The hunt went extremely well yesterday. Although I did struggle killing that bear, and it almost got us. Mainly my good eye was extremely itchy, ending in it being sensitive to the air for some time. Least it didn't go as bad as the other one.
On the other hand, today it was not itchy at all. Could say it was due to bad luck. Since what the hell are the chances for that to happen…?
"Mom! Let us help you!" This broke me out of my thoughts, causing me to look over.
Sage had her knees up, her head leaned forward and her mouth was chomping down on the wolf meat we acquired. I could see her eyes glancing at her kids, and a slight wrinkle of her mouth was clear.
"You two need to eat, let your momma do this for herself!" Sage exclaimed right before going to town again. Due to the size of the food she wasn't able to gobble the food down.
Sage's daughter snagged the food from her mom's mouth and pulled the makeshift plate back. As a result, Sage let her head down and accepted her kid's help.
"She's really different than I thought." I mumbled whilst watching this unfold. Despite her arm and hand missing, Sage never showed any slowing down the past day and a half. It was honestly, scary.
"Hm? Sage's been like this… since forever." Allisa responded without taking her head off her plate. "Didn't you notice when we were traveling?"
I shook my head at Allisa's question. "I wasn't paying attention to her…"
"Sage's been like this."
I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't think much else of it. Instead I went to eat my own food. If I continued… my head would hurt, honestly.
In all honesty, I couldn't say I didn't know about that. Never felt any attachments to Sage… and Vivienna. More their husbands, I felt my stomach churn when I thought about Vivienna and how Shaun would react.
A bitter taste entered my mouth as I took a small nibble on my food. Please don't blame me Shaun… I'm sorry I was too late…
I hate this. My mind kept yelling it was my fault. I was too late, too late, if we were faster, it was possible.
I had to shake my head to dismiss these thoughts. It was utterly overwhelming, whenever it got the chance it took over my mind… I'll have to let it after we get out. It isn't good for my mind to stay on this currently.
Hm…? Randomly, Sage's son walked up to me. He had her plate in his hands, alongside a request to me.
"Big sister Yukina, can you cut this?" He asked with a tilt of his head.
"Give it here."
Due to my practice that was constant in this trip— I managed to make a knife that was sturdy out of nowhere. Sage's son let out a gasp and his eyes widened. I had him plunk the plate down on the ground.
The knife was pretty sharp, and looked almost like a steak knife. Serrated, and slightly sharp, it worked incredibly effective as I started pulling my arm back and pushing it forward.
Before long, I already had Sage's food into multiple pieces. Her son took it with a grin and ran back to his mom. One by one, they fed the chunks to their mom.
At first she seemed apprehensive, but quickly turned to smiling at this. Heck, she ate her food pretty quickly without realizing, nor did her kids.
Alas, did we finish our food. The wolf meat was… alright to say in flavor. If we had seasoning, it would've been way more flavorful. Of course, that goes with anything. The only plus, we didn't have to chomp down and pull.
We packed up everything before going on our journey. Wasn't much to do, nor did we talk much. Aside from the hellish cold that tried to attack us, it was dark but I kept my fireballs lit, three of them.
The blizzard Shen warned us about was starting to pick up even more, which was the reason why we stopped walking. It took so long but I did make an igloo of earth that was even more packed than the last.
It was bigger than an average snow made ones, it allowed us to have more room. And I increased the heat in the room… For some reason my head was loopier.
The world was spinning, my head felt extremely light. My mana… was not low, it was just above half way.
Soon enough, everything went black.
**************
"..."
Why am I in this cave? I found myself in that same cave when I got the memories of my ears being cut. I was behind these… bars.
The cave was dark, and the torches from before were snuffed out. Is this a dream? Nevermind… I just hope the pain… isn't as bad…
A few minutes passed, it allowed me to take in where I am and what form I'm in. I was in my current body, just wearing the rags I wore when I woke up in this body.
For god… knows how long time passed. I tried to move. I was freaking out, but I was frozen— huddled… I was stuck in a ball, it was cold. So cold, the heavy dust in the air was choking me.
