'Finally you rotten bastard.'
Elena sighed with relief as finally the rotten mass of vines had decided to leave.
'It only took four days.'
Elena gazed down as the last of the slimy tendrils slithered out of the building leaving behind a trail of muck in its wake. She let out a breath she felt she had been holding for days and slumped onto her back.
'I need to move…don't fall asleep..'
Elena was not looking too good right now. Just as she had been afraid to summon her noise canceling memory she had been too wary of drawing its attention to summon the [Chilled Respite] and had gone four whole days without a drink of water. She was currently reaching her limit. The symptoms of dehydration were weighing down heavily on her. Worse yet was that she hadn't eaten for over a week now and she desperately needed sustenance.
She weakly raised her hand and watched as a water skin formed in a rain of sparks. She brought it to her cracked lips and began taking small sips so as to not shock her system from the icy water. Each sip was deeply satisfying and filled her with just a bit more strength.
Filled with renewed vigor, Elena sat up and dug through her memory pouch for the cuts of meat she had procured. She had expected to be met with spoiled meat since her memory could not preserve food or anything like that so she was surprised to see that they had retained their freshness despite that.
"….."
'Strange…does time flow differently here? That would explain how the city remained upright..'
Regardless, that didn't matter right now. She needed something to eat and soon. Checking one last time that the vines were truly gone Elena walked to the edge of the rafter and jumped off. She fell quickly through the rafters and plummeted towards the ground however just before hitting it she summoned her aspect to slow her fall letting her land safely on her feet. Despite having just fallen early 40 meters she was not particularly flustered in any way.
With that she calmly began collecting splintered pieces of wood from the ground to make a fire. After a few minutes she had a roiling fire going and her cuts of meat roasting. She could not help but drool at their tantalizing smell. Suddenly she looked upwards towards where she had spent the last four days completely motionless praying that the vines would not suddenly surge and rip her apart. It was also where her companion was still laying.
'Oh right…him'
She left her feast to cook over the fire as she flew up to him. She landed next to him and watched the even rise and fall of his chest.
"Still not awake?"
She muttered to herself as she looked at the stitches lining her sleeping companion. Well at least she hoped it was just sleep and not something worse. Her companion had not woken up ever since he collapsed on her after lifting the rubble. This had troubled her at first however after seeing him struggle in his sleep she could confirm he wasn't in a coma.
She reached down and threw him over her shoulder. He was light due to her soul core being more saturated than most. In fact she would have been able to lift the rubble pinning her had she not been in such an awkward position underneath it. She jumped down and fell through the air before catching herself. Despite having no problem carrying him the exertion on her aspect was still greater due to his added weight. She walked towards her fire calmly before tossing him roughly to the ground next to it.
Maybe she should have been more gentle with someone as injured as him but she was too annoyed at him to care. He had literally slept through a four day life or death situation all the while making her job of keeping them both alive even harder!
'His wounds have mostly closed up anyways.'
It was startling to see how fast he was healing from such gruesome wounds but also a relief as well. The first of her cuts of meat were finished cooking so she excitedly pulled it from the fire with her silver saber. It had been roasting on a small slab of stone at the center of the fire like a makeshift grill and now it was hers to eat.
"Bon appetite!"
She said loudly before biting into her juicy morsel. Flavors erupted into her mouth, almost bringing her to tears because of how good it tasted. In fact she did cry as happy tears flowed heavily down her dirty cheeks carving lines on her face. She had eaten plenty of delicious things after being taken in by her mother, however nothing could compare to how good this meat tasted right now.
*sniff* *sniff* *sniff*
She was so lost in the world of savory meat she was in that she failed to notice that her companion had began stirring next to her.
'So good...so good…so good..'
She finished her piece before sticking her blade in the fire to get another one. She brought it excitedly to her mouth and bit down on it…only for her to bite into nothing.
"Huh? Where did it go?"
She looked down to see if it fell off however it wasn't there, that's when she noticed the sound of chewing coming from beside her…where her companion was laying down.
'This gluttonous bastard!'
Snapping her head in his direction her suspicion was confirmed. There sitting cross-cross in front of her stark naked was her companion chewing happily on her cut of meat. He did not even have the dignity to summon his memory to cover up either!
"You bastard! I spent four whole days looking over your naked body after carrying you to safety and patching your wounds and the first thing you do is steal from me?! I'm going to kill you mutt!"
She scowled while lunging at him. Her sword flashed aiming to smack his wrist with the flat side however he evaded and dashed backwards still chewing his piece as he was summoned his leather armor while greedily snarfing down his piece before eyeing the last piece in the fire with hungry eyes.
"Touch it and I will cut your hand off"
She was quite serious this time.