The man got into a throwing position, then taking a moment to steady himself, threw the rock far away into the air.
A light whistle sped past his ears as the rock climbed in height.
It slowed down as it gained more height, eventually coming to a stop for a brief moment, appearing as a small black dot in the sky from where Yuki was sitting.
A moment of silence.
Then,
BOOM!
Yuki almost jumped out of his own skin from the explosion that erupted from the rock.
Asteria meanwhile, had let out a small chuckle seeing Yuki jump like a spooked cat. She gave him a moment to settle down, then reaching out, patted his head—for some reason...
For some bizarre reason, he wasn't ticked off.
He shook his head, eyes still wide open in surprise.
"What the hell!?" He swatted Asteria's arm away from his head.
"Relax" She cooed.
"That could have killed us!"
She gave him a strange look. Then after a moment of silence, opened her mouth.
"It wouldn't have."
Yuki, blinked at the audacity of the woman sitting in-front of him.
"What does that even mea—" He stopped himself mid-sentence, shook his head, and stared into Asteria's eye.
"Look" He said, taking in an angry breath. "I don't know about you, but that definitely could have killed me."
Asteria just chuckled, and patted his head once more. Completely ignoring the redness blooming on his cheeks.
"Just relax"
***
"And i ended up finding you and my target"
Asteria laughed over her bowl, slowly savoring the flavor of her soup as she wrapped up her tale.
Yuki was still confused, struggling to keep up with the woman that was going too fast with her tale. But he nodded, eyes staring at his own bowl of soup.
"T-Thanks..." He muttered, still unsure.
The three of them were sat around a small fire, chatting to pass time as the morning slowly passed by.
Asteria was a very cheery person from what he had seen so far, an innocent smile stretched on her beautiful face even while telling Yuki the wildest of stories. He was slightly concerned at first, but then relaxed as he got to know the eccentric woman more and more. She was crazy yes, but more like a safe jester than a serial killer.
Alaric, the knight, meanwhile, was a very laid back person. Only speaking when when needed, always perceptive, there was barely a time where you could see the swordsman zoning out. He was always studying something, be it something in the distance, or something in their immediate surroundings.
Both were wearing archaic medieval armour, made completely out of gold for Asteria and some kind of dull metal for Alaric.
In a nutshell, they were an odd pair. But Yuki couldn't complain much, because these people had just saved his life.
His mind stalled on that particular thought.
He barely managed to hold himself together when the memories of the monster from flashed past his his.
"So where are you going after this?" Yuki asked interrupting the comfortable silence, hoping to distract himself.
"Finally back to the capital" Asteria exhaled, closing her eyes in satisfaction.
"I see..." Yuki stared at his bowl, slightly disappointed at her response, for some reason.
Maybe he had hoped they would take him with them?
But that didn't make any sense, why would they help a random stranger.
Saving someone out of a life threatening situation was one thing, going out of your way to carry dead weight was asking too much.
No matter what kind of supernatural powers they were showing off, it was still too much to ask.
He shook his head, pushing the negative thoughts to the back of his mind, and focused on his bowl of soup. Choosing to stay silent.
It took a painfully long moment before Alaric broke the awkward silence.
"What about you Yuki? Do you have anywhere to go?"
Yuki looked up from his bowl, then exhaled. His eyes staring into that of Alaric's.
"I.. I don't really know"
"You don't know?" Asteria gave him a concerned stare.
Yuki looked Asteria in the eye for a small moment, then corrected himself, trying his best to not feel guilty about what he was about to say.
"I don't remember"
Asteria looked up from her bowl too, a strange emotion passing through her eyes.
"All i remember is my name, and waking on the ground with my body hurting like hell."
'That said...'
He took a long at his body, inspecting if everything was back to normal. He hadn't been able to muster up the courage to look at his own body after the mess yesterday, afraid of what he would find. He had willingly let his brain dissociate from everything, including the concerns for the wellbeing of his body.
He gritted his teeth, pushing the wave of nausea down, then took a proper look at his body.
Only to end up finding things that worsened his already debilitating confusion.
He wasn't wearing his pajamas, instead it was some sort of black dress made out of black silk, with frilly arms, and a skirt that only extended till his knees.
He blinked a couple times, and when that didn't work, he rubbed his eyes with his fingers.
The dress still remained the same.
A moment of silence passed.
Then it it dawned on him.
He almost jumped out of his seat in surprise.
Why was he in a dress!?
Did whatever had summoned here mistaken his gender?
That must have been it right...
Right?
haha...
It was something people often mistook about him, that must have been the case here too...
'Right?'
That was when he finally noticed the light pressure applied to his chest from some kind of cloth wrapped around it.
He felt his stomach drop.
"Is everything alright? you can tell me if something starts hurting again." Asteria told him between spoonful's of soup, seemingly unconcerned about the silently panicking Yuki.
Yuki nodded, trying his best to flash her a small smile, but completely failing as it ended up looking more like a plea for help.
This must be dream...
right...?
Right?
He gulped.
"Asteria..."
"Yeah? what happened?"
"What do i look like"
The woman gave him a weird stare, considering her answer for a short while before she spoke.
"A normal human child, why? what happened?"
Child? But he was already 17...
Yuki sucked in a shaky breath, then added reluctantly.
"Do i look like a girl or a boy?"
She gave him a long look.
"A girl of course."
!
***
It had taken him a long while to recover.
By which, they had finished supper, and both of the soldiers were starting to pack up.
Yuki was still dazed and reeling from the earlier revelation when Asteria pulled out a strange looking cube from her backpack and placed it on the ground next to them. It was jet black, refusing to emit any reflections. The area around the cube's perimeter looked strangely warped, like it was somehow pulling on the actual space...
Alaric frowned upon seeing Asteria take it out.
"Are you really going to use that too?" He grunted while tightening his pack.
"Yes," Asteria instantly shot back. "Do you want the child to walk the length of the country back to Serenthia?"
Alaric stayed silent for a while, only speaking after he was done with his pack.
"We're taking her with us?"
"Yes"
There hadn't been much discussion after that, Alaric looked satisfied with Asteria's decision, and they both finished packing up and cleaning their campsite, while Yuki awkwardly watched them from his seat.
He had tried to help once, but was promptly escorted back to his seat by Asteria.
After they were done, Asteria picked up the cube back up, and whispered a strange chant, like she had done before with the absorption crystal.
Nothing happened for a moment.
Then, the cube floated up from Asteria's palm, hovering a bit away from her as it started to spin.
A quiet hum reached his ears as the cube started spinning faster and faster. Then suddenly, it let out a bright glow, the light growing and growing until it could comfortably fit a large human.
Then the glow died out, and the shape it had grown turned opaque, the blurred view of some other place displacing what should have been a barren rocky land in front of them.