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| This chapter was so long I HAD TO WRITE TWO CHAPTERS FOR IT. What the shit... |
Chapter 7: To The Wolves, Part 1
Maria continued to lead the group through the forest, carefully observing the map and constantly trying to reference her position with the map. She heard the rushing sounds of a river and quickly looked for a river on the map, finding one about miles from the school, and about a third of the way to the temple from their starting point.
She stepped through a clearing and saw the large river she just saw on the map, she tilted back to shout at Jonah and Lily. “River's here! It's bigger than I thought.” She claimed, Jonah walked from the clearing along with Lily, Jonah gently rubbing his cheek as it was covered with slightly red covered bumps. “If I knew it was mosquito season I would have brought some ointment or something...”
Lily giggled at that, her mouth stopped bleeding, but she had a red stain on the corner of her mouth. “Mosquitoes are attracted by smell, right? You must be sweating a bunch or something.” Lily jested, Jonah glared at her and stomped his foot. “Oh quiet, you! I don't smell!” he said, infuriated. But Maria just shrugged her shoulders and looked over the river. “Lily, Remember to not sleep anywhere near him.” Lily quickly saluted with a “Yes, Ma'am!” Jonah snapped back at Maria for saying that. “H-hey!”
Maria looked at the river and crouched down to place her hand in the water. The fast flow of water cover her hand and pushed firmly against it, she looked up and the water was flowing fast, though it wasn't shallow enough to cause white water. “It looks like this river might be tough to wade across.” She calmly observed before standing back up. Jonah walked up just behind her and looked over her shoulder, watching the water move by at the fast but steady pace. “Does that mean we should go around?” He asked, Maria shook her head and pulled her backpack out, shuffling through it's supplies.
“No, but it gives me an idea.” Maria began, wrapping a rope around her wrist and pulling it out. “Do either of you have any experience swimming?” Lily answered first, sounding a bit unsure. “N-not really...” Jonah replied just afterward. “Nothing that says I'm good at it.” He remarked, Maria shrugging her shoulders. “I'm only okay at swimming,” Maria replied, hefting the rope over her arm and onto her shoulder. “I was gonna ask if either of you knew how to tie a knot, but since it apparently doesn't matter who crosses, I'll assume I'm the only one for now.” She commented, beginning to wade into the water as it flowed to her ankles.
“I'll complain about that comment later, But how do you plan to get the rest of us across?” Jonah asked, with a hint of annoyance still in his voice. Maria just took a deep breath before turning back to look at both of them. “I'll swim across, tie this rope to a tree and throw it to you as you swim across, it should help you if it gets too hard.” She calmly stated, they both just nodded and without a warning Maria just quickly dashed into the water. Getting past her waist and nearly to her head as the flow of the current began to topple her off of her feet.
She felt her head dip below the water for a moment as she kicked forward and lifted her head to take a sharp gasp for air. She began to quickly kick her legs and cycle arms, pushing her forward through the strong stream. She was quickly being pushed downstream, but she was slowly approaching the other side. The water began to get even rougher, jostling her about and forcing her to roll a couple of times as she kept kicking forward. Eventually she was nearly a hundred feet downstream, but made it across, grabbing onto some nearby rocks and standing back up. Her coat and pants were wet, and she was nearly completely out of breath. She grabbed onto her knees and started to cough and inhale deeply as a voice shouted to her from a small distance away.
“Maria, you okay!?” Jonah shouted, she looked up at him, brushing the wet red hair from her eyes. He looked diminutive from just how far away he was. Maria was shocked that the river actually pulled her that far away. She just assumed she was a weaker swimmer than she thought. “Yeah, I'm good! Hold on a second!” She said, running along the waterline back to face them. Once she lined up, she gazed across the river and tried to guess how far apart she was to Lily and Jonah. She felt like the fifty feet of rope might just be long enough to throw across, but now wasn't the time for measurements. Maria spun around and tied the rope to the tree, making sure to use a tight knot so it didn't slip.
“Alright, guys. One at a time, run into the water and I'll toss the rope! Grab it and drag yourself across the rest of the way!” Maria shouted over the sound of the running water. Lily and Jonah nodded, looking at each other and discussing quietly. “Should I go first, or you go first?” Lily inquired quietly, Jonah chuckled and crossed his arms. “I'll let you go first, I don't know how well this will turn out, I wanna gauge my chances.” Lily sighed and walked forward to stand at the edge of the water, Maria nodded at her. “Take my backpack with you, alright?” Maria implored, Lily looked down and inspected Maria's open survival pack. She zipped it shut and placed it around one shoulder.
She dove into the water, backpack tightly gripped to her shoulder and side as the water was quickly getting past her waist. Maria lurched her arm back and tossed the rope as hard as she could upstream, the rope uncoiling as it splashed into the water. “It's in the water, Grab it!” Maria shouted, hoping Lily would hear her.
Lily flailed and came up for a quick breath of air. She looked to the right of her and couldn't see the rope, she leaned up to swim a couple more feet when suddenly, she felt something glance her leg. She took a gamble and plunged her hand deeper into the water, feeling the coiled rope texture sliding along her leg. She quickly grasped at it before lifting it to her arms and grabbing onto both. She slowly pulled herself along it before she realized that she was being dragged downstream fast enough to make the rope tense up and drag her to the waters edge. She quickly tried to stand up once she felt like the water was becoming more shallow, but stumbled and landing onto her hands and feet.
“The water is way faster than I thought...” She commented, looking up to Maria as she reached down to help Lily back onto her feet, taking the backpack and putting it back onto herself. “Yeah.. That shocked me.” Maria commented, before walking up to the rope tied to the tree. Slowly pulling and wrapping the rope back on her arm as she looked over for Jonah, who was standing in the same spot he was just before. “Jonah, go for it!” Maria shouted, Jonah hesitated for a brief moment before diving into the water.
The sudden surge of water surprised him, he flailed for a couple of seconds as the currently lifted him off his feet, He began to spin and kick his feet to get himself to tread. He gasped and finally got upright, but he was being quickly pulled downstream. Maria launched the rope into the river and hoped he could catch it. The rope splashed and slowly began to pull downstream. He gritted his teeth and tried to swim for it, but he realized that the rope was still attached to the tree, and he was being pulled away from it. He swam harder, trying to get closer to the rope but all that happened was he drifted further away. He gasped, running out of energy and began to tumble around the water. “H-help!” He shouted.
“Shit...” Maria muttered. Running to the rope tied to the tree and untying it with a brief struggle, She quickly grabbed the end of the rope and used her other arm to coil it over and over around her other shoulder. Finally finishing, she pointed downstream. “Lily, Chase him! I'll try and get the rope to him!” Lily nodded and began to run down the water line, watching out for rocks as she tried to catch up to Jonah, who nearly was one hundred feet away from just turning away to untie the knot.
