Aron sat beside an unconscious Julia, fumbling with the ring that he pulled out from her stiff finger. An hour had passed and there was no sign of her waking up. Instead, as time passed he saw her body beginning to writhe in pain.
The cut mark on her upper arm had transformed into a large wounded mess. The flesh around the wound had begun to rot, leaving her entire arm useless. Sometime after he had brought her in this cave, Aron had ventured out to find some water. But there was no water source in a radius of half a kilometer and he can't risk going any further, otherwise, he might end up losing his way back.
"Shhitt!!" He had been calm in the starting but now a sense of panic prevailed in his mind. Even after messing around with the ring so much, he can't get it to open. The first thing he required badly was water. Julia's lips were extremely dry and bloody. Many a time he had to hold her jaws open when she subconsciously begins to gnaw on the soft tissues.
All their supply was stored in Julia's storage ring and neither he nor the girl had been wise enough to prepare for these circumstances. "What should I do?" He caressed her forehead lightly, finding it burning with a high fever. If this continued there was a good chance this girl might pass away before ever opening her eyes and helping him unlock the ring.
*Meow* A small ball of fur attracted his attention. One of the kittens had made its way from its small den to his side, rubbing its face on his thighs. He picked up the little guy and placed it in his lap, fondling its soft back.
All around him, Aron can only see tragedies. Julia had been poisoned but only after killing the Cloud Poison panther. Knowing that the beast was a mother as well, he can't even take joy in her feat. *Meow* "It's okay, little guy. I too don't have any parents." The kitten gingerly chewed upon his fingers making him smile, amidst the despair.
"Ahhh!!! Mhhh..!!" Thrid time in an hour, Julia once again broke in a shivering fit. Aron spun into action and hurriedly massaged her palms to generate some heat. Sun had gone down and so did the heat that it had brought. *Clatter* *Clatter* The cold was making her grit her teeth.
With every passing fit, her body was progressively losing heat. Suddenly Aron was struck with a thought and he ran out. Only a minute later he returned with a large number of dried leaves. "Why didn't I think of this before?" There was no time to waste, after multiple trips outside he had prepared a makeshift bed of dried leaves.
Carefully picking up Julia he placed her in the leafy mattress. A few more trips later, Julia was thoroughly covered under a layer of leaves. Aron sat down and picking her foot, resumed his massage. His efforts seem to have worked as after 10 minutes the sounds of clattering teeth had stopped. She was not shivering uncontrollably at least, nevertheless, he kept on rubbing his hands on her sole.
He had never felt this bad in all his life. This girl got poisoned while trying to save him. Had he been responsive at that time, he might have been able to run away or hide back, then Julia would not have had to jump in the beast's way. It was too late for ay regrets now, truth was that he had been coward enough to lose control of his faculties with a mere glare from a beast.
Compared to him this girl was on a different level, physically as well as mentally. Unlike him, she never froze up while going toe to toe against such a dangerous beast. "Mhhhh!!" Julia twitched one last time before settling in and losing consciousness once again.
Aron was out of options. No matter how hard he thought, there was no other way than to hope that the other girls come to their rescue. They were supposed to return by now and he was sure that they will come looking for them, once they realized them to be missing. The only problem was, will Julia be able to hold out till then?
Half an hour passed like that when Aron heard a very slight sound. Springing into action he looked around but found nothing. Right then his eyes fell upon Julia who now had her eyes open and was staring right at his face. "Julia?" He received a single blink in response.
Was she paralyzed? "You can't move?" Another blink. Aron felt his heart grow heavy, watching the valiant girl from just a few hours prior succumb to such powerlessness. *Hrh* A very slight sound attracted his attention and this time he found a leaf to her side moving.
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Hastily removing the leaves he found that Julia was moving her middle finger. Up and down, that's all she could do. Was she signaling him? What can she be hinting at? "Middle finger.. middle finger..?? Huh!!" The ring. She wore her storage ring on the same finger. Making some sense of her actions his conjecture was further verified by a blink from the girl.
Picking up the ring he placed it under her finger. It was amply clear what she wanted to achieve. Aron watched the ring glow with a vibrant white light but simultaneously Julia's expression had taken a turn to the worse. He can hear her teeth gritting after which her eyes closed. For a second his heart stopped in anticipation.
His hands dug their way to her chest and only after making sure that her heart was still functioning did he let out a sigh. Wiping the sweat off his brows he took back the storage ring in his hand.
