“So this is the way down,” Sylvia mused while testing the stairs with a tap of her toe.
“It appears so. It’s sort of odd seeing stairs that looked as if they were cut out from the dungeon itself. They are completely smooth and look to be in pristine condition. Do you really believe something that’s not alive is capable of this?” I asked.
Near the fallen monster and close to the pillar of stone with the blue crystals embedded in it was a path downwards. It was a spiraling staircase that was most likely the path to the next lowest floor. However, it was eerie seeing something that looked manmade being so far down this hell hole.
“Do you think dungeons are alive?” Sylvia asked me with a hint of concern.
I looked up at the vampire and met her gaze. “What is mana to you? Uh, I mean like what did people say about mana during your time?”
“Mana… it’s in all things that live and absent in everything that doesn’t live. It’s the source of life and power and without it, we wouldn't exist. Some religions tried to connect the existence of mana with their gods but that was pretty much the gist,” Sylvia said thoughtfully.
So pretty much what people think nowadays. Two thousand years and the existence of mana is still shrouded in mystery. History, in general, seems to be warped quite a bit from what I can tell. People seem to know a lot of oral history but not so much written. I wonder about the vampire empire? What kind of knowledge was lost?
“Not much has changed it seems. But if mana is widely accepted as proof of life… then why doesn’t anybody consider dungeons to be alive? If monsters, plants, and people have mana then shouldn’t by extension dungeons be alive? And the items that come out of dungeons have mana inside of them. We can imbue our mana into items but it’s not the same thing when compared to a dungeon item. Runes can do similar things but… What do you think, Sylvia?”
“I don’t know… I was just always told that making sense of dungeons is impossible. That they are creations that break the rules of what we know and understand,” Sylvia said with a small shrug.
“But why is that?” I asked again.
“Why? I don’t know? It’s just the way things are?” she said with a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice.
“And that’s the problem… people don’t think like that, not forever at least. Dungeons have existed for as far back as we have records but nobody has figured them out despite the countless people delving into them. Some countries even farm valuable resources from smaller dungeons. I think the dungeons might be alive.”
If dungeons have mana then they must be alive to some extent. Maybe not on the level of a person but of a plant perhaps? But no… monsters inhabit dungeons and they seemed to be able to learn. Just like the Ice Apparitions and Glacial Sentinels. But is it the monsters that are learning or the dungeon?
And what are dungeon items? Are those items the equivalent of a dungeon crafting an item as a person would? But why would a dungeon do that? And if dungeons are alive what is the point of revealing themselves to the world? If a dungeon is a living entity wouldn’t it want to stay hidden until it becomes unkillable?
“It’s almost like they are encouraging people to go inside of them…” I mumbled.
“Huh? What is encouraging what to go inside of them?” Sylvia said as she squinted her eyes at me.
“Dungeons… for some reason or another they are showing themselves to the outside world. If dungeon cores are destroyed and the dungeon disappears does that not mean you are killing the dungeon? But why would any living thing take that risk… food… you would take that risk if it was your only choice for survival.”
Sylvia stopped giving me that weird look as her eyes widened. “You think dungeons are eating people? But monsters are the main reason people die in dungeons, right?”
“And how are monsters living down here? There doesn’t seem to be any food or water. Sure they can eat each other and they do but,” —I pointed to the massive dead monster behind us— “how does something that big survive without food and water?”
Sylvia had a thoughtful look on her face as she closed her eyes to ponder. After a few seconds, she said, “Dungeons are supplying the food somehow. Maybe the monsters don’t even need to eat and drink but they are just doing it out of pure instinct?”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
But what is the food source?
“Anyways,” Sylvia said with a shrug and a flip of her purple hair. “It doesn’t matter does it?”
“You’re right I guess, we can’t prove or disprove anything. But if dungeons are alive we should keep that in mind. Maybe a dungeon’s level of intelligence is around that of a child,” I said with a shrug.