The river was quite fast, Lily had to actually break out into a run to keep pace with it. Maria followed behind, running just past Lily and eventually catching up to Jonah, who was trying to paddle closer, but kept being pulled away by the fast current. “Catch!” Maria shouted, launching the rope just in front of him. But she realized the river was actually beginning to widen, even though that meant the water was shallower, it also meant he was farther away. It missed by just a few feet, she growled, keeping the run as she coiled the rope back up quickly around her arm.
Jonah coughed and sputtered as he tried to look back at the two girls chasing after him down the river. Maria launching another coil of rope down the river, making sure to grab onto the other end. “C'mon, grab it!” She shouted, and he reached out for it, but it slipped away from his hand and Maria was forced to pull back the rope. “Damn it!” Maria cursed, picking up the pace and beginning to run at her full tilt. Slowly making past Jonah, but Maria wanted even more distance. She wanted to be far away enough to jump in and swim after him. She made it almost one hundred and fifty feet ahead as she began to heavily pant from how exhausted the sprint just was. She ran back into the water but noticed there was another splash just close by.
“I got it!” A male voice said, swimming toward Jonah who was still panicking from being whisked away from moderately fast water. Maria stopped and watched the boy swim, he seemed to be pretty alright at it, his dark chestnut colored hair was familiar enough for Maria to recognize him. “Gabriel!?” He grabbed onto Jonah's collar and dragged him through the water, swimming back to shore as Maria launched the rope at him, he was able to quickly grab it and pull himself along with Jonah ashore on the other side of the river. Jonah was panting quietly, laying on the ground coughing up excess water as Gabriel stand back up, giving a friendly salute.
“How the hell did you find us?” Maria wondered aloud, Gabriel gave a giggle as Erika walked up along side him from leaning against a tree, her huge waraxe attached to her back, her ginger hair dripping wet from clearly crossing the river. “Oh, you must have been walking a little faster than us, We got to this river and had to cross. Gabriel was just about done as we heard you guys yelling.” Erika explained trying to wring her shoulder length hair from all the water. Gabriel nodded, walking up and patting the handle. “Getting Erika's gigantic axe across was really hard, but we did it.” He said, excitedly. Maria nodded and looked down at her, she was completely soaked in water along with everyone else.
Her suit jacket was drenched, and her dress shirt was uncomfortably transparent, even if she wore just a black tank top underneath of it. She sighed and pulled off her jacket, wringing it out of the water as she talked to them. “Do you guys have towels?” Maria asked, Gabriel just shook his head. “Nope, We'll have to air dry.” Maria groaned at that, opening her backpack and checking to see if everything in it was still intact, luckily, the backpack was pretty waterproof and nothing even got damp. She took the canteens attached to it, filling both of them with the clean, flowing river water before closing off both caps.
She sighed and put it back on her shoulder, undoing the tie around her neck and just letting it hang off to dry. She gestured everyone to follow her, which they did, Jonah still quietly panting as they walked. The breeze from the feeling of their wet clothes drying off made everyone get a chill, Maria's skin felt damp, numb and cold, Jonah started to shiver as they walked. Maria slung her jacket around her shoulders as they walked deeper into the forest.
Lily walked up to Jonah, gently rubbing a shoulder to see if she could help him warm up a little bit, he looked at her with a smile as she looked back up at him. “So, Jonah... Tell us about yourself.”
He appreciated the question, giving a light nod as he spoke aloud. “Well, Lily. I'm super distantly related to Claire The Unifyer. She helped the 5 kingdoms gather together to fight off the Astrians over five hundred years ago.” Lily nodded at that, jaw dropping a little bit. “Oh, that's super cool!” Jonah chuckled a bit at that, quickly replying. “Yeah, but that was 5 centuries ago, so it's a very distant relation.” He mentioned, She nodded some more, legitimately curious and listening to what he said like she was a lost puppy.
“Her son became a doctor, and took the Oath Of the Sworn Doctor to always treat a patient. His son became a doctor as well.. and onward through the generations all the way to me. My father is a Surgeon and my Mother a Dietitian, Hell, I think my uncle is also a Doctor. ” He clarified, Lily nodding again with a look of curiosity. “What kind of doctor?” She asked, Jonah laughed awkwardly and looked at the ground, quietly mumbling something. She leaned a little closer, not exactly hearing that. “Could you say that a little louder?” Jonah sighed and kicked a small rock aside as he was walking, “Fine, he was a Proctologist, okay?” Lily blinked a couple of times, and heard a Chuckle from Maria up ahead. “Your uncle is a butt doctor then?” Maria said mockingly, Jonah looked flustered, pointing at her as he complained.
“Hey, butt doctors are just as important as any other doctor!” He loudly exclaimed., and Maria just sarcastically chuckled. “...I meant Proctologist, that's supposed to be an official title! Don't try and defame it or anything!” Maria grinned at him. “Butt doctor.” She quickly quipped, Jonah just sighed and sunk his head in defeat, before looking back at Lily. “They wanted me to be a doctor as well, but I can't handle gore and I have a lingering feeling I'll leave some Forceps in a guys stomach or something if they put me on a surgery team one day...”
Lily chuckled at that, but then picked up her pace to walk next to Maria, She inspected her face and noticed that the stitches in her forehead were gone. “Hey, When did you get your stitches removed?” She asked, Maria shrugged her shoulders and rubbed the bumpy scars on her head. “I asked for them to be removed the day after I left the infirmary. So that'd be... about 4 days ago?” Maria answered, not entirely sure because she'd been passing in and out of consciousness from the nightmares she's been having.
“Hey, is it alright if I asked you something?” Lily wondered, Maria looked at her and folded away her map, tucking it under her arm. “Go ahead.” Maria responded. Lily took a deep breath and just got it over with. “Why did you do that to our room? Like.. the curtains were sliced up, the dresser got totaled and there were holes in the walls.” Maria was taken aback by that, but slowly just looked at the ground as they walked. “I don't think you'd understand. So it's none of your business, Lily.” Maria quietly dismissed her, the ghostly bird perching on her shoulder and quietly speaking just afterward. “Maybe you should apologize, Maria.” Maria scoffed a little at that comment, sliding her hands into the pockets of her pants.
“What does that mean?” Lily inquired, feeling slightly upset for Maria not telling her. “It means exactly what I said, Lily.” Maria interjected, crossing her arms and looking away. “You wouldn't get it, it's weird.” Lily frowned and shook her head. “Can you not brush me off, Maria? I need to know if you're okay.” She said, frustrated. Maria just glared at her in response. “I told you everything you need to know, Lily. It's complicated and I'm sorry it involved me screwing up the room... I couldn't tell you more unless you wanted to think I was insane.” She said, walking away from her before going back to checking her map, Lily just sighed, slowing back down to walk along with the other 3 members of her group.
