When Karah finished the review of what loot they’d obtained from the Find, she turned to Louise. The poor girl looked like she was on her last legs and held onto the arms of the chair for dear life so she would not fall asleep right there. Pity softened Karah's expression. "We don’t need to do this tonight. We can have this conversation just as easily in the morning, after you have a good night’s sleep."
"No! I need… I need to go home… To my parents!" Louise exhaled like those few words took all her strength. "Please… Help me get home." The girl – and yes she was a girl. Even now, she was still early to mid puberty. 13, 14 at most, gangly-limbed with acne mixed in with the freckles. And that ignored the spell-trap’s influence - her dark skin had a definite yellow tinge to it. Despite the determination in those gray eyes, she was on her last legs.
Cray's heart went out to her, and if there was anything he could do to get her back to her family, he would. Except he knew the truth. He glanced at Karah, but for once, her brusque demeanor faltered. Neither of them wanted this conversation now.
She sighed. "It's… Unclear what happened. We found you within a spell-trap inside of the Overgrown Complex. It looked like you had been inside for quite some time."
"A spell-trap? What's a spell-trap?"
"The outside world has not just monsters, but traps. Some kill quickly, others slowly. The Mana Devourer had you in that trap -“
"What trap? I was in my room, reading a book when suddenly you idiots ripped a hole in midair and yanked me through!"
Cray cleared his throat. "How long had you been in your room?"
"I don't… know… A few hours? I'd gone in reading and…" She trailed off, but from confusion this time rather than exhaustion.
"The spell-trap may have looked like your room, but it was meant to kill you. Within one, reality is distorted, time as well. And in all honesty, you don't look like a healthy girl who went into her room to read for a few hours." He motioned at her arms.
She looked at them and recoiled at the yellowed skin. "What… What happened?"
"The spell trap drained you badly. It will recover once you have the chance to rest, of course, but you don't look much better than I do. That's why you're so tired."
She nodded slowly and digested everything. "But… My parents. I need to get back to them!"
He couldn't say it, not yet. She was too fragile, liable to shatter with one more blow. She needed to get acclimated, to understand.
Luckily, Karah broke in. "Right now, you need to rest. This is a dangerous world, and you need to learn how to survive, or you'll never be able to find them."
“Really?” Louise turned his way, pleading with her gaze.
Cray met it with a smile. "Karah’s right. Rest for now. We will help you, I promise."
At his words, she lost the battle against sleep. As if her body had been given a signal, she slumped in the chair, asleep before Cray could reach her. They didn’t dare to awaken her; instead, Cray carried her to her bedroom and wrapped her up in blankets. She didn’t stir the whole time. A sign of trust?
He felt sick to his stomach.
When he returned to the living room, Karah stared down the hallway past him. Cray was no better, and guilt gnawed at the pit of his stomach, teeth sharp despite the silence.
Karah cleared her throat. "You heard Tela. She could join one of the welcoming groups and be just fine."
True words, but ones that didn’t need to be said, especially with such an odd note to them. "She would be just fine. However…?”
"Well, that's just it. We could help her get started with one of the welcoming groups.” She paused, yet still didn’t meet his gaze. “Or, well. we could always use some help on our Finds…"
"You want to ask if she wants to join our group?” At her shrug, he said, “I mean, she is new."
"She is… and we don't have to," Karah said. "It's not like - not like she's our responsibility…” She closed her eyes.
Cray winced at the word. Responsibility. They'd and brought her here, dragged her through danger, then lied to her. But no, they didn't have any responsibility. "That Coldsnap ability would be good to have on a rainy day." He paused and bit his lip. “It wouldn't hurt to ask her, would it?"
"Of course, no pressure for her," Karah said quickly. "If she wants to go with one of the welcoming groups, that’s fine. Up to her. But if she comes with us, we show her the ropes.” She exhaled. “And when she's ready, we’ll show her the truth."
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When morning came, part of Louise wanted to hide beneath the blankets until at least the afternoon, but the gurgle of her stomach’s rebellion served as a reminder that she had not eaten anything since she arrived… wherever this place was. There were some offered clothes beside the bed: jeans and a woman’s blouse, each long in sleeve and not her style, but at least clean and warm. Once attired, she trudged up the hall.
