"Told you, Undwote. You were never going to see me again..." I muttered in pain as I got back up after using some magic to set off an explosion. And then, terrified screams filled the air as it became clear a woman was being eaten alive. What I also saw was Liadanann's rear stuck up in the air as she clawed away at that machine. The screams of Iishar Ho coming from within it.
Then it all just stopped and it went quiet with nothing but our breathing disturbing it. At least, until Liadanann started to slam her blades against the machine furiously. I would move forward, however, as she soon collapsed off of the machine with a blood-soaked mouth. She had killed the woman I wanted to take revenge on...
I had been denied the right to avenge my own death by this ddrai'och... And, somehow, I was thankful for it and I was happy. I would smile and then laugh until I was brought back to reality. We may have dealt with some soldiers, but so many still remained.
"Come on woman-eater, let's find somewhere safer." I told her as I picked her up and ran as fast as I could. Crushing stones and ruining roadside objects until I got us into the crags of the mountain.
"Nin..." Liadanann would say in pain as she heaved over and over as I put her down. Her front was completely torn up and stained with both blood and stone dust.
"Okay, let me see what I can do..." I began to mutter as I tried to focus my magic, but, I would also stop. I confused her and I confused myself by backing away from her. It took me a little while to get it, but, my body was slightly moving on its own. My mind said one thing while the body did something else and it scared Liadanann clearly.
"Nin!?" she would cry out as I disappeared over the mountain to return back to the roads. And like a starved animal, I would scrape away at anything in hopes of just finding a stale piece of bread. This digging would find me something too! It was some kind of cable that burnt the ground it touched...
"There's a source of magic!?" I would say as I tried to figure out where it was coming from. Taking what I could from its ambient heat before then suddenly stopping in fear. This magic was hot... And, well, I don't have a good history with magic that burned...
Liadanannn, however, needed my help, and if I was to help her, I needed to help myself. I needed to get magic into my body and this source would help me. I just needed to find it and let it flow into me. To just let it heal myself so I could go on to heal another.
Yet, as I walked, I moved on to running as more bullets would come my way. I may have just battled various metal men, but my patience grew thin. As did the energy I had to expend which was being lost rapidly. That crude spell I performed as well did not help things.
"Come on, come on, get into my sights!" I would pant out in worry whilst taking cover behind a boulder. Frowning as bullets and grenades and other things destroyed the land around me. Another facility was in sight but I could not tell anything about its importance. Barely anyone was near it.
Maybe because me and Liadanann had killed them...? No, that could not have been the case. There were no tracks into this facility. No frequently used ones, that is.
It was a blatant trap if it was indeed one, but I would have to push past that. I would have to ignore the risk to myself and just go for it. So I did, I left my cover and I ran as fast as I could. Barrelling past those who got in my way and getting lodged into a wall at the end.
"Come on now, don't laugh!" I told myself in frustration after initially taking it on the chin. Yet, my attention would quickly be focused on other things as I could now feel the magic clearly. These tubes and cables that ran about this cold place were glowing with magic. And as I followed them, it got stronger and stronger until I found somewhere else.
A chamber that was guarded by thunder-gold covered doors and other forms of thick metal. It required some effort to tear open and the alarms it set off hurt my ears. But the magic flow I felt when I got inside was worth it and it made me so relaxed... I could feel it already working wonders on my body.
I was, at first, moving towards this rumbling device in the middle of the room. But I stopped when I saw the eyes of a wyvern look at me through them. It would roar at me before it just sort of stared at me. I would, however, focus on the cables near it, how so many of them were not plugged in or that.
"Had I interrupted a check-up or parts replacement...?" I asked myself as I tenderly picked a cable up. Carelessly tearing it open and letting the magic blast into my face. It was scorching hot at first, but it slowly and steadily began to feel softer. Like how a hot shower seemed to simmer down as you got soaked by it...
I needed this alright and I was ecstatic about it all. The numbness in my body was gone and I was no longer stiff. I could move normally once again and my wounds were closing up to some extent. But, it also hurt in a more peculiar way, a way I had nearly forgotten.
Because I felt like how I did when I was in the cave with the osibindah. Before I was freed from them by a magical blast that tore it all up... It reminded me of all that, at least, for a moment until I felt nothing. No pain, no nothing, just a soft warmth in my hands.
"Hello!?" a familiar voice then asked as something began to echo through the water tanks...? Then, all of a sudden, Larishazza popped out into one. Her face lit up with joy once she saw me before she broke the tank to rush me down. And I was then on the floor with confusion on my mind while she cried a little while screaming with joy.
"L-Lari!?" I let out once I managed to get my thoughts straight. Yet, while my mind was confused, my body was heartbroken for it knew what would come up soon. The topic of how I facilitated their abandonment in those wastes... But, how did they get here so fast!?
Or was I in that place with Liadanann for longer than I thought?