The sun slowly turned a pale orangeish red as the dark forest canopy grew darker, the light underneath the trees began to fade into an almost night like darkness, the only light was the orange sunlight shooting between the gaps of the leaves. Maria stopped and turned to the rest of the group to make an announcement. “We're running out of daylight, but I have some good news.” She started, looking around for a nice clearing as she spoke. “We've made it just about 2/3rds of the way to the temple, another 6-7 hours of walking and we'll be there.” She said, Jonah sighed in relief and stretched as he gave out a yawn. “Oh thank goodness, My feet were getting blisters...” Jonah said, relieved from his yawn. Maria nodded, but continued to speak. “But we're losing sunlight and we don't have a light source, We're gonna search for a spot to camp for the night.” She said, folding up the map into her pocket as she looked around.
Maria turned away from them and issued a simple order. “Find an open enough spot for us to sleep.” They nodded and broke away from her, beginning to search the area for a place to rest. She began to walk underneath the trees and quietly began to pick up sticks and branches, carrying them under her arm. Along with that, she found some fuzzy remains of a dead tree which were very dry and bundled up, and she put that into her hand. She kept gathering sticks until she head the distant yell of Erika just a couple hundred of feet. “Found a clearing!” Maria looked up, noticing that the sound came from the left, so she began to head that way. “Everyone, Over here!” Erika shouted indiscriminately, trying to get everyone to head over to her directly.
Maria walked over the thick tree roots into a small clearing, the canopy opened up to reveal the slightly star filled twilight sky, several small clouds drifting overhead. Jonah arrived next. “Oh god, finally a place that isn't one hundred percent tree.” He said, taking a seat in a patch of grass and yawning. Lily and Gabriel arrived next together, sitting beside each other on the grass as Maria stood up. “Well.. I might as well ask if any of you know how to make a fire?” Maria inquired, with no reply. The silent became kind of awkward, Maria sighing and taking a seat. “Guess not.” Maria placed the bundle of sticks in a patch of flat dirt, grabbing a small log along with a stick. “Welp, I saw this on TV, it shouldn't be hard.” Maria said quietly to herself. The bird interjected, standing atop her head and peering down. “I'm not sure that's how you do it...” He commented, Maria just sighed, grabbing the stick and rubbing it between her hands on the piece of tinder resting atop the log. “Hush up already.” she said, under her breath as she tried to get enough friction to light a fire.
But even after 5 minutes of straight twirling her hands back and forth like an idiot, she didn't even see any smoke. On top of that, her arms were starting to get tired, she growled in frustration, grabbing the stick and throwing it aside, causing it to careen and smack into a nearby tree. “OH FUCK THIS!” She shouted, standing up between the other four. “Do any of you have any ideas to light a fire?” Erika raised her hand, Maria turning a shoulder to look at her, and in her hand was a small metal lighter.
“I forget I have this, sometimes.” She quietly commented, Maria scowled and walked up, taking the lighter out of her hands and inspecting it. “Is it full?” She nodded, “Yep, my dad gave it to me before I moved out so I'd think of him. He's kind of a smoker...” Erika commented with a chuckle. Maria just sighed, flicking open the cap and seeing inspecting the spark wheel, before shaking it a couple of times to confirm. “Great, now I feel stupid.” She bent down to the woodpile, flicking the spark wheel and causing the tip to set ablaze. She leaned down near the ember, but her hands began to shake. The hair on the back of her neck began to stand up and she quickly closed the lid. She sighed, standing up and tossing the lighter towards Jonah with a “Catch.”
Jonah was surprised, catching it just barely and looking at it. “Why can't you light it yourself?” He asked, Maria just walked over to take a seat next to Lily. “That doesn't matter.” She said, trying to brush him off. Jonah shook his head and bent down, lighting the fire quite easily. Sighing and taking a seat in front of the campfire. He glanced over to Maria, only to notice she was about ten feet farther back than when she was previously sitting. “What's with you, Maria? You're acting all weird..” He mentioned, Maria looking at the floor and mumbling to herself. “What was that? I didn't hear you.” Jonah said, leaning up to see if he could hear her. “I DON'T LIKE FIRE, OKAY?” She shouted across to him, Lily looking away with a soft sigh as everyone else just kinda looked at her.
“Fire doesn't bite, does it?” Gabriel added with a smile to try and reassure her a little. “You don't know fire like how I know fire.” She replied, leaning against a nearby tree before starting to explain. “Lily didn't bring her sleeping bag, so one of us will have to just not sleep in one.” Lily awkwardly chuckled as Maria brought that up. “Yeah... my fault! I kinda... acted irrationally.” She explained, Maria trying to act like a calm leader while huddling up in a fetal position, clearly displaying her commanding sense of leadership. “I'll keep watch, you four can sleep.” Jonah frowned a little bit at Maria opting for an all night watch duty. “That's a bit crazy to just stay up all night to keep guard, everyone needs sleep y'know.” Maria stood up and stretched her back just a bit, putting on her coat.
“I'll live.” She responded tersely. They just agreed and began to set up the sleeping bags, sitting onto them as they talked. Eventually after nearly half an hour, Maria managed to sit close enough to the fire to not require shouting at her as Jonah leaned forward with a grin. “Well... Since we're setting up to get to bed. Maybe we should share scary stories!” He said with the excitement of his dormant 12 year old personality, even if he was nearly 18. Lily smiled, raising her arms with enthusiasm with a big grin. “I've never done that before! This will be really cool.” She said with the stupid grin on her face, Maria shrugged her shoulders as Jonah scooted up to the fire. “I'll start.” He said, clearing his throat.
“There once was a cabin... deep in the forest.” He started, leaning up so his arms rested onto his knees as he gave quite the smug smirk. “Did it have plumbing?” Maria interjected, her voice a dull monotone. Jonah sighed, shaking his head and looking up at her. “Maria, that doesn't matter in this story.” Maria shrugged her shoulders. “It matters to me, if he doesn't have a well or something he'll just die of thirst.”Maria said, it was pretty clear she was just being a sarcastic jerk, not actually interested in the story or anything. Jonah looked bemused, before sighing and rubbing the back of his head. “I dunno, he lives next to a river or something.” He explained with a throwaway answer, but immediately Maria snapped back. “Does he even purify the water? Man, he'd have so much Cholera in his system..” Jonah gritted his teeth at that, clearly annoyed. “Maria, shut up and let me continue the story.” He implored, but Maria just shrugged again.