Cray smiled at her when she entered the drab little kitchen, then pushed forward a bowl of food. “Hungry?”
Her stomach roared its approval and she plopped into a seat at the table, grasped the silverware in hand and looked down at the bowl to see… little white lines mixed with blackened and brown ones. Oh, and the scent of fire filling her nostrils. Burnt rice.
After everything else, being torn from her home and life into some unexplainable nightmare… Was this… was this a prank of some sort? She turned to Cray, on the verge of tears, only to see the same burnt rice inside his own bowl, that he chewed mechanically.
A quizzical tilt of his head. “Want some?”
“Why are - Why are we eating that?”
Cray looked confused until she jabbed a finger at the burnt rice, whereupon his mouth made a little ‘o’. “Right, it’s normal for Karah and I, but strange for you.” He tapped his fingers upon the table in thought. “Food is… hard to come by in this world. We can’t make our own and can only get it by Finding.”
Louise tried to put her head around it. No eggs? No bread? No cereal? Just rice? “But… what about farms? Herd animals? Things of that nature?”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Not an option, I’m afraid. It’s why we Find. Anything useful helps. Equipment, ammunition, reagents, raw materials, and most of all, food. Everyone in Lifehome does something for the town. Some craft equipment, others brew, still more fix - I deliver stuff - but just about everyone Finds. Finders locate the food and give it to the village, then they stockpile what they can and feed us what we need to survive."
"But there were cans of soup last night. Nothing amazing, but surely even that would be better than... burnt rice!"
“Cans of food are rare and valuable.” His voice was quiet. “They stay good almost forever, so we stockpile them. Because some days, you're not going to have good Findings. Some days, people don’t come back." He swallowed. “I think we've got roughly a month's supply now, just in case. Might be extra... but you never know."
It made sense. But that didn’t make the meal any more appealing. There was no lemon, no vegetables, no sauces, no peppers, nothing.
Cray must have sensed her displeasure, as he continued. "That said, you don’t need to have it completely plain." With a flourish, he set a small jar upon the table. On the peeling sticker that served as its label, it read ‘salt’.
Louise looked at it then back to Cray, who beamed like he'd offered her solid gold. She wanted to complain but was so proud of himself that she didn’t have the heart. "Salt will be good," she forced a smile and sprinkled it upon her burnt meal. "Let's eat."
It was bad, but not as awful as she’d feared. Just bland, salty and with an odd crunch from the burnt bits. But at least she could eat it. Plus, at least it’s not asparagus. Yuck.
She started slow but then sped up when she realized that going slow just prolonged the ordeal. For a while, the only sound was the tink-tink of cheap silverware. In the light of day, the house wasn’t quite as colorless as she’d thought. There were a couple of rugs, and a clock in the shape of a cat sat upon the kitchen counter. Plus, they have books. She wondered what sorts they were; Cray and Karah struck her as very practical people, but surely they needed some way to relax, no?
Cray cleared his throat, a quiet rumble of a sound. "Karah’s at the market, going to trade away what we found yesterday, well, what she can, anyway. She'll be back soon."
Louise swallowed the next bite. Awful, but at least she’d eaten something. Wait a moment… She glanced down at her arms, which were back to a deep coffee in color, rather than yellow and sickly. “I - I’m better? How?”
“You rested for the night. What did you expect?”
What the - what in the - But again, there was no mockery in Cray’s expression, just that kind smile. “You’re saying that… because I fell asleep, I went from looking like death warmed over to… perfectly healthy?”
“Of course. Look at me.” And true enough, he looked the picture of health, from his stubbled chin all the way down to his running shoes. “Maybe it’s different where you came from, but here, every morning, your health is back to full and you’re fit to battle again.”
It made no sense that she could go from last night to just fine after one night’s sleep, yet it happened. Alright, roll with it. "Okay, what’s going to happen next?"
"What do you mean?"
"You said I had to Find…”
"You're worried, aren't you?" At her nod, he leaned forward and lowered his voice. "I can't blame you. My first time, I could barely stand. Don’t let it get to you. Karah and I will both be there, so just stay quiet and grab whatever you find. It's going to be okay, I promise."
