Day 62
I woke up sore and stiff. My eyes slowly drifted open and I shuddered, attempting to get a read on my body.
Ugh, everything hurts. Status?
< lv28 Low Elf Interrogator Slain 2800 XP acquired>
< Attained 1 Soul (Medium)>
< [Spring] Experience threshold Reached. Lv7 -> Lv9>
< [Travel] Experience threshold Reached. Lv12 -> Lv16>
< [Strafe Lith] Experience threshold Reached. Lv4 -> Lv5>
< [Evasion] Experience threshold Reached. Lv7 -> Lv9>
< [Conceal] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv5>
< [OLL] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv4>
< [Seeking] Experience threshold Reached. Lv5 -> Lv7>
< [Take down] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv3>
< [CQC] Experience threshold Reached. Lv6 -> Lv9>
< [Sharp Shot] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv5>
< [Death Resistance] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv4>
< [Existential Empower] Experience threshold Reached. Lv15 -> Lv16>
Class - Thresher | lv 31/50 | 3802/6200 xp **
Party Composition: Max (Dealer lv4 | -18% Skill cooldowns) | Lily (Leader lv2 | Clarity Buff)
Name - Maximilian | Race - Modular Human m
Achievements- The Special | Self indulgent | Sure Kill | I’ll be watching you | (+6)
Hp- 4850/9700 (1/2) | St- 7500/7500 | Condition- Curse of Soul Fray | Strain (Minor)
Legacy: Sky Wyrm ( Wind | Draconic )
Ability’s: Chaos Potential | Overload | Resonation | Mana Sense
SkP- 4 | Stp- 0 | Souls- 292 92 4
Assimilation Bonus:
Stats - (+28 phys)(+3A)
Strength 80
Speed 74 (+5A)
Stamina 77
Dexterity 97 (+71)
Intellect 65 (+14)
Insight 11.5
Sense 85.8 (x2.6)(+10) (og 33)
Vitality 53.5 (1/2) (og 107)
Charm 16 {locked}
Special / Class Skills
Existential Empower ||| lv16/20 - Death Resistance \ lv4/99 - Corruption Resistance ||| lv1/20 — Desperate endurance || lv3 - Schematica (4/9) || lv4 - High Hound || lv3 - Defense Vocation || lv1 - Imitation || lv1
Offense Skills -
Power Boost || lv6/10 - Penetrate || lv1/10 - Wrecking Smash || lv1/10 - Slash || lv9/10 - Sharp Shot ||| lv5/20 - Spectral Arrow ||| lv4/20 - CQC || lv9/10
Defense Skills -
Health Pulse ||| lv1/20 - Evasion || lv9/10 - Feather Foot | lv5/5 - Night Owl | lv4/5 - Conceal || lv5/10 - Rumination ||| lv1/20 - Nimble Hands || lv9/20 - Supplementation ||| lv16/20 - Greater Pain Res || lv10/10 - Shadow Res | lv2/5 - Greater Force Res || lv5/10 - Paralysis Res | lv2/5 - Cutting resistance | lv1/5
Mobility skills -
Strafe Lith || lv5/10 - Brash Dash ||| lv12/20 - Spring 5/5 || lv 9/10 -
Knowledge Skills -
Complex Crafting ||| lv17/20 - Adv Dismantling ||| lv5/20 - Chisling ||| lv12/20 - Toxicology || lv9/10 - Travel ||| lv16/20 - Bark Runner || lv2/10 - Terrain Memorization || lv3/10 - Knitting || lv2/10 - OLL ||| lv4/20 - Storm Wise | lv3/5 - Seeking ||| lv7/20 - Take Down | lv3 -
Magic Skills -
Brain Enhancement | lv4/5 - Mana Touch | lv5/5 - Mana Manipulation | lv5/5
Stocks - +96 Str | +57 Spd | +63 Stm | +37 Int | +35 Vit | +33 Def | +7 Fer | +3 Stl
Piercing chomp lv1-2 x5 Crushing Bite lv1-3 x13 Ripping Snap lv2-4 x9 Healing Rush x5 Feather Faint lv4 x1 Claw Strike lv3 x2 Snipe lv7 x1 Armor Up lv1-4 x7 Thread Spin lv7-12 x34 Scale shot lv2-9 x28 Flame Charge lv7 x1 Six-Fold Smash lv23 x1 Roar lv14 x1 Fore-Blade lv19-34 x5 Sonic Javelin lv18 x1
Modularity-
Special: Assimilation