“Alright, good.” Jonah started, going back into his storytelling position. “He was at his home, when a phone began to ring. He went over and picked it up... and there was a voice. A raggedy, upset kind of voice. He said... 'Where are your children?' He wondered what he meant by that... First of all, how did he know he had children? Second... How did he know this number? Well, here's your answ-” Jonah was interrupted by Maria with another sarcastic quip. “How the hell did he get a phone connection in THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST?” Jonah just face palmed by Maria's attempts to pick apart or derail the story, he just sighed and stood up. “Okay, screw the story. Let's just go to bed already...” He said, nonplussed, Maria gave a chuckle and shook her head. Walking over to a nearby tree and slowly climbing up it.
“What are you doing, Maria?” He asked, Maria balancing on a low, thick branch and leaning against the trunk. “Being up here means I can keep night's watch better, also there will be less insects to mess with me.” She explained casually, but he just frowned. “it's because you're afraid of the campfire, isn't it?” Maria growled at that and looked away from him. “How bout shut up?” She said, trying to brush him off.
Maria continued to lead the group through the forest, carefully observing the map and constantly trying to reference her position with the map. She heard the rushing sounds of a river and quickly looked for a river on the map, finding one about miles from the school, and about a third of the way to the temple from their starting point.
She stepped through a clearing and saw the large river she just saw on the map, she tilted back to shout at Jonah and Lily. “River's here! It's bigger than I thought.” She claimed, Jonah walked from the clearing along with Lily, Jonah gently rubbing his cheek as it was covered with slightly red covered bumps. “If I knew it was mosquito season I would have brought some ointment or something...”
Lily giggled at that, her mouth stopped bleeding, but she had a red stain on the corner of her mouth. “Mosquitoes are attracted by smell, right? You must be sweating a bunch or something.” Lily jested, Jonah glared at her and stomped his foot. “Oh quiet, you! I don't smell!” he said, infuriated. But Maria just shrugged her shoulders and looked over the river. “Lily, Remember to not sleep anywhere near him.” Lily quickly saluted with a “Yes, Ma'am!” Jonah snapped back at Maria for saying that. “H-hey!”
Maria looked at the river and crouched down to place her hand in the water. The fast flow of water cover her hand and pushed firmly against it, she looked up and the water was flowing fast, though it wasn't shallow enough to cause white water. “It looks like this river might be tough to wade across.” She calmly observed before standing back up. Jonah walked up just behind her and looked over her shoulder, watching the water move by at the fast but steady pace. “Does that mean we should go around?” He asked, Maria shook her head and pulled her backpack out, shuffling through it's supplies.
“No, but it gives me an idea.” Maria began, wrapping a rope around her wrist and pulling it out. “Do either of you have any experience swimming?” Lily answered first, sounding a bit unsure. “N-not really...” Jonah replied just afterward. “Nothing that says I'm good at it.” He remarked, Maria shrugging her shoulders. “I'm only okay at swimming,” Maria replied, hefting the rope over her arm and onto her shoulder. “I was gonna ask if either of you knew how to tie a knot, but since it apparently doesn't matter who crosses, I'll assume I'm the only one for now.” She commented, beginning to wade into the water as it flowed to her ankles.
“I'll complain about that comment later, But how do you plan to get the rest of us across?” Jonah asked, with a hint of annoyance still in his voice. Maria just took a deep breath before turning back to look at both of them. “I'll swim across, tie this rope to a tree and throw it to you as you swim across, it should help you if it gets too hard.” She calmly stated, they both just nodded and without a warning Maria just quickly dashed into the water. Getting past her waist and nearly to her head as the flow of the current began to topple her off of her feet.
She felt her head dip below the water for a moment as she kicked forward and lifted her head to take a sharp gasp for air. She began to quickly kick her legs and cycle arms, pushing her forward through the strong stream. She was quickly being pushed downstream, but she was slowly approaching the other side. The water began to get even rougher, jostling her about and forcing her to roll a couple of times as she kept kicking forward. Eventually she was nearly a hundred feet downstream, but made it across, grabbing onto some nearby rocks and standing back up. Her coat and pants were wet, and she was nearly completely out of breath. She grabbed onto her knees and started to cough and inhale deeply as a voice shouted to her from a small distance away.
“Maria, you okay!?” Jonah shouted, she looked up at him, brushing the wet red hair from her eyes. He looked diminutive from just how far away he was. Maria was shocked that the river actually pulled her that far away. She just assumed she was a weaker swimmer than she thought. “Yeah, I'm good! Hold on a second!” She said, running along the waterline back to face them. Once she lined up, she gazed across the river and tried to guess how far apart she was to Lily and Jonah. She felt like the fifty feet of rope might just be long enough to throw across, but now wasn't the time for measurements. Maria spun around and tied the rope to the tree, making sure to use a tight knot so it didn't slip.
“Alright, guys. One at a time, run into the water and I'll toss the rope! Grab it and drag yourself across the rest of the way!” Maria shouted over the sound of the running water. Lily and Jonah nodded, looking at each other and discussing quietly. “Should I go first, or you go first?” Lily inquired quietly, Jonah chuckled and crossed his arms. “I'll let you go first, I don't know how well this will turn out, I wanna gauge my chances.” Lily sighed and walked forward to stand at the edge of the water, Maria nodded at her. “Take my backpack with you, alright?” Maria implored, Lily looked down and inspected Maria's open survival pack. She zipped it shut and placed it around one shoulder.
She dove into the water, backpack tightly gripped to her shoulder and side as the water was quickly getting past her waist. Maria lurched her arm back and tossed the rope as hard as she could upstream, the rope uncoiling as it splashed into the water. “It's in the water, Grab it!” Maria shouted, hoping Lily would hear her.
Lily flailed and came up for a quick breath of air. She looked to the right of her and couldn't see the rope, she leaned up to swim a couple more feet when suddenly, she felt something glance her leg. She took a gamble and plunged her hand deeper into the water, feeling the coiled rope texture sliding along her leg. She quickly grasped at it before lifting it to her arms and grabbing onto both. She slowly pulled herself along it before she realized that she was being dragged downstream fast enough to make the rope tense up and drag her to the waters edge. She quickly tried to stand up once she felt like the water was becoming more shallow, but stumbled and landing onto her hands and feet.
“The water is way faster than I thought...” She commented, looking up to Maria as she reached down to help Lily back onto her feet, taking the backpack and putting it back onto herself. “Yeah.. That shocked me.” Maria commented, before walking up to the rope tied to the tree. Slowly pulling and wrapping the rope back on her arm as she looked over for Jonah, who was standing in the same spot he was just before. “Jonah, go for it!” Maria shouted, Jonah hesitated for a brief moment before diving into the water.