And honestly, I don’t think I want to know for sure.
Sylvia made a non-committal grumble then jabbed her finger over her shoulder, “What are we going to do about that thing?”
“Huh? What do you mean?” I questioned.
“You are just going to leave all that food?”
“Food…” I mumbled while looking over at the giant corpse. It was true that if I could eat that monster food wouldn’t be a problem. But I don’t have a food problem, I have a water problem. Not to mention monster meat can outright kill you… unless…
"Why don’t you take a bite out of it? I believe you told me that ‘poison and illness are nothing more than a nuisance’ or something like that? If I eat that thing I might die. And I’m already having a hard time as it is,” I said.
Sylvia narrowed her crimson eyes at me and crossed her arms. “I’m not eating that thing,” she said imperiously.
“Then don’t suggest something to me that you wouldn’t do yourself,” I shot back. “I have plenty of food anyways. But those scales might be useful. Can you take them off?”
Sylvia looked over the monster one more time. “Maybe. I did damage a lot of the scales because…”
“Because… why?” I asked, trying to finish her statement.
Sylvia turned away from me with a snort and started walking towards the monster. “Forget it. I’ll go see if I can salvage anything.”
What did I do this time? I was just speaking the truth…
While Sylvia was messing around with the monster’s scales, I decided to go check out something else I had noticed. I was very tired from exerting so much mana and being healed but I didn’t have time to rest. We should spend a day or so up here before we head down those stairs.
I need to figure out a way to improve my combination magic. Maybe instead of using White Fire Lance for a base, I can just use a regular fireball and then turn that into a plasma-based spell. I wonder if I do it enough times I can get the mana cost and cast time down. Might as well give it a try.
I made my way towards a pile of bones. They seemed like the bones from the lizard monsters so I started rummaging around the pile. After a few minutes of kicking around the bones, I didn’t find anything useful. I was hoping maybe a magic item would have been laying around here but it seems I’m out of luck. I know magic items are rare but I feel like we should have found at least one.
I was also half expecting to see Human or in this case even Dragonkin bones amongst the pile. Dem and the others… it’s not that I’ve forgotten them it’s just that I assume they are dead. We scoured a good portion of this floor yet found no signs of them. Which meant the Wyrm got to them or they fell on the other side. Either way, I can’t see them escaping the Wyrm’s clutches… they are most likely dead.
The next place on my agenda was the gray spire jutting out of the ground. This is the first landmark I’ve seen come out of the ground since the earlier floors. I ran my hand across the cold stone and observed the crystals but I didn’t find anything unusual. It was the same gray stone I was used to and the same blue crystals giving off their light.
Mhm? What’s this?
There was a small gap in the spire just big enough for something to wiggle into. I got closer to it and recoiled immediately from the smell. Something is dead inside of there and it’s been dead for a long time.
Curiosity got the better of me and I set my cane down so I could climb into the gap. The smell was pungent but nothing I wasn’t used to.
I crawled on my hands and knees until I reached the source of the rancid smell. A dead and decaying gecko monster was laying against the back wall of the small crevice. Dried blood was pooled underneath it and a large gash ran across its flank. Judging by the rate of decay it’s been dead for some time probably well over a week. But that wasn’t what caught my eye.
Hey… that’s my sword.
Sure enough, laying in the pool of dried blood was a sky blue gladius. It seems the monster must have grabbed it and brought it here to die for whatever reason.
I grabbed the blade and shrugged in despair. It was covered in dry blood and smelt rank but it didn’t appear to be damaged severely, then again it was difficult to tell. The edge was a bit dull but even so, it was still incredibly sharp, cobalt must be made of stronger stuff than I previously thought. I had a whetstone and some oil to remedy that problem anyways. But cleaning this thing was going to be a pain.
I sighed and put the sword away into my ring so I didn’t have to smell it. I took my leave from the monster and crawled back out from the crevice.
