With only five units of vitality left in his vessel, Symon had to think about how he'd share it between the others. Aslan and Safiya had bandaged their own wounds and assured him they would recover on their own, so he ignored them for now. In the morning, he could drain a whole bunch of grass and give them the vitality from that.
He felt a little bad about leaving them wounded when he could fix it now, but he knew he'd feel so much worse if they were attacked by something and died just because he hadn't left any vitality spare.
Considering Atabek was still unconscious, he knew he'd have to give the man something. He'd been recovering impressively fast from having two giant bone blades pass right through his chest and stomach, but he'd still need a bit of extra help if he was to be in travelling condition any time soon.
At first, he'd found it awkward to heal the others while simultaneously keeping them safe from his draining, but by now he'd gotten things down to a science. By focusing his draining on the plant life near them, he gave himself the few seconds he needed to quickly push the vitality into them before he killed all the nearby grass. Doing so, he gave Atabek two units of vitality, bringing his own reserves down to three units. This he would keep for an emergency, his short time on this new planet showing him just how important it was to be prepared for surprise threats. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially considering Atabek was already naturally on the mend.
The suns had slowly taken their turns to dip below the horizon while he relaxed after the battle, the skies lighting up in beautiful pinks and oranges. To the South was the desert he'd come from, while to the North was... well, he wasn't sure. The coastline was in that direction but had been completely barren of humanity when Keelgrave was there, some fifty or more years ago. Seeking to rectify this lack of knowledge, he approached the pair of Dumosan adventurers.
Symon stood at a safe distance as he watched them butcher the creature. Fascinated, he observed their practised motions as they stripped the monster of its parts. Its namesakes, the massive razor-sharp scythe arms, had already been removed, as well as its entire head. Currently, Aslan was elbow-deep in the creature's neck hole, face scrunched up in concentration. Symon didn't want to interrupt whatever was going on here, but it didn't take long for Aslan's face to light up before extracting his arm, something clutched between his blood-soaked fingers.
It was small, maybe the size of a large marble. It looked like a ruby — although it was hard to tell if that was its actual colour or just a result of all the blood — and judging by the wide smiles on both their faces when he held it up, it must have been as valuable as one.
"What's that?" Symon asked.
"Core!" Safiya practically shouted back at him in her excitement. Her simple, joyous smile seemed so out of place on her rough, heavily scarred body. It was easy for him to forget that these adventurers couldn't have been any older than him.
"Indeed so," Aslan continued, "it is the beast's core. Quite a large one. With this as a trophy, we will earn much respect once we return to our people." Wiping away some of the blood on a small rag he pulled from his pocket, he revealed that under the grime it had a deep ocean-blue colouration.
"It's pretty... I'm glad you found a nice trophy to return with, but I actually wanted to ask you some questions about where we're going."
"You have my attention, friend Symon," Aslan replied, tossing the core to Safiya. She snatched it out of the air and dropped it into a small pouch, her depth perception apparently unaffected by only having one eye. She caught him staring, offering only a good-natured wink — or was it technically just a blink? — before wandering off to her bedroll.
"I know you're from an Eastern continent and are as foreign to this desert as I am, so I was wondering how you got here. Also, are there other people here or just us?"
"To answer both your questions, we exchanged coins for passage on a merchant vessel, one that was making a stop at a small port here."
"Wait, there's an actual city here? That's great!" Symon exclaimed. Other than these adventurers, the only sign of other people he'd found were ancient ruins. He'd begun to fear this entire giant desert island — although really only the centre was a proper desert — was inhabited only by monsters.
"I would not call it a city, friend Symon. More of a... ugh, how do you say..." — he made a swirling motion with his hand before suddenly lighting up — "ah yes, a shithole."
"Oh. I see." In the comfort of Symon's mind, Keelgrave laughed.
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"Keelgrave, you can't call them that! It doesn't even make sense, they're obviously educated," he angrily thought back, feeling the need to defend his new friends despite them being unaware of the insult. Ignoring any further provocations from the spirit, he refocused on the verbal conversation.
"A few hundred people lived there, mostly miners and their families."
"Hmm, then we can just wait for the next trade ship to show up for the ores and pay for passage to the East, right?"
"Indeed so, that was how we have always intended to return home. Where would you go, once we make landfall?"