"Nin! I'm sorry if I have been a bad friend! Please don't run away like that again!" she spewed out to the point it was nearly incoherent. Yet, I still somehow managed to understand it.
"W-What? You haven't been a bad... What are you doing here? How did you find me!?" I began to ask her as I was under the impression no one would have been able to follow me while I lacked magic. And there was just no way she just blitzed on over to me in the last handful of minutes...
"I was following the magic of that..." she answered slowly as her voice trailed off once she saw the machine.
"Oh, o-okay, coincidence then..." I said as I nodded my head. Trying to get her off of me and failing as her grip was too strong. And, maybe, her tears were as well. It was clear she was absolutely shattered by what I had done.
And I was hoping so dearly I would not have to see the results of my actions...
"Nin... Why did you do it?" she then asked me as she slowly gave way. Allowing me to move even just a little while her arms stayed wrapped around me.
"I... I..." I tried to answer but nothing was coming to my mind or mouth. So I tried to shift the topic onto another one. I wanted to just get this over with and deal with it however I can.
"Nin! Answer me!" she begged and demanded at the same time as she shook my body. That trembling lip of hers and her eyes being all that I could see. My own eyes refused to budge anywhere else and all I saw was that face she made.
"I'm... I'm... sor... I need to go!" I tried to say before changing the topic onto something else. Desperately moving out of her grip before trying to run back to Liadanann. I don't know why I ran away from the woman I loved. But I did.
I ran away from her and was in turn chased by her tearful form. And I kept looking back at her not because I was concerned over her catching me. But so I could see her face as it warped about with confusion and anger. She had no idea why I was doing this and it only made things worse.
"NIN! PLEASE! YOU'RE MY FRIEND!" she reminded me before she started snivelling as we ran. She would stumble and fall and then get back up to chase me again. Then, she would just drop to her knees and hold her hand out towards me. Her eyes were wide open as she cried and begged for me to come back with her arms.
She just wanted a hug from her friend, a soothing hand in her hair. Yet I had none of that to give her and just kept on running. Nearly breaking down into tears myself until I was able to find Liadanann again. Who, initially, reacted violently with a sweeping swipe from her blade.
And, once it harmlessly bounced away from me after clanging against my shell, she calmed down. She would come up to me slowly and look at me in confusion before she reacted to her injuries again. And as I brought forth a trembling claw to send magic into her. She moved away and growled at someone behind me.
"Lari..." I would mutter as I turned around as well. Staring up quietly at her while she looked back at me. At least, until she was forced to look elsewhere when Liadanann attacked her. I had no idea why she did, but I had to stop her from getting killed!
If my freshly rejuvenated body could survive her weapons, then Larishazza would have no trouble! So I dashed in between them and roared in pain when Larishazza's reactive spell hit me dead-on. All to protect Liadanann who I did not know that well at all. But she had helped me and that was enough.
"Who's this?" Larishazza would then ask me in a surprisingly calm tone as she was quick to figure out why I stopped her blow. And while she did not say anything to me about my new injury, she did flick some water on it. Healing it straight up before she then repeated the process on Liadanann. Who, still treated her with suspicion and aggression.
"This... This is Liadanann, she was my neighbouring cellmate." I told my heartbroken friend as she took on a confused expression.
"Cellmate? She's a criminal? You're a criminal?" she asked with a forced smile as she tried to keep herself in check with humour. Maybe she was thinking I had abandoned her for another friend...? One who I have never mentioned as such it might make things worse...
"N-No, I was captured by my countrymen after I let all my magic out." I nervously explained to Larishazza as she paced around us. And I tried to stay between Liadanann and her, but she was too fast for me.
"You're naked," she would say as she pointed to Liadanann's blood-caked body, "she's naked, you're naked too!"
"Right..." I would let out as I looked back at Liadanann.
"What is this place?" Larishazza then asked as she hopped up onto a rock. Her palm covered her brow and she would survey the area with a tune in her mouth. A very loud tune as well...
"I don't know, some kind of secret base in the Civil Mountains run by my home." I told Larishazza honestly before she hopped down. A hand held out towards the ddrai'och behind me whilst she beamed a smile.
"Hello! I'm Larishazza! I hope we can be good friends!" she would say with her eyes looking at me during the last bit. And as she began to show her sadness, Liadanann would speak up.
"Liadanann, Nin..." Liadanann told Larishazza as she pointed at herself before she pointed at me. This language problem made it so she likely had no idea what was going on.
"I know who he is, silly!" Larishazza giggled out in a forceful manner while Liadanann awkwardly huffed a laugh.
"Alright, you know each other now, can we get going to someplace else? There are people shooting at us." I would tell Larishazza while no one actually shot at us. But, there were the sounds of various vehicles in the air. Some likely higher in the air than others.
"Will I get answers...?" Larishazza would ask me glumly as her body went limp. A depression-like state took her over as she begged me to give her something. Anything at all that might soothe her mind... I had no answer for this question, however.
So I just sighed and turned around, "Let's just get going..."