Warm showers really had a mysterious healing quality to them, somehow the Gallagher residence still had electricity and water. I suspected that it wouldn’t last that long though. Unfortunately for me I wasn’t able to take a shower in my state, my ankle was broken and Reid wasn’t able to heal it yet. My other wounds weren’t even fully healed.
Aureus was sitting with me in a rather large jacuzzi tub, we didn’t fill it and had been using Aureus’ Elemental Manipulation to clean ourselves. I had already cleaned all the blood and various human remains from him, it was difficult to stomach but he didn’t have the ability to do it on his own.
All that was left was to clean me up, it was difficult to get the blood off of wounded areas. They were extremely tender to the touch so I had to gently wash the same area for longer than expected to get rid of it. Well that and I was stalling, I was avoiding looking at my chest wound. The shock from what happened was fading and a new wave of emotions was taking over me. Depression, remorse, and fear were the most prominent.
I tried to keep myself busy by chatting with Aureus to keep my mind from replaying the memory over and over again. I had been replaying the battle and the man’s death, I couldn't get it out of my head. “You know I feel stupid, I really didn’t use any of your abilities creatively… Everything really does happen so quickly. I always thought that was such a cliche.”
We were outnumbered, I shouldn’t have been so arrogant. I should have tried harder to kill them right away. I should have protected you. Aureus was going through it as well, he had been quiet and distant after he killed the mage, or at least I was assuming he was a mage of sorts.
“No, it's my job to lead you. I should have kept the three of us together. I should have had you create cover with Elemental Manipulation rather than running to that stupid van.” I paused, “I should have told you to be quick, I guess I got cocky after killing all those slimes. We made such quick progress and the fact that it had only been a day here clouded my judgment.”
Aureus never responded, his emotions mixing with mine was extremely overwhelming. I struggled to distinguish the difference between the two, and wondered if it even mattered.
A knock sounded at the door, “Hey… Are you okay?” It was Caroline. I tried to take a deep breath to calm down before responding, but it got caught in my throat. How was it that the words ‘are you okay’ always seem to break the dam of emotions.
My breathing quickly devolved fully into sobs. I tried to hug my knees to my chest as I cried, but I forgot about my broken ankle. It buckled under the slight pressure and I struggled to stifle the resulting scream. I had a death grip on my good leg as I leaned into it and endured the pain. The sound of the lock clicking and door creaking open were barely audible, but soon after the door closed softly again and a cold hand caressed my back.
This time she wasn’t crying. Every few seconds she would whisper some small comfort, “It’s okay”, “You’re not responsible for what happened”, “It was just self defense”, “You did a good job”. Somehow it made me feel better and worse at the same time. “I killed them. That man he…” I choked out between sobs. Neither one of us said anything after that. We sat in silence for what felt like forever before I could get ahold of myself.
“Do you need some help? It can’t be easy for you right now.” I looked up to see Caroline staring at my ankle, I was holding the leg just above the surface of the tub and it hung limply in an unnatural angle from my calf. It was swollen and red, the bruise hadn’t formed yet. I reluctantly agreed, it would’ve taken me hours at the rate I was going.
Apparently she expected this and pulled out a bath pillow for me to lean on, Aureus lifted me so she could place it. For the next half hour she carefully washed around my wounds, I was surprised at how skilled she was. She was even better at this than I was, somehow she was able to put just the right amount of pressure to reduce the pain. Our conversation was sparse as she bathed me and Aureus provided water and controlled it when needed.
“I’m sorry, I really wasn’t planning on being rash this time.” I said quietly.
“Let’s not worry about that now, you did what you thought was best.”
A long silence followed, I wasn’t sure how to respond. I couldn’t stop myself from replaying the battle. The man's eyes stared into my soul, pleading for help, wishing for my death, struggling with the pain.
“I think I learned a lot from this though, I’ve never had to fight humans. If I think about it I’m really lacking in combat experience, all I really fought were a handful of horned rabbits and a shit-ton of slimes.”
