Book 3: Deprived City Legend.
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"Orisa, wake up."
Kanai gently whispered into her ear and shook her shoulder.
After crying out all her tears, Orisa dozed off while leaning on Kanai. With each passing minute, the temperature had been gradually dropping, and now they could no longer stay even remotely warm despite being side by side. Another reason for him to wake up Orisa was, of course, time.
"Oh... I'm sorry," muttered Orisa sleepily before jolting up. "Wait! Kanai, what time is it!?"
"Don't worry, please," he said and got onto his feet. "Less than an hour has passed, so I think we are safe yet. And you needed some rest, I’m sure."
"I'm... I'm sorry for being such a bother and endangering this whole operation. It's because of me that-."
"Oh, would you stop? I'm warning you for the last time, you either drop this crap, or I'll hit you. I'm serious."
"Sorry..."
"For fuck's sake, get used to getting help when you need it. And be grateful for it. Grateful, not moping and whining. Got it?"
Orisa nodded and looked around the cave. The Beast had already dissolved, but the horses' corpses were still there; anyone would easily guess that this place was a hideout of some sort and recently used. It would give their direction away.
"Yep, we need to clean this place up," her partner nodded to Orisa's thoughtful gaze. "Help me pile things up into one heap."
The horses were so heavy that even together they had difficulties moving them, so Orisa used her Flip spell with other Blocks to throw the horses together. Kanai dropped their second backpack on top and stepped several meters away.
"Corrosive Ray!"
The spell quickly turned the pile in front of the pair into a handful of ashes and scrapes. Kanai carried the remains outside and scattered them around.
"Mana Transfer!" - "Mana Transfer!"
"Oh, thanks. You sure know how to make a man feel great," blurted Kanai and burst into laughter.
"Jerk," lightly chuckled Orisa. It was the first time she smiled in a long time. Kanai somehow knew how to pull her strings.
"It's time to move out now, I guess. The plan was to ride the horses on the road until sunrise and then drop them in the nearest village, but now the best option is to move on foot and get lost inside the forest, I think.
"Kanai, you are the boss now, so I'm perfectly fine with your decisions."
"Yay, an untimely and unwanted promotion! Let's celebrate it with Stamina potions," he laughed yet again.
They downed the potions, took out raincoats and warmer clothes, and moved out five minutes later. The rain was light but still cold and annoying, especially at night and inside the forest.
"Here, put it on and activate," he said and handed Orisa a bracelet with Mana-suppressing Seal.
"I think I now have PTSD from these things," muttered Orisa while locking the metal band around her wrist. "So, what happened?"
"That's what everyone wants to know, damn. What did you do in that cave?"
"I mean, what happened after I passed out at the end of the fight?"
"Yes, I know what you mean. But first, tell me what happened there between you three."
"Oh, sure. I guess you were all worried and shocked," said Orisa thoughtfully and proceeded to relay the story.
When she finished the tale, Kanai was fuming with rage:
"I knew this bitch was lying, but to such an extent? Holy fuck, how retarded one must be to come up with such an idea?"
"You know, Kanai, I don't want to sound paranoid, and it's really strange and doesn't fit together well, but there is one thing that made me think it all was somewhat planned beforehand."
"Planned? What do you mean? As if, it was not an accident that our sugary ass used to mess with you, but a scheme?"
"Remember Mira Rahna? The girl that I almost killed during our Dungeon training. She was there during the hearing, almost drooling over the whole process with such a happy smile that it sent shivers down my back."
"Shit, are you for real? How is this even possible?"
"Well, she did disappear from the camp, right? There was an episode I haven't told anyone about before. As it turned out the Supreme Commander, Tiana's father took her as his new wife or something like that. Considering how openly he disliked Tiana, and..."
"Wait-wait-wait, hold up. What are you even saying? You think that Tiana's father decided to kill his own daughter only to please his new slut and let her get back at you, and even involved these brain-dead siblings? Actually, that's not the end of things. Does this mean the whole appearance of Tiana in our squad was a part of the scheme, too? No-no-no, that's beyond insane, nobody would plan something with this level of complexity and added risk."
"I know, bro, I know. But how would you explain it, then?"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"The best thing that I can think of is that it was a pile of coincidences. For example, sugary ass hated you and took advantage of the situation inside the cave. The chick only wanted to make you suffer more and didn't know how exactly it would turn out. Since Tiana was involved, obviously her father caught the gist of the situation and, knowing Mira's grudge against you, probably decided to use the situation to its fullest."
"Well..." Orisa thought for a few moments, looking at the outcome and all preconditions. "Maybe you are right. I hope you are right, or else..."
"Yep, or else I don't want to live in this world," he concluded depressingly.
The pair's stroll through the night forest was not an easy one, and the rain added more troubles. Poor visibility, uneven ground with numerous roots and plants tangled together, two large backpacks, everything was against them. But the Stamina Potion and each other's company made it bearable at the very least.
"Kanai, you know that I'm waiting for your part as well?"
"Yes, I do," he answered casually and continued walking forward.
"Do you think you could tell me?" her eye began to twitch a little.
"I think I could do that."
"How about NOW?!"
"Oh, that's what you meant?"
"Damn, I never knew you were such a teaser, dude."
"Oh, I found it out only recently. It's so fun to tease you. Actually, we already had this dialogue before. Perhaps even twice, if I remember it right."
"Really? Wow, time sure flies by fast. Wait! You jerk, I almost forgot what I was talking about. Go on and spill it already."
"Sure-sure, no need to turn to violence, you barbarian. Gosh..."
And so, Kanai began a recollection of events.
