We kept walking until the cave was nothing but a memory passed behind us. The forest area we were walking through was not as dense as previous areas, the ground relatively east to walk on compared to earlier terrain.

My feet were killing me however, turns out that wearing a pair of black office shoes were not the greatestt footwear choice for hiking through a forest. I was surprised that they ere not torn to shreds by now, looking down on them they were heavily scuffed and full of dirt. What was torn however was the skin at the back of my heel, most likely a blister. It stung like hell as my shoe rubbed on the back of my heel.

I had used one of my healing potions as soon as we had left the cave, the satisfying sensation mixed with surprise and shock when my ribs audibly cracked and popped ack into the correct position was met with a relief at being able to breathe without it killing me. My body had stopped aching and I was full of energy as we had set off. Now however I was less enthusiastic, my foot starting to throb like crazy, however I didn’t want to waste a healing potion on it. I figured I would use the potion when I actually needed it, that way my blistered foot would heal at the same time. Otherwise I would waste it. For no, I would simply have to put up with it and try not to let it affect me too much.

If Raven could speak to me, she wouldn’t have said a word to me, she had not given me any signs or gestures since we left Dave and Vera behind at the cave. I had no idea why she was so mad at me, yes they took our stuff because I fell asleep and yes she nearly died from me triggering a trap but we had got our stuff back. Come to think of it, I absolutely got why she was so annoyed and felt it wise to just let her continue to stew.I was sure she would communicate me in some capacity when she was ready.

As we continued to walk the forest seemed almost tranquil in its beauty, like we were hiking on some kind of forest trail back home on earth. It felt weird to think of earth as a distant land, where ever we were, whatever this place was, it couldn’t have been further away from home. The smell of pine trees and sap surrounded us, bringing a calmness to me, there was no sign of any animals or at least nothing that would want to do us any harm and we had not seen any traps on the ground. This eased my worries around running into more terrors but given the ass kicking we had given them I hoped they had learned there lesson and knew better than to cross us. Somehow, together we made quite the combo.

“Shit!” I cursed as I rolled my ankle, “Sorry,” I said, Raven didn’t acknowledge me. My ankle was throbbing with that familiar burn you get when you have a blister and it had popped, when I raised the back of my blue chords I could see a reddish, yellow stain seeping through my sock. The last thing I wanted was for the thing to get infected. Then I would need to use my potion.

“Hey, can we stop for a minute?” I asked, as I continued to hobble behind Raven.

Surprisingly she did stop and I took the opportunity to sit down on a small rock and kick my shoes off. It was such a relief and I let out an audible groan of satisfaction as I started rubbing my right foot, squeezing it tightly to relieve some of the tension in it. Then I took of my sock, it was damp and I only just avoided the temptation to sniff it. I needed a shower badly, did those things even exit here. I could also do with a change of clothes. I wondered for a moment about what kind of outfit would be better suited to this climate, id happily walk around in just a pair of shorts and a vest in this weather but that wouldn’t offer me any protection when it came to fighting in this world. More than anything I craved a pair of comfy shoes, what I would give for some thick padded boots, to support my ankle while we walked. These shoes were rubbing more than I cared to like and if not for the fact that walking barefoot in the forest would likely cause more damage to my feet I would hurl these things as far away from me as possible.

Raven chose to lean against a tree in silence, she looked around her, seemingly struggling to look at me.

“I am sorry Raven,” I said, trying my best to break the tension. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep and I am sorry our stuff got stolen, more than anything I am sorry you got hurt. It is all on me, but hopefully you can accept my apology and we can move on from this awkward silence.”

Raven raised her eyebrows sarcastically and I let out a dry laugh.

“Sorry, again.” I said, “You know what I mean though.” I would rather her angry signing at me than this, more than anything it had been maddening walking through the forest with nothing but my own thoughts. “My dad always encouraged long hikes in the hills and mountainside. He loved that kind of thing. We were blessed to be a couple of hours away from the Lake District, now there, there you would see some of the most beautiful sights in the world. It was so peaceful, so serene.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“When we were on the hikes we would have proper foot wear, boots designed for long hikes. I mean have you seen what I am wearing?” I lifted. Up one of my shots and Raven chuckled to herself, “these things are shredding my feet.” she laughed again nd I could feel the tension lift between the two of us and I carried on massaging my feet.

