Jason wished he was unconscious. That way he would have avoided a nauseating trip through the void. Not soon enough, the darkness receded as gravity settled in. The rush of wind was definitely a welcome addition, not so much the fact that he was free-falling towards a body of water.
The wind stung his eyes, so he immediately crammed them shut. However, through a narrow slit, he managed to make out Alexa falling alongside him. She was still in dreamland, her body like a stringless puppet under the gravitational acceleration. She looked peaceful, unlike him. 'Lucky you, Alexa…'
There was no way Raven was going to let them die like that, right?
Jason gritted his teeth and spread out his arms and legs, hoping to achieve more stability during the fall. Well, It didn't really matter if he was going to impact the surface of the water anyway. From the height he was falling from, the surface tension would feel like concrete. Sanguine Lightning or not, he was going to die.
His re-constructed heart beat a mile a minute, adrenaline coursing through his blood along with the foreign energy he's been imbued with. No, Jason didn't believe Raven would go through all that mess and 'inconveniently' forget that humans were quite frail, and would turn into scrambled eggs when crash-landing onto the ground at terminal velocity.
"R-Raven!" Jason yelled, desperation punctuating each syllable. The loud rush of the wind drowned out his voice. He doubted Alexa could hear him, let alone Raven who was in another plane of existence. Still, hope was a thing when death was zooming in with each second.
A tingling sensation gripped his body. His muscles tightened, hands balling into fists.
[A divine force has locked onto you.]
White. For a dizzying second, everything was blinding white. Jason's breath hitched in his throat. The floating sensation disappeared, replaced by the tickling sway of the grass underneath him. When he finally fluttered his eyes open, it was not to the sight of the sky, or the distant lands below.
A canopy was overhead, the leaves undulating. The sun's pencil-thin glares seeped through the cracks, but they were soft. They didn't hurt his eyes. The sky was dyed in red, orange, and purple hues. It was a seamless blend. Was it sunset already?
The breeze blew a bit harder, and the trees murmured.
Jason slowly forced himself up, his breath coming out in short bursts. The brush with death was still vivid in his mind. But he was alive, and that was all it mattered. His fingers sunk into the soil as his arms struggled under their own weight. Now that the adrenaline rush was over, he could hardly muster enough strength to stand.
But he was in an unknown zone. An unknown forest. In an unknown world.
He had to move.
Jason inhaled a lungful of oxygen and shoved himself up, his knees wobbly, but they held strong. His eyes roamed his immediate vicinity, and they easily fell on the prone form of Alexa.
She was still sleeping? What the hell did Raven do to her?
Nevertheless, he walked over to her and crouched down.
He poked her cheek, "Alexa, wake up."
She grunted and swatted his hand away before snuggling further into the bed of grass.
Jason poked her cheek again, harder, "Psst! Alexa!"
"Hmm… what…"
One eye reluctantly cracked open, followed by the other. She blinked a few times, yawning for good measure, "Jason?" Alexa recognized him through the bouts of sleepiness.
"Good morning, sunshine. How did you sleep?" he deadpanned.
"I'm sore…" Alexa muttered.
At least she didn't come close to a heart attack as he did. But she didn't need to know that.
"Do you feel any different?" Jason asked. He remembered Raven saying she was going to do some 'minor body adjustments' to her.
Alexa frowned as she did a quick self-scan with her eyes. She ran her hands down her body… and then she froze. So did Jason.
Their attention fell on Alexa's assets. Or where they were supposed to be. He remembered them bigger.
Now all that was left was a flat surface, as if her breasts had deflated into non-existence.
The realization was quick to come as it was to shift into different emotions, "No…" tears welled up, "No…" and then they fell down her cheeks, "My babies… t-t-they're gone! Everything's gone!"
She touched and fondled her chest desperately, as if the missing goods would magically reappear.
"Alexa…" Jason tried, voice soft and controlled.
She turned around, arms crossed over her chest, "Don't look at me! I'm hideous!"
"That's not true…" he was not good at comforting women. Fucking them? Yes. Comforting them? No.
Still, he couldn't leave Alexa like that and pray that the issue would fix itself.
Her shoulders trembled, as if straining under the crushing weight of her grief.
"Alexa…"
"No!" she choked out, voice raspy.
Jason scuttled closer to her, just a bit, to let her know he was there and wouldn't abandon her, "You're not ugly, at all. Alexa… your boobs were not what made you pretty."
"It was what made woman…" she tilted her chin to his side, sneaking a glimpse at him, "… besides, you liked staring at them…"
That wasn't… untrue. But if he ceded the point now, she would never heal, "But do you know what I liked staring at more?"