While Sylvia was doing whatever she was doing with the scales I would tend to my sword. It’s a shame that the sword sat for so long in that pool of blood. If it was fresh this wouldn't even be a problem. But the blood had caked the blade and it looked like it seeped into every nook and cranny.
I started by using a spare shirt and tried to wipe it off as much as I could. Rubbing the blood off a sword when you are dead tired from nearly dying and using too much mana really is a downer. After a few minutes I managed to get a good amount of the dried blood off but it was nowhere where it needed to be. The stench of death still lingered on the blade.
Or maybe that’s just me…
Not caring either way I removed the oil I bought from the guild and set to work wiping down the blade. With a bit more elbow grease, I had the blade shining and back into its previous pristine state. Now with the blade cleaned properly, I could observe it fully now and the blade was in fact undamaged. With my whetstone oiled I began sharpening the blade.
“You found your sword?” Sylvia asked while observing me.
“Yeah, lucky me. Did you manage to salvage anything?”
“About forty or so scales were undamaged. The others were so badly damaged taking them off would be a waste of time. Didn’t help that I broke a lot of them when I tried to remove them,” she groaned. “But now I’m tired,” Sylvia said as she looked at me expectantly.
I sighed and made a chair out of earth magic so she could sit down and rest. Sylvia promptly threw herself into the seat and sat silently watching me sharpen my blade.
“Where did you get that sword from?” she asked me.
“From a dead monster in that tiny cave over there.”
Sylvia huffed and gave me an annoyed look “I mean where did you get it from. Not where you found it…”
“I uh… got it from a benefactor,” I said with a small shrug.
“You killed somebody for that sword, didn’t you?”
Now it was my turn to give her an annoyed look. “Do you think I enjoy killing or something? And no, I didn’t kill the previous owner of this sword. I just gave him a helping hand in giving it to me… or maybe I helped him remove a hand? Eh, either way, he is still alive… I think.”
“I stand corrected,” Sylvia said in exasperation. I looked up from my blade and expected to see a smug smile or something but Sylvia seemed to be staring off into nothing. Then she spoke in a soft voice, “But… how can you do it so easily?”
“Do what so easily?”
Sylvia's eyes darted around me then she looked at the ground. “Kill so easily? You don’t seem bothered by it at all…”
Her mood did a complete 180-degree turn. One second she was teasing me and now she is suddenly in the dumps? And people say I’m moody…
I sighed and finished my work. I inspected my blade one final time and nodded at my work. I had never cleaned a sword before but I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. The skills and all that time I spent cleaning my gear haven’t been completely wasted it seems.
The blue and gold sword was practically shining in the gloomy light. It was so polished I could see a warped reflection of myself from it.
I look terrible.
My hair was getting long again and it was disheveled and grimy. My face was covered in blood with deep bags under my heterochromatic eyes. I’ve also lost some weight from constantly running around while fighting for my life and not consuming enough calories to make up for it. But even so, I still look better than I did when I was a slave.
One step at a time.
I put the sword away into my ring and looked over at Sylvia who was watching me quietly. “I kill because I have to, not because I like to. It’s either kill or be killed, it's as simple as that. But if I could have it my way I would never kill anyone ever again. I would spend my days with my family back home where my only complaints were the humidity of the stupid jungle and my dumb annoying friend making fun of me for being a gloomy Elf bastard. When I was more concerned with what I was going to do for lunch and not what kind of monster I was going to have my next fight to the death with. But if I want to even get back home… to go back to those days… I have to kill anything and everything that gets in my way. It’s just the way things are, it’s what I’m familiar with.”
Sylvia wouldn’t make eye contact with me as she mumbled, “Oh…I’m sorry…”
“Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry about? I thought we went over this already…”
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“No, it’s not that… It’s just… you must be frustrated with me,” Sylvia said dejectedly.
“Huh? Why’s that?” I asked in confusion.