As kind as his words were, her legs still shivered at the danger they tried to soften.
“First, we…”
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The waypoint loomed far larger than Louise remembered from just yesterday, the cave’s blue crystal veins cold and ominous, a spider’s web. Even the motes of light provided no warmth, their pale gleam muted by the knowledge of just what she would face on the other side.
She looked elsewhere to distract herself. Last time, there had been a few other people at the Waypoint. This time, there were almost two-dozen. Each wore the same ridiculous outfit and weaponry of those she’d seen throughout Lifehome, yet here, it didn’t seem quite so strange. They moved with focus and checked their equipment one piece at a time, then moved to other sorts of preparation.
Her companions were no different. Cray checked and rechecked his guns while additional ammunition vanished into his inventory with sparks of blue. With each one, he nodded, a mental checklist of sorts. Karah, by contrast, had finished her check some time ago and now sat in silence, head bowed while four spheres of pale yellow light buzzed around her. But while each was active in their own way, there was a calmness in them, a sense that, while dangerous, this was something they could handle.
Louise felt nothing of the sort. Every heartbeat came with a thud she feared would cause her chest to explode and her legs quivered like jelly.
Cray placed the last of his weapons into his inventory and sat down beside her. "Don't worry, I’ll be here to protect you. Karah too." He gave her a thumbs up.
Louise could only bite her lip, tongue too tied to talk.
"Okay, you’re still nervous. Let’s see… Hmm, how about we review how this will go. Is that alright?" At her slow nod, he grinned, "So what is the first step?"
"W-We go through the waypoint together."
Her voice was a croak, but he patted her on the shoulder. "Very good. We’ll stay together to keep you safe. And where are we going?"
"T-The Overgrown Complex?"
"Yes, we could go where we found you, but it’s a bit overrun. The Overgrown Complex is the only waypoint that’s connected to Lifehome, plus it’s nice and easy with no sign of Overrun. That will give you the chance to unlock some of the waypoints too.”
“Unlock the waypoints?”
Cray blinked, then grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, I forgot you’re new and… right. Well, you know how waypoints teleport you to places, right?” She nodded. “Alright, so they’re set places whose location never changes. And not just that, you can teleport from one waypoint to another… but, except for Lifehome and the Overgrown Complex, you can only travel to a Waypoint if you’ve unlocked it.”
“Okay… and how do I do that?”
“You go there and activate it, just like we did when we found you in Greenbriar. We're going to work our way back to that area, while unlocking other waypoints for you on the way, and see if that one is safe again. Should be, but it takes a bit to activate one from each side and one Mana Devourer is enough for me this year, thanks." He chuckled awkwardly, but it just brought back memories of the monster hunting them down. Luckily, he changed the subject. “Right, do you remember how your abilities work?"
It took a moment, but then a discussion earlier that day came to her. "I'm a Magic User," she recited. "By thinking of the ability’s name hard enough, it will activate the lesser spells I know, and I’ll cast them instinctively."
"And the greater spells?"
"I need to call those out to cast them."
"What else?"
"Uh..." Oh no, there was something else? What was else!?
"When we're in the field, we-" Cray pointed to his mouth.
"Stay quiet!" she almost shouted.
A proud smile. "That's right. Unless you need to cast a major spell, whisper if you need to say something. Even then, only when necessary. Only shout when you have no choice or we could draw far more attention than we can handle.”
Louise swallowed. Just like the battle with the Mana Devourer. By the end, enemies had poured over the city like ants on a picnic. So many of them, so many teeth and claws. She shivered again. She wasn’t ready for this.
A cough from Cray. “Listen… I know you’re scared, but if you’re going to survive in the Outer World… You need to learn this.”
He was right, but it was one thing to know it, another to do it.
"Alright, it's time to go." Karah said. "The Overgrown Complex. Activate waypoint in ten. Nine…
Was there a way she could get out of this? No, as Cray said, the only way to make it was to Find, whether she liked it or not.
“…Four. Three…”
With each word, her knees buckled further. But Cray squeezed her shoulder, the warmth perhaps the only thing that kept her from running away.
“…One…”
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