Nervous 300% Immune 300% Integumentary 300% Ardent Muscular- 300% ||| Absorbing Skeletal- 300% | Circulatory 300% Reproductive 300% Primal Assimilating Digestive 300% || Respiratory 300%
Brain 200% Heart 200% Lungs 200% Stomach 200% Intestines 200% Muscles 200% Bone marrow 200% Arteries 200% Veins 200%
Eyes 200% Ears 200% Jaw 200% Nose 200% Mouth 200% Tough Neck 200% | Supportive Shoulders 100% | Forked Tongue 200% | Arms 200% Stomach 200% Hard Hands 200% | Fingers 200% Condor Thumbs 200% | Demolishing Teeth 200% ||| Hard Hands 200% | Soft Feet 100% | Vigorous Legs 200% |||
It only now occurs to me that I could have used my stocked stats while climbing the wall. Well, too late now.
I look around at my surroundings. We sit atop a huge sand-colored wall. And by we, I of course ment me, Lily, and Oldren. The last of which was already out and about, poking at the air. I glance at Lily, still asleep on her side.
I grab one of the water bottles out of her back pack and nudge her awake. She looks confused and unfocused, but eventually notices me and calms down. She weakly clasps the water bottle and drinks it down greedily. I end up giving her mine as well to satiate her thirst.
She sighs as her dehydration condition fades away. Then, she turns her head to see Oldren, laying on his side as if advertising himself. “Uhhhh.. Max? Who is that??” She points at Oldren.
“That, is Oldren. Our newest-.. Actually, hold on.” I turn towards Oldren. “ Hey Oldren, do you wanna join our party?” He thinks for a second. “Sure!”
I turn to Lily again. “He's our newest party member.” She looks disgruntled before sighing and getting comfortable on the ground again. “Should I add him to the thingy?” I nod. Oldrens confusion heightens when a message seemingly appears on his status. He looks between both of us before shrugging and affirming his choice.
A new bar blinked into existence in my vision corner, showing the same two bars and name. I immediately pull up his status.
Class - Creator | lv 38/300 *******
Party Composition: Oldren (none) | Lily (Leader lv2) | Max (Dealer lv4)
Race - Ancient One | Form - Human
Name - Oldren m
Condition -
Stp: 0 Skp: 1
Racial Powers-
Transform
Matter-Shift
Formation
Stats - (+6 Phys)
Strength 31
Speed 20
Stamina 26
Dexterity 83 (+38)
Intellect 35
Sense 10
Fervor 30
Charm 15 {locked}
Class Skills-
Divine Enchanting ||||||| lv4
Dimension Refinery ||||||| lv6
Master Fusion ||||||| lv3
Absolute Material Appraisal ||||||| lv8
Energy Divining ||||||| lv3
Skills -
Alchemical Extraction |||| lv6/40
Greater Deft || lv8/10
Body Strengthening | lv4/5
Focus | lv5/5
Stride | lv3/5
Espionage |||| lv 14/40
Targeting || lv 6/10
SOLU || 10/10
…I have several questions.
“...Espionage?” Oldren just sighs. “Listen, I had to survive somehow, okay? It's an information gathering skill, I'd go sit at bars, compile info and then sell it. It was a good way to build up travel expenses.”
“What do you mean survive? I've seen your crafting ability, I'm surprised you're not swimming in cash right now.”
“There are actually a lot of reasons. First and foremost, getting decent materials is nigh impossible. Not because they're rare, oh no, because it's so heavily regulated. Mines filled with classical fantasy metals? Government owned. Forests with element aligned materials? Most dangerous places known to man. Hiring adventurers to get materials for me? Back to money again.”
