ANNOUNCEMENT: Happy 2022 everyone! 🎉 I sincerely hope we'll all have a wonderful, progressive and proactive (not me calling myself out lol) year.
But anyways, back with another chapter as belatedly promised, very very belatedly but hey I came back didn't I? 🤠Please enjoy and let me know how you're finding it.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Just before I could cross over to complete unconsciousness, I felt a sharp tug and drew in a quiet gasp, forcing my eyes to snap open and perceive color.
"What just happened to him?" Cilille asked Umerrang impatiently.
"Hush, child!" The older merman chided, circling my cot and prodding me with many strange, unrecognizable items, some big, some small, some even invisible, with only the way his fingers grabbed around them that gave them away.
"It's just fatigue." He announced after his examination. "That, and the fact that he's suffered multiple injuries and hasn't eaten anything in approximately three and a half days."
I could understand the part concerning injuries as all the pain had sunk in when I woke up earlier. My skin stung extremely with bruises all over, my neck and upper back cramped painfully as well. But the part about going half a week without a single bite to eat??
"Three and a half what???" I gasped.
"Yeah what??" Cilille ogled from beside me. "You've told me humans can't go that long without at least collapsing!"
Umerrang, if I've identified correctly, while rolling his eyes, shook his head slowly at Cilille. "One moment, I need to make sure of something."
He disappeared for a quick second and reappeared with an object I could at least recognize this time.
It was crystalline and roughly oblong, with a dull amber glow. He moved it slowly towards my face, as if expecting something to happen while I just stared in confliction of whether to withdraw, expecting danger, or sit still.
With only inches from my forehead as the remaining gap, the stone lit up with a brighter, more vivid glow until he finally withdrew and it dimmed back to its original state.
"As I thought."
"What did you think?" Cilille asked but the older of the two continued to ignore him as he took out two new items.
The first was a big pearl, which he sang a low, bass string of words to it that I couldn't quite catch. It held inane depth and a strong foundation to it. The pearl didn't appear to change in any feature, unlike the crystal from earlier. He placed on my stomach before taking out the second object into view.
It was some kind of gong, except the place where one would strike was another pearl like the first one, but this one had two parts coming out of it. The kind a person would strike to make sounds. So what was the pearl attached for?
Turning the pearl to face away from him and towards Cilille and I, he gave it a firm strike. I didn't hear or see a single thing at first.
"---ulum Nef---"...
"---asulum Nefar---"...
"Unasulum Nefarus."
I froze for a minute, letting the slightly familiar wording sink deeper into me, lulling me to into darkness. The very words danced at the tip of my tongue, leaving hints of unknown results.
"A spell?" Cilille questioned.
"A sustainance spell." Umerrang specified. "It would seem you cast one on yourself at some point."
"I-I did?" I frowned at this new information wondering why I would even need to use that spell in the first place.
"Did you run out of food at some point?" Cilille tilted his head almost playfully at me.
"I..."
"Forgetful guppy." Umerrang tisked and slapped his tail fin at Cilille from underneath me, causing a yelp from him and a slow spread of dust.
"Until an hour ago he couldn't remember his own name, and you expect him to recall a spell?"
"I'm sorry, I just forgot." Cilille whined.
"No, HE forgot. You just didn't pay attention."
"When did I cast this spell?" I asked, turning to Umerrang.
"That'll be hard to determine." He said as he began to pack up. "I'll need more time before I can find that out. You should use that time to rest and recover."
"H-How..." I trailed. "Would I do that here? Under the sea, I mean." It's not like I knew anyone here, or remembered knowing them at some point. Cilille seemed to recognize me from a past I couldn't recall, Umerrang hadn't given even a hint of indication as to if we ever k ew each other. He began packing up his many various objects before he answered.
"That shouldn't be much of a problem, Cilille can get you settled in one of our spare abodes. He can also find you something to eat." He gave Cilille a look, as if waiting for some confirmation.
"Oh, yes. Sure. Absolutely can." He smiled.
"In the meantime, I'll see what else I can make sense of about your memory loss." He gave a tired sigh before adding a shocking bit. "I'll also try and see if I can get a hold of your sister."
I could swear he meant it as a whisper, but I heard it anyway and reeled in alarm.
I have a sister? I have a sister and I don't even remember her name or what she looks like....
He seemed to anticipate my shock before I could ask anything.
"Another discussion for later, much later. For now, eat, sleep. That should be your present priority. No use trying to regain your memory if you don't even have the energy to stand. Cilille?" He quirked a brow, well not really a brow seeing as he didn't have any hair anywhere on hid person.
"Right!" Cilille snapped to attention and turned to me. "I'm gonna need you to hold your breath again, just for a moment."
I couldn't do much except to comply, taking in an enormous amount of air before nodding to him.
He stretched his hand into the mist surrounding me, as if asking for my hand. I took it, ignoring the absurdly cold temperature of his scales that sent a few shivers down my entire arm, as he gently pulled me out of my surrounding air and into the water with him and Umerrang.
I felt my clothes soak immediately from my coat down to my underwear, if I was even wearing any. I haven't even taken a good look at my ensemble.
We were barely out of Umerangg's presence before we were met with an oncoming commotion from outside. Somehow I knew it was headed straight towards us and for a second I feared it was another pack of those feral, flaming hounds from earlier.
Even if I had no idea what they were, or rather couldn't recall, I didn't figure they would do well underwater seeing as how their fur was always scorched and smoking and every breath a like a well-fed chimney. I didn't imagine it as the single one that guarded me as well for the same reasons.
My thoughts came to a halt with the swift arrival of a golden light, leaving mounts of dust in its wake. The closer in proximity it came, the more I could sense a warmth approaching me, as if I had been sitting near a hearth but only now noticed. I now found myself anticipating this arrival.
Cilille confirmed my sense of calm with a slight shoulder sag.
"Umerangg might not need to contact your sister after all."