I was trying to be optimistic about the whole thing, this apparently wasn’t what Caroline wanted to hear though. “Yes, you learned some important things, sure, but… The cost was too much, it wasn’t worth the gains.”
Silence permeated the room once more, it didn’t lift until she was finished cleaning me up. She leaned back, stretching her back with a small groan. She looked down at me with an indiscernible look on her face, then she looked to Aureus who was curled up in the corner of the tub looking quite pitiful.
“Thank you.” She said, I forced a smile and nodded. When Aureus didn’t look up or acknowledge her, she repeated, “Thank you, Aureus,” and added “You also did a good job. Though I don’t like the results or how we went about it. We lived, I really owe everything to the two of you.”
Aureus was gobsmacked at her words, it felt like Aureus thought that she had blamed him as he blamed himself. His eyes became teary as he stood on his hind legs and reached out to Caroline. She responded with a small smile. It looked like she pitied the poor little dragon, and reciprocated the hug. After a few seconds they separated and Aureus used Elemental Manipulation to gather all the water remaining in the room. This shocked Caroline as her clothes dried immediately as did my hair. I was handed some clothes as the water was directed down the drain.
I wasn’t given my slime hunter set, there wasn’t much need for the set bonus or the clothing items themselves here. I especially didn’t want to aggravate my injuries. Instead I was given one of Reids shirts, it was slightly big on him so it virtually swallowed me whole.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Did I completely ruin my equipment already?” I asked while praying that wasn’t the case.
“No, not really. I can fix it if you want, the dress has some minor burns on the chest area but the cloak is worse off. The tassels and fabric around them are pretty burnt at the moment. I’ll need a good bit of slime essence to fully repair that. Do you want me to repair them?” She asked. I must have looked at her as if she had three heads since she followed it up with, “I have some skills related to crafting, if you can provide some materials I can repair it.”
“Really? That would be great, I really like that set.”
“I really wish you had warned me before becoming a slime though, you scared the hell out of me I didn’t really understand what was happening. I forgot about the set so it took me a moment to put things together.”
“Oh, sorry… Hey so you said you have crafting abilities and earlier you said something about having a contract. Can we talk about that?”
“Yeah, it’d be better to go sit with everyone first though.”
I froze, I had an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. Everyone, there must be other people aside from the three of us. Pausing for a moment I asked, “Someone else is here? Other people?”
She seemed to be considering for a moment and then responded gently, “Yes, Reid’s friend is here. They were together when the awakening happened.”
My anxiety was quelled slightly when Aureus, likely in response to my mental state, came to comfort me nuzzling into my arms. I gave him a small sad smile and nodded to Caroline.
“Wait for a moment.” She said, turning and quickly walking out of the room. I sat on the edge of the tub, my leg held up slightly so nothing touched it. I was wondering why she asked me to wait until she returned with a gray cushioned office chair. It was so much nicer being wheeled around in it, I tried to relax my muscles. I had been tense for so long I was starting to get sore.
We rounded a corner into a living room with a high ceiling. A geometric light fixture seemed to be the statement piece for this room. The rest of the decorations were elegant and minimal. The only real color in the room was a pale pink accent that was used for throw pillows, some small potted succulents, and curtains. Reid and a smaller man sat on the couch, with Reid clutching a throw pillow much like Caroline had earlier in the day. His friend was gently comforting him, but I couldn’t hear what they had been talking about since an awkward silence followed me into the room.
Reid’s grip on the pillow loosened for a moment, but when his eyes wandered to my ankle he was choking the poor pillow yet again. I glanced over at the stranger on the couch, he looked moderately unfazed by my injury but did wear an expression of pity. My stomach turned, I looked up at Caroline who promptly cleared her throat.
This seemed to snap Reid out of his stupor, “Mia, this is Noel. We were in college together. Noel, this is Mia. We've basically been siblings since we were little.” He said, gesturing between the two of us as he introduced us. We both responded to the other with that awkward smile nod you do when you’re acknowledging someone you’re unfamiliar with.