“ If that's the case, how'd you get the stuff for this knife, and the stakes as well?” He scratched his head at that. “Ah… that’s kinda..” He makes a conflicted face.
“I kinda.. Have his extra system thingy. Every day, and by doing special actions, I get these tickets that I can use for a gacha. I can get all kinds of materials from it, but nothing else. I made your knife from some of that stuff.”
“Oh, your sub-system? We have those too.” He blinks in surprise. “I can modify my body parts by killing stuff. And Lily…”
“What do you do again?”
A beat of silence passes as Lily realizes she's now in the conversation. “Oh.. I, uh, get a random piece of information once a day.”
Suddenly the party composition updates. “I picked my role.” Oldren explained.
< Party Composition: Max (Dealer lv4 | -18% Skill cooldowns) | Lily (Leader lv2 | Clarity Buff) | Oldren (Crafter lv1 | 5% Material Efficiency) >
“Alright, time to address the elephant in the room… What do we do now?” Oldren asks.
“Well first, obviously, we need to get down.”
“Yeah sure, but what about after?” Oldren questions.
“More aimless wandering?” Lily directs the question at me.
“ Hmmm.. Oldren, any ideas?” He nods. “Actually, yeah. When I came here, it was actually just a pit stop towards Skulxx, which is a dungeon city. I mean, that's bound to be interesting at the very least, right?” That last sentence gives me pause.
“Actually. Hold on. We need to have a serious discussion.” Lily gets comfortable again and then looks at me attentively, while Oldren stares expectantly.
“What do we all want? From this world I mean. I want to escape, go back to my old world and see my family again. Lily is very young, and thus dependent. She needs to go back home. But what about you, Oldren? What do you want out of all this?”
He takes a moment to think. He opens his mouth, but then closes it again. He spirals into greater confusion and furious thoughts, but I waited patiently for his answer.
As easy as it would be to collect allies like pokemon cards, having conflicting interests will screw us over in the long run.
Finally, it seems Oldren had come to a conclusion.
“I.. don't really have any attachment to my old world. My mom died when I was a kid, and my dad is a deadbeat. My friends are all delinquents, and I was flunking out of college from day one. I don’t have a place to return to, nor do I have enough desire to try and find a way back. I guess my answer to your question is……”
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He looked up at me solemnly. “I just want a place to come back to.”
I present him a warm smile, melting away my stony facade. “I see. Then, why don't you come with us until you find somewhere to settle down?” I stand up and hold out my hand. He grins and slaps his hand into mine, gripping tightly as I pull him up. I turn around and do the same for Lily, though her grasp is considerably more delicate.
Lily walks towards the edge of the wall and looks down. “How are we supposed to get down? This wall is at least a mile high.”
I look at Oldren right as he forms picks on his arms again. “ Say Oldren, think you could make me some of those?”
“Yeah sure, but what about her?” He gestures to Lily.
“Hmmmm… got any rope?”
—
< Acquired Skill: Grip >
I've finally gotten more used to this whole climbing thing. The wall picks Oldren made me have made the whole climb significantly easter, along with the spikes he put on my shin guards.
Lily cries out as one of my picks slips and I slide three feet downward. Since she's too weak to climb down this wall, and to be fair, even a perfectly fit adult would struggle with something like this, I have tied her very tightly to my back, with her also manually wrapping around me.
It's like having a backpack on, except it screams right in my ear. She also serves as a barrier against the cold wind, since I couldn't carry her with my mantle on, not to mention the extra weight wouldn't help either. Oldren has it in his storage.
It's only been fifteen minutes or so but we’re already halfway down. Which is in part due to me occasionally relinquishing my hold on the wall and falling a hundred feet or so. Im not sure how, but I think i'm turning into an adrenaline junky. I was the most cowardly fool before I was dislocated, but nowadays I jump off cliffs for fun.
I can't do it too often though. Partly because it terrifies Lily and mostly because of the rough landing. More than a few times I almost couldn't grip back onto the wall, not to mention the strain the continuous momentum slowing has on my ligaments.