“Because… well… I’m having a hard time and—”
I interrupted her and said, “It’s fine. I imagine you haven’t come to terms with killing yet. You probably grew up in an environment where killing something was the last thing on your mind. I don’t blame you for hesitating. If anything it’s the normal reaction.”
“...But still… I’m just a burden for you right now—”
“Just stop, will you? I said it’s not your fault. I’m not sure what you have to do in order to come to terms with your current situation. Whatever it is that you need to find to help you. And I won’t lie, I hope whatever it is you find you find it sooner rather than later. I guess just don’t wait until it’s too late,” I said with a dismissive wave. “Now come drink my blood so I can get some sleep. We shouldn't spend more time on this floor than is necessary.”
Sylvia nodded her head slowly as she seemed to reluctantly drink from me once more. I wasn’t sure what was going on in her head but it was something only she would be able to figure out and make a decision on.
Besides, I was the last person to be dishing out advice about coming to terms with killing. Because an answer like “Just kill until you stop feeling or caring” isn’t an answer most people want to hear.
—
Once Sylvia and I spent the next day and a half resting up, we made our way down the steps and onto a new floor of the dungeon. Gone was the massive sprawling abyss from the floor above and in its place was a narrow passage that two people would struggle to walk shoulder to shoulder in. The passage led straight for as far as the eye could see and the only thing breaking up the darkness was the occasional glow from the blue crystals.
Sylvia nodded at me and took the lead as the two of us made our way down the passage. We must have walked for over an hour before something changed. So far we hadn’t run into a single monster or even seen the signs that monsters were down here.
But the narrow passage opened up into a wide-open area. It was in the shape of a massive bowl but not so big that we couldn’t see the other side. Lining the walls were the same blue crystals while at the center of the room, dangling from the ceiling, was a massive version of the blue crystals. The massive crystal was giving off its gloomy blue light as it illuminated the cave.
However, the bowl-shaped cave wasn’t flat; it was filled with some kind of clear liquid. It was a massive lake with rocks that were haphazardly tossed about. The rocks looked like gray lily pads laying on top of a massive clear lake.
“Is this water?” Sylvia asked while bending down to run her hands through the liquid.
I quickly snatched the vampire by the back of her hair and yanked her.
“Ow—ow—OW! VOKER THAT HURT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” She hissed.
She stood up and looked like she was about to punch me but I just rolled my eyes. “That’s obviously not water you dolt. Look over there,” I said while pointing at a large rock floating on the surface of the liquid.
“Dolt? What…” Sylvia followed my finger and looked at the floating rock. Then she turned to me and scowled at me. “You pulled my hair because of a stupid floating rock? You are—”
“Rocks that big don’t float in water,” I said evenly.
“Huh? Ugh, wait…” Sylvia’s scowl turned to confusion as she looked at the floating rock again.
The rock wasn’t a part of the lilypads, which seemed to be stationary but a chunk of rock from something else. She didn’t immediately seem convinced so I summoned a rock using earth magic and tossed it into the liquid. The rock hit the surface with a plop and barely broke the surface before it floated straight back up. A rock that size would have sunk in water with no problems.
“Whatever that clear liquid is, it is not water. And I wouldn’t recommend dipping your hands into something if you don’t know what it is.”
Sylvia quickly turned away from me but I could see the tips of her ears burning red. “Yeah, I knew that. I was just getting a closer look, that’s all,” she said defensively.
Uh, huh.
I looked around the cave and I couldn’t see anything with my eyes, no vapors or corpses. The temperature in the cave was a little on the warmer side but it wasn’t uncomfortable. The cave didn’t smell like anything in particular either and my ears weren’t picking up anything moving around in the water. The liquid appeared to be clear so we should have been able to see something. Besides, if the liquid was giving off some kind of poisonous gas we both would have died a long time ago.
Unless it’s magical… magical poison gas… or just poisonous gas in a dungeon in general. I’d rather not think about that.