Is this… another memory…? My body wasn't able to move, couldn't move. I was muttering incoherent things, even though I couldn't understand.
My heart raced harder when I heard heavy footsteps. When it neared I tried holding my head closer, whilst these words left my mouth.
"Please… not again… please stop… leave-" I was… whimpering? What's going to happen to me…? Why am I-
The torches around me lit up, the footsteps stopped just outside the bars. Every nerve in my body felt two urges, to keep hiding, or look.
And… against my will, I did look. The door was open, and the creepy fucker who repeatedly cut off my ears was there. Middle aged, wild crazy hair, his eyes were black due to the shadows. A creepy ass grin was on his face.
'Leave me alone… please… leave- leave me alone!'
"Not as lively today, aren't you?" This creepy— no this bastard said… His feet slowly crunched on the ground.
"Please… stop…"
"Oh, no, no… No matter what you beg for, you're not free. You don't have a choice." I felt my body freeze as he said this. He knelt down before grabbing my head.
"Yukina! Hey! Snap-"
I felt my throat being released— I could breathe, I finally could… I felt my knees buckle as I grabbed at my neck.
I tried gasping for air, I still couldn't get anything in my body. My lungs were burning, I still couldn't breathe. My mouth was filled with… I don't know.
I can't breathe.
"Yukina?! Hey, hey, what's wrong?!" I felt something touch my back— I had to slap it away— I don't want to be touched
"Allisa? What's wrong with Yukina?!"
"I-I don't know!"
"Hey, Yukina, honey, breath-"
"Don't- Don't touch-" I choked out, my neck was burning, but I could feel my body accept oxygen. "Don't touch me, please…."
I let out a few coughs that nearly caused me to spit out blood. Even gasps nearly sent me reeling.
"What's wrong?"
"I-I don't- I don't want to talk about it."
"..."
After… so long, I had them leave me alone. They still took glances my way, but didn't ask anymore.
I kept myself near the entrance. My hands were shakily near my neck; for some reason, they wouldn't stop.
Even with my fingers… tracing the finger marks on my neck. They were deep, I could feel them, and I was lost in the memories.
I could feel his nails dig into my neck. I don't… know why he choked me during then… He kept going when my consciousness was fading. Was he just being sadistic? Did he want to kill me?
Why did he do that? He kept going, when I recovered he just did it again. He was fucking grinning… that same grin when he chopped my ears off. Was he just obsessed with inflicting this much pain on me? What did I do to deserve this?
Why did I do? I couldn't get answers, when I dug through… the months worth of memories, nothing could answer it. It wasn't… like that one. It just happened so many times, so, so so many times.
As I could feel my heart rattle my chest— Someone grabbed my hands, and pulled me into an embrace. I was pushed against something soft, and a hand was behind my head.
"It'll be okay Yukina…" I could barely make out whose it was. "Just breathe, it'll be- it'll be okay. We'll make it…"
Seriously… why- why did that happen…?
"You told me… it'll be okay." Someone rested their head on my head, and kept… talking. "It'll be okay, it'll be okay."
"I'm-" I had to let my own head to cool down. My neck still was in agony, my heart never lowered, but I was able to speak. I recognized who it was. Allisa, she held me into a hug, I could hear her heart race. "I'm sorry— I'm okay now…"
"You need to speak more…" Allisa claimed whilst releasing the tension on my head. "We need… to go to mom and dad. If you… need a break you can say it."
"I know… I'm sorry…"
Eventually she had let me go, and gave me a small smile.
**********
"Yukina, are you feeling better?"
"Yeah… Yeah… I'm sorry for worrying you." I rubbed my neck whilst apologizing. "I don't know why I started freaking out…"
Sage, her kids and Allisa gave me a hug. We took longer this time, it was our final stretch… The blizzard was hitting its max intensity.
The world around us roared, and according to Shen— Blizzards here will outlast us. They can last for months, to a year.
Unlike the beasts, we have no fur, to protect us from the cold. We had to push through our own limits.