In other news, the weather has taken a serious turn during the climb, with dark gray clouds covering the sky leaving small patches of light to illuminate the rocky ground. Autumn winds seem more piercing than usual, and I can see small debris being whipped up around us.
Oldren doesn't have the same problem however, and is already 3/4s of the way down the wall. Since he can transform, he has no ligaments to pull. I saw him jump off the wall, as his arms lost their joints like spider legs before slamming into the wall again, slowing him down as he descended.
Simply sighed and continued my slow descent.
—
“Oof! That was rough.” I proclaimed as I hopped onto the ground.
“Yo Oldren, can you untie these ropes?”
“Sure.”
With Lily now uncombined and me with my mantle back, we couldn't be in better condition. Though, I have a feeling that was about to change real fast. The weather has taken a turn for the worse, the wind has turned down right torrential, and the temperature has dropped noticeably.
“..We need to find a way out of here.” They both agree and we set off towards a nearby forest. The only good part about this wind storm is that it conceals us. If the dwarves are still hunting for us, it’ll be almost impossible to see us in this windstorm.
But how? Wind is invisible, you can't hide in it! Well, not this wind. It's weird, I can actually see it. It's more like smoke than anything, but it feels too natural for that.
After thirty minutes the windstorm calms down to a simmer, letting us sit down for a moment and have a snack. Me and Oldren share my water flask, and we all chow down on our own rations. After a solid breather, we all begin the journey once again. To where? Fuck if I know, im just following Oldren.
Another hour and a half passes, with the environment changing marginally. The trees have become much taller, though not as much as the myriad forest next to my old base. Dozens of small spikes of rock have started appearing as well.
< [Supplementation] Experience threshold Reached. Lv16 -> Lv18>
< [Storm Wise] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv5>
< [Travel] Experience threshold Reached. Lv16 -> Lv18>
< [Terrain memorization] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv5>
[Storm wise] is still a confusing skill. I'm not quite sure what it actually does, despite its description. It basically gives me a minor wind sense, but I can tell that it's doing a bunch of other small things as well.
< [Storm Wise]- User becomes more sensitive to the movement of the wind and formation of the clouds, allowing for rudimentary weather prediction. >
Still, I got it from making a contract with that dying Wyrm, so it has to be worthwhile right? Maybe it's a skill that blooms as it advances.
< [1st] Tier [Storm Wise] Has ranked up into [2nd] tier: [Way of the Wind]- User becomes privy to the way of the wind. Power, direction, sound, frequency, the whispers it carries. The user is proficient in hearing of the winds secrets.>
Oh!
Suddenly, the world… shifts. As if a film was peeled off my ear, the entire word became clearer. Sharper. I felt myself expand outward. No, that's wrong. Now I just somehow.. Know. I know so much. But none of it is all that useful. Still, I have this weird sort of understanding of what is near me and where it is. As well as what's to come.
While the land is muddled by nature and shifting geographical structures, the sky is clear. Because of that, I can feel the intensity of the oncoming onslaught like ice cold rain on my skin.
I stop walking. “Guys.” Both of them stop and turn towards me, confused.
“We need to find shelter.”
“What do you mean?” Lily asked, cutting off Oldren who likely had the same question.
“There's a storm coming. Like nothing we've seen before. That wind storm a bit ago? Child's play. This is some kind of super storm. Wind, rain, ice, lightning you name it. Like an f5 tornado except it's the entire sky, and it's absolutely pissed.”
I stop to let my words sink in.
“How long do we have?” Oldren says seriously.
“It's hard to tell. Maybe an hour? Fifteen minutes at minimum.”
He nods his head grimly. “Then let's get a move on!!”
Our frantic trek through the forest loses its peace as the winds magnify. The trees began shivering, and then groaning as they swayed in the winds. The wind was blunted from the density of the forest, but the force was not lost on us.
Twenty minutes after my revelation, the rain came. There was no buildup, no pitter patter to sheets. No, it went from vicious wind to predatory wind and water in an instant. The water crashed into my body like a ton of bricks, the sheer force of the impact left me trembling, with Lily being slammed to the ground.
