously and carefully, I peered from side to side, making sure the coast was clear. The place wasn't as thrashed as I expected it to be, the only exception being the door across from us. The same room where I found the... where I found the two bodies.
They had found them. Was that why they left us alone?
I decided it was better to go straight to the second floor instead of wasting time looking at whatever horror happened there.
The girl was alert, but she didn't seem too scared. I think. I couldn't properly read her yet.
Climbing the creaky stairs and going directly to the room with the blue door, I peeked inside and entered, with her soon following. Honestly, this was a bit uncomfortable. Her being right behind me was not doing wonders for my blood pressure.
As we stepped into the room, I went directly to the glass table, but she stood in the same place, looking around. Her gaze was focused on the left, where the research material was located.
"What?" I asked, hiding my uneasiness.
She approached the countertop and started looking through the things, picking some glassware up and lifting it high to examine it. Then, she got one of the papers, frowned at it for a few seconds, and ultimately put it back down, not picking any others.
What interested her the most, however, was the shelf with a bunch of different materials. Standing on her tiptoes, she reached for two jars filled with powders—one a dark yellow, the other a whitish gray.
I should've considered this. She seems to know more than me.
If I really was not on earth anymore... this could turn on me pretty fast. Hopefully, this is just me being paranoid.
"What is that?" I asked
She looked at me and mimed mixing them together, then quickly spread her hands apart as if imitating an explosion.
"Boom"
Okay, that's not what I want to hear.
She pointed to some pouches a bit higher up, asking me to get them for her, and I complied. They were full of different herbs and plants. She discarded everything inside and filled each with a different powder from the jars, carefully and slowly. After that, she gave one of them to me. I looked at her questioningly.
She pointed to the supply sack, indicating that I should store mine. From what I'd seen, she didn't mix the substances, so either she was doing this to keep them from interacting by mistake, or she was lying about their purpose.
She also inspected the weird machine but lost interest quickly — apparently, she had no clue what it was for either.
Finally, I called out to her and showed her the glass table.
"Here," and I made the motion of putting both of my palms on the table.
She looked straight at me, frowning, and asked:
"Why"
So she does know what this is for.
I analyzed her face. Was this a personal thing? She didn't seem willing.
"Why not?" I countered, unsure of what to say.
She glanced at it in silence, and I knew I would have to put in more effort.
"You, zombie?" I asked
She stared back at me, confusion etched on her face.
"You," I said, pointing at her as I took a step back, 'one of them?' I shaped my hands into claws, like an adult pretending to scare a child, but kept the most serious expression I could muster. "Monster? Infected?"
Actually, now that I think about it, this could really backfire on me. What if she really was something else? My fingers went cold, and I took another step back toward the door, this time as an instinct.
She seemed to sense the shift in the air, her eyes widening. She quickly shook her head, hands raised in surrender.
"Nnn, no. Calm. I do it," she said, putting both her palms on the table.
The same light veil formed, like a hologram appearing out of thin air.
SPIRITUS DIAGNOSIS
Aspect: Caeldor
Essentia: -2/200
Qualifier: null
[Warning]
* Negative Essence saturation
* Prolonged exposure to low Essentia atmosphere
* Risk of permanent Spiritus atrophy
PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS
Constitution: 6
Vitality: 4
Perception: 14
Strength: 4
Agility: 8
Capacity: 2000 (-200)
[Warning]
* Two unknown afflictions detected
* One unknown substance detected
After the light sheet blinked out of existence, she looked at me, eyes uncertain, seeking a reaction.
I have no clue what that all means.
I nodded, indicating that it was enough. She let out a breath of relief.
"What's Caeldor?" I asked about the term that didn't appear in my diagnosis.
"Harmon—Harmoni... zation?" She sounded uncertain of herself, and I realized she was probably translating something from her own language. Maybe the word 'harmony'?
Anyway, her numbers were very low compared to mine, but it made sense considering her state. Other than that, she wasn't completely out of the woods yet. Two afflictions? Why couldn't this damn thing be more specific...