Chapter Seven- Marooned
As Mark and Lilliana explored their surroundings, it became increasingly apparent that they were not one of the groups lucky enough to have the system place them near civilization. Rather, thought Lili, we’ve had completely awful luck in that department. They had long resumed their search for shelter, and in doing so discovered that it was very unlikely that they’d be interacting with other people for some time.
This was because they were on an island. A beautiful island, yes, but not a particularly safe one, Lili thought. After they’d stopped running, they’d chatted a little about hopefully being able to get further inland, so as to avoid the coast, where the danger was clearly too high for them to live safely. However, after two hours of walking through the forest, they had reached another break in the trees, only to be greeted by more cliffs, and more ocean. At that point, the worry had set in for both of them, but it had not been concrete until now. After carefully following the coastline from deep in the brush for another three and a half hours, they arrived back where they had been attacked by the bird creature, only this time it was getting dark. They were frantically looking for any, any sort of natural cover, as while they had seen only a few land animals in their long hours in the woods, there were signs of larger creatures hanging around. Lili really didn’t want to be caught unprepared in the night.
Mark called her name softly, “Lilliana!” and her spirits lifted a little. She made her way up the little hill he was standing atop, only to find her greatest hopes realized. A small cabin stood next to a large pond. It was a bit shoddily built, but looked sturdy. She gave Mark a look that said, “What are we waiting for?” and they cautiously approached the front door. Mark raised his hand and knocked loudly on the door. No response. “Hello?”, she called in Pyrosa Standard. They waited a minute, but nobody appeared. Next, Mark tried the door, and found it unlocked. “Let me check it out first, alright?” he asked, and she nodded in response. Then he slipped inside. A moment later he called out, “All clear!” and Lili followed him in.
The cabin itself seemed to be divided into two main rooms, and everything within was coated in a thick layer of dust. Doesn’t seem like anyone has been here in quite a while, she mused. Strange instruments and trophies lined the shelves of the first room, and a large desk took up the majority of the back wall. Several primitive writing implements and books rested on the smooth wooden surface, and she decided that they definitely ought to look through them when they got a chance. Closing the cabin door and turning the lock behind her, she moved to where Mark stood at the entrance of the next room, which was smaller. The entire space was taken up by a small bed, which consisted of several furs draped over a frame of wooden slats.
She was bone tired, and knew Mark was too, but the level of dust was nearly unlivable and the light outside faded with every second they spent milling around. “I’ll start shaking out the furs outside,” she said. “I think I saw a broom in the other room,” he responded. “I’ll get the floors, and we can figure out the shelves and whatnot tomorrow.” With that, they quickly got to work. Within minutes, the floors and bed were free of dust. Then they locked the door and together dropped like stones onto the pile of soft furs, too tired to worry about anything else.
Dawn came the next morning, as it tends to do. The birds sang, and light filtered in from a tiny window in the other room that had gone unnoticed the previous night. Slowly Lili awoke. I should get up, She thought sleepily, and she tried, but felt strong arms around her waist, and a warm body pressed against her back. So cozy, she thought, and she slowly drifted back into sleep.
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About an hour later that same morning, Mark performed the comfort-defying act of cautiously untangling himself from Lilliana for the second day in a row. He cursed himself softly for his apparently awful abilities in keeping a respectful distance whilst asleep, as he made his way out of the small bedroom and then the front door, stopping only to grab his spare set of clothes from the bag on his way out, keeping his energy sense ability as aware as possible for any possible attack.
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At a first glance, one might believe this is a pond, he thought, looking at the small body of water next to the cabin. But in actuality, it’s a spring, which means the water has to be going somewhere. Mark trudged around the edge of the body of water, until he came to a man-made hole carved into the rock by the far edge of the pond. The water was funneled from the crystal clear water of the pond to a small divot in the rock, effectively creating a sort of shower. He wasted no time in stripping, and set his clean clothes on the grass by the hole before stepping down onto the flat rock below.
He stuck his hand out to test the temperature of the water. It’s by no means warm, but it isn’t overly cold, he thought, and he eased himself under the small waterfall. Using his hands, he thoroughly scrubbed away all of the assorted forest muck that had stuck to him on their journey the day prior, and he was careful to clean the small scratches and cuts he had received from various thorny vines that could be found on the island. Once he was done, he tried using water manipulation to dry him off. Eventually, he was successful, but he found the process far less intuitive than other skills seemed to be so far. Fifteen minutes later, he had washed and dried both himself and his pants. He had just started drying the shirt when he felt his control over the water notably increase. Opening his status, he was greeted with a notification.
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Water Manipulation has leveled from [lvl 1] -> [lvl 2].
Control increased.
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Smiling, Mark finished drying his shirt, dressed, and walked back to the cabin, excited to tell Lilliana about his new development. When he got back, she was sitting up in bed, eyes bleary. “Where were you?” she asked sleepily. “I was bathing,” he answered. “If you head around to the other side of the spring there's a little waterfall designed for it. “I also washed my clothes. I got a level in water manipulation!” he added. “That’s great!” she replied, an adorable grin on her face. She put her arms up over her head and stretched. “I think I’ll make use of this bathing area as well, but ah, my class isn’t water based like yours, so um”- she turned red- “would you dry my clothes for me after?” she requested. “Sure,” he said, now also embarrassed but recognizing that it was the least he could do.
After Lilliana had gotten her shower, she thoroughly rinsed the clothing she had worn, and tossed them up to mark, who had come along to dry her clothes. As he was drying them, he realized he hadn’t really asked her much about her class or skills. “What level of energy sense do you have, Lilliana?” he asked. “Level two,” she called up from behind him. Suppose she didn’t spend as long in the void as me, he thought. “I don’t know how easy it’ll be,” he started, “but you should see if you can level that skill in particular. Mine’s at level five, and we would be food in that bird’s stomach by now without it.” He heard her breath hitch a little at that. “Yeah, you’re right. Thank you for that by the way,” she said, presumably referring to the whole experience with the water dragon as well.
“I just froze, you know? I was always good under pressure, it came with the position. But that thing… It's like nothing I’ve ever seen. I-” “It’s alright, Lilliana,” he interrupted her train of thought, feeling an oncoming downward spiral. “I’ve never seen anything like it either, you know? The only thing that kept me from freezing the way you did was the activation of a skill,” he admitted. “You did nothing wrong, and we know better now. “What’s your class about anyway?” he asked, trying desperately to change the topic and keep that beautiful grin from fading any more than it presumably had already. Wow. Not going to read too far into that one, he thought. “I’m the ‘Curse Queen Of The Northern Lakes’, she said. “So much for that, I haven't even cast one yet! Maybe could have applied one to that bird creature, or even the fucking lizard!”
This was getting beyond her ability to stop, Mark could tell. It was the first time he had heard her swear, despite all they had been through thus far. She was feeling it. The lack of control, the feeling of something going wrong. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with. The one moment of relaxation they were having had allowed it to take hold, and now it was piling on, one thing after another. He placed the clothes, now dry, on the edge of the basin. - “I’m worthless here! I haven’t done anything! It’s all been you! I-”He could hear the sobs racking her now. “Put these on, please,” he said softly. When he was certain she had complied with his request, he turned around and gently lifted the sobbing Oceli out of the water. “Shhh, it’s ok,” he said reassuringly, as he sat them down under a tree with her in his lap. “It’s all going to be alright.” he said with more confidence than he felt, feeling the tears begin to prick at his eyes as well. “We’re ok. It’s all ok.” he whispered, and together, they cried as he hugged her tight and ran his hand through her hair comfortingly.