The sudden surge of water surprised him, he flailed for a couple of seconds as the currently lifted him off his feet, He began to spin and kick his feet to get himself to tread. He gasped and finally got upright, but he was being quickly pulled downstream. Maria launched the rope into the river and hoped he could catch it. The rope splashed and slowly began to pull downstream. He gritted his teeth and tried to swim for it, but he realized that the rope was still attached to the tree, and he was being pulled away from it. He swam harder, trying to get closer to the rope but all that happened was he drifted further away. He gasped, running out of energy and began to tumble around the water. “H-help!” He shouted.
“Shit...” Maria muttered. Running to the rope tied to the tree and untying it with a brief struggle, She quickly grabbed the end of the rope and used her other arm to coil it over and over around her other shoulder. Finally finishing, she pointed downstream. “Lily, Chase him! I'll try and get the rope to him!” Lily nodded and began to run down the water line, watching out for rocks as she tried to catch up to Jonah, who nearly was one hundred feet away from just turning away to untie the knot.
The river was quite fast, Lily had to actually break out into a run to keep pace with it. Maria followed behind, running just past Lily and eventually catching up to Jonah, who was trying to paddle closer, but kept being pulled away by the fast current. “Catch!” Maria shouted, launching the rope just in front of him. But she realized the river was actually beginning to widen, even though that meant the water was shallower, it also meant he was farther away. It missed by just a few feet, she growled, keeping the run as she coiled the rope back up quickly around her arm.
Jonah coughed and sputtered as he tried to look back at the two girls chasing after him down the river. Maria launching another coil of rope down the river, making sure to grab onto the other end. “C'mon, grab it!” She shouted, and he reached out for it, but it slipped away from his hand and Maria was forced to pull back the rope. “Damn it!” Maria cursed, picking up the pace and beginning to run at her full tilt. Slowly making past Jonah, but Maria wanted even more distance. She wanted to be far away enough to jump in and swim after him. She made it almost one hundred and fifty feet ahead as she began to heavily pant from how exhausted the sprint just was. She ran back into the water but noticed there was another splash just close by.
“I got it!” A male voice said, swimming toward Jonah who was still panicking from being whisked away from moderately fast water. Maria stopped and watched the boy swim, he seemed to be pretty alright at it, his dark chestnut colored hair was familiar enough for Maria to recognize him. “Gabriel!?” He grabbed onto Jonah's collar and dragged him through the water, swimming back to shore as Maria launched the rope at him, he was able to quickly grab it and pull himself along with Jonah ashore on the other side of the river. Jonah was panting quietly, laying on the ground coughing up excess water as Gabriel stand back up, giving a friendly salute.
“How the hell did you find us?” Maria wondered aloud, Gabriel gave a giggle as Erika walked up along side him from leaning against a tree, her huge waraxe attached to her back, her ginger hair dripping wet from clearly crossing the river. “Oh, you must have been walking a little faster than us, We got to this river and had to cross. Gabriel was just about done as we heard you guys yelling.” Erika explained trying to wring her shoulder length hair from all the water. Gabriel nodded, walking up and patting the handle. “Getting Erika's gigantic axe across was really hard, but we did it.” He said, excitedly. Maria nodded and looked down at her, she was completely soaked in water along with everyone else.
Her suit jacket was drenched, and her dress shirt was uncomfortably transparent, even if she wore just a black tank top underneath of it. She sighed and pulled off her jacket, wringing it out of the water as she talked to them. “Do you guys have towels?” Maria asked, Gabriel just shook his head. “Nope, We'll have to air dry.” Maria groaned at that, opening her backpack and checking to see if everything in it was still intact, luckily, the backpack was pretty waterproof and nothing even got damp. She took the canteens attached to it, filling both of them with the clean, flowing river water before closing off both caps.
She sighed and put it back on her shoulder, undoing the tie around her neck and just letting it hang off to dry. She gestured everyone to follow her, which they did, Jonah still quietly panting as they walked. The breeze from the feeling of their wet clothes drying off made everyone get a chill, Maria's skin felt damp, numb and cold, Jonah started to shiver as they walked. Maria slung her jacket around her shoulders as they walked deeper into the forest.
Lily walked up to Jonah, gently rubbing a shoulder to see if she could help him warm up a little bit, he looked at her with a smile as she looked back up at him. “So, Jonah... Tell us about yourself.”
He appreciated the question, giving a light nod as he spoke aloud. “Well, Lily. I'm super distantly related to Claire The Unifyer. She helped the 5 kingdoms gather together to fight off the Astrians over five hundred years ago.” Lily nodded at that, jaw dropping a little bit. “Oh, that's super cool!” Jonah chuckled a bit at that, quickly replying. “Yeah, but that was 5 centuries ago, so it's a very distant relation.” He mentioned, She nodded some more, legitimately curious and listening to what he said like she was a lost puppy.
“Her son became a doctor, and took the Oath Of the Sworn Doctor to always treat a patient. His son became a doctor as well.. and onward through the generations all the way to me. My father is a Surgeon and my Mother a Dietitian, Hell, I think my uncle is also a Doctor. ” He clarified, Lily nodding again with a look of curiosity. “What kind of doctor?” She asked, Jonah laughed awkwardly and looked at the ground, quietly mumbling something. She leaned a little closer, not exactly hearing that. “Could you say that a little louder?” Jonah sighed and kicked a small rock aside as he was walking, “Fine, he was a Proctologist, okay?” Lily blinked a couple of times, and heard a Chuckle from Maria up ahead. “Your uncle is a butt doctor then?” Maria said mockingly, Jonah looked flustered, pointing at her as he complained.
“Hey, butt doctors are just as important as any other doctor!” He loudly exclaimed., and Maria just sarcastically chuckled. “...I meant Proctologist, that's supposed to be an official title! Don't try and defame it or anything!” Maria grinned at him. “Butt doctor.” She quickly quipped, Jonah just sighed and sunk his head in defeat, before looking back at Lily. “They wanted me to be a doctor as well, but I can't handle gore and I have a lingering feeling I'll leave some Forceps in a guys stomach or something if they put me on a surgery team one day...”
Lily chuckled at that, but then picked up her pace to walk next to Maria, She inspected her face and noticed that the stitches in her forehead were gone. “Hey, When did you get your stitches removed?” She asked, Maria shrugged her shoulders and rubbed the bumpy scars on her head. “I asked for them to be removed the day after I left the infirmary. So that'd be... about 4 days ago?” Maria answered, not entirely sure because she'd been passing in and out of consciousness from the nightmares she's been having.
“Hey, is it alright if I asked you something?” Lily wondered, Maria looked at her and folded away her map, tucking it under her arm. “Go ahead.” Maria responded. Lily took a deep breath and just got it over with. “Why did you do that to our room? Like.. the curtains were sliced up, the dresser got totaled and there were holes in the walls.” Maria was taken aback by that, but slowly just looked at the ground as they walked. “I don't think you'd understand. So it's none of your business, Lily.” Maria quietly dismissed her, the ghostly bird perching on her shoulder and quietly speaking just afterward. “Maybe you should apologize, Maria.” Maria scoffed a little at that comment, sliding her hands into the pockets of her pants.
