I woke up finding myself lying sloppily against the tree trunk. Steadying myself, I quickly remembered my last moments before falling asleep. I had been climbing back down the tree when a sudden gust of wind had made me feel incredibly sleepy, so I slept. In fact I still felt sleepy, but I knew now was not the time to keep sleeping. The setting sun meant we had slept most of the day away and we were losing valuable time. Gripping some cloth, I tied it around the lower tree trunk, before hopping off the branch I had been sitting on. Pulling against the cloth, I walked backwards down the tree in a controlled descent.
Landing feet first onto the ground, I observed the two sprawled figures lying soundly asleep. Maybe I should join them. Their smooth snoring…was soothing and… beckoned me to… just… close…my… eyes… for… a… second and- no! I had to get a hold of myself. I vigorously pinched my right arm, the pain waking me up. In my semi-lucid state, I realised that something was clearly wrong. But my brain stopped there, pink clouds blocking any further thought. Pink…the air seemed strangely pink, but it was hard to see with only the dying sun. My eyes only barely picked up the pink tinge. Maybe I was just too tired that I was seeing things. Maybe this was just a dream, just a bad dream…maybe if I went to sleep, I would wake up again, and I would be five. I would be in the small little hut, my parents in the kitchen, my brother playing outside in the garden with Suticat-
RYAOU! RYAOU! RYAOUUU!!!
I turned around in time to see Suticat break through the dense thicket, wildly barking at me. I had only just realised that he had been missing, but why was he barking so loudly? And it was even his warning bark, but looking around, I couldn’t see anything threatening…Maybe he was just over reacting…maybe I should just nap for a bit…maybe then I would finally understand him. Deciding on that, I turned around, cradling my sore head; I slowly lowered myself, lying down- “OW!!”
A sharp pain came from my left shoulder. Turning slightly I noticed Suticat biting down on my shoulder. What was he doing?! I prepared to shove him off when the strong stench of blood hit me, as my old wound re-opened. Seeing his crimson maw, I felt angry and tired…and sleepy-Why was I not afraid?!
Suddenly I felt mental clarity again as my senses seemed to reconnect with the world around. My brain overloaded with information rapidly sorted out what was happening. My instincts were warning me of imminent danger, yet I couldn’t figure out what it was. I got up, briskly pushing Suticat off. My sudden jerky movement had caused another burst of blood from my shoulder, dying the pinkish air red- how did my blood stain the air? Unless it wasn’t air…but of course, that was why…the wind must have been able to blow it along…but this was an obvious blunder…
Reaching a conclusion, I approached Shiara and Sarratina. Placing my right hand on top of my injured left shoulder, I then proceeded to remove my blood soaked hand and wipe it on Sarra’s face.
“Mmmngh-WAHAH?!”
…and then wipe Shiara’s face.
“Chuuuuu-SNICH. Nnngg-AHHH!?”
RYAOU! RYAOU!
Suticat approached the two, barking once in each of their faces, before running off towards the river. The two were still dazed and bewildered at their sudden awakening. “Get up and run-Pinch yourself whenever you feel sleepy!” Without seeing their response I dashed after Suticat.
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…
Reaching the riverbank, I finally collapsed onto the ground next to Suticat. Drying my bloody hands on the grass next to me, I then inserted them into the water, rinsing off the rest of the blood. Hopefully that wouldn’t attract the attention of any other monsters nearby. Next, I scooped up the river water, dumping it on top of my head. Drenched, but refreshed, I finally heard panting. Turning around, I spotted Shiara bursting through the bushes followed by an even wearier Sarratina. Seeing them safe, I finally let my guard down, dunking myself head first into the cold stream. Taking a few large mouthfuls to quench my parched throat, I surfaced for a breath of fresh air before returning back into the river. This time, I ran my hands through my short hair in a relaxed manner, untangling some clumps pulling on my scalp. It had been a while since I had last managed my hair, and they had grown slightly longer than I was use to. Perhaps I would cut them again before entering the capital-I was too tired to deal with it now. All I wanted in this moment was to enjoy the brief peace and to stare at the riverbed, but sadly, this would be short-lived.
“Heeyyyy VIxeeennn, WHHHATTTSS GOINNNNGG ONNNNN?”
Hearing her question echo dully through the water, I decided it was time to surface. Pulling up again, I saw Shiara staring at me with her hands crossed. Meanwhile, Sarratina seemingly having finally got her breath back again, headed past me and started steadily slurping water from the river.
“Hey, what’s going on-“ “-Wash your face first and drink up. I’ll explain everything when we have all recovered.” I sat down next to Suticat and started absentmindedly grooming him whilst observing the surroundings. Pulling out locks of loose fur, I contemplated on my explanation for them.
“Ahem, so we are done. What do we do now-“”- Yeah, what was that before?!” Seeing the two come over and join me, I got up. And I bowed.
“Sorry. That was my fault. Not sure if you noticed, but the air was slightly pink before-“ “-It was? I didn’t-” I stared at Shiara till she quietened down before continuing “The pink air was most likely the gas released by Toxic-fireflies. Remember how I theorised that their sleep inducing toxins had become more potent? Well if they had become more potent, than logically the distance in which their toxins can travel should increase…”
“So we shouldn’t have stopped and slept right outside the area right?”
“…Yeah.”
“That explains why I was feeling so sleepy…but is that related to why you smeared blood on us?”
“Sorry Sarra if that was traumatising-“ “No, no, no I didn’t mean it like that.” “But yes, you are correct. My mind cleared up when I smelt blood, so I assumed it may have a similar effect.”
“Right, and rehydrating and wetting yourself works as well.”
“…No, at least I’m not sure. I did that mainly for comfort…”
Suddenly Shiara got up and moved between us. “Hey, you two are leaving me out of the conversation again!”
“Well unlike you Shiara, the princess is polite and calm when holding a conversation.”
“And unlike you, Vixen is knowledgeable about this region.”
“Humph! You’ll regret it when you need healing!” As we shared a laugh while she stomped away, I couldn’t help but add, “Shiara it’s this way!”
…
“Ha, ha, haaa, let’s stop for a bit.”
The sun was about to rise and we had been walking all night on an empty stomach, the apples a distant memory. Shiara still seemed relatively fine, but the Sarratina was looking completely ragged and warn out, her rough panting so loud that for a moment I was seriously worried she might attract monsters. Having taken only brief stops since starting, I decided now was a good time to take out the mushrooms to eat.
“Ok, let’s stop here and take a break. I have some food we can share here.”
“Oh, the mushrooms…. you did double check that their the female ones right?”
“Yup, so unless you are somehow a boy, you’ll be fine.”
“Am I missing something?”
“ “JUST EAT!” “
Passing the pouch of edible mushrooms, I did a quick assessment of the surrounding regions. We had been heading north along the eastern side of the chasm with my intention being to return to our original route. After all, that was the least dangerous part. Currently across the chasm was Toxic-firefly territory, so we would have to be wary of the pink gas, but a short break would be fine-
“Stop! Let’s keep going.”
“ “Why?” “
I pointed to our east toward a clump of thick bushes. “There’s a baby Bellower about to wake up for the day.”