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Scarlet

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Somehow, even while being whipped around, I managed to fall asleep on the back of the sprinting Sea. Once I wake I find that the three of us are back at a more reasonable height.

The area around me is flat, with no trees in sight. The wind slowly blows the long grass in the distance, creating waves. Unlike the rest of my surroundings, in front of me is a steep incline. Sloped earth leads up the side of a mountain dotted with trees and shrubs.

Immediately a path of plowed earth and trees stands out to me. An area wider than the road of crushed trees and broken stones leads up into the mountainside. This must’ve been the monster’s path down. Continuing to look around, I see Sea and Emerald chittering away to each other a short distance from me.

They look like they’re trying to have a secret conversation. I scratch my head. I can’t understand their language, why are they acting all secretive? The duo soon notices me watching them, so they slither over to where I’ve been placed.

Emerald draws the mountain again, along with the cave in the side. They draw an arrow to the hole, and then point at me. They want me to come with them? Why not, where else would I go right now? I give them a nod, and get some claps in return.

Soon I’m lifted into the air for a second time, placed on Emerald’s coarse shell. After I’m firmly placed, we slowly begin our ascent up the mountainside. Unlike the sprint through the forest, the two shelled creatures keep low to the ground, moving at a slower pace. A blue tentacle shoots from emerald and suddenly wraps around my mouth. My unexpected assault is accompanied by the two shelled beings freezing in place.

I take the hint and follow suit, not letting myself move. After a few minutes of silence, a huge shadow rushes over us. The shadow of wings is larger than the bullgrub. Soon after the shadow passes over, a loud roar rips the air around us. The trees nearby violently shake, branches and nuts dropping out of them. After an eternity of silence, the warm limb unwraps itself from my face.

I decide to stay quiet from then on, not wanting to draw any attention.

【〓〓〓〓】

After a slow couple of hours, we reach the mouth of the cave. We manage to get to our destination with only a few more frightening incidents like before. Somehow the two of them always managed to freeze long before the horrible thing flew over us. After a few clicks and flashes to each other, the two creatures move inside the cave.

As we make our way through the narrow caves I have to hunch down on Emerald’s back. The ceiling creeps downwards towards me, to the point that I feel it rubbing against my dress. My eyes screw shut to keep myself from panicking, I put my trust into my new companions. Eventually the narrow tunnel system opens up. In front of us the cramped tunnel that barely let me through becomes a massive cave, at least as large as Wornsbirth. I stare in awe, looking around the cavern.

A large village is nestled in the center of the space, surrounded by lone houses and fields of dirt. I notice plants growing in places outside the fields, huddled around glowing mushrooms. Glowing moss hangs above the plowed earth. A good-sized river flows from one wall of the cave to the other. The most amazing thing is the number of creatures like Emerald and Sea. Just from a look around I see at least a few hundred of the glowing beings. I see some working on a building, another fishing in the river with their rubbery limbs. This is really a village under a mountain.

Emerald begins to move again, leisurely wiggling towards the lively village. We pass over a bridge made of a strange green-hued wood. Probably looking like a tourist, I gawk at the foreign design of the buildings and the fascinating new materials. I soon realize I’m not the only person staring. As we pass the people in the town they stop what they’re doing and their shells follow me as if they are watching.

I eventually get a reprieve from the feeling of being watched when we move through a doorway into a building slightly taller than its neighbors. Once inside, the door slams shut behind us. I glance back and see a dark-shelled creature standing in front of the door. Before my nerves can even start to get bad, I feel Emerald’s soft pat on my back. I take the moment of quiet to calm myself.

I am lifted and gently placed on the floor by Emerald. As my butt hits the soft green wood, a shelled creature with a bright white shell enters the room. Looking over them, I notice differences from the other creatures I’ve seen. Instead of a smooth, almost crystalline shell, their shell is milky and has many gouges and chips in it.

Emerald and Sea both withdraw all their limbs but two, putting those out straight in front of them. This has to be some form of respect, right? Taking the shot in the dark, I fold my knees under me and bow, placing my arms out in front of me. My action causes the room to be lit by many flashes. The fast clicking continues for a moment, until it’s interrupted by clapping.

I glance up and look for the source of the clapping. I immediately find it, as it’s the person I’m bowing to. It motions at me to sit up, so I follow its instructions. Once I’m sitting again, the flashes and clicks resume. My eyes glaze over as I wait for them to finish chatting.

The creature in the front eventually raises a limb, moving it towards me. As the appendage gets closer, the tip begins to glow brightly. Just before the creature’s arm touches me, my necklace writhes around my neck.

The wooden braid quickly expands, taking the form of a lizard. Hack, perched on my shoulders, hisses angrily at the glowing tendril. The scuffed shell being moves its arm back, startled by the sudden lizard. The milky creature starts clicking at me rapid fire, the flashes almost blinding me.

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A deep red light cuts through the barrage of flashes, drawing my gaze to Emerald. Emerald blinks red again, moving an appendage to me. Hack ignores their arm, focused on the being in front. Emerald points at the shelled one in the front and then pats my back. They want me to trust the pale shell. I slowly nod, removing Hack from my shoulders.

Emerald clicks a few times, causing the glowing limb to advance on me again. I hold the squirming lizard in my lap, and allow the tendril to touch my forehead. The light flashes brighter once, then disappears. Is… Is that it? I glance down at Emerald, hoping for some form of explanation.

“Worked?” A deep voice speaks. Startled, I look around for the speaker. “Worked?” This time since I’m facing forward I see the flash that accompanies the word.

The speaker is the scuffed-up being in front.

【〓〓〓〓】

“Not worked?” A disappointed voice comes from beside me. I look down at Emerald, confused. They smack their shell with a tendril. “Boss, it… not work” There’s a strange long pause mid sentence, timed to when their shell is unlit. I look forward at the milky-shelled one again.