“What does that mean?” Lily inquired, feeling slightly upset for Maria not telling her. “It means exactly what I said, Lily.” Maria interjected, crossing her arms and looking away. “You wouldn't get it, it's weird.” Lily frowned and shook her head. “Can you not brush me off, Maria? I need to know if you're okay.” She said, frustrated. Maria just glared at her in response. “I told you everything you need to know, Lily. It's complicated and I'm sorry it involved me screwing up the room... I couldn't tell you more unless you wanted to think I was insane.” She said, walking away from her before going back to checking her map, Lily just sighed, slowing back down to walk along with the other 3 members of her group.
The sun slowly turned a pale orangeish red as the dark forest canopy grew darker, the light underneath the trees began to fade into an almost night like darkness, the only light was the orange sunlight shooting between the gaps of the leaves. Maria stopped and turned to the rest of the group to make an announcement. “We're running out of daylight, but I have some good news.” She started, looking around for a nice clearing as she spoke. “We've made it just about 2/3rds of the way to the temple, another 6-7 hours of walking and we'll be there.” She said, Jonah sighed in relief and stretched as he gave out a yawn. “Oh thank goodness, My feet were getting blisters...” Jonah said, relieved from his yawn. Maria nodded, but continued to speak. “But we're losing sunlight and we don't have a light source, We're gonna search for a spot to camp for the night.” She said, folding up the map into her pocket as she looked around.
Maria turned away from them and issued a simple order. “Find an open enough spot for us to sleep.” They nodded and broke away from her, beginning to search the area for a place to rest. She began to walk underneath the trees and quietly began to pick up sticks and branches, carrying them under her arm. Along with that, she found some fuzzy remains of a dead tree which were very dry and bundled up, and she put that into her hand. She kept gathering sticks until she head the distant yell of Erika just a couple hundred of feet. “Found a clearing!” Maria looked up, noticing that the sound came from the left, so she began to head that way. “Everyone, Over here!” Erika shouted indiscriminately, trying to get everyone to head over to her directly.
Maria walked over the thick tree roots into a small clearing, the canopy opened up to reveal the slightly star filled twilight sky, several small clouds drifting overhead. Jonah arrived next. “Oh god, finally a place that isn't one hundred percent tree.” He said, taking a seat in a patch of grass and yawning. Lily and Gabriel arrived next together, sitting beside each other on the grass as Maria stood up. “Well.. I might as well ask if any of you know how to make a fire?” Maria inquired, with no reply. The silent became kind of awkward, Maria sighing and taking a seat. “Guess not.” Maria placed the bundle of sticks in a patch of flat dirt, grabbing a small log along with a stick. “Welp, I saw this on TV, it shouldn't be hard.” Maria said quietly to herself. The bird interjected, standing atop her head and peering down. “I'm not sure that's how you do it...” He commented, Maria just sighed, grabbing the stick and rubbing it between her hands on the piece of tinder resting atop the log. “Hush up already.” she said, under her breath as she tried to get enough friction to light a fire.
But even after 5 minutes of straight twirling her hands back and forth like an idiot, she didn't even see any smoke. On top of that, her arms were starting to get tired, she growled in frustration, grabbing the stick and throwing it aside, causing it to careen and smack into a nearby tree. “OH FUCK THIS!” She shouted, standing up between the other four. “Do any of you have any ideas to light a fire?” Erika raised her hand, Maria turning a shoulder to look at her, and in her hand was a small metal lighter.
“I forget I have this, sometimes.” She quietly commented, Maria scowled and walked up, taking the lighter out of her hands and inspecting it. “Is it full?” She nodded, “Yep, my dad gave it to me before I moved out so I'd think of him. He's kind of a smoker...” Erika commented with a chuckle. Maria just sighed, flicking open the cap and seeing inspecting the spark wheel, before shaking it a couple of times to confirm. “Great, now I feel stupid.” She bent down to the woodpile, flicking the spark wheel and causing the tip to set ablaze. She leaned down near the ember, but her hands began to shake. The hair on the back of her neck began to stand up and she quickly closed the lid. She sighed, standing up and tossing the lighter towards Jonah with a “Catch.”
Jonah was surprised, catching it just barely and looking at it. “Why can't you light it yourself?” He asked, Maria just walked over to take a seat next to Lily. “That doesn't matter.” She said, trying to brush him off. Jonah shook his head and bent down, lighting the fire quite easily. Sighing and taking a seat in front of the campfire. He glanced over to Maria, only to notice she was about ten feet farther back than when she was previously sitting. “What's with you, Maria? You're acting all weird..” He mentioned, Maria looking at the floor and mumbling to herself. “What was that? I didn't hear you.” Jonah said, leaning up to see if he could hear her. “I DON'T LIKE FIRE, OKAY?” She shouted across to him, Lily looking away with a soft sigh as everyone else just kinda looked at her.
“Fire doesn't bite, does it?” Gabriel added with a smile to try and reassure her a little. “You don't know fire like how I know fire.” She replied, leaning against a nearby tree before starting to explain. “Lily didn't bring her sleeping bag, so one of us will have to just not sleep in one.” Lily awkwardly chuckled as Maria brought that up. “Yeah... my fault! I kinda... acted irrationally.” She explained, Maria trying to act like a calm leader while huddling up in a fetal position, clearly displaying her commanding sense of leadership. “I'll keep watch, you four can sleep.” Jonah frowned a little bit at Maria opting for an all night watch duty. “That's a bit crazy to just stay up all night to keep guard, everyone needs sleep y'know.” Maria stood up and stretched her back just a bit, putting on her coat.
“I'll live.” She responded tersely. They just agreed and began to set up the sleeping bags, sitting onto them as they talked. Eventually after nearly half an hour, Maria managed to sit close enough to the fire to not require shouting at her as Jonah leaned forward with a grin. “Well... Since we're setting up to get to bed. Maybe we should share scary stories!” He said with the excitement of his dormant 12 year old personality, even if he was nearly 18. Lily smiled, raising her arms with enthusiasm with a big grin. “I've never done that before! This will be really cool.” She said with the stupid grin on her face, Maria shrugged her shoulders as Jonah scooted up to the fire. “I'll start.” He said, clearing his throat.