I wave Oldren away and mentally put a seek on him as I take a knee and help Lily up. A lightning bolt impact shakes the earth a few dozen yards away from me. I pick Lily up bride style and begin sprinting towards Oldren, who seems to have begun seriously sprinting as well.
More and more lighting drove into the ground behind me. The forest desperately attempted to ignite itself, but the relentless wind and rain denied it every time. In a pulse, the rain somehow got even worse, every drop carrying weight.
Lighting rang out and the earth beneath me transformed to mud. Debris of all kinds including fallen trees littered the path towards Oldren.
“Hold on tight.” I groused, much more gravely than I intended. I activated [Existential Empowering] on [Strafe Lith], and then triggered [Brash Dash].
I dodged vigorously between hundreds of pieces of debris, the storm actively building a parkour course. A twig ripped past me and tore a cut into my arm, the blood washed away by another water bullet almost immediately.
I clutched Lily to my chest as I silently [Supplemented] my strength to my speed. Lightning bolt after lightning bolt impacted the land around me, a bolt coming only a second after the last one. The water became a beat heavier, now canon shells bruising my skin.
Three logs fell and pitched onto each other in a triangle shape. I rushed through and tore my arm on another razor sharp branch. The frenzied wind began throwing stone shrapnel at me as if it were alive, its only purpose to ruin my life.
I stepped roughly onto the ground after a particularly high jump. The wind sent me off course, send a spear of wood through my shoe and straight through my foot.
“FUCK!!” I screamed.
“M-Max!!! Are you okay!?!”
“NO IM NOT FUCKING OKAY! God damn it!!!” I hiss before slamming on to the ground. I squeeze Lily hard from the pain. I loosen my left arm from my vice grip on Lily and grasp the wooden spear. I take a few rushed and pained breaths, siking myself up before ripping the wood free.
I scream again, the sound whipped away by the wind, but not before haunting Lily’s ears. I let lose my saved health and release a sigh of relief as the gushing hole in my foot closes off. The injury aches, still raw and skinless, but less agonzing than the initial injury.
My [Brash Dash] had already worn off, so it was now up to me to traverse the forest. I checked my seek and found that he wasn't too far ahead, and was standing still. Going through my memory, it seems he suddenly veered off his otherwise straight path a few yards and has so far not moved.
That could mean two things. One, he found somewhere to wait out the storm. Two, he got hit in the head by something and is now passed out or worse somewhere. With that knowledge, I stood up and began rushing towards him.
While the storm hadn’t gotten any weaker, it seems it hasn't increased in ferocity for a while. If I'm lucky, this is as strong as it gets. But as I look out at the destruction I have to dodge around, I can't help but think; Can this really be called luck?
I brace Lily against me again and start rushing at the surprise obstacle course again. It's a bit easier now that I'm moving much slower, but my progress has really slowed. Despite that, I soldier forward slowly but surely, and eventually, my seek leads me toward a huge cave entrance, tall and rectangular.
I enter the cave mouth and drop once I reach one of the walls. I see Oldren’s glinting golden metal cooped up in one of the corners. I nod towards him expecting some kind of response but get none.
I put Lily down, letting her lean on the cave wall as I walk over to Oldrens body. I track water across the floor, an unavoidable nuisance considering my drenched state. I kneel down and poke him a few times.
A blank look settles across my face as I notice his lack of breathing, and the fact that his body is devoid of warmth. Cold dread spikes through my spine as I lurch forward onto my hands and begin vigorously shaking him.
“Oldren?”
“Oldren!!!”
“OLDREN!!!!”
He blinks awake, his eyes now pitch black, irises glowing gold like spotlights.
“..y…yesh???” He mutters. His words are both slurred and slow, as if he were drunk.
“Oh thank god. I thought you were dead!”
He blinked at me confused.
“Wh…b…he, bar??” He nods up and to the right.
“Wha?.. Oh.”
The hp bars. I forgot about those. Is this what they call tunnel vision? While both me and Oldren have lost a shred of health, neither of us are anywhere near death's door, with Lily almost unscathed.
I get off my knees and flop onto the floor, my drenched mantle making a disgusting squelch under my weight as I snow angel onto the stone floor. Oldren watches me emotionlessly before shutting his eyes and entering that still sleep.