That was a question he had no answer to. He had almost no knowledge of this world, no connection to any of the countries beyond a potential link via Keelgrave, no responsibilities to anyone except to himself. In a way, it was freeing to be able to choose whatever he wanted, but he didn't even know what his options were. Maybe he'd travel and try them all?
"Actually Aslan, I'm not really sure where I'd want to go. Somewhere with more water and less monsters, hopefully."
The man's eyes shot open as he suddenly stood straighter, before excitedly launching into his response. "Then, I would be honoured to show you our homeland, friend Symon! You have helped us to slay a mighty foe, and saved the life of bonded brother Atabek. The elders would surely recognise you as a blooded warrior and friend to the Dumosi!"
His initial reaction was to try and respectfully decline, but the more he thought about it the more the idea grew on him. The Dumosi adventurers had been good to him, and he really wanted someone on his side other than Keelgrave...
There was safety in numbers too, especially considering how competent they were. Even despite never seeing him fight, he included Atabek in his estimation of the group's strength. The man was a giant, still intimidating even when he was half dead. There wasn't any harm in sticking around with his new friends, especially considering they could always just go their separate ways once they got to the East if he did end up changing his mind.
"That sounds great, you'll have to tell me all about your homeland while we travel. I wouldn't want to embarrass myself by accidentally doing the wrong thing."
"Hah, being such a brave warrior will give you plenty of leeway with my people."
Symon blinked at that. Brave? He could see how his actions might have seemed like that, from an outside perspective. But he wasn't sure if he could even call it bravery. To him, being brave was a conscious decision. You needed to recognise and understand the danger, and then make the informed choice to be brave. Symon had... not been thinking perfectly clearly, he could admit to himself.
He had still been aware and in control, but in a similar way to the feeling of having a few bottles of beer, enough to get buzzed but not completely hammered. He'd allowed himself to give into the intoxicating feeling of his power in the same way you would let loose a little to have fun with your friends, to allow yourself to forget about your insecurities for a time. Although, instead of giving him the confidence to talk to that pretty woman, his power had given him the confidence to risk his life to take down an extremely dangerous monster.
It had worked out well in this situation, but could just as easily have gotten him killed in another. What if he'd been up against something he couldn't possibly beat, would he have been able to restrain himself and make the smart choice to flee? He hoped so, but he wasn't sure.
Aslan was still staring at him expectantly, so he realised he'd gotten lost in his own thoughts.
"Oh, thank you. You guys were super brave, too. The way you went blade to blade with the stalker was awesome! Oh, and remind me to thank Safiya when she wakes up. It was a close call even after she disabled one of its arms, so I'd hate to think what would have happened if it had been able to open twice as many holes in me."
"Indeed, she is very impressive! Ah, if only you could have seen her fight when she still had both eyes... we have a long journey ahead of us, so I must rest and recover. May your dreams be safe, friend Symon."
"Oh, of course, I didn't mean to keep you. We can try and get some more vitality for you in the morning after I check on Atabek." They wished each other goodnight before parting.
He didn't feel physically tired, although there was a certain mental exhaustion from constantly fighting, running, and maintaining a watch for a deadly monster. A good night's sleep would be great for him — his first proper rest on this new planet. He had food in his belly, he'd slaked his thirst, a reasonably comfortable bedroll awaited him, and he was surrounded by good company. Things could be a lot worse, especially considering how recently one of the group had lost his life. Dwelling on the negatives wouldn't do him any good, although he quickly promised Serik that he'd inform his family of his bravery, once the group made it back to Dumosa.
Before sleeping, he had to take care of something else; he was absolutely caked in dried blood. They could only spare a small amount of water for reasons other than drinking, so he first scrubbed himself mostly clean with scraps of his old clothing and handfuls of dead grass, the latter working surprisingly well as long as he ignored how itchy it made him.
Even after finishing, he felt he could still do with a bath, but it was as good as it was going to get out in the field. He really hoped the town — or perhaps village was the better term, he wasn't sure — had running water. By the time he'd finished his ablutions, night had finally fallen completely.
Laying down on his generously provided bedroll, doing his best to not think about who it had belonged to, he asked Keelgrave a question.
"What's your homeland like? Is it near Dumosa?"
"Mmm, thanks," he mumbled, the sleepiness sneaking up on him all at once as soon as he laid down on his comfortable roll. "You never told me what it's like there."
The comforting embrace of sleep claimed him before he heard an answer.