“There once was a cabin... deep in the forest.” He started, leaning up so his arms rested onto his knees as he gave quite the smug smirk. “Did it have plumbing?” Maria interjected, her voice a dull monotone. Jonah sighed, shaking his head and looking up at her. “Maria, that doesn't matter in this story.” Maria shrugged her shoulders. “It matters to me, if he doesn't have a well or something he'll just die of thirst.”Maria said, it was pretty clear she was just being a sarcastic jerk, not actually interested in the story or anything. Jonah looked bemused, before sighing and rubbing the back of his head. “I dunno, he lives next to a river or something.” He explained with a throwaway answer, but immediately Maria snapped back. “Does he even purify the water? Man, he'd have so much Cholera in his system..” Jonah gritted his teeth at that, clearly annoyed. “Maria, shut up and let me continue the story.” He implored, but Maria just shrugged again.
“Alright, good.” Jonah started, going back into his storytelling position. “He was at his home, when a phone began to ring. He went over and picked it up... and there was a voice. A raggedy, upset kind of voice. He said... 'Where are your children?' He wondered what he meant by that... First of all, how did he know he had children? Second... How did he know this number? Well, here's your answ-” Jonah was interrupted by Maria with another sarcastic quip. “How the hell did he get a phone connection in THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST?” Jonah just face palmed by Maria's attempts to pick apart or derail the story, he just sighed and stood up. “Okay, screw the story. Let's just go to bed already...” He said, nonplussed, Maria gave a chuckle and shook her head. Walking over to a nearby tree and slowly climbing up it.
“What are you doing, Maria?” He asked, Maria balancing on a low, thick branch and leaning against the trunk. “Being up here means I can keep night's watch better, also there will be less insects to mess with me.” She explained casually, but he just frowned. “it's because you're afraid of the campfire, isn't it?” Maria growled at that and looked away from him. “How bout shut up?” She said, trying to brush him off.
He just sighed and got into his
sleeping back, and eventually everyone else began to as well. Things
got quiet except for the whispers, the sun faded and the starry night
sky began to shine, covering everything in faint moonlight except for
the orange glow of the campfire. Even the whispers began to settle
down as people actually fell asleep in their sleeping bags, even if
they didn't have a tent. Maria pulled her weapon out of her bag and
lightly rested it on her lap as she sat up on the tree, hovering just
about ten feet off of the ground.
The bird once again stood on her shoulder. “I think you have nice friends, Maria.” He said, trying to sound chipper with his super calm, gentle voice. Maria sighed, looking at him and his softly glowing orange eyes, and see through body. “I don't really consider them my friends, I barely know them.” She contested, her voice quiet enough not to wake anyone up. He chirped some, surprised that Maria didn't want to try smacking him upside the head. “But you know Lily, isn't she your friend?” He asked, curiously. Maria looked at the floor and sighed. “I knew Lily, but I don't know her. She might want different people in her life and I wouldn't even know it.” He sighed some and looked around. “Well... That Jonah boy seems nice, when you aren't completely ruining his scary stories.” Maria gave a slight chuckle at that. “Well... I think he's okay. He's sort of a wuss though.” She commented, looking at the bird, she was too tired from walking nearly thirty miles in one day to actually be angry anymore.
“Why did you do that, anyway?” He asked, trying to groom at one of his wing feathers, even though he was intangible and it didn't actually matter, he seemed to realize that soon enough as well. “I'm just not a fan of scary stories.” She replied, the bird just responded with a flat “Oh.” She sighed and leaned back against the tree trunk. “It's gonna be a long 48 hours, sitting here waiting isn't going to make it go by any quicker.” She said, he looked at her and tilted his head some. “Well... You could always talk to me, if you want.” He said, hoping that was enough to convince her.
“I still haven't gotten past the fact you killed my parents.” Maria said, lifting her knee up just high enough to rest her arm on and rest her chin in her hand. “I mean it, Maria. It was just an accident, I couldn't control myself anymore.” He explained with a voice tinging of sorrow, she sighed and leaned back, looking up at the stars. “It's not that I'm calling you a liar... But you still were the culprit, my feelings stand.” She replied, crossing her arms and closing her eyes for a brief moment.
“I'm still sorry...” He said, leaning up a little bit to look at her. “Whatever, bird.” She said, reaching up and scratching her head a couple of times before yawning. “You can just call me Gale, instead of bird.” He started, hopping back down and perching on the branch in front of her. “So... Why didn't any of your family adopt you after you lost your home?” He inquired, giving another chirp as he slowly gazed down at everyone else sleeping. “No one wanted to bother, I guess. I knew my uncle could have adopted me but... He was weird and barely talked to me, he could barely stand seeing my dad in the same room as my sister.” She explained, looking up at him as he looked at the area curiously. “Did he tell you that?” He asked, but Maria just gently shook her head.
“No, but I could see it in his eyes and his sudden shift in attitude whenever dad was brought up. Dad hated him just as much, he always took away my TV when I told him I went to go see him... Anyway, he was too focused on raising his perfect little daughter then having to worry about a second one.” She clarified, trying to shuffle into a more comfortable position on the tree. The bird looked down with a sigh. “Oh... I see.”
Maria yawned, looking around for any threats while she talked. “So... What are you?” She asked casually, he looked up at her and tried his best to explain. “Actually, because my original body died, a lot of memories died along with it. I do know a little bit and will try my best to explain” He replied.
“The burns caused on your back by me contained ashes directly from my body. Ash in the body causes Ash poisoning usually, but you didn't have enough to die. When Spectrum tracked me down and killed me, I was still close enough to transfer a small portion of my soul to the remains left on your back. I'm very weak and can't interact with anything, but I still have my consciousness.” He clarified, Maria nodded and unzipped her blade to inspect it. Pulling her sword out as he talked. “Though, I was dormant, grabbing that blade awoke your magical abilities. I took a very small amount of it to manifest myself, It's why you got dizzy when you grabbed it the first time.” He continued, walking up and looking up at the tree, before flying atop to perch right on Maria's head.
“That still didn't explain just what you are.” Maria criticized, he nodded and began to talk once again. “All I know is that when I fell from the rift, I grew insane. Many of my brethren fly into a blind rage once they arrive here. But being held within your soul I'm so weak that I'm able to retain my old personality, even if I don't remember what was on the other side of that rift.” He chirped, flying back onto her shoulder. “That good enough?” He asked, Maria didn't reply. He looked at her and realized she just quickly fell asleep after several hours of sitting in a tree, so he decided to let her rest.
A couple hours passed, Maria not moving from being deeply tired and trying to get some rest, Gale panicked and whispered to her to wake up, even if it meant that she would have another nightmare as soon as he spoke. “Hey... Wake up! Somethings wrong...” He said, worried, Maria began to sweat and shake, before waking up with a shriek and careening her out of the tree along with the weapon on her lap and smashing right into the ground underneath. “Ow... Okay, I'm up.” She said, still tired. It was still night, but it was pretty clear that a couple hours have passed. “There are beasts nearby... I can sense them.” Gale said, glaring around the area, Maria dusted herself off and looked around.