I guess he's more machine than I thought. I was thinking he could go from machine to human, but maybe he's full machine, and is just mimicking a human appearance? Not that I mind, that’s pretty metal, pun intended. Which I guess makes this some form of sleep mode or shut down in order to recharge?
I hold my spread out position on the floor for a few minutes, before growing tired of the leaching water. I stand and take off my mantle, letting it fall into a pile on the floor. Then, I started taking off the rest of my clothes.
Despite my wide collection of skills, I have nothing for temperature resistance. Thanks to that, I am absolutely freezing, and these soggy clothes aren't helping. I stripped off everything in a far corner save for my last line of defense, now filled with small holes from overuse. And god, the smell…
This sucks.
Thanks to the rain, I doubt there's any dry foliage outside, not that I'd go out there like this anyways. Instead I walk over to Lily's back pack and take out the fire source. She takes one look at me before quickly turning to the side, her face turning bright red.
Yeah, it's embarrassing, but unavoidable. I take out the warm crystal and hold it in my hands. I didn’t notice before, but the source shines like a beacon in my mana sense. I sit down before grabbing hold of a stray mana string and start twisting it into all manner of shapes.
I push it into the fire source, and watch fascinated as it emerges from the central core a different color. Instead of the neutral light blue of all mana, this one was glowing orange, like forge metal. The mana gave off subtle heat, but once I tried to touch it, the string fizzled away.
I attempted the same thing over and over, my frustration building as the mana string fell apart with every attempt.
Ugh. is it because my [Mana Touch] is too low level?
< [1st] Tier [Mana Touch] Has ranked up into [2nd] tier: [Mana Grasp]- Allows for mana to be held by multiple points of contact. >
I see. Before, I could only pinch the string. If another finger even thought about touching the mana, it would dissipate. But now…
I take a particularly long mana string and hold it with all ten fingers.
Oh yeah, this is gonna make manipulation way easier.
< [Brain Enhancement] Experience threshold Reached. Lv4 -> Lv5>
If I level up brain enhancement, I'll still have one skill point left.
< [1st] Tier [Brain Enhancement] Has ranked up into [2nd] tier: [Stone Mind]- Increases level ceiling, allowing for further stat acquisition. Minutely increases mental defenses. >
I nod to myself and start playing with the mana strings. I run one through the fire source again, but it seems I still can't use it at all. I believe it's because of my affinities. According to my legacy, I have wind and dragon. And I might have others, but now I know that I definitely don't have fire, which is unfortunate considering the circumstances.
I look upwards and notice something odd. The mana strings are always moving. Though slow, they continue to float lazily in the wind. But some of these strings are moving fast and streamlined, like arrows.
I stand up and attempt to snatch one. I finally got a hold of one after seven tries, just barely pinching the end. This string of mana almost seems alive, swimming in the air and trying to escape my grasp.
Upon a closer inspection, it seems this mana is of a different color. A light green as opposed to the neutral blue sported by regular mana. It's the exact same color as the wind affinity text in my status. So this must be wind mana then?
I play with the wind mana. While it moves faster than regular mana, it's also less inclined to stay still. Like trying to hold something still in zero gravity, it just keeps floating away. The issue would probably get fixed if I ranked up [mana manipulation], but I need to keep that spare skill point at all times.
As I play with the mana, twisting it into all manor of shapes, I look over at Lily. she's laying down on her side away from me, still clad in her drenched clothes. She’s gonna get hypothermia at this rate but… I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it.
A wave rolls down her body as she starts shivering violently. I sigh, and steel my resolve. I'm going to hell for this.
“Lily.”
“Eeep!” She squeaks. Her shivering dies down as she sits up, but is still turned away from me.
“Y-y-yes?” she muttered.
I sighed again. “....you're gonna get hypothermia if you keep those on.” I'm going to prison.
“.. I.. I know but..”
“I get it. I know, I understand. I'll turn away.. Actually, i'll just go to the far side of the cave, and you can have the fire source.”
“But.. um.. Don't you need it?”
