The first thing he felt was the heat. He abruptly opened his eyes and the first thing he saw, well, he had to close his eyes again because it was too bright. It was instead the first lesson he had learned—you should always open your eyes slowly.
He concentrated on himself. He could feel his body and learned that he could move it. The next thing he could feel was that he was being poked by something. Thus, the first emotion he felt was irritation.
“Huh? Alive?” A voice whispered with surprise.
“Well, I guess my list of wild experiences just got updated,” the voice said, this time a bit more loudly so that the boy could hear her.
He moved his hand over his eyes and this time made a stronger attempt of opening them.
He saw a figure standing in front of him. Sudden gusts of wind made its shape flutter and flow along with the rising sand.
She stood silently for a moment as she saw the boy watching her indifferently. Then she took off her long gray scarf wrapped around her neck and shoulder and threw it over him.
“So, exhibitionist in the middle of nowhere, care to tell what twisted chain of events led you to your current predicament?” She asked as she crouched down. She knew that it was better to just leave this person alone and go off on her planned expedition to scavenge the starship nearby. Yet, the whole ordeal felt intriguing to her, she wanted to know why this boy was lying naked in the middle of the desert.
She waited for some time, but soon realized that the boy had no desire to sate her curiosity.
“I guess you want to avoid talking about it,” she said as she stood up to get back to her carrier. It was small and old and made weird clunky noises while traveling, but it was sufficient for her to carry out her scavenging ventures.
“Can you help me a bit more, esteemed kind being?” The boy said as he stood up, enveloping himself with the scarf.
Vicaria turned around again, visibly shocked by the peculiar things she had been called by the unknown boy. Never had anyone called her anything close to esteemed. It worried her and made her uneasy.
She started to wonder if this was some sort of trap set up by the nomadic bandits that prowled these deserts. She herself was a degenerate, just not a complete degenerate, or at least that was her opinion on the matter.
She tightly grasped her staff and gave it a shake. The metallic staff made some mechanical noises as its body quickly transformed into a double-edged blade. Her senses told her that soon she would have to fight multiple bloodthirsty maniacs charging at her while screaming their lungs out,
'Are they hiding underneath the sand? Damn my curiosity, it always gets me into trouble,' she thought.
“There is no need for violence, kindred spirit, I mean you no harm,” the boy assured her.
She stayed on guard for a while longer, but soon realized her senses were wrong this time. No screaming, surprise ambush, occurred.
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“Okay, I believe you. Now stop spouting the nonsensical stuff like kindred spirit and esteemed whatever. Tell me what help you require in elementary and short words,” she said as she turned her weapon into a staff again.
She had already troubled herself enough by stopping by and thought hearing him out won't do any harm, plus she still wanted to know the details of what crazy situation the boy was in.
“You have my utmost gratitude for your consideration. I am Chandrian, the Eternal Darkness. I am honored to make acquaintance with you,” he said in a gentle tone.
'My bad. This guy isn't in any crazy situation. HE IS THE CRAZY SITUATION,' Vicaria sighed and screamed internally.
“I see. So, you are the god that most people worship… great. How can I help you?” Vicaria said with an awkward smile. She felt it would be better not to extend this conversation any further and just wanted to end this quickly.
“I just had an epiphany that I probably won't survive here by my lone self for long. I was pondering, whether you could extend your kindness further and help me reach civilization to ensure my survival.”
There were two things Vicaria thought that could do at this point, knock the guy out and leave him here just like he was, or she could take him to the run-down monastery of Chandrian in the town.
'Damn my soft heart! I won't be able to sleep for a day or two if I just leave him here,' Vicaria thought. She decided to help him out. The boy was surely insane, and the priest there will be able to take care of him. At least he will give him some food and shelter for a while.
“Okay. I will help you, but first, let me give you some critical advice. Don't call yourself Chandrian the Eternal Darkness ever again, especially in front of the guy I will be taking you to. He will give you food and shelter but will definitely throw you out if you tell him that you are his god.”
“But that is the truth,” the boy said, surprised by the development.
“Of course, just don't do it if you want to survive.”
The boy thought hard for a while. Survival was a necessity for him now, if the esteemed kind being was right, he had to follow her advice.
“I shall follow your advice, esteeme-”
“Also, don't call me those things, or else I will just leave you back here. Just call me V. Also, from now on, you will be Ced, I just shortened your name so that you can still consider yourself to be a god,” Vicaria said.
Even insane people deserve to live their life as they wish, if he wants to fantasize about being a god, then he can keep doing that, she thought, rationalizing why she named him Ced instead of any other common name.
“Although I wish you hadn't sullied my great name, I appreciate your ingenuity in ensuring my survival. I shall be Ced from this point onwards,” he said.
He rose one of his hands and declared it to the vast, empty desert. And also to Vicaria, who was trying her best to fight off the urge of just knocking the guy out and leave him here.