A rather cold morning awaits the two girls as they crawl out of their nest among the roots. Dew moistens their clothes as they walk through the underbrush, the coldness of the night still nestled in their bones. The blonde girl appears to be unfazed by the cold, despite her thin, tattered clothes, whereas the smaller, more diminuitive girl at her side shivers visibly, the sharing of body heat in the night only doing so much in keeping her warm.
The decision to leave this small hiding hole came quick – if it is already this cold at night during milder seasons, it would be the winter that would surely do them in, if they didn't starve beforehand. While it is a good place to stay hidden from any bandits or monsters, there are more imminent threats around for a simple hole in the ground to be viable, even if it does provide some protection to the elements thanks to the roots weaving through the dirt into the hole's walls. A low sounding growl coming from the midsection of the smaller girl brings the current problem to the surface as she tries to hide her embarrasment from no one in particular by having her face pointed downwards, trying her best to hide her face behind a little curtain of black hair. Her particular haircut still only allows half her face to be covered, which hinders her ability to hide herself much to her dismay, but at least gives her the advantage of actually being able to seewhat is in front of her. A necessary compromise, really.
So the two girls set off into the woods, with the slightly bigger, blonde girl valiantly taking charge with a smile, as she knows where she has to go, taking the other girl's hand as to make sure that neither of them loses the other in this ocean of dense foliage, which had the unintended side effect of the smaller girl simply being dragged along, wether she wants to or not. Not that it mattered much. It wasn't as if they had anywhere else to go to, and 'old, abandoned church' seems as good a place as any in their current situation, which couldn't really get much worse.
A second growl coming from the underbrush in front of them quickly makes it apparent that from this moment on, their situation has just gotten much worse. A growl very distinct, especially to those living close to the forest, or those used to venturing inside of it. A warning, really, usually accompanied by more growls from their side, which told them to turn back the way they came from. Due to the lack of accompanying growls, and the fact that the emerging wolf looks rather emaciated, Emela immediately recognized this particular specimen as an outcast, a lone wolf looking for some scraps to devour, as it's ability to hunt is rather diminished without a pack to aid it, only allowing it to hunt the smallest and weakest of game, like rabbits, or chickens.
Or a pair of lost and hungry girls stumbling through the woods.
Sana peeks out to see where the sound originated from, the low, hefty growl rivaling that of her stomach. She hadn't eaten anything in the last day, due to the current condition of her usual source of food. Being burned to the ground does not really do the local economy any good, after all. It does wonders for the local fauna, though, as evident by the beast in front of them intending to take it's chances with the two girls. Therefore, the wolf charges a lunge, aimed at the blonde girl taking the lead, as sana recoils in fear, trying desperately to hide behind the earlier mentioned blonde girl, who in turn seems completely unfazed by the creature in front of them.
Now, usually hiding behind a young girl from a wolf attack is not really the best of options, considering that human skin can be penetrated easily by the claws and teeth of a wolf, not to mention that wolves are in general stronger than humans, even if they are starving. Especially if they are starving, as they tend to lose their regard for personal safety. Not much sense in surviving a fight if you are just going to starve later.
Well, that's how it would usuallly go, but this young girl in particular has been blessed (or cursed, a matter of perspective, really) by an ephemereal being, so as the wolf readies it's jump, she clenches her free hand in front of her chest with a determined look on her face and focuses on the enigmatic core that is stirring next to her soul. It reacted to the girl's plight, as it is always watching, and feeds her the strength and knowledge necessary to survive this encounter.
In the matter of a few seconds, these things happen:
The wolf lunges forward, paws stretched out, fangs bearing with an aggressive look in it's predatory eyes.
The girl lets go of her friend's hand, bending her knees in anticipation and letting the energy from her core circulate through her system. She can feel the power in her limbs, her perception of time accelerating. She notices each and every hair of the wolf's pelt swaying in the wind. She can see the path that the wolf will take through the air, a perfect trajectory fueled by instinct and years of experience, the fangs on a perfectly direct course for her neck, the front paws aimed at her upper chest, just below her neck, to pin down her shoulders and to stop her from moving.
A perfect plan for the wolf, if it were hunting any other regular girl that day. A plan simply foiled by it's intended victim crouching down and taking a carefully calculated step forward, placing her directly under the wolf's intended trajectory, her entire body moving with inhuman speed.
Her feet are planted firmly on the ground, knees still bent, like springs ready to activate at just the right moment, which comes in less than a second after her repositioning. Her left arm, fueled by unknown energies granted to her by that being and given additional acceleration force through her entire body being catapulted upwards by her similarly-empowered legs, her closed fist instantly connects with the wolf's stomach region, and with it's trajectory being altered upwards, it flies easily over sana's head with a sad whimper and lands in a bush behind them.
Shivering in fear, Sana slowlyturns around, just in time to see thw olf running away with it's tail between it's legs, making a mad dash through the thick vegetation, and she slowly opens her mouth while her brain tries to process what just happened. "...what-"
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"Come, Sana, it's not that far away anymore!" Her protector grabs the poor confused girl by her hand and drags her along once again, continuing through the forest for what must have been hours but seems like merely a few moments to the small girl, whose brain finally decides that keeping those weird memories would not help either of them, and shoves them away for now, instead focusing on trying not to trip over the various branches, roots and bushes they were walking through. Or rather, over the various overgrown stones they were walking on right now, an old path leading to an old, ruined building.
If it weren't for the thickness of the forest, they would have been able to see a plume of smoke coming from the old church, and the smell of cooked meat that likely attracts some would-be predators. But alas, the forest limits their vision, so they are unprepared for the sight they encounter as they leave the forest for the unkempt clearing.