Caroline rolled me closer to the couch and stopped me in front of the coffee table, with the couch to my right where Reid was sitting closer to me than Noel. A single succulent and a candle sat atop its light colored wooden surface. I wasn’t very familiar with lumber but I guessed it was a similar color to birch wood, it had a cool undertone. Not long after Aureus sat on my left pushing his head under my arm for comfort. Caroline took her seat at the love seat opposite her brother, if Noel and I weren’t there the scene would’ve looked like a photoshoot for some home decor company. They had a natural elegance about them, from their looks to the way they sat.
I narrowed my eyes as I appraised Reid, I could tell Aureus made him uncomfortable. He was staring at Aureus for a bit too long before looking at me. Noel however was much easier to read and seemed to be thrilled about Aureus’ arrival. He was quite a cute guy, not so much in that I found him attractive but more in the traditional sense. He had warm brown curly hair and large hazel eyes, and a round face. After I got a second look at him I realized he wasn’t shorter than average. Rather he was likely about average or a little taller. It was just that he was next to a giant like Reid and he had more of a thinner frame.
Noel had a huge grin as he asked, “So did you guys want to go ahead and talk about our abilities? Caroline said she wanted to wait for you so we didn’t have to have the conversation twice.”
I groaned inwardly, I really wish I would’ve said I wanted to sleep rather than going straight for the conversation. This guy seemed way too excited about what was essentially the apocalypse, why was he so giddy? I guess it isn’t every day you meet a dragon. Either way something about him didn’t sit right with me, I wasn’t happy about trusting some stranger with my skills and information even if he was Reid’s friend.
“Yeah sure,” I responded, putting on my best customer service smile. I wasn’t good at putting on a mask around people I loved but strangers, easy peasy. I continued as I scratched along Aureus’ head, following my usual path. “This is Aureus, he’s my familiar. I don’t really have anything else I’d go into about my abilities… Oh well I do have a bow and a knife, and I have a uh skill for camouflaging as-”
O-ow… I had reached the bottom of Aureus’ jaw on the right side, and felt an abrasion there. Immediately I leaned over tilting his head up, he refused momentarily but quickly gave in. There was a raw patch of flesh where his scales should have been, it wasn’t a large injury but he had hidden it.
Aureus, when did this happen? Why didn’t you say something?
It's nothing really, you were much more injured.
It isn’t nothing, we should at least get it dressed and cleaned. We don’t need you getting an infection. Even small wounds can kill you if you let them fester you know.
Okay…
When I looked back up at the group Noel seemed enthralled by our interaction, from his perspective I guess we were just looking at each other and making faces. “Ah, yeah we communicate telepathically. Aureus can’t talk.” I said, answering an unasked question.
It's not that I can’t talk! Maybe I could if I tried and practiced…
Well yes maybe, but right now you can’t.
Before I could bring up the wound Caroline started her explanation, “I have abilities from a contract with the goddess ‘Void Who Gazes Back’, the only ones I can use now are ‘Void String’ and ‘Void Absorption’. I got a class from the contract as well as a class from becoming a Candidate. From my candidate class I have some production or crafting related abilities, focused on creating and repairing items.”
Next was Reid, “I can check the body’s condition and heal it back to its original state currently. Unfortunately I can’t do anything about the pain that comes with that process.” He looked ashamed as he glanced at me while adding the last bit.
“Well at least now you don’t have to complete med school,” I said jokingly, this elicited small smiles from both Noel and Reid. Obviously, they really didn’t have the opportunity to return to med school even if they wanted to.
“Yup, no more long hours of studying.” he added bitterly. I wondered if he lamented the fact that he got this skill and all that work was for nothing. I knew more than anyone how hard he worked to get to this point.
The three of us looked towards Noel expectantly waiting on his addition to the conversation. I hoped that despite the fact that they both planned to go into medicine Noel would choose a different path in his skills. He cracked a mischievous grin, and looked between the four of us. He seemed to be reveling in our anticipation, and at first I thought he was going to refuse to tell us but he simply stated, “I’m an assassin.”