Sylvia cleared her throat then said, “So what now? Use the stones to cross to the other side?”
The other side, although far away, was still in sight.
“That would be the idea. I don’t see or hear anything wrong. How about you?” I asked.
“No, nothing.”
“Well let’s get going then,” I said while using earth magic to make a path for us.
We could just jump from one rock lilypad to another but that seemed like a waste of stamina. This way I could just bridge us across and we wouldn’t have to jump around like idiots.
We made good progress. In just a short amount of time, we had already made it to the middle of the lake, and I still had barely made a dent in my mana pool. So far there hasn’t been a single sign that there is anything down here. The surface of the liquid is calm, and I don’t hear anything in the lake either.
This is far too easy. There is no way the dungeon is going to give us a freebie. Unless it’s one of the transition floors that Alce was talking about… perhaps— NO!
“Sylvia!” I yelled out.
She was a quarter of the way across one of my bridges when I grabbed her by the waist. I could hear her yelping in anger and surprise, but I didn’t care. I threw both of us back toward the last lilypad just in time to avoid it.
The spot on the bridge Sylvia had been walking toward exploded as something burst out from the lake. A creature that can only be described as a massive shark made out of brown stone leaped out and took a bite out of the bridge. The monster went airborne then crashed back into the lake, only to disappear.
“What was that…” Sylvia mumbled nervously.
“No idea. But can you please get off of me? I’d like to not be laying on my back when that thing attacks us again,” I grunted while trying to push her off of me.
Sylvia quickly rolled off of me and took her silver Estoc out of her ring. “Thanks… again… but what do we do? Can’t you just start casting Lightning Bolts into the water? And how did you know it was there?! I didn’t hear a single damn thing?!” she said quickly.
“No, that’s not water, remember? If I launch a Fireball or use lightning, there is a good chance it could backfire and kill both of us. And … I sensed it right before it attacked you. I didn’t hear it either until it was too late.”
“So what do we do, Voker?”
“We wait.”
Sylvia turned her head around and narrowed her eyes, “We wait?”
“We can’t see it, we can’t hear it, and we can only sense it when it’s about to kill us. What would you suggest we do?”
Sylvia grunted in frustration but started nodding her head slowly, “Fine if that’s what you think is best.”
For some reason, this thing didn’t attack us till we reached roughly the halfway point. It managed to stay completely hidden but as soon as Sylvia took a few steps onto the bridge it attacked.
I can’t just set fire to this place and if I electrocute this unknown liquid, it might be the end for us. Not to mention that monster looks like it’s made of stone, it might be a construct of some type. Or maybe a monster with stone skin? Not enough information. But we need to kill this thing or avoid it…
“I’m not sure what is triggering the monster, but I’m going to try something. I’m going to form multiple bridges at a time, and we can try to cross one randomly. I’ll try to attack it if I can. Are you ready?”
Sylvia nodded. “Let’s give it a try.”
Five bridges should do it. I’ll connect a few of them to other lilypads. Let’s see how smart this monster is.
I felt the rushing of warm water in my veins as mana left my body. The spell cores left my hands to create a set of bridges made of stone that connected not only the lilypad in front of us but some other random ones that were a little further away.
The stone bridges started forming and connecting like a highway. Sylvia started running towards one of the bridges at random but before she could set foot on one of the bridges another shark monster crashed through it. And the same thing happened to the other bridges as well. The monsters had destroyed all my bridges just seconds after they had formed.
Sylvia skirted to a stop and took a few shaky steps backward. “Well, that didn’t work…Got any more ideas in that head of yours, genius?”
“Let me think…” I responded.
Damn. They were so fast I couldn’t even cast a spell. I wanted to use the bridges and have spikes erupt from the bottom of them to impale the monsters but I wasn’t fast enough.
I wonder if I could poison them…
I took something out of my ring and tossed it into the lake. Sure enough, the monsters reacted and swallowed the thing whole. I looked over at Sylvia and the look of pure confusion made me realize how odd the thing I just did was.
