the campsite was just a few blankets on the ground to create a clean place to lay equipment, and some supplies like rations, as well as some heat stones, to keep us warm while we weren’t moving. “And done!” Airsidh cheered after getting the last of it out of his pack. In the same breath, four massive skeletons turned the corner right in front of us. I almost fell backward, trying to ready myself to fight. They had glowing red eyes and were at least 7 feet tall, wielding axes and swords.
“Air.” My father said calmly.
“On it!” In the blink of an eye, before they could even raise their terrifying weapons, all four of them crumbled to piles of bone on the floor. Next thing I knew I found My brother sitting atop the mound, flipping one of the old swords in his hand like a knife.
An unfamiliar hearty laugh bellowed out from behind me. “That's how you deal with these monsters. Don't give them time to react.” ‘I guess he isn’t always scowling after all?’ but when I turned to look, there he was, sitting calmly and scowling, as if his mood had already turned rotten again. I wanted to talk back but honestly, I just didn't care anymore. It wasn’t like he ever listened anyway, and when he did it only made him mad at me. ‘I should just stick to the plan and stay quiet…’
His words began to echo in the background like they weren't important, no matter how loud he barked orders. “Air, scout out the immediate surroundings, Zu, stay here and watch for monsters, if you're in a situation like this, you’ll need to be able to handle threats on your own while your comrades take care of the wounded member.”
As a part of the campsite, there were two massive packs laid out on the ground. He had me sit on one facing away from him while He sat on the other, inspecting the wound more closely.
‘Why can’t he just pull it out… Then I can use healing magic, and–’
My thoughts came to a screeching halt as he fidgeted with the arrow and my armor around it. I clenched my fists, resting them on my legs and gritting my teeth. I tried not to jerk or flinch as I felt it squirm around inside me, making my jaw start to shudder.
“I think it’s barbed. I’ll have to cut it out. I won’t be able to do that through this so take it off.”
‘Cut it out?’ The more he talked, the more I started to feel glad that I couldn’t see the wound after all. Untieing the laces I slowly loosened the armor enough that the plates separated further and unfolded, leaving my back completely bare.
The slight echo from Zu’s footsteps suddenly halted. “Eesh. Looks like you should have started wearing armor a bit sooner.”
‘Aren’t you supposed to be doing something… No… I’ll just stay quiet…’ I groaned. I may not have been exposed or anything, but feeling the cold air on my bare skin made me feel half-naked. Even if that wasn’t the case, I still didn’t like it when people talked about how many scars I had… “Stay focused…” I growled, ultimately breaking my silence.
“I was right, the arrowhead is barbed, and it isn’t stone but iron. I'm going to remove it, but it's going to hurt. And it's going to take some time.”
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I folded over in my seat, wrapping my arms around my legs “Just do it already…”
He cut me open with a knife while I tensed my entire body trying not to move as best I could. When it was done I felt a slimy cold goop cover the wound, followed by a bandage that stuck to my back like a bandaid. After it was all finished I remained still, as if my body had been locked in place, refusing to move.
“Here.” He said, throwing my cloak back to me. I had taken it off after we came inside because I didn’t need it to block wind or rain anymore, and didn’t want it fluttering around while I fought. “It’s not much, but if you have something covering the armor they won’t be able to see any holes. Besides, you need something covering your back just in case.
“You certainly won't… I mumbled, too quiet for him to hear.” The wound only hurt more after he “Treated” it, and I felt cold and tired. ‘I want to go home…’
Taking a deep breath, I stood up, managing to hold back my tears for once. ‘at least I know there isn’t a metal prong sticking out of me anymore.’ After a brief pause, I retied my chest piece as best I could and grabbed the cloak, ultimately failing to put it on, wincing in pain and giving up without ever giving it any serious effort. To my surprise, Keigan wound up wrapping it around my neck and clasping it, patting me on the shoulder without so much as a word before leaving to talk with Zu.
It felt like I had him all figured out… But then other times it felt like I didn’t know him at all. It was annoying. It only made me feel even more tired. It wasn’t like I needed sleep though, or even like I was exhausted, it was more like I was tired of breathing, bored of it. Like I had just been playing the game far too long and I was ready to move on to the next one.
Not long after, Air returned. I heard his footsteps and his voice. But I didn't bother looking over at him. I just sat in a corner up against the wall and stared off into space. ‘Maybe he was right… I’m not focused at all… I even let myself get stabbed in the back… This is no one’s fault but my own…’
“Right then let's eat something quickly and move on.” I heard the words, but my mind had already left to a different place and time. I didn’t even lift a finger.
It wasn’t that I was traumatized, I had been through worse, it was more like… I was just… well… tired… We would fight, move on, fight, move one, I would get hurt, they would patch me up, and that was going to happen until I had killed 100 undead. I knew the only way I was going to make it through was if I just turned everything off, shutting down my thoughts and emotions, ‘I don’t care if it dulls my senses, I’ll just heighten them with manna to make up for it…’
Air came over and knelt down beside me, flicking my forehead. “You're not turning off your thoughts, you just focusing on the bad ones. Eat something, and try to do better in the next fight. Your brain works pretty fast, so what makes you think turning it off would ever help you in battle.”
‘It’s not like I fight any better when I’m trying to use it. If I was in the right state of mind maybe I could do things properly… If this was a video game and I was sitting in a nice chair, wearing my favorite clothes and drinking my favorite soda… Who wouldn’t be able to focus completely… I guess I was naive to think something like this wouldn’t be any different.’
I let out a sigh and let my eyes drift back to the floor. It was annoying to me that I had to speak at all. I just wanted to be left alone for a while longer. “Not hungry…” I mumbled.
“Even a little, just eat something, trust me. Especially if you plan on using magic.”
I looked up at him, realizing that if I really wanted to be alone it would be faster to just take the food. “Fine.” He handed me what was left of a small sandwich. It was dry and tasted like salt. I hated it.
We made it all the way through level three without encountering any enemies. Which was a bit of a surprise since that's where Airsidh said zombies started appearing, but there was nothing. ‘Guess we got lucky?’ As I looked around I started to see a couple of corpses here and there, they had just already been killed. ‘I guess Airsidh did a bit more than Scout.’
Coming down the staircase to level 4 the air changed again. I began to smell it. The scent of death, and the stench of rotting flesh. It was thick and only became more potent in the cool air.
“Which do you think is worse, getting eaten alive by the undead, or killed by your own parents…”
Not only did the question not phase my brother, but his answer made me regret asking… “Undead for sure. A person's parents are just like any other people, but the undead are monsters. They have venom in their nails and teeth that causes so much pain it makes you unable to move, then they eat you slowly, sometimes taking hours before you actually die. That’s why zombies make more zombies, instead of skeletons or ghosts.”
Zu tightened his grip, making the leather around his sword’s handle whine. “Unless your parents are monsters, then it's 50/50 both are bad.” He added.
“Guess I shouldn’t have asked…” ‘Geez, and I thought I was the dark and gloomy one…’
“That’s right, you should stay focused,” Airsidh whispered back, keeping his eyes forward. “Stop trying to distract yourself.”
‘Right…’