Fear stuck her immediately as soon as she looked into the forest, there were pairs of red eyes surrounding the campsite, the flame slowly beginning to die as she locked eyes with them. She heard one of them quietly begin to growl. Maria leaned down to pull her sword from the bag, holding it in her right hand as she slowly walked over to try and wake the others. “Shit... this looks bad.” She said, before running down to shake Jonah's shoulder.
“Huh..whuh...?” Jonah said, in a haze, groggy and starting to rub his eyes. “Maria.. it's not even morning yet...” Maria grabbed him by the shoulder and quickly pulled him up to stand up with her, even if he stumbled just a bit from the sudden move. “We're under attack, wake the others.” Maria stated, Jonah suddenly snapped back to being fully awake when she said that. “R-really!?” Maria gave a quiet nod and pointed over to wake the others. Maria holding out her blade in preparation for the attack of whatever was hiding in the forest.
“We're in for a long night...” She said, not breaking her stare away from them in case that the fight began.
The bird once again stood on her shoulder. “I think you have nice friends, Maria.” He said, trying to sound chipper with his super calm, gentle voice. Maria sighed, looking at him and his softly glowing orange eyes, and see through body. “I don't really consider them my friends, I barely know them.” She contested, her voice quiet enough not to wake anyone up. He chirped some, surprised that Maria didn't want to try smacking him upside the head. “But you know Lily, isn't she your friend?” He asked, curiously. Maria looked at the floor and sighed. “I knew Lily, but I don't know her. She might want different people in her life and I wouldn't even know it.” He sighed some and looked around. “Well... That Jonah boy seems nice, when you aren't completely ruining his scary stories.” Maria gave a slight chuckle at that. “Well... I think he's okay. He's sort of a wuss though.” She commented, looking at the bird, she was too tired from walking nearly thirty miles in one day to actually be angry anymore.
“Why did you do that, anyway?” He asked, trying to groom at one of his wing feathers, even though he was intangible and it didn't actually matter, he seemed to realize that soon enough as well. “I'm just not a fan of scary stories.” She replied, the bird just responded with a flat “Oh.” She sighed and leaned back against the tree trunk. “It's gonna be a long 48 hours, sitting here waiting isn't going to make it go by any quicker.” She said, he looked at her and tilted his head some. “Well... You could always talk to me, if you want.” He said, hoping that was enough to convince her.
“I still haven't gotten past the fact you killed my parents.” Maria said, lifting her knee up just high enough to rest her arm on and rest her chin in her hand. “I mean it, Maria. It was just an accident, I couldn't control myself anymore.” He explained with a voice tinging of sorrow, she sighed and leaned back, looking up at the stars. “It's not that I'm calling you a liar... But you still were the culprit, my feelings stand.” She replied, crossing her arms and closing her eyes for a brief moment.
“I'm still sorry...” He said, leaning up a little bit to look at her. “Whatever, bird.” She said, reaching up and scratching her head a couple of times before yawning. “You can just call me Gale, instead of bird.” He started, hopping back down and perching on the branch in front of her. “So... Why didn't any of your family adopt you after you lost your home?” He inquired, giving another chirp as he slowly gazed down at everyone else sleeping. “No one wanted to bother, I guess. I knew my uncle could have adopted me but... He was weird and barely talked to me, he could barely stand seeing my dad in the same room as my sister.” She explained, looking up at him as he looked at the area curiously. “Did he tell you that?” He asked, but Maria just gently shook her head.
“No, but I could see it in his eyes and his sudden shift in attitude whenever dad was brought up. Dad hated him just as much, he always took away my TV when I told him I went to go see him... Anyway, he was too focused on raising his perfect little daughter then having to worry about a second one.” She clarified, trying to shuffle into a more comfortable position on the tree. The bird looked down with a sigh. “Oh... I see.”
Maria yawned, looking around for any threats while she talked. “So... What are you?” She asked casually, he looked up at her and tried his best to explain. “Actually, because my original body died, a lot of memories died along with it. I do know a little bit and will try my best to explain” He replied.
“The burns caused on your back by me contained ashes directly from my body. Ash in the body causes Ash poisoning usually, but you didn't have enough to die. When Spectrum tracked me down and killed me, I was still close enough to transfer a small portion of my soul to the remains left on your back. I'm very weak and can't interact with anything, but I still have my consciousness.” He clarified, Maria nodded and unzipped her blade to inspect it. Pulling her sword out as he talked. “Though, I was dormant, grabbing that blade awoke your magical abilities. I took a very small amount of it to manifest myself, It's why you got dizzy when you grabbed it the first time.” He continued, walking up and looking up at the tree, before flying atop to perch right on Maria's head.
“That still didn't explain just what you are.” Maria criticized, he nodded and began to talk once again. “All I know is that when I fell from the rift, I grew insane. Many of my brethren fly into a blind rage once they arrive here. But being held within your soul I'm so weak that I'm able to retain my old personality, even if I don't remember what was on the other side of that rift.” He chirped, flying back onto her shoulder. “That good enough?” He asked, Maria didn't reply. He looked at her and realized she just quickly fell asleep after several hours of sitting in a tree, so he decided to let her rest.
A couple hours passed, Maria not moving from being deeply tired and trying to get some rest, Gale panicked and whispered to her to wake up, even if it meant that she would have another nightmare as soon as he spoke. “Hey... Wake up! Somethings wrong...” He said, worried, Maria began to sweat and shake, before waking up with a shriek and careening her out of the tree along with the weapon on her lap and smashing right into the ground underneath. “Ow... Okay, I'm up.” She said, still tired. It was still night, but it was pretty clear that a couple hours have passed. “There are beasts nearby... I can sense them.” Gale said, glaring around the area, Maria dusted herself off and looked around.
Fear stuck her immediately as soon as she looked into the forest, there were pairs of red eyes surrounding the campsite, the flame slowly beginning to die as she locked eyes with them. She heard one of them quietly begin to growl. Maria leaned down to pull her sword from the bag, holding it in her right hand as she slowly walked over to try and wake the others. “Shit... this looks bad.” She said, before running down to shake Jonah's shoulder.
“Huh..whuh...?” Jonah said, in a haze, groggy and starting to rub his eyes. “Maria.. it's not even morning yet...” Maria grabbed him by the shoulder and quickly pulled him up to stand up with her, even if he stumbled just a bit from the sudden move. “We're under attack, wake the others.” Maria stated, Jonah suddenly snapped back to being fully awake when she said that. “R-really!?” Maria gave a quiet nod and pointed over to wake the others. Maria holding out her blade in preparation for the attack of whatever was hiding in the forest.
“We're in for a long night...” She said, not breaking her stare away from them in case that the fight began.