“What is your name?” I ask. After a few seconds the creature speaks again.

“It ask me?” Their question is directed at Emerald, not me. “But it no speak.” Emerald pats me on the back.

Pulling myself together I start to explain. “I can understand you.” My words cause the shelled beings in the room to all flash at once. I think I startled them. The frontmost being focuses on me.

“Hello… I boss… here. Name Holly.” I try to not get distracted by the long pauses. “This place name… Rockhold.” Holly points at the door behind me. “We… Unrak.” Finally, I have a name for these guys. I hobble off of Emerald and stand on my own with their help.

My attempt at a polite bow is mostly successful. “I am Scarlet Holdings, daughter of Count Holdings. Thank you for helping me.” I give the boss a smile, hoping they know human expressions. “Have you interacted with humans before?”

The boss taps the floor before answering. “Scarlet… human?” They flash red when saying my name, amusing me greatly.

“Yes I am, mostly.”

The Unrak coils and uncoils a limb. “No, we see… human before… no speak.” Their voice has a sad twang. “Human… Thought Unrak monster… we left.”

They helped me even after humans were awful to them, I owe them big time. My curiosity gets the better of me before I can ask anything useful. “Do you speak with many words, or only a few?”

The question throws Holly off a bit, making her pause before speaking. “Many small words.” As I thought, whatever is translating for me must be doing its best, our languages must be too different. I nod several times before prying some more.

“Do the Unrak have genders?” This has been bugging me, as I’ve had to assume they all have none. There is no apparent sexual dimorphism at least.

Holly does the coiling motion with their arm again, it must be a tic. “What… gender?” C’mon translator, do better!

“Genders are like boy or girl.” I hope those translate better than the concept of gender.

Holly flashes immediately this time. “Ah! Yes… but one… more.”

Their answer causes my curiosity to run out of control. I keep my mouth shut until I reign it back in. After a minute of silence, I ask another question with a smile.

“Do you have any crops?”

【〓〓〓〓】

I look out over the stony earth in front of me. The pebble-plagued dirt is plowed into rough fields, small plants trying their best to grow. I look up at the ceiling that's lower than most of the main cavern. The stony surface above me is covered in glowing moss, feeding off of water dripping through the ceiling. I look back at the town boss.

Holly waves a limb at the plot. “Have five… these. Plants struggle… moss not… enough.” They’re not exaggerating at the moss' ineffectiveness, while they speak each flash lights up the area dramatically. Looking at my feet I notice sprouts crowding my ankles.

I wave at the desperate plants. “Can I help here?”

Holly seems to stare at me for a moment. Not too long after, they flash red. “Yes, Scarlet.”

I nod before cracking my knuckles. Let’s get to work!

First I get Emerald to help me get a closer look at the moss above. They lift me up so I can touch the cavern roof. Looking closely, I can’t see anything wrong with the dense plant-life. When I touch the softly glowing plant, however, I’m overwhelmed with nausea. I jerk my hand back reflexively, causing the nausea to wane.

I hesitate for a few seconds before pressing my hand back into the moss. Immediately the nausea returns, much stronger. I do my best to ignore the sickening sensation. Focusing, I can feel another feeling hidden under the nausea. My mind locks onto that separate pain. As I focus in on it my feet begin to ache horribly. Eventually I'm forced to pull my hands back again.

Foot pain. Foot pain. What is analogous for a plant like moss… Roots? Assuming it’s roots, what would cause them to be in pain? I scrunch my brow, thinking deeply. The nausea too, bad food or illness can cause nausea. Roots and bad food.

I cover my face with a hand. Man, that was obvious. Emerald places me down next to the Boss so I can speak with her.

“Boss Holly, where does that water come from?” I point at the stone roof the moss clings onto. Water occasionally drips from between the dense foliage on the ceiling into the dirt below.

Holly coils their arm anxiously. “No idea.”

I nod at the elder’s blunt answer. “Is it okay if I meddle with it?” Hopefully my serious look translates.

“Yes… okay, Scarlet.” The red flash from them makes me smile. I motion to Emerald to lift me up a second time.

Once again facing the luminous moss, I look at my left palm where a faint rune is glowing. The symbol was put there by the king, an identification object that would stick to us, no matter how much our body shifts. Tapping the lines drawn on my hand, I look up as a window opens in the air before me. If His Highness is to be believed, only I can see this floating square. I peruse the abilities I’ve unlocked for my class, looking for one that can help.

While scrolling through the list I notice that a new status is next to my blessing. The words ‘Gift of Gab’ floats under my other statuses. I guess that’s the glowy thing Holly poked me with. I go back to flicking through the abilities, eventually finding the right one.

My hand raises to the moss, poking my fingers through to the water. I activate the ability ‘Purify Water’. A soft blue-green glow spreads from my hand, covering about three hands’ width around it. I press my hand into the moss again and smile when the nausea doesn’t return.

I motion to Emerald to move me a ways to the left. Making sure I press my hand onto moss that hadn’t been hit by my ability, I press my hand into the soft greenery. I’m hit with intense queasiness again that almost makes me puke all over my new friend's limbs.

Dammit! I glance at the size of the rocky farm. The field we’re in is big enough that it disappears off into the darkness. This will take too long if I have to touch every foot and a half. I close my eyes, pressing my hand back to the cave roof. Once I feel the water against my palm, I activate ‘Purify Water’ along with my blessing.

The blue-green light once again spreads out from my hand, but this time it doesn’t stop. The glowing energy spreads further and further, quickly lighting up the entire field. I smugly smile. Damn, I’m good.

Then something I hadn’t expected happens. Off in the far distance, where the cave is its full height, the ceiling begins to glow there too.