A minute later he figured out how to pull out contents. "Here!" Sitting beside her, he gently placed her head in his lap and pressed the end of the bottle on her lips. Alas, unlocking the ring must have drained the last vestiges of mana from her body, leaving her passed out and unable to swallow.
Not wasting any time Aron poured some water in his own mouth and pressing his lips onto hers, began forcing the liquid down her throat. Although he was stepping over his boundary by essentially kissing a nobility with her consensus, yet right now he couldn't care less.
Nothing was more important than saving her life. He continued doing that until a full 4 mouthfuls of water had been pushed in her stomach. Lacking the time to cherish those soft lips, he instead rummaged through the storage ring to find anything that can help her condition.
Julia's thirst might have been satiated but he noticed that her face had taken on a purple hue, just like her poisoned arm. The girl was still in danger, with the poison making its way to her body. As a first aid he had wrapped a cloth around her upper arm to restrain the contaminated blood, but it didn't prove to be very effective.
"There must be a medicine that she should be carrying with her. There is now was she would come here unprepared." Soon he found 3 bottles with pills inside them. There were many other bottles with medicine inside but these were the only ones that resembled an antidote.
"Dammit.. which one is it?" The labels on the pill bottles were not explicit enough. Five minutes later he settled on one of them and made her swallow it with water. Now, he can only wait and hope for the best. His buttocks fell on the cool ground after he moved the girl into her proper beddings.
Night had fallen but Aron was not hungry at all. He sat with his back against the wall with the two kittens in his lap. Their situation had taken a turn for the better and hence he was unable to stop himself from closing his eyes out of exhaustion.
***
"It's too late they should have returned by now." Back at the camping area the other group had returned and found that Julia had not been back. They didn't think much about it at first but once the night fell, their concerns grew.
At Ava's words, Sophie too supported her judgment. "Yes, Julia is extremely punctual. She would not have wandered off." Her gaze stopped at Hera who was staring down at the ground.
"Why are you guys so worried? We are talking about Julia here, she is the one who is most capable here. Her experience in these woods is immense and I believe she is the nest one who can handle herself here among all of us." Hestia was a bubbly girl and can't take all this negativity around her.
Kyla sat on the other side, clearly worried about Aron. Beside her, Hera took a deep breath. "Huuu... All of us will go to sleep right now. Early morning, if Julia is not back then we will go and take a look." Since their leader was not here right now, she will have to take up the leadership role.
Her voice was unyielding, unlike how she usually sounded. Her reserved personality was such that she might have remained in the background if not for her exceptional beauty. But her friends had no doubt how talented she was. She had fought with Julia many times and there was not a single time that the blonde managed to defeat her.
Hence when she made the suggestion everyone else only nodded and retired to their tents. Once they were left alone, Hera took hold of Kyla and assured her. "Don't worry. Julia knows these woods like the back of her hand. Even if they face any precarious situation, she is adept to tackle it."
Her words combined with an affectionate smile, relieved her a lot and they got up together and went inside their tent. The campfire was left burning in the chilling night.
***
"Little master, wake up. Your lover is dying!!" Aron had fallen asleep while caring for Julia. From time to time he will wake up to check on her. Even now he was having some random dreams. "Little master, wake up. You will lose the girl like this."
A soft voice echoed in his mind but slowly he discerned that the voice was not exactly coming from his mind. "Hmm?" Aron opened his eyes to look in front of him. There were only a few glowing plants left, meaning that it was much darker in the cave now.
The first thing he noticed was Julia's twitching body. Jumping into action he touched her chest feel an exceptionally weak heartbeat. "Fuck..! Fuck..!" Aron visibly panicked. Her body was ice cold and her breathing had grown labored.
"She is dying." Suddenly a calm voice rang out from beside him. This was not a dream, the voice couldn't have been clearer. Aron turned to his left at once only to fall back on his butt in fear.
There was a third person in the cave with them. A tall woman stood beside him dressed in a bright white gown. Was she a woman? No. Humans don't possess wings or horns. But the woman to his side sported two jet black wings on her lower back as well as two curved horns on her head.
Nevertheless, those wings or horns were not exactly the reason for his fear. "You! You..!!" Aron stuttered as he backtracked. His reaction was much more exaggerated than normal because this was not the first time he had seen this face.
"Hehe.. is this the first time we are meeting, little master?" A long tongue licked the rosy lips while the winged woman took a step towards him. This woman was the one from his dreams. Since he was involved in the accident with the potion, there was not a single day she had not been in his dreams. There was no way he could mistake that face.