As the rain came down in the middle of the night, I sneezed a few times while stumbling along the path. I was lucky enough to seal the wound on my left arm with my [Heal 3] spell. With any other variation of heal before the third, it would restore health, but the higher the heal skill, the more it did for the wound. I was hoping that eventually, I could get a high enough healing skill to completely repair my arm.
I tripped and fell into the mud. I just felt like lying here until I died.
I had lost all hope so fast in this world after Shima and Daria died. I couldn't even return to Lolo... there was nowhere for me to go when I had been to so many places during my time here. It felt all worthless and I trudged through more walking to get to another place... I just have to face the fear that Gaia has been destroyed and everybody in it has been killed.
I pushed myself out of the mud and ran as fast as I could. Every time my feet hurt, I used [Heal 3] on them and removed fatigue, along with any blisters that emerged as well.
It was disgusting running covered in mud and with rain pushing it all down into my boots. Regardless of how awful it felt, I kept running.
Within three hours of constant running I passed by the second checkpoint I hit with Shima, where we spent the night next to the road. I remembered all of our memories, looking out for other slimes... yet I knew Shima would never just reappear in the forest. That bastard Joro took it all from me... he took away Lolo, he froze over Zyphilia, he killed Daria and Shima... and what hurts even more, is knowing my only friends in Gaia might be dead as well.
-
I eventually made it to the beginning of the path near the front gate of Gaia. I peered inside to see several houses burned and destroyed, leaving nothing but rocky dust and pebbles that fell from higher debris onto the floor. Skeletons with burn marks, blood, rotten guts on the floor... it was something out of a nightmare.
Regardless of how frightening the scene inside of the gates was... I still ran in, making my first objective to go look for Jerry's family.
I passed by several skeletons while running past, stepping through puddles of blood on my way to the familiar house that was no longer standing.
What hurt me the most was lifting the debris I could to find Albert's shoes on a completely crushed body. Then... this must be...
"Jerry! Claire! Henry! Is anybody there?!" I shouted out, leaving Albert's body under the debris.
I looked around, pushing more debris out of the way as I scanned through the rest of their house. This wasn't burnt... it was destroyed by an object of some sort... did [Cannon] do this... from Joro's skill set?
"Mr. Anima?" I heard my name and turned around, following the sound of the voice.
"Hey! Who is it? I'm here to help you!" I said, pushing my way through more broken wooden panels and stone fallen in front of me.
"Mr. Anima..." The voice started to fade out. Digging through the debris with one arm was hard enough, but it sounded like if I didn't heal the person around here, they would die. Can I heal in an area instead of a single target?
"[Heal]!" I shouted out. Blue smoke shot out around me in the debris and headed over toward a target sitting behind a fallen wooden plank with a large boulder holding it down. Behind the debris was Claire.
Claire had been badly injured, with some wood that cut out her eye as everything fell, along with a twisted ankle. Her lips were dry as if she hadn't had anything to drink or eat in the past few days... this poor girl!
I pulled out my canteen while she was still buried under the debris. "Go ahead and drink honey. I'll try to get you out of here." I told her. Claire drank like there was no tomorrow and I put my back against the boulder, trying to push it out of the way and get her free.
It was far too big to move in this state... but not if I chipped off some of the rock.
"[Bullet]" I said, shooting small projectiles through the top of the rock to crack off pieces until it was light enough to move. After about six uses of [Bullet], the rock slipped off a lot easier than before. Claire was freed and I immediately used [Heal 3] on her until she told me felt okay.
"Where are Dad and Alby? Are they okay?" Claire asked me with slowed speech. I put my hand against her forehead and apologized for how wet it was. She seemed to have a fever... maybe a concussion?
"I'm sorry Claire..." I started tearing up. Dammit, how the hell do you tell a child her family is dead?
"They're gone for now. I'm not sure where they are... but we can find the people who do know." I said. That was the best thing I could come up with. If Claire ever found out that Sieve were the people to do this to her family... they could explain it better than I could. That they killed her family because they thought Claire's family were all Demons. I had a bitter taste in my mouth knowing I took part in that, following Sieve's lies blindly.
"Mr. Anima... I left my toys in there... can we go back in for them?" Claire asked me. I shook my head... Claire's whole childhood was taken away just because of a lie that her family was Demons... I needed to find a place for her.
"No... but we'll go somewhere you can play with some toys and make some friends, okay? Your dad wanted me to take care of you while he's off doing whatever." I told her. Claire nodded and I carried her all the way to Henry's tent... or what was left of it.
The tent was completely destroyed and I couldn't enter it at all. I could see the wooden scaffolding within the tent knocked over and puddles of blood coming out of it. I found it hard to believe Henry would've died that easily... but maybe his old age got to him. No. I remember the rule. If I don't see his body, he's still alive. Same with Jerry.
I held Claire's hand and we walked out of Gaia with no real location in mind. I didn't know where anything was, and I needed to get her to a hospital. She had a concussion and a fever, and this rain certainly wasn't helping.
"Do you think Dad is at Doren um... Darren..." Claire paused, it seemed she didn't know the name of the city.
"Dorrendale? Possibly... why don't we go look? Do you know where that's at?" I asked Claire. She pointed towards the eastern side... at least we would be going farther away from Sieve. Anything to get away from that place.
"Let's get going..." I took off the flimsy cloak Lolo gave me and put it around her head to keep the rain out. It would work for a little, but if this rain didn't stop, we would get even sicker than we already were.
"Thank you for coming to save us, Mr. Anima. I knew you would come to save us." Claire told me. I squeezed her hand tighter while keeping my mouth closed... if only she knew... that I couldn't save anybody.
"Thank my great hearing! Without that, I wouldn't have heard you." I told her. She smiled, but I could tell she was obviously in pain. Her eye was cut out and she didn't even seem to care. Would that have given her another sickness with all of that bacteria? Does [Heal 3] kill bacteria as well? There was so much I had to learn...
"Can we visit my auntie in Dorren... uh... that city? I have more toys there." Claire asked me. She unknowingly gave me crucial information... if I can find her aunt in Dorrendale, then that would mean she could stay with her family in a safe area.
"Of course we can, I'm sure she'd be happy to see you," I said, looking ahead through the rain. I saw more of the signs on the road that told me Dorrendale was just a little further to the east by a mile. I wonder if the soldiers were able to find Zyphilia because of the sign that led them to the city...
I used [Bullet 3] on the sign and took it out once we walked past it so Claire wouldn't see vandalism.