The thought of slipping the shoes back on filled me with dread but we couldn’t stay here forever, we would never find this Sy guy doing that. “Whenever we get to where we are heading, I want a pair of boots like yours, now they look comfy. What size feet did you say you had.” I smiled at Raven and in turn she rolled her eyes at me. I would take that. It was better than nothing.

Raven started looking of into the distant with vacant expression, she was messing with the spiked bangle around her wrist, rubbing her fingers over the surface whilst finding herself lost in a memory.

“Are you ok?” I asked, wincing as I slipped my foot back into my shoe. “You seemed to kind of get lost for a moment then.”

Raven nodded but I could tell she was lying.

“Want to talk about it?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“You know what I mean,” I laughed.

She shook her head.

“Can I take a closer look at that thing? Maybe there is something that I could help with.”

Raven replied by pulling her sleeve down over the bangle and shuffling around awkwardly. Whatever it was about that bangle she didn’t want me to know about it, or at least she didn’t trust me enough to tell me about it.

“Ok, I get it, well when you are ready I am here if you want to talk about things. My mum always said, better out than in. Something that my dad often misinterpreted when he would fart but I think what she meant was if something is on your mind it is better to share it with someone else rather than let it stew in your mind. That is when things can get worse, when thoughts are left to fester. As I said, when you're ready I am here.”

My curiosity was piqued however, what was it about that bracelet, it clearly held some meaning to raven or certainly her past, it was linked to the side quest after all. There was something more to this though, trust or no trust it was like she just we didnt want me to know either way.

My shoes back on I stood up and pretended like nothing had happened, “Come on, let's go, we are never going to find Sy sitting around.

We carried on walking for longer than I would have liked my limp getting progressively worse as we made our way deeper into the forest. All I could think about was my foot, every step I took starting to feel like I was walking on hot coals.

“I am sorry, I can’t,” I am going to have to use my last potion. I stopped in my tracks and reached for a potion out of my inventory. Raven laughed to herself and held her hand out telling me to stop. “I know I said I didn’t want to waste my last healing potion but I can’t carry on like this.” I was winging like a baby, even worse I was being a diva. I didn’t care at this stage I just wanted the throbbing to stop, it was torturous.

Raven summoned her shadow portal against a nearby tree and reached inside, her arm vanishing as she rummaged around with a focused and determined look on her face. After a moment her eyes lit up and she pulled something out.

“What’s that?” I asked as she walked towards me with it. Her hands were clasped together holding what looked like baking paper, when she opened it up there was a luminous green paste inside. She offered it to me. “Nah I’m ok,” I tried to push it away, “I’m not eating that,”

Raven shook her head and offered it me again, seemingly taking no for an answer. Begrudgingly, I took it from her, the paste was full of lumps, I had no idea what it was made of, it was thick in texture with an antiseptic, hospital kind of smell to it. As I raised it to my mouth Raven grabbed hold of my arm to stop me from eating it before pointing to my foot. She then bent over and started rubbing the back of her boot.

“It’s a cream,” I said, “Like an ointment.”

Raven nodded.

I wasted no time kicking my shoe of and pulling my sock off. I slavered the back of my foot with the ointment, it was cool against my red hot heel, it felt like the back of my foot had its own pulse as it continued to throb but it was much more manageable now.

“Wait a minute,” I said as a thought dawned on me. “You had this this whole time?”

Raven let out a muted laugh, before clasping at her throat like it hurt her.

“Are you ok?” I asked, instinctively moving towards her, Raven held her hand out to tell me to stop so I did. She coughed a couple more times before stopping, she looked in pain, her eyes were watering but she settled back down quick enough.

Whatever that was, I diod’t like it, it wasn’t nice to see her struggling like that and to see her in pain, she was just a kid after all.

“I still can’t believe you were holding out on me.” I said with a smile. The best I could do was try and move on and not draw too much attention to it.

Raven reached back in her shadow portal before turning to pass it to me. It was a piece of fabric, it was bandage like in texture, with a crisscross texture to its fibres. She pointed at my heel.

I knew what she meant and placed it over the paste she had cave me before pulling my sock over the top, holing the bandage in place. It wrapped around the back of my foot sitting a little under my heal. It would have been easier if I had had some tape but in this situation beggars could not be choosers.

“Thank you,”

Raven raised her head up like she could hear something. Instantly I went into defense mode, ready to activate my berserker skill if I needed to.

Raven pointed to the trees but then cupped her hand to her ear. Taking the hint I did the same listening intently. My spirits lifted when I heard it.

“Is that a waterfall?”