Jun was burning. The flames crackled as they seared her skin, the smell of roasting meat filling her nostrils. She tried to roll around to extinguish the flames, but she was tied up and couldn't move. Evil laughter filled the air as she struggled against her bonds, failing to break free.
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"Drink." A bowl pressed against Jun's lips and a warm liquid that tasted of bitter herbs trickled in. She swallowed the liquid reflexively before lapsing back into unconsciousness.
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The flames burned their way up her legs, leaving a charred mess behind them as they consumed her flesh. She tried to scream for help, for mercy, for someone to do something, anything, but her voice wouldn't work. Shadowy figures stared at her with angry eyes, their smiles twisted with glee as they watched her burn.
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Jun's eyes fluttered open. A blurry dark figure stood above her as she felt a bowl touch her lips. "Drink." Jun opened her mouth as the bitter liquid poured in. She swallowed the small mouthful mechanically and closed her eyes again.
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Strength left her. Voices whispered in her ear as the flames ate their way up her body. "Why struggle, why fight?"
"You're weak."
"You're nothing."
"Just give in."
"You deserve this."
"Give up."
She was exhausted. Maybe the voices were right. Maybe she should just give up.
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Something soft brushed against her cheek as the bowl came back to her lips, demanding entry. "Drink." She drank mechanically, the warm liquid leaving a trail of warmth down her throat before darkness consumed her.
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The fire seared her chest and melted her flesh. Her tears boiled. Dark hands rose up from the abyss and grabbed her blackened limbs. Jun screamed silently as they began to drag her down.
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More liquid poured down her throat. She didn't wake.
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"Enough."
Golden energy burst from her burnt body, filling the abyss with twinkling stars. Charred skin sloughed off her body to reveal pristine flesh beneath. The ruined and discarded flesh clumped together in a ball and fled from the light into the abyss.
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Jun's eyes cracked open to see the soot stained ceiling of the cavern above her. Dancing shadows played across it in the flickering light of the ever burning campfire. Her throat was dry, her tongue felt fuzzy and swollen. She tried to summon some saliva to moisten her tongue and wet her lips, but her mouth was a desert.
She tried to recall what had happened, but the memories were slow to come back. The pounding in her head didn't make things any easier. She remembered a cave and a fresh grave with an ancient body. A weird weapon. A fight. A hulking monster. Flashing claws. Blood. Memories of her adventure deeper into the cave and the harrowing fight with the monster flashed through her mind. The soft scratch of claws on stone reached her ears and set her heart pounding, adrenaline beginning to surge through her veins. The monster!
Jun bolted up and whipped her head towards the sound, the sudden movement sending a thick blanket flying off of her as she wildly looked around for the monster through blurred vision. Seeing a dark blob moving towards her, she flinched, then moaned in pain as her tensed muscles began to spasm wildly. Her muscles locked up and she lost her balance as she fell on her side. Whimpering in pain, she struggled against her own rebelling body, not willing to go down without a fight!
"Your bravery is commendable kitten, but you shouldn't move so suddenly after injuries like that, your body hasn't caught up to the healing yet." The blurry dark figure said to her in a feminine voice with an amused tone. She felt something brush lightly against her as a soothing warmth spread through her body, quickly soothing her spasming muscles.
She felt a pair of hands grab her and gently pull her up. "Sit up, slowly.” The hands carefully guided her to a soft pile of furs before pushing her back to be propped up against what felt like a large pile of hay that smelled strongly of flowers. The smell was revitalizing, helping her to clear the cobwebs from her mind as she leaned against them and inhaled the refreshing scent.
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She opened her mouth to thank the kind stranger who helped her, only to feel a wooden bowl press against her lips. A strong herbal smell with an undercurrent of meat filled her nostrils. “Drink the soup, it will help.” Her stomach rumbled in agreement.
Jun slurped noisily at the broth, swallowing half a mouthful before the astringent, bitter, watery brew with an aftertaste of meat registered. She spluttered as she turned her head to the side and instinctively spit the nasty concoction out, coughing and retching as she tried to get the taste out of her mouth.
“None of that now!” The mysterious woman who’d fed her the broth said, scolding Jun as she coughed and gagged. “White Nettle and Mender’s Root soup is good for you! I even helped with the taste by blending it with a broth made with my favorite meat!”
