This world must’ve hated him. It kept raining ceaselessly to the point of absurdity. How many weeks has it been? He couldn’t even recall.

While darkness settled and the moonless sky began to greet them for another cold rainy night, they settled in beside an overhanging cliff that kept most of the rainwater off of them. Lar helped retrieve some mostly dry wood from a broken dead tree nearby. She came running with a bundle in her arms appearing completely drenched in her naked human form.

She crouched down dumping the wood into a pile. Since she knew how to do some basic spells, she caused the fire to consume the logs and the somewhat dry brush.

He helped assist the withered Leo by placing him down near the fire. Out of all of them, he was doing the worst. He was a sickly familiar and he wasn’t getting any better either.

“How are you feeling Leo?” he asked the squirrel that opened the last good eye he had.

“I-I’m alright.”

Liar. He tried to act like he wasn’t in immense pain but he could tell when someone was faking such a thing. He could barely even speak or move his body. They just laid there by the fire trying to fall asleep so the pain would go away.

He felt bad for them. He also felt quite bad that they were still so far away from Liall where he could potentially get access to someone capable of healing them. At this point, he didn’t feel as if they would make it in time due to their continual deterioration.

Lar pointed her thumb to their left suggesting he wander away with her. He stood up walking with her along the bottom of the overhanging cliff. Occasionally rain would land on top of him but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.

“What is it?” he asked towards Lar who crossed their arms beneath her bosom.

With a side-eyed glance keeping watchful of Leo, she clicked their tongue. “I know you don’t want to leave him behind, but he’s delaying our progress. He’s as good as gone already. I’ve seen familiars in his state before. I don’t think he’ll make it for that much longer.

“I wasn’t aware familiars could get sick.”

“You’re not aware of a lot of things.” He hated how true that was. “Spiritual creatures like ourselves do not get the same diseases you humans get. They’re similar in some ways and in other ways not.”

“Is it contagious?”

She shook her head. “If it was I would’ve said something before now. The fact remains that they’re simply too far gone.”

“What would you have me do then? Just leave them here to die?”

“That or possibly mercifully put an end to their suffering.”

I certainly don’t like that idea.

“I’ll do it if you can’t.”

“Let’s not even consider doing such a thing. Who knows, maybe they’ll be doing better by tomorrow.”

When the morrow came, Leo screamed in agonizing pain. They strolled through a fierce rainstorm with far more power than the rain from previous days. His screams as he held onto them weren’t lessened by the pouring rain that landed upon stones and flat ground. They etched themselves through the far recesses of his mind burrowing themselves deep inside.

A strange thick substance began to fill his palm. He looked down spotting clotted blood being projected out of Leo’s mouth. The rain quickly washed it away.

How long can a familiar like them even live like this?

Their pain only got worse as the day went on and the rain kept pouring. Their tiny limbs stretched out as he held him in his hand. Their muscles experienced intermittent spasms that he grew familiar with as the time he carried him went on. And Leo eventually vomited enough times that nothing more came out.

Lar looked at him with the kind of expression that made him question his decision to not simply put him out of his misery. Am I making the wrong decision?

When it became dark once more and they were able to hide away in a small set of ruins, he sat Leo down who was hardly awake.

“Leo, I didn’t want to have to bring this up with you, but I feel I must.” Should I really ask? He swallowed that part of him that wanted him to not bother. It was a tough subject matter to think about, let alone ask of the person who he would spare of the suffering. “We would be willing to end your suffering if you’d like.”

Leo’s eye practically bulged out of their skull. They crawled over to him laying a tiny hand on his crossed-legged left foot. “N-n-no! I cannot die. N-never! Please, don’t—” He pulled back wrenching in pain which prevented him from speaking any further. When the pain subsided a bit, they breathed heavily in and out trying to catch their breath. “I can take it. F-for…for a while longer. Until we make it to Liall. Yes, that’s right. If w-we make it there, I’ll be saved by someone. H-how far do you think we are until w-we make it there?” He spoke more hopefully near the end there as he strained his voice.

“How far are we Lar?”

“Give or take a month.”

Can he really tolerate this for another month? Leo thus far had shown to possess a strong soul but at the level of pain they were currently in, it didn’t seem likely. Even a strong soul eventually grew too weak to fight any longer. Death was an inevitability and despite their desire to keep living, they may not have a choice.

When he awoke the next morning, it sounded eerily quiet. At first he thought he was dreaming. But he realized as he stood up, that tons of light entered through the crevices of the cracked stone ceiling above them. Light from a magnificent sky which had been hidden for weeks upon weeks shone gloriously down on them. Ah, what a glorious sun. Though this green haze would try to hide you, I can see and enjoy the warmth you provide to us unworthy mortals.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

He walked out of the ruined structure stepping onto still wet ground. He looked up towards the sky which was still quite a bit cloudy but had enough space to allow the sun to show itself for the first time in a long while.

With arms stretched out and a wide smile, he thanked the gloriousness of such a simple occurrence. Who knew seeing the sun after such a long time could be so magnificent, so wonderful, and so welcoming.

And it was as if things only got better from the morning and onward.

Leo was doing remarkably better as well. As he held onto him while walking across the dilapidated flat landscape, he did much better than the previous days.

Not having rain constantly falling on them was a nice change but they still had to deal with the annoying green fog that always lingered around. Every breath taken was a reminder that the air in this land was made up of pure misery. He had begun to get used to it however after spending many months wandering in it and breathing it in.