“... i’ll live.”
“No you won't!” She exclaimed. I stopped staring at the wall and looked at her. She was on her hands and knees looking right at me, her face painted red. “You don't have to keep sacrificing yourself for me!”
She looked me in the eyes. “Remember that night? You said we would work together. Not as guardians and a liability, but as partners! You promised me that we would be equals. If we can't both have something, none of us will get it.”
I was firmly chastised. Indeed, I have been treating Lily like extra baggage. Less of a person and.. Well yeah, a liability. A responsibility. That was cruel of me.
“..fine. Fine! I get it. What do you suppose we do then? The temperature is dropping fast.”
She looks away bashfully before steeling some resolve of her own. “You go pester Oldren again for some clothes, or bedding or something. I'll… go get ready.” She stood up and rushed away to the dark part of the cave that I was in earlier.
I walked over to Oldrens still body and kicked him in the shin. “Ow! What..” he blinked at me. “Dude.. cover up.”
“My stuff is wet. Got any spares?”
He blearily eyed the air and flicked nothing a few times. “Nope, no clothes. I have a sleeping bag, though it's only for one.”
I sigh and scratch my head, my breath tracing frost through the air. “We’ll make it work.”
He grunted and then summoned the roll, which was dumped unceremoniously on the floor before he stilled back to sleep.
I walked back over to the wall and uncoupled the rope tying the roll together. It uncombined into an inch thick mat and a person size blanket. I discovered that the blanket was actually folded over itself once, and could actually fit two people, though it became quite thin.
I placed the mat against the wall long ways, so both me and Lily could sit on it but not stretch out unless on the stone floor. I placed the blanket over myself loosely and left the fire source under the blanket, with some of the fire proof leaves that were left in the bag under it to prevent the mat from catching on fire.
I laid my head against the hard stone wall, hoping my hair would work as a decent pillow. It did not. Five minutes of cooking under the blanket later and I heard Lily step out from the darkness. She walked with only underwear on, her arm crossed over her chest. I looked for one singular second before turning my head 180 degrees to the right.
“Hey… if I had to see you, you have to see me too! It's the rules.”
“Well, you got to look away, so I got to look away too.”
“Hmph.”
She walked over to my left and I opened up the blanket while staring straight forward. She hesitated. “Hey hurry up, you're letting all the heat out.” she ducked her head slightly before complying and sitting on the mat.
She tilted herself to the left for a moment, before the heat drained the tension from her body and she melted in place, her ice cold skin touching mine. I shivered from the contact. After another moment of hesitation, she settled next to me, our arms and shoulders touching.
I let go of the blanket, which drifted down past her shoulder, exposing her partly to the air. A bit rude perhaps, but I'd have to go across her otherwise, which is crossing the line. But for real though, I'm going to prison for the rest of eternity.
After a minute the heat within the blanket tent was restored and we both softened in relief. Suddenly, Lily rested the bulk of her weight on my side. She rested her head on my shoulder, before she got even closer and put her head in the gap between my jaw and shoulder, the top of her head touching my neck.
I jolted at the experience.
..the rule is half plus seven, which would be fifteen… believe it or not? Jail.
She sighed warmly. “This is nice..”
“HAHAHA” I laughed robotically "... Yeah, the heat is really nice huh?” I droned nervously.
She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again, her face suffusing with even more red.
My ancestors must be so disappointed….. Well, I guess it depends which ones. I'm sure the more primitive ones are giving me the tribal/ungu bunga version of a thumbs up, but the more sophisticated ones? Nah, straight to the guillotine.
Despite the borderline disastrous moral implications, I must admit this is comfortable. And it's making me really… sleepy…
I yawned, and the last strip of tension melted from my body. The sheer tiredness slammed into me all at once, causing me to lose my last strand of restraint. I leaned on Lily, pressing closer and tipping my head on top of hers.
We both sank into each other, the sheer comfort washing away my mind and bringing forth a tidal wave of sleep. For the first time in a long time, I fell asleep with a real smile on my face. And for the first time ever, I fell asleep without thinking about the next day.
I simply relished the moment.