“Voker… why did you just throw a steak into the lake? Better yet, why do you have one cooked and plated?” Sylvia asked cautiously.
“Well you see… the previous owner of my ring had it in here. I figured it was some kind of trap and that it was poisoned. I mean why else would you keep a whole cooked steak in your spatial storage ring?” I said.
Sylvia just looked at me then sighed. “Did the thought that it was just food ever cross your mind? Your ring keeps things stuck in time right? Like food doesn’t go bad?”
“Yeah, my ring does that. But surely that steak was poisoned. I mean just think about all the food you can have in something like this. Why would you ever waste space on something so useless…”
“If you have the money to afford a spatial ring, then having a steak dinner on the go doesn’t sound so absurd. You realize that, right?” Sylvia remarked with an eyebrow raised.
“I suppose you have a point,” I murmured. “Anyways, the poison might be taking too long, so I’ll just figure something else out…”
“Uh, huh…” Sylvia groaned.
The monster wasn’t as fast as when Sylvia stepped on the bridge. So what’s the difference? Let’s see…
I sent seven boulders flying off far into the liquid. I cast the spells a good distance away from us and started counting.
One…two…three…four… bingo.
After four seconds, six of the boulders that had impacted the water got destroyed by the shark monsters.
“So there are six of them… that was a better idea,” Sylvia said with a look of amusement.
“They are reacting to mana. It just so happened that we are walking sacks of mana. And there might be more… but there does seem to be only six for now.”
“So you just send out distractions and then we move through the bridges like normal. Not bad…” Sylvia mused.
“How fast can you run while carrying me? And I’m talking life or death speed,” I asked her.
“Faster than you can manage on that messed up leg of yours. I can use a lot of my stored blood to make myself faster and stronger. Shouldn’t be a problem,” Sylvia said with a smug grin.
“Good because we are clearing this in one go.”
“Huh?” The smug grin disappeared as Sylvia looked at me in worry.
“I’m not sure if the monsters will figure out our tactics or not. We are considering dungeons to be alive and somewhat intelligent, right? If we do things slowly it would take us over twenty tries to get to the end. You just focus on running and I’ll focus on defending us.”
“Are you sure, Voker?”
“I am. We can do it,” I reassured her.
“Alright, let’s do it,” she said resolutely.
“Okay— oof—”
Sylvia had already picked me up and tossed me over her shoulder. She didn’t even ask if I was ready… And she doesn’t have to be so rough, I’m not a sack of potatoes….
“Count to three in your head then just start running.”
Sylvia repositioned me rather roughly on her shoulder and nodded. I formed some more boulders and launched them far off into the clear liquid lake again. The rocks plopped into the liquid and started floating on the surface. Then I started forming spell cores for bridges and my stomach twisted. Sylvia had already started running.
Stone sharks were attacking my boulders and my bridge hadn’t even finished forming before Sylvia was already halfway across the next lilypad. Her speed was ludicrous and the iron grip around my waist felt like it was going to turn my pelvis into dust.
Sylvia was crossing the bridges faster than I could make them. I just stopped forming the bridges all the way to save time and mana. But my focus was drawn away from Sylvia’s speed and at the set of six dorsal fins made of stone propelling their way towards us.
It seems the monsters are forgoing stealth and coming straight for us. The monsters were cutting through the liquid like it was nothing and they would catch up to us in no time.
I continued forming half-bridges as Sylvia seemed to sense the incoming monsters and picked up the speed even more. I started launching Earth Spears with some extra force at the monsters. But the monsters could sense the mana and dodged the spears in the water. However, one of my spells did connect and took off the dorsal fin of one of the stone sharks. And just like a stone the fin crumbled and exploded into dust as the spear burst through it.
My spears weren’t enough so I focused completely on the defensive. Sylvia was moving so fast she was just ignoring my partially built bridges completely now and was leaping from one stone lilypad to the next.
