After Lilabelle seems to be completely stabilized and no threats seem to be in the immediate vicinity, Ryan gets a good look at his surroundings. He seems to be in an open field with thick woods surrounding them on all sides and the field has enough corpses in it to make a small hill. Ryan is extremely confused on why a little girl would be out here in the middle of what seemed to be a ferocious battle but this is a game in the Dark Souls series so anything could happen. Having seen some crazy things in Cinder Souls, this is almost like a walk in the park for him visually, but the smell is still overwhelming and overstimulating to the point that his nose is beginning to burn. He finally manages to use his left hand to cover his nose to help out a little bit.
After inspecting the bodies, Ryan could tell that these people seemed to be soldiers of some kind since there was the same symbol on the flags scattered about and each person had their own Insignia classifying their rank. They seem to be NPCs because if they were players then they would be walking around about now. In Cinder Souls, if a player dies then they become hollowed which reduces the amount of health you have and you also become really hideous. The only way to become unhollowed is to use a humanity, which you get by killing another player or defeating a certain type of enemy.
Ryan manages to wander around a bit and find his way back to where he had put Lilabelle as she begins to wake up. The adorable sound of her yawning is heard as she rubs her eyes and stretches like she has been sleeping for several hours. With a few blinks of her eyes, she is finally able to remember where she is and what had happened. She starts to rub her body profusely as if making sure she is not injured in any way. While she is searching for injuries, Ryan starts to take in her features and remember what she looks like just in case of an emergency, definitely not because he is interested in her. Her white hair is put up in pigtails and doesn't seem to be very long. She is also extremely short, maybe about 4'5 and weighing about 80 pounds. Her eyes are a solid silver colour and matches her clothes that are also the same silver colour. Her clothes seem to be a type of robe that is worn by priestess while also looking a little skimpy as it is very tight fitting, probably made that way for mobility and not protection. Ryan realizes that he has been staring at her for a good while now and she has noticed and is staring back.
"What?"
"N-N-Nothing, you were just staring at me so I decided to stare back!"
Her voice became slightly high pitched at the end of her sentence as if she was embarrassed, then again Ryan didn't like being stared at either but would've responded in a different manner that would probably lead to someone being injured. With again not knowing what to do next, Ryan decides to find out more about where he is at.
"Hey Liliabelle, where am I exactly?"
Lilabelle seems to be confused about what Ryan had just said and puts a hand on her chin and goes into a deep thought. She mumbles to herself for a little bit as if trying to remember something important but it seems to not be going well. After about 30 seconds of watching Lilabelle think, Ryan begins to grow restless since she never even gave him a single word as an answer but continues to drive away his impatience. As if a light bulb lit up above her head, Lilabelle has the expression as if she remembered something very important.
"Now that my contractor is dead, I guess I have to return to the mercenaries guild. You can join me and Tio can answer any questions you have!"
Ryan is completely baffled when hearing the fact that this young girl is in a mercenary guild or why she was hired to come out to witness what seemed to be a complete massacre but he would surely get to the bottom of this. Lilabelle puts out her hand and Ryan accepts it and she begins to lead Ryan towards the woods. She isn't speaking at all anymore but she has a happy expression on her face as she steps over the endless number of corpses.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
'Maybe this world is more messed up than I expected."
As they reach the woods Ryan notices a narrow path and Lilabelle seems to be heading straight towards it. Apparently she knows where she is going and Ryan can only trust that this won't lead to something terrible for him or for the girl. As they enter the woods, everything becomes darker due to the thick tree line but Lilabelle still seems to not be worried at all even though they can only see about 15 feet in front of them. As if putting complete trust in the girl, Ryan essentially puts his body into autopilot and focuses on figuring out how to open the portal to his equipment again.
'I did it so instinctively that I can't quite figure out how I made that portal. It wasn't magic since it didn't have an activation sequence and it wasn't any miracle that I know of, but then again this is a new world and or game so anything could happen.'
As the two continue to run on the path through the woods while not speaking, Lilabelle seems to be picking up the pace and saying something. Ryan is too lost in thought to even realize that she is basically yelling at him and he is finally brought back to reality after Lilabelle pulls his face down to hers and yells in his ear.
"DUCK!"
The hairs on the back of Ryan's neck stand up as he is now able to sense danger very close to them. An object seems to be flying at him at high speeds and he manages to move his head to the left, dodging it completely. Ryan was able to hear the object and recognize the whizzing sound of it to conclude that it was an arrow. He turns around to look at what shot the arrow and sees a pure white skeleton with a bow that seems to be rotting in its right hand. It's small yellow dots inside of it eye sockets seem to be brimming with hatred towards him. Knowing that skeletons are actually strong in the Dark Souls universe, Ryan decides to take the best course of action and not engage it. It's only one skeleton, shouldn't be that hard to run away right? Lilabelle begins to chant something but it is in a language that Ryan cannot understand but before long he realizes what it is. A miracle. Light begins to pour out of Lilablle's body as the whole forest is now visible to Ryan and he can't believe what he sees.
It is as if a whole army emerged from the depths of hell as many variants of skeletons are following what was supposed to be the lone skeleton. Ryan is shocked by this sudden development and doesn't know what to do. He looks towards the way they are heading and it seems to be clear so the right choice in this situation is to run. Without even listening to what Lilabelle would have to say, Ryan picks her up and puts her over his left shoulder as he begins to run down the path. She is completely taken by surprise and only manages to let out a small scream. Ryan isn't running near to his full speed but he doesn't know if Lilabelle's fragile body could handle that speed. It hasn't even been 10 seconds after he started running before he hears Liliabelle yell something out.
"Frew!"
Ryan can sense over 100 arrows heading their direction and decides that if he wants to protect Lilabelle and discover more about this world then he will have to get serious, even if it hurt Lilabelle in the process. As if the world around him goes into slow motion, Ryan turns around right before the arrows hit him and puts out his right hand. The arrows seem to stop mid-air and are suddenly sent flying back to where the came, followed by the sound of an explosion of wind. He had used one of the simplest miracles called "Force" and sent all the incoming targets back to their senders.
With now not having to worry about any attacks for the moment, Ryan digs his feet into the ground and puts his right hand down to the ground. All of his muscles begin to flex intensely as he is really started to dig into his true physical prowess. Lilabelle tenses up as well as she can feel power being built up in Ryan's body and prepares for the worst. In less than a second, Lilabelle's eyes turn from seeing thick woods to recognizing a familiar town she grew up in over 5 miles away. She is no longer on Ryan's shoulder but is in fact standing on her own feet while everyone in the area is staring at her. They all have the expression as if they had seen a ghost as this young girl appeared out of nowhere and caused a gust of wind to exploded from her body that blew away anyone within 10 feet of where she is now. Lilabelle looks around for Ryan but he is nowhere to be seen but something could be heard. A voice familiar to Lilabelle that seemed to be crying.
"Lilabelle! *sobbing* You are back!"
"Huh?"