Jun shook her head weakly, the overwhelming taste still coating her tongue. It was by far the worst thing she’d ever tasted, far worse than the traditional medicinal soups she recalled her grandmother on her mother’s side preparing for her as a child in her past life. Medicine in soup form was the worst!
“You won’t be wasting all my hard work over a little bit of bitterness, will you?!” The woman half asked, half demanded, reminding her of her stern grandmother from her past life. Jun cringed and tensed, half expecting to feel the stinging slap of a bamboo rod against her legs, but no blow came. Instead, she felt the bowl move to her lips and push insistently against them. Resigned, she coated her tongue in as much saliva as she could muster to try and limit how much of the medicine she would taste, then took a much smaller sip. The trick didn’t help.
Turning her brain off as best she could, Jun decided to just empty the bowl as quickly as possible, gulping in as large mouthfuls as she could handle until the bowl was drained. Her stomach gurgled as she leaned back, partially full but deeply unhappy with the meal Jun had provided it. The strong floral scent of her cushion helped pull her focus from the bitter, meaty aftertaste in her mouth and prison riot in her stomach. Taking deep breaths in and out, Jun began to relax and soon drifted off to sleep.
Her rest this time was dreamless and when she woke her body felt lighter, her muscles whole and relaxed. Rubbing the gunk of sleep from her eyes, she opened them to find her vision clear and her head no longer pounded when she moved it. Testing her shoulder, she was surprised to feel no pain and when she looked the only proof of where the monster had ripped through her flesh was a long jagged scar that ran from her shoulder to her elbow. She was in the camp the cat had shown her to before but some things had moved around and new things had shown up.
Jun sat upon a thick pile of furs, and the floral smelling pile of vegetation she reclined against turned out to be some kind of dried flower with dark petals that looked black in the dimly lit cave camp. Looking down, she noted that she was naked again, none of the clothes but her boots in sight. The boots were set to the side of the furs, the supple leather flopped to one side. Testing her body, she slowly pushed herself up and took a few tentative steps around the camp as she looked at the changes more closely.
She was left alone in the camp, no trace of the friendly cat or the strange woman that must be the cat's owner save the few things she spotted laying about. The strange campfire still burned, but it had been moved from the center of the alcove to a previously unnoticed dip in the wall of the alcove. The fire was now enclosed by a half ring of flat rocks upon which rested several spoons and wooden bowls, and where there had been a roasting haunch of meat on a spit before, there was now a small pot hanging from the spit pushed off to one side. She could tell where it had been in the center of the alcove before, the spot still stained with ash though it appeared to have been swept recently.
Investigating the small pot with a sniff, she grimaced at the bitter herbal smell emanating from it through the closed lid, her stomach roiling at the memory of the soup's taste. A more pleasant find to her was the not-spear she found laying on the rock that previously been used as a shelf for utensils. A crude looking leather sheath now covered the blade and scraps of leather lay scattered around it. The shaft gleamed in the flickering firelight now where before it had been muted and smudged by caked on dirt, revealing a spiraling pattern that wrapped around the handle and ran along its entire length. Grabbing the not-spear to bring with her, she quickly slipped on her leather boots and exited the cave.
Evidence of Jun's fight with the monster were still present in the form of dried spots of blood on the stone floor leading out to the clearing. Her eyes briefly watered and flared with pain as she stepped into the sunlit clearing until she adjusted from the dimly lit cave. The monster's path of destruction was still obvious in the form of crushed and trampled plants and a new gap in the small trees around the clearing's edge where it had burst through. A line had been strung across that gap between two trees, and several pieces of clothes were hung to dry. Her eyes immediately snapped to the shirt with a dark stain running from the left shoulder down to the elbow length sleeve and the short skirt with a raggedy edge hanging next to it.
"Nice to see you awake kitten." The woman's voice called out from behind her.
Turning, Jun instinctively bowed towards where she'd heard the voice come from and hurriedly spoke. "Thank you for taking care of me! I know we haven't officially met yet, but I'm Jun. Your cat found me in the woods and brought me here. I hope that's alright?"
Jun heard as something move toward her and opened her eyes to see the black cat that had guided her here sitting and staring up at her with unblinking yellowish green eyes.
"We've already met before Jun. I am Shiori and I am my own master." Shiori the black cat flicked her tail back and forth, her voice amused. "And also yours, my adopted kitten."