The two girls suddenly find themselves standing some distance away from what looks like one of the bandits who attacked the village, calmly sitting in front of a campfire, which had some questionable strips of meat over it. He slowly turns around, noticing the two girls; one of them in front, with a confident look on her face, standing pround and strong in front of the other, smaller girl, whose shoulder-length black hair featured a curtain over half her face, shielding her fearful expression from at least half the world as she stands behind her protector, two small hands meekly gripping her friend's arm.
An almost unnoticeable growling sound weakly penetrates the sudden silence, originating from Sana's still empty stomach and making it's way over to the man's ears, who reacted to this sound by taking one of the misshapen strips of meat and holding it towards the girls. What goes completely unnoticed, however, is a series of immaterial pulses coming from their respective cores, and both the ex-bandit and the blone girl immediately shared some feelings of familiarity between the two of them.
"It's okay, Sana. He's one of us", Emela said, turning her head slightly towards the small girl hiding behind her. "He has also been blessed."
having said those words, Emela struts forward, taking the piece of meat with a friendly smile and a small bow, and handed it to the girl she dragged along, who is still trying to process everything that happened over these last couple of hours.
A few moments later, three individuals are sitting around a dying fire, one of them munching slowly on a piece of meat in silence, while the other two are sharing a conversation and a waterskin at the same time.
"So you talked to Him too?" the blonde girl started, ignoring the chilly wind coursign through her tattered robe.
"Well, I wouldn't call it 'Talking'. It's more like I just know what to do, what is expected of me." The ex bandit takes one last sip from the waterskin, wetting his throat for the upcoming conversation. "Just like I knew to expect you with some meat ready. Speaking of you", He starts, leaning forward to take a look at the silent one, who is currently trying to make a piece of meat disappear without making any sounds, "Is she going to be all right? She doesn't have the blessing, and she seems... disturbed? She is definitely very silent right now."
Emela waves the worries away with a hand gesture and some calming words. "She's fine. She's always been silent, nothing to worry about. Some rest wouldn't hurt, though."
"I've prepared some bedding out of some dried moss inside. It's the best I could do with the materials on hand. It will take some time to get everything fixed up. If you need water, there's a creek that way", he says, pointing towards the clearing's edge, "I'm gonna clear a path to it over the next few days, after I am done fixing a few of the bigger holes. It can be dangerous around here at night." A quick glance over to the side, followed by the eyes of the girl beside him, both their visions land on the hidden and partially dissected corpse of the owlbear.
"Anyways, come, little one, you should come inside and get some rest."
Having led Sana to the inside to a makeshift matress made of natural materials right in front of the altar, the two newly acquainted people resume their conversation around the fire. They both know that they will be working together now, so might aswell get to know each other.
"Name's Oltes, by the way, and yours?" The former bandit stirrs the ashes, adding some chips of bark to the dying fire to make it smoke more. There's still a lot of meat left to cure.
"I'm Emela. Nice to meet you, now that you are not trying to kill me." despite what she is saying, she has a very friendly, cheerful voice, and a sincere smile on her face, whereas her conversation partner has a stoic, emotionless expression, with little to no inflection in his voice. "What happened to the other two?"
"Oh, we weren't going to kill you", he says with a matter-of-fact-like voice, as if he wasn't about to confess to some heinous crimes just now. "Tayne, the big one, just figured that you would sell well, and the guy has a sweet tooth. Well, had. And Gerro, well, he's Gerro, which means he usually lets his dick do the thinking. Probably only came along to get into you, you know?" The smoke takes on a steady stream now, with the man just occasionally poking the right spots between the embers to let the air flow properly. "And me, well, I just followed Tayne to get a cut on the sale, and to make sure that Gerro doesn't damage the goods too much, you know? And if the opportunity arises, to test them myself, if Tayne would've allowed it. Really depends on the size of his cravings, normally. Anyways," He points with his free hand over to where he hid the owlbear corpse, "The big one lies just behind the furball. Could probably use his leather plating to fix up some of your clothes. They look like they've been through hell."
With an uncannily cheerful smile and voice, Emela stands up and strides over to where Oltes pointed. "Thank you, Oltes. Yeah, I've been through a lot. Should also probably wash them. They've gotten very dirty from when I buried my parents." Still keeping that same, cheerful smile and voice, as if telling someone about what nice of a cake she just ate, she quickly removes the leather armor from the corpse of the big bandit, completely unfazed by it's staring, empty eyes. "Speaking of which, we could probably use the shovel, and some other stuff. I think I should make a trip back tomorrow, see what I can salvage."
Oltes keeps staring into the fire, eyes not really focusing on anything in particular. The man has his thoughts occupied by many things, most of them related to fixing the old ruin. However, this does not mean that he is not listening. "Yeah, that seems sensible. Bandits have no use for regular old tools, there should be plenty left lying between the corpses and rubble. Tell me when you need a hand, otherwise I'll be here, seeing what I can do around here. Shouldn't take any special tools to gather and stack a few stones, and someone needs to keep an eye on your friend. Haven't seen Gerro's corpse around, either."
Meanwhile, inside this old ruin, a shy girl looks upon the wooden symbol resting atop the altar. She obviously can not sleep, but the pile of moss and leaves is surprisingly comfortable, so she lays there while listening to the being that currently occupies this holy symbol, a deep conversation without any words, and the girl felt truly noticed for the first time in her life. A feeling she used to dread, and still does, yet this being makes her feel surprisingly comfortable as it listens to her story.