What is our luck? Seriously? Why? What the fuck is it?!
The wind roared in my ears, everything around us was pelted by snow. We got lucky it gave me enough time to create an earth igloo— despite that, it was still cold.
Due to… finding Sage alive somehow. I found her alive, somehow alive. That was the only lucky part we had, but she was… hurt so badly…
It was hard to believe. Her right arm was gone, completely. I found the two direwolves eating her, they went for her arms first. A fully grown one tore her arm from its socket. A direwolf pup was chomping her left hand— it was completely mangled, falling off once the pup was dead.
I had to panic and use cauterize to stop the wounds from gushing out blood. The skin was now blackened around the missing parts. Thankfully I was able to drag her back with us.
In this igloo just enough to hold all of us, I had her furthest from the entrance; she was unconscious, but closest to the fireball I used for heat. Thank god her condition isn't critical, I can hear her breath, see her stomach rising. It was… better than the state I found Vivienne in..Just.. Remembering it makes my stomach turn.
Her kids were surrounding her, when they first saw it… they were screaming and crying. Many times I had reassured them, she was okay. She was going to be okay, she needs to heal.
At this point she does, from the blood around her… it's a miracle she is alive. My heart squeezed at her condition.
"Yukina… Do you think we'll actually make it..?"
I don't know. I kept my mouth shut, only staring at Sage. How can we survive with her like this? We'll need to carry her.
"..."
I could see Allisa start to shake, she was obviously starting to get scared again.
"We'll be okay." I said to her, but my mind was telling me otherwise. We weren't going to be okay, I know it. We're run dry, we all have no energy.
"What can we do…?"
"Can you use your healing magic on her? She'll be okay, I promise you."
"Al-Alright… whe- where should I heal?"
I don't know.
As a small bit of time passed, Allisa just clamped her mouth shut. Sage's kids parted ways, and she raised her hands just above sage. Like she was taught, a small bright orb appeared just in front of her hands.
I'll just watch… Deep down in my gut I knew Sage would be okay. That's without Allisa's healing. So, I watched Allisa slowly pour her mana into Sage's body. From the angle I could see Allisa's body was draining of color. Eventually her breathing became labored and she got up with shaky steps.
"Can- can you check on her?" Allisa asked me.
I nodded, whilst slowly going towards Sage. She seemed to be breathing better, her once pale skin was a peach color. Her once purple lips turned a healthy pink. When I was just above her, and I was crouched, her eyelids slowly twitched.
"Where…" Her mouth let out when she opened her eyelids; half open, I could see the light shining in her blue eyes. "Yukina… Where are… we?"
"We're safe for now." I responded, taking a seat just next to her. I forgot to mention, but her kids were sleeping with their heads on her stomach. "Just stay laying down… You got badly hurt."
Sage only glanced at me, then let out a small chuckle. What she said was something I didn't expect. "I'm… aware of what happened. My arm is lost, and… so is my hand." There was a small smile on her mouth. "Thank you for saving me."
"How do you feel…?"
"I feel fine." Sage said with a bitter smile, then requested something of me. "Can you help me up?"
I didn't get a chance to deny, she only raised her only arm and looked at me pleadingly. Hah… I gritted my teeth before shoving my arm behind her back. With some struggle, I helped her sit up, and instantly I could feel her shake slightly.
It's good she's feeling fine… Well, too fine honestly. What is this woman.
Once she was sat up, I could see her eyes linger to her missing arm. It moved to her missing hand. "It really was that bad…" She mumbled.
I could feel myself blank, how is she not freaking out over losing her arm and hand…? I'm sure everyone else would be screaming…
"C'mon Yukina, don't look sad about this!" Sage exclaimed with a grin. Her energy suddenly increased for some reason."I'm sure Miss Shen can heal it— although it'll hurt."
"I'll let her know."
"Huh? You can do that?"
I raised my hand to my neck, and felt something creep onto my face. "I can talk to her…"
"Oh- The bruises? Or that bite mark?"
"...The bite mark." I responded in a quiet voice. You may be wondering about that… This body has many things I never wanted to think about. There were bruises on my neck, old… but they looked like hand prints.
No one mentioned it before, not even the kids or Allisa. Nor did I ever hear anyone mention it. Although, I was aware of it. How could I not? I've seen myself in a mirror, many times over a year. I could feel my spine tingle seeing them.
They.were there from the start, when I first looked into that lake. Meaning… the one who owned this body was abused more than just her ears. Hopefully I don't get those memories… And hopefully this isn't a jinx.
I shook my head and turned away from Sage. My mana went towards the bite, and I felt something pull my thoughts.
Shen, we found sage.
I felt something return after a few seconds. And her voice entered my mind…
I'll let Verd know.
Just as quickly as her voice came, I felt that connection sever. Didn't get to say more… Well shit.
I tried to talk to her more, but the connection wasn't coming. Can she just ignore it?! Isn't this important?!
Shen?! Can you hear me?!
This is fucking great…Fucking great!
I had to cover my frustration from Sage, Allisa and now the two kids who were hugging their mom and crying. Sage seemed super happy, I could see tears in her eyes too.
It took a while before they calmed down. Allisa and I were sitting far from Sage and her kids. Allisa was holding her knees, finally showing a smile after so long. So good to see… My frustrations and worries melted away slightly.
We found one person alive, she wasn't in a coma which my mind was plagued about. The two kids were happy, but also made sure their mom was doing okay. She's resilient…
She was now sitting differently, her knee was raised, one was. Although she did seem weak at the moment, she was evidently invigorated.
"I think… we can make it." Allisa muttered, her breath was louder. It was her talking, not being airy as if she was whispering. "Yukina, can I go with you when you go hunting?"
Shit. I felt my back have something cold trickle down. "I don't think we can! Don't you hear how loud it is outside?!"
"C'mon Yukina! We can wait for the morning, you know?!"
"Why don't we all go together?" Sage chimed in, her tone awfully cheery with her condition. "You're James's daughter, I know you can protect us."
"...That's if we can find anything… Haah…. Alright, alright…" I muttered whilst feeling heart palpitations. "Just keep an eye on everything. I can't do it myself."
I was slightly confident nothing would happen. Monster wise.
"Great! I'm pretty tired." Sage exclaimed, her voice quieted when she talked about being tired. Still recovering. She struggled to lay flat on the rocky ground. "I'll see you all tomorrow…"
With a slight smile on her face, she closed her eyes and her breathing slowed. Her kids followed in suit, laying on both sides of their mom. Thus… I was the last to sleep, Allisa fell asleep sitting and resting her head on her knees.
It took me a while, but I did eventually pass out. The reason, I felt something burn on my neck and it wasn't the bite. But the hand prints, it kept cutting my breath out— as if my body was reacting to the comments Sage made.
I had to grit my teeth and bate my breath. It hurt badly, I couldn't breathe, my lungs were scraping against my ribs. It lasted for too long, but I felt it calm down. My mind blacked out before I knew it.
I was woken up by Sage and her kids pushing me. And they didn't allow me to wake up fully when we were outside. Surprisingly, it was pretty sunny, and warmer than usual. If I could see… that is… I was itching my good eye.
It was itchy as shit, I had to keep rubbing it. They realized this, and Allisa grabbed my hand.
"Did you get something in your eye?"
"I think…" I replied in a low tone. That's fucken great. Jinxed it. "I can hear if monsters are nearby, don't worry."
"If ya need to rest, you can! We can wait, it's early morning!"
"Thanks…"