When the raid was done with the bugs and other Beasts, they went to look for Orisa and other girls and found them inside the cave. Orisa was already out of commission. Ramulie relayed her version of the events that sounded ridiculous to everyone at least a little bit familiar with Orisa, but the girl waved some quote from the Military codex, and Sean was forced to comply.
They healed Orisa since she was a bloody mess, but Tiana's condition was already beyond salvation. Pieces of her skull were stuck inside her brain, and her body deemed them as a natural state of things thanks to Ramulie's healing. So the raid carried both girls back to the mansion, and Sean contacted Dippo somehow.
By the time The Hounds' leader made it to the lair, Military police had already arrived and taken Orisa into custody. Shou, as the one most familiar with the laws, hid Orisa's belongings beforehand, so nothing important was confiscated.
Dippo was surprisingly calm on the outside, but from his various little slip-ups, Kanai noticed that their leader was raging like a demon inside a lake made of holy water. He took Kanai, Iten, and Onuki to the capital, and left them inside an inn for two days straight while making some preparations on his own. The trio's job was to plan and organize everything in regards to Orisa's post-escape life. The prison break itself was prepared by Dippo and Mace vi Durek, so Kanai knew little about that part.
Somehow Toatre became a central figure of the plan. It turned out that both Dippo and Mace knew about her from various sources, and Onuki also vouched for her reliability. Kanai and Onuki went to prepare Orisa's gear among other things useful for long camping while the others were busy with the extraction.
Dippo allowed only Kanai to accompany Orisa, saying it would be easy to cover the absence of one person, but more people leaving the squad would endanger the whole operation. That was how Kanai ended up as Orisa's partner. Having a member that was not considered a fugitive and could easily enter and exit cities should help them a lot.
"And don't you dare start apologizing and thanking me again," he finished in a tired voice.
"But why would you go to such length for me? I don't understand. Helping with escape is one thing, but voluntarily going into exile to accompany me? Dude, why?.."
"How should I know!? Stop asking stupid questions and just move your legs, please."
Kanai's behavior was odd. Even not knowing his motivation, Orisa was still grateful to him. She wasn't sure she would be able to stay sane on her own, but with Kanai, it was definitely possible.
They marched through the night and stopped to rest when it began to dawn. Orisa spotted a group of rocks with a wide burrow underneath. It was wide enough to fit two people perfectly, and the rain didn't bother them inside. Kanai took out two sleeping bags, and they settled down.
"I think we are safe inside the forest, so it's okay to move during the day. Let's sleep for three hours and then continue?" he asked, looking at Orisa expectantly.
"Whatever you say, bro, sounds good to me." They each downed the Endless Night potion and went quite, warming their cold bodies inside the sleeping bags. After several minutes, Orisa muttered before falling asleep, "Thank you for staying with me."
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Orisa opened her eyes several hours later and was immediately greeted by Kanai:
"You slept so soundly, not even the last night's storm could wake you," he said, trying to imitate a hoarse voice.
"Wait-wait, hold up," she yawned soundly, but her mind was already clear due to the Endless Night potion giving her a good rest. "We already joked about this, right?"
"First, it was not we but you. Second, you joked about Skyrim, and this one is from Morrowind, so it counts."
"Oh, yes, sure. Good job, bro, a nice way to start the morning. Or is it evening?"
"Ten in the morning. You slept for less than five hours, which is great, I think. We should eat fast and start moving."
"What are our rations? It would be nice to check the bags, but I don't think we have time for that now, right?"
"Better to do it next time, Orisa. We have rations for two weeks, but it's better to save them and get as much food from villages or cities in case we would need to go into hiding for long."
"Um, Kanai, but how are we supposed to go there?"
"Remember, I'm an upstanding citizen, so there shouldn't be any difficulties with me going shopping," said Kanai and grinned.
"Oh, yep, sorry. Slipped my mind that it's me who is PK with red karma and a bounty on my head."
"If you can joke about it then you are fine now."
"I'm worried about Tiana, but otherwise should be in top shape," Orisa said and looked at Kanai thoughtfully.
"Your next line is - thank you for coming with me."
"Don't roll your eyes on me, you jerk. I'm really grateful, you know!"
"I know, and that's exactly why you should stop saying that. As for Tiana, we'll come up with something, I'm sure of it."
They had a humble breakfast, packed their things, and moved out. Kanai pulled SIRI and looked at its top where a compass was attached. Nodding to his thoughts, he adjusted their course.
"Do you have a destination in mind?" asked Orisa out of curiosity.
"There is a farming village that Dippo suggested. It's big enough to have a post office, but not nearly enough to station a big garrison or tight security. We should be there by the evening, although I'm not sure you should show up there yet..."
"It's totally fine, my dude. Don't worry about me and proceed with the plan. I won't die out of loneliness after one night without you," Orisa chuckled and winked at Kanai.
They walked in silence for an hour, watching their steps. The path through the forest was tough, and Orisa couldn't help thinking about her old body, a thirty-three years old man out of shape and almost past his prime. Orisa could still recall a pain in her kneecaps after a mere hour of walking, or how sore was her back when she helped Mirai move a wardrobe in her house. Her current young, healthy, and reasonably trained self felt amazing.
'Mirai, huh. I wonder what she would have said if she saw me and heard about the whole situation?'
A familiar sensation pulled Orisa out of her thoughts, the Wave.
"Do you think we should remove the bracelets?" Orisa asked worriedly.
"Hmm, actually, we should be f-."
A shadow moved right in front of the pair; it walked past them, slowly moving its legs. With each passing step, it gained more substance, taking shape. Something glowed for a moment inside the figure before it turned into a Beast. The creature appeared to be a meter-tall ape, and it walked for several seconds before coming to a halt. As if only just now noticing the pair of travelers, it slowly turned its head and stared at them with its slits.
Before Orisa could grasp the situation, four more Beasts materialized around them.