“How’d a little guy like you end up out here in the first place?”

“Oh,” Leo muttered. “I was born somewhere in these lands long ago. I’ve only ever known them.”

“Does this fog even bother you?”

“Not at all.”

Due to not being in much pain, he managed to speak more clearly today. Since the sky decided to stop pouring down rain, Leo too was continuing to show promise in his state of being improving dramatically.

Perhaps all the three of them needed was the sun to come out. Sunlight did have a positive effect on him. His mood was better, he could see much better, and he just felt better overall physically and mentally. Never go away sun. Stay with us for all of our travels please.

For several more days of travel, Leo kept relatively high spirits and didn’t appear to experience pure agony every waking second of their life as he had been experiencing for a while.

But like with many things, it was temporary. This brief experience of good health and fortune withered away and died.

On the fifth day of him appearing in better health, he suddenly fell out of his hand hitting the ground.

Leo writhed in agony with red tears running down his eyes. His last good eye turned red and they spat out more blood.

I cannot let this continue. I can’t let them suffer anymore. He didn’t ever want to have to kill someone even if it was merciful. Leo didn’t deserve this. No one did. And he certainly didn’t deserve to have to even consider mercifully killing them. But what good was it to let them be in this condition? Their body was completely falling apart. And neither Lar nor he could do anything to stop it. He was at the sole mercy of whatever infliction he had.

There is only one thing we can do for him. He resigned himself away to this miserable choice seeing no other alternative. He couldn’t stand to watch them writhe around in pain on the rough terrain and have their insides practically vomited out.

However, as he thought to put an end to their suffering after they had shown so much promise in getting better earlier, Lar stretched out her arm blocking his path.

“Wait,” she said. “Something is not right.” She squinted her eyes staring down at Leo. He wondered what exactly caught her off guard. He hadn’t seen her wary like this in a long time. Not since their last encounter with the crows.

Her eyes widened suddenly catching him off guard. “Back away!”

He did as she suggested moving backwards. “What’s the matter?” he said once they stopped several yards away.

Ignoring his question she began to shout towards Leo. “You cannot do this! Stop whatever it is you think you’re doing!”

Leo pulled his body around so that they faced him. He laid there on the ground continuing to writhe in pain as bloodied tears ran down his face. “Thank you for trying to save me.” A wretched scream escaped his broken lips. “I don’t wish to die but I also do not wish to experience any more pain. At least by doing this, I can have both.”

“Don’t do this!” Lar screamed aloud.

He wasn’t sure what was going on. Lar was obviously frightened by whatever was going on and whatever was about to occur. It made him wonder what exactly to expect.

While he didn’t understand what exactly her fear was, he began to feel a strange presence envelop the area around them. It was a subtle feeling or rather, the sort of feeling you weren’t sure actually existed. But it grew in strength responding to the little creature who they had gotten to know just barely over the last few weeks.

Their last remaining good eye which appeared red burst open. Their lower half split apart giving way to a slick black appendage writhing its way free from their small body. What appeared as a squirrel did so no more as a much larger creature began to expand and tear apart the vessel it lived in.

A hand wrapped around him trying to drag him away. But instead, he couldn’t move. He froze in place watching as the creature grew taller than seven feet growing to nine feet, eleven feet, and all the way to fifteen feet.

It stood there as an unrecognizable creature that just a few moments ago appeared like Leo. Whether this thing could even be considered Leo anymore baffled him and the logic of how something so large could fit in a tiny vessel defied his understanding.

While Lar continued to grasp onto his wrist with a muttering voice that sounded hollow to his ears, she shook in fear as he kept staring at the thing that hadn’t yet looked him in the eyes. Whatever remained of Leo’s previous appearance no longer existed. Instead, a new creature stood in its stead with large wet jagged black legs and six human-like arms. Their face was inhuman with three dark orange vertical eyes running along the front of it.

Their gaze which observed their surroundings shot towards him and Lar. Lar who hadn’t ever shown fear before him knelt to the ground shaking while he tried to not lose his mind staring at the thing.

A giant spear-like weapon manifested in one of their hands. They sent it hurdling towards his face. He accepted his death only to find the tip of the spear an inch away from his right eye.

Showing no sign of fear or a willingness to look away, he maintained his place on the ground not daring to look away from their terrifying gaze. The hairs on his entire body stood up and a chill ran down his spine.

They began to speak in a low and high tone at the same time. The language they spoke however was incomprehensible to him. Regardless of whether this thing could even be regarded as Leo anymore or something else entirely, they kept speaking in a strange language he did not understand. Eventually, their utterances stopped and they pulled the tip of the spear away from his head. The spear itself disappeared, and the creature began to walk in the opposite direction.

He watched as they walked away leaving behind the bloodied mess that lay on the ground that they had come from somehow. Bits of flesh and torn-off parts of Leo settled there as a reminder of what once was.

What in the world is that thing? The hairs still stood up on his body. He did not feel at ease even though this thing chose not to kill them and simply walk away.

At any moment, he could’ve ran away from it but it felt futile. It was as if he knew that no matter how far they got away from it, it could’ve killed them without even thinking about it or exerting itself in any meaningful way.

His choice to stand firm and tall before it had worked or so it seemed. But he struggled nonetheless, to make any actual sense of it.

It became quite clear to him, that much like with many other things, he truly did not understand the full extent of what existed out here in this world. He was like a child that had only a tiny bit of understanding. It would take time before he truly could fully grasp this reality he lived in with this new life of his.