...
"What is that?" An intrigued voice came from behind me.
"What is what?" I slowed down and turned my head around toward a human hanging off my back. The girl was surprisingly light and effortless to carry but at the same time, I was forced to often shift the girl's position as her body would lash out uncontrollably at me causing a thin layer of ice to cover my numb arms.
"Why are you going like this." Kia began to breathe heavily mirroring me. "A-are you feeling g-nevermind." Where was she going with this?
"I'm tired." I arched my back backwards to let the freezing necromance get off my back. My spine hurts so much, leaning for hours can't be good for me.
I turned around massaging my lower back and saw the pale girl using the wall as a support. I quickly grabbed her under her arms and let her sit on the floor as I began to prepare to light a fire. It was a pain to grip the flint and steel with numb fingers but I somehow managed it.
"But your mana hasn't lowered at all?"
"And?" Why is she suddenly so talkative now?
"And what is the reason for you getting tired other then that?" The girl's large eyes twinkled in the dark as they locked onto me.
"Because my body gets tired? I don't know, does there have to be a reason? Maybe the system has a stamina bar somewhere?"
"..." Kia jerked as if to answer with her mouth hanging open but no words came out.
Come on! How hard do I have to strike you? I hit a flint against the steel but non of the sparks landed on the pile of silk I have prepared.
"Finally." The most annoying thing ever is when you barely do something but not enough to succeed. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"I'm trying to figure out something." The girl was resting against the wall with her fist under her chin.
"Like what?"
"How your soul works." The deathly pale human necromancer casually replied as she shuffled a little bit and pulled out a pebble from under herself.
"How is that even possible? You are not a spirit, how can you look at my soul?" I tried to remain calm but I felt cold sweat running down my back. I think most tribes know the story of the Firstborn story since it's quite a long and engaging story for Storyteller to recount around the fire. Our predecessors struck a deal with spirits, a simple exchange I would say. Demi-Human souls are meant to be protected by spirits to be saved from drifting aimlessly and being devoured by malevolent spirits hiding in dark and forbidden areas of our world and be protected in the spirit realm until it is their turn to come back into this world. In exchange we listen to the spirits and pray to them, protecting their shrines with our lives. But the human mage in front of me was, of course was not a spirit yet she stared into my soul with shameless expression.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"I don't think seeing souls are limited to one race. Actually I know that it isn't."
"Are you joking?" I can't believe how open she is about it. I hope the Guardian Spirit knows what it is doing.
"Joking... A joke," For some reason, the girl started to talk to herself becoming quiet for long enough for me to begin to unpack. "Oh, I know this word, Iris taught me!" Kia suddenly smiled as she proudly announced her white teeth reflecting the orange light from the fire.
"Good for you."
I took out a pot and threw in some minstrel roots inside without cutting the large squishy bulge growing on top since I needed water which I couldn't get. Shiro found adding the bulge to the tea ruins its fragrance and dilutes it too much, for an old warrior she sure is picky about her drinks.
"Liquid deliciousness?" Kia who was now lying on the bare ground like an animal tried to lift her torso off the ground but stopped seeing that she had no chance of doing so.
"I'm making tea, yes." I stood up and unlatched the sleeping roll and put it under my armpit. Truly my tribe has equipped us well, as these little metal things are much more convenient than fumbling with rope or stuffing the large blanket into the backpack. "I'm picking you up." I announce to the wounded human after I had laid the blanket on the floor nearby.
"Can you hand me some?" The girl winced as I touched her before ignoring me in entirety as she extended her arms toward the pot.
"Sure." Shrugging, I scooped up a wooden cup and handed it to her. If she likes it then whatever, I still have to boil the hell out of it before I throw some meat into it. Mmmmmm, the meat is going to be so tender~ And the smell...
"Why did you smell the air? It hadn't changed." The strangely nekos-like human asked as she used her tongue to drink the half-made tea. It was quite adorable how her face cringed at its sourness.
"Do you always ask so many questions? I haven't noticed you speaking a lot while you and Iris were together. Why is that?" I'm starting to regret telling Shiro about my vision. "I'm starting to get annoyed because of you."
"ልክክዐሃጎክፏ No, it's annoying, no... *grrr* Too many languages." The girl first word echoed powerfully through the tunnel even if she only whispered it before quietly talking to herself. How blunt do I have to be for her to not question everythi- Why is she crying now? "Is Iris finding me annoying?"
Huh?
"Y-you s-said my questions are annoying, does Iris find me annoying?" The girl's colourful eyes hazed over as tears began to gather inside. I quickly looked around me, fully expecting the undead elf to charge out of nowhere for causing the girl to cry. What is happening? I opened my mouth but I felt my body shudder instead as I felt like I was in a middle of a wasp hive as shapes began to appear in the fog brought by the girl.
"I think there was a misunderstanding."
"So Iris doesn't find me annoying?" She being annoyed at Kia? I fear for my life even when she is not here just because you cried! How can you not see this?
"Of course not," I waited until the girl rubbed her eyes before continuing. "I'm a bit under the weather today, sorry."
"Aren't we all under the sky?" Kia tilted her head to the side before looking up as if checking if the overworld was truly above them.
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?" This exact behaviour!
"I'm just frustrated at something and I lashed out," I tried to explain feeling the hive around me calming down. "But I don't want to tell about what."
The girl seemed to finally calm down as she laid down looking like a statue before she appeared to be thinking about something. I swiftly took advantage of this and returned to cooking my meal after swiping the sweat off my brows.
"I'm bored." Kia suddenly broke the silence. Please let me finish without an incident. I beg of you, please.
"Then do something about it, what do you usually do to pass the time?"
"Mmmm, I rummage through my inventory or look through my spells tweaking them or I read books or I observe the world around me."
"So do one of them."
"I don't feel like doing any of these also this all is too familiar to me, just stone and dirt, stone and dirt, unlike the world where Iris lives." Why is she talking about the overworld like that? Pale humans are weird.
"So what do you do in times like this?" I turned around and saw Kia thinking intensely about my question before suddenly hiding her face as her snowy skin blushed.
"I enjoy being with Iris," No shit, really? Imagine my surprise. "I never get truly bored with her. She is like an endless book which is warm and rough to the touch." Okay, that is a weird way to describe someone.
"You still haven't answered why you talk so much now and not when you are with Iris." Maybe I can make her stop, her voice is nice but I like eating in peace.
"Because she asked me to look up at her when speaking to her saying that it's rude to not face your speaker. "Sounds like Iris is old fashioned, hey almost like Shiro kinda, the undead is much more old fashion that that old geezer, speaking even with a funny accent and using strange words. "But I feel embarrassed when I'm in her arms while she is looking at me." That must be that relationship thing Shiro described, sounds horrible.
Seeing that Kia had yet again drifted into her own world I turned around to watch carefully so as not to waste the roots by overcooking. The peace and quiet around me were magical as I swirled my knife in the pot to speed up the cooking, careful not to scratch the bottom of the pot with it.
"Nyaaaaa! That's my tail you can't do that!"