"H-hera! Dis es al i cud fin…" Inv gently places the items in front of me. Seeing him fidget his fingers while looking at me with worry I can only feel sorry for putting him through this.
"Thanks Inv…" Thanking Inv, I go through the items Inv brought over.
A lantern, an explosive spear, a pearl and another mushroom…
I would be happy seeing such a good haul if it weren't for the fact I was about to die of blood loss.
Still feeling my arm leaking blood at an alarming rate. I try my best to think of a way to use these items.
Seeing the rough red cloth of the explosive spear I could probably use this to wrap my arm… but I need to stop the bleeding first… but how do I do that?! I'm not a fucking doctor!
Cursing myself for not knowing anything useful, I take a look at the lantern. Even now I can feel the warmth it emanates from here. Having this in the shelter along with Inv is a really cozy thought…
I wonder how such an item can produce such warmth? Something inside it maybe?
…
'Wait… inside it?' feeling a faint idea grow in my mind I think of what I urgently need right now.
To stop the bleeding, the only way I can do this is to close the wounds. Taking a shaky breath, I finally look at my arm. What I see is deep punctures from the lizard's teeth spread across my arm. Each one leaking blood out at an alarming rate. Seeing what my wounds finally look like I turn back to the lantern. With the limited knowledge I have from my world the only way to close a wound like this is to stitch it, which I obviously can't do right now. Or I can seal it shut with heat…
'cauterization I think it was called'
Feeling the idea form further in my head, I take a desperate gamble. Maybe whatever is inside the lantern will be hot enough to cauterize the wounds!
"Inv! Go grab the spear over there!" I quickly ask Inv to grab the spear that's closest to us.
"O-ok!" Inv yells out and immediately runs over picking up the spear and brings it to me.
"Hera!" Quickly grabbing the spear from his paws. I try my best to clean the blood from the sharp end of the spear.
After trying my best to clean it, I aim the sharp tip of the spear over the lantern. I don't immediately stab down at it. Whatever is inside the lantern might quickly cool it off.
Slowly I start stabbing into the lantern. Expectedly I'm met with intense resistance. Having come across lanterns a couple times these things are incredibly durable for some reason. I don't let this deter me and hold the spear with both paws. Even with this pain shooting from my injured arm, the effects from the mushroom makes it barely tolerable.
Using both paws I start spinning the spear. Doing this the tip of the spear slowly starts drilling into the lantern.
'Good… just need to get to the middle' Not wasting any time I drill further and further into the lantern.
After doing this for an unknown amount of time I suddenly feel no resistance against the spear. Quickly pulling the spear out I can see the tip now covered in a strange orange liquid. Not wanting to waste any time I touch the tip of the spear with one of my finger-
'FUCK THATS HOT!' I immediately retract my finger and start shaking it off to stave off the burning feeling it gave.
But instead of being mad, I feel a glimmer of hope! I need to take this chance now!
"Inv! Hold the lantern still!" I shout to Inv.
"O-ok?!" Inv shouts back and kneels down holding the lantern in place. With the hole I drilled into the lantern facing up, I flip over the spear and dip the blunt side of it into the hole.
Pulling it out, now covered in the strange orange hot liquid, I steel myself and quickly raise it to my arm.
"GAH, FUCK!" pressing the searing hot spear against one of the wounds, I let out a shout of pain.
'THIS FUCKING HURTS!' even while thinking this I press down further.
Feeling I did enough for it I pull back and look at the wound I pressed down on, what I see is… not a pretty sight. Now covered in a hot red burn, the wound is not leaking anymore blood. Seeing my improvised plan work in some fashion I keep going, knowing that I only have a limited time to seal the wounds.
I dip the spear again in the strange lantern liquid and start repeating the action of cauterizing each wound that's oozing blood.
Each time I can't help but let out a yelp of pain, Inv reacting with only whimpers of worry each time. It hurts me to see him only able to watch and not able to do anything. The only thing pushing me forward is to not drop dead in front of him.
The option of dying is there. If I let myself die I'll just respawn back in the shelter. But I can't do that with Inv here. I wouldn't want to put him through something like that.
After what feels like forever, I finally cauterize the last wound. Feeling never ending burning pain from the self-inflicted burns, I drop the spear trying to catch my breath.
Even with the effects from the mushroom that give boosted strength. I still feel very weak right now.
While still trying to calm my breathing from the pain I feel on my arm I can hear Inv whimpering in worry.
"D-don't worry Inv… I'm… ok now…" I weakly say to Inv.
Looking at my arm once more, what used to be a smooth arm with pink fur, now is one of ugly burn marks mixed with burnt flesh and fur.
'At least the bleeding stopped' I think of the only positive thing to come out of this.
With the threat of bleeding out solved I don't think I'm in any danger of dying to blood loss now. The only thing I can hope for is that my arm doesn't get infected.
I haven't experienced any form of sickness or disease ever since being in this world. I don't know if that's because I can't get sick or if it's because I've died so much that I never got a chance to be sick in the first place.
Hoping that it isn't the latter I see Inv stand up and walk in front of me. When he stood up the lantern fell to its side, the strange orange liquid slowly spilling out. I can only raise an slight eyebrow seeing the ground start smoking when the orange liquid makes contact with the metal surface.
Not having the energy to think any further about this, I decide to think about this later.
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A/N: I always wondered what made lanterns shine the way they do. so I came up with a little something and this is what I got!