Glancing around the dark place, there was hardly anything that could be used for food. There were certain existences that could eat from the corpses that were around here, and as I jumped from side to side, looking for something that could be eaten, I found a few that were good enough to be taken.
I lowered myself and smelled with my snout at a corpse that still had meat in it, while Eleanor approached from behind, curious about what I was doing. After making sure that it was good enough, I bit it with the summon’s tiny teeth and pulled a piece of meat from it, after which I presented it to Eleanor.
Instead of appearing grateful as I hoped, she placed a hand on her mouth and looked with disgust at me. “A-are you telling me to eat that?”
I put it down and looked at it. Then I looked back at the corpse from where I took it. It didn’t look like a human, since it was way bigger than one, so she shouldn’t have a problem eating it. I looked back up at her and nodded.
“E-eh…” she let out with uncertainty, looking with furrowed eyebrows down at the pieces that I placed down. “I… I’m not sure that I can eat that… It’s all… green and… stinky…”
Once more, I turned my attention down to the pieces of meat. It was indeed green, and there was a certain scent to it, but it should be good enough to fill someone’s stomach…
Then, I quickly realized that Eleanor was still a human, and I remembered that her kind couldn’t eat anything with meat in it. A blunder on my part, since I had never dealt with humans this much before.
I once more picked up the piece of meat and threw it away. It would be better for her to look for what she wanted—or needed—to eat. I moved over to her, looked at her looking down at me, and then I looked at the depths. Again, it should be her that found a way to survive in this place.
“Okay…” she said, and started walking into the darkness, and I behind her.
She looked at the sides, trying to find anything that could be of use like that sword that she strapped on her side with a small piece of leather or something to eat, but the amount of corpses we were seeing started decreasing, and a lot of them appeared to be nothing more than skeletons, a few bones, or just clothes and gear that was already breaking down.
“Ah!” Eleanor exclaimed, skipping a few steps to approach an empty, half-rusted, suit of armor.
She dropped down and started rummaging through it. In one quick motion, she pulled out a small, rounded container with a leather strap. She shook it a couple of times, and the distinct sound of liquid moving could be heard. With a wide smile, she opened the lid, and took a whiff at the contents. Once she made sure that there wasn’t anything strange in it, she allowed a small drop from the inside to fall on the backside of one of her hands. A transparent droplet just like water rested on her hand for a few seconds. Since nothing happened, she licked the drop of water clean and then brought the opening of the container to her mouth.
Several mouthfuls of water were emptied from the container before she finally put it down with a satisfied sigh of relief. It was after a few seconds that a look of surprise filled her face and she turned to look at me. “Ah! Do you want some too? I’m sorry… I was just so thirsty…”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I looked at the still wet opening of the container that was about half-full of water and just shook my head. I had no need for food or water as this body was composed of just my own power, so anything that she needed for survival should be left to her.
“Okay… if you’re fine with that then—” she replied, before bringing it back up to her mouth.
“Kyun!” I let out to call her attention before she drank the whole thing. She looked at me with surprise, but I just shook my head. She should save it in case she needed it later.
“Ah!” she exclaimed, closing the lid right after. “I see. I should make sure that I find more or another one. Thank you.”
It was good that she could more or less understand what I wanted to convey. So maybe, survival for her wouldn’t be an issue. She took the strap of the container, and like the sword, strapped it around her waist, firmly making sure that it wouldn’t fall off. Once it was done, she stood back up, looked at the dark depths, took a deep breath, and continued walking.
* * *
Nothing like that water container could be found, and the number of corpses had been reduced significantly from the amount there were at the entrance of this place. Eleanor eyebrows had been tensed into an anxious furrow for a while already, and the pace of her steps had slowed down.
“Is there… no way out of here…?” she asked in a low whisper.
I glanced at her but refused to make a sound as I just kept going next to her. Eventually we reached what appeared to be the end of this place as a large cave-like wall stretched in the darkness. Eleanor’s steps faltered until she came to a complete stop. The light in her eyes—the one that she held in any hope of finding an exit—was waning and her legs seemed to tremble.
The wall stretched to the sides and into more darkness, but I didn’t see a reason to give up just yet.
“Kyun,” I let out and continued walking forward.
Eleanor looked down at me with her eyebrows still furrowed. It seemed like she was about to give up. Still, she mustered the will to follow me and eventually passed right by me with her eyes on the wall.
It was tall, and it reached the dark ceiling full of stalactites, but other than that, there was nothing else to take notice of… until we were just a few steps away from it, which is when Eleanor’s eyes widened in surprise.
There was another black veil like the one from which we entered.
“Is this—Did we do a full circle?!” she asked, incredulous as she quickly approached it.
It couldn’t be. There weren’t nearly as many corpses around here, and none of them were bloody, as almost all of these appeared to be old. This wasn’t the same entrance.
Eleanor stopped a couple of steps away from it, looking up at the whole dark veil as if trying to find something special about it, and after a moment, turned to look at the place from where we came. She looked at the few bones and old gear and shook her head. It seemed like she also realized that it wasn’t the same place. Finally, she turned to look at me.
“If I go through here, will I be outside?” she asked, crouching so she would be able to look at me closer.
I didn’t know, so all I did was tilt my head like a confused animal would to let her know about it. Her lips tightened for a moment, before she looked up at the depths behind us, and then stood up to look at the dark veil. She took a deep breath, walked closer to the veil, stopped and half-turned herself to look at me.
“I’m going now,” she said with the same anxious look from before. I walked closer to her and stood right next to her while looking at the veil. I stretched my paw to it and nodded. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You’re coming too?”
I answered with another nod, and waited for her to act first. She softly smiled, turned to look at the veil, and with one final deep breath, she pushed her hand in.
The dark veil allowed her hand to pass through, and Eleanor’s face turned to one of both fear and expectation for whatever unknown or dangerous thing awaited her beyond this gate. She closed her eyes tightly, and finally pushed herself through it, disappearing into the darkness of this veil and leaving me alone.
I didn’t hesitate, so without thinking too much about it, I jumped straight into it, and like her, I passed right through it; to whatever thing was awaiting us.