Walls of earth started appearing as I tried separating us from the sharks as much as I could. But my walls proved to be of little help. The shark monsters broke through my stone walls without much effort and it only slowed them down for a scant few seconds. But that’s all we needed.
I felt Sylvia land and her body stiffen up as she prepared for one final jump. We had reached the end of the floor in short order thanks to her. I felt weightless as Sylvia jumped through the air. But the weightlessness in my stomach turned to dread as I sensed something coming from below us.
I tried to launch earth spears into the monster but I was already too late. The monster breached the surface of the water and with a loud snap its large jaw crunched down on something as bones broke and flesh was ripped apart.
But Sylvia continued forward. We crashed landed on the other side of the lake and the both of us went skipping across the ground. I crashed into the rock wall and winced from the pain. I looked down expecting to see myself legless once again but much to my surprise, I was not injured. Besides the raging headache I just got from slamming into this wall. But wait… oh… oh no…
I looked over to Sylvia and she was just sitting on her butt with a blank expression and wide eyes. She had what was left of her legs extended and was staring at them blankly. Her left leg from the knee down was completely gone but oddly enough it wasn’t bleeding as it should be. I wasn’t sure if she had stopped the bleeding or if it was a vampire thing but Sylvia wasn’t moving.
I rolled up off the ground and dusted myself off then headed over to her. “Sylvia…”
I called out to her softly and her gaze lifted slowly. Her crimson eyes went wide and I already knew what was about to happen as tears started to form. The shock was gone and now comes the—
“My leg. MY LEG! IT HURTS SO BAD! IT’S GONE! PLEASE HELP ME!" Sylvia screamed.
I was taken aback for a second at how loudly she was screaming. Tears rolled down her face as she spasmed around in pain. It seems despite her nearly immortal regeneration powers Sylvia still feels pain. And this is probably the first time she has ever suffered a serious injury. That’s right… this is the normal reaction to losing a limb. People don’t sacrifice body parts as a part of their everyday strategy.
I walked over to the screaming vampire and put a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t stop so I increased my grip with enough force to make her bones creak. She jerked back in surprise and let out a screech of pain as she looked up at me with puffy eyes.
“Relax, just heal your leg. Stupid bloodsucker…”
I knew it was rude but often surprising people when they least expect it is a good way to snap people out of a daze. Me gripping her shoulder with enough force to cause more pain was also enough to switch her focus. Seems the pain gate theory works even on vampires. Sylvia's face morphed into anger then back to pain then back to anger once more. She was about to yell at me but her face quickly morphed into dread as she frantically started healing her leg.
I couldn’t look away as I watched her leg regrow. Bones made disgusting noises as it seemingly came out of nowhere, pink muscle fibers reworked and latched onto the bone, and new flesh was grafted as the portion of her leg that used to be missing came back. It was both disgusting and fascinating watching a leg seemingly appear from nothing like that. I imagined that’s what it looked like to regrow a leg over weeks in a medical station in the span of just a few seconds.
Sylvia squeezed her toes and stretched her new leg out a few times. Then she looked up at me.
“Better?” I asked.
“Yeah… sorry for uh… yelling like that…” she said sheepishly, her ears burning a bright red.
I stood up and offered her a hand. She took it and I got her back up onto her feet. “Not at all. You’ve probably never been injured like that before, have you?” I asked.
Sylvia shook her head side to side.
“Then it’s completely normal that you acted that way. Losing a limb… well it hurts.”
Sylvia just nodded and wiped the tears off her face. She sniffled a few times then spoke in a hoarse voice, “Let’s just get out of here…”
“Yeah, we should go.”
I think Sylvia wanted to rest and it was her turn to sleep next anyway. But I imagine after this fiasco she has no urge to rest, let alone go to sleep. Just more bad memories for us. Maybe one day things won’t be so terrible.
The two of us continued onwards to the end of the floor in silence.