Alexa turned her head around, and he could finally see the sea of tears that had bled out of her eyes.
"W-What?"
"Your face, Alexa. Your eyes."
She averted her gaze, "Liar…"
"I'm telling the truth. Cross my heart and hope to die!"
She still refused to look at him.
"Hey… look at me," Jason shifted closer, so he was directly in her line of sight. But when he did, she turned her head in the other direction, ignoring him, "Come on…"
At least she wasn't crying anymore.
"You're different too," Alexa mumbled loud enough that he could easily hear her.
He tilted one eyebrow up, "Really? How so?"
"You look a few years younger… and not nearly as haggard as before."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Jason chuckled. He probably had Raven to thank for that.
Alexa stole another glimpse of his face before quickly moving her eyes elsewhere, "I… guess…"
She stayed huddled up there for a couple of minutes. Jason really wanted to give her enough space and time to get over her sadness, but the sun was making a full dip behind the horizon.
They had around half an hour of light.
Though considering it was a different world, the planet might rotate faster or slower on its axis compared to Earth.
[The Goddess Raven has sent you a gift to survive the night with.]
Before he could contemplate the ominous choice of words, a flutter of glitchy lights flashed in front of him and Alexa.
A thick, worn-out leather book landed atop in her hands, whereas in Jason's… a sword.
It was quite heavy. Not to the point that it was unwieldable, but his untrained body would tire drastically faster if he carried it around. With a firm grip on the handle, he gave it a tentative swing.
[You swung a sword for the first time.]
[Congratulations, you have received a rank advancement quest.]
[Swing your sword one thousand times.]
[Reward: Sword Mastery (F)]
[Rank: Sword Trainee]
[Time limit: None]
Jason stared at the screens thoughtfully. One thousand swings? He could do that within a few days, depending on how many he did per day. It was doable, though the fact he had been given a weapon in the first place was a dead giveaway that he'd have to use it at some point. Against who? Humans?
The answer came in the form of a shriek coming from the distance.
He snapped his attention to the sky, where a huge shadow flew by.
The creature was reminiscent of a pterodactyl. Black feathers. 8 to 9 ft in length, and its wingspan was roughly thrice the size of its body. Its beak was long, narrowing down to a pointed tip at the end. Its talons were a particularly scary sight. Each toe was as sharp as a knife.
Jason watched as the creature dived down somewhere in the forest, grabbed something that resembled a green anaconda, and then flew off.
The whole thing couldn't have lasted more than ten seconds, yet it left a deep impression in Jason's mind.
"J-J-Jason!" Alexa's frantic voice snapped him out of it, "What was that?!"
"I don't know, but we have to get out of here."
The problem was 'where'.
The forest was highly likely infested with such dangerous creatures.
Weren't they supposed to be teleported straight to the Traplings' Village?
The last rays of the sun dwindled out as it ensconced itself behind the skyline.
Jason quickly grabbed Alexa's hand and dashed in a random direction. The thought of staying stationary in one spot for too long didn't sit well with him.
"We need to find shelter!"
Easier said than done.
"S-Slow down!" Alexa pleaded, breathless.
Jason released a soft sigh and slowed the pace. It was a stupid idea to waste energy like that anyway.
Trees were all around them. Each of them with a different shade of green. Some of them were yellow, red, and blue too. It would have been a beautiful sight if not for the danger that lurked within the foliage. He could feel eyes on his back.
Something was watching him, stalking him, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
Jason whipped around, sword held vertically.
Alexa had her book held securely between her arms. It was not like she could use it as a weapon.
He took a step back, dragging Alex with him.
"Should we run?"
Jason trained his eyes on every possible direction the ambush might come from, "Stay close to me. Running isn't going to fix the problem," he briefly glanced at the book she had been given, "Is there anything in that book that might help us?"
"I… I don't know…" she said, flustered, "It only lets me read the first page… it's about magic, I think…"
Better than nothing.
"And what is the first page about?"
"I didn't have enough time to read it all, but it should be about healing…" she was skeptical, and not because she didn't believe in magic, but because she didn't believe that someone like her was capable of it.
That could be a problem.
"Did you get a quest too?"
She nodded, "Y-Yes… it said to successfully chant the first spell…"
Jason took another slow step back, "I see…"
It was a good thing that they didn't have to worry about wounds and infections. Though it hardly mattered if you died in one strike, "How long would it take you to learn it?"
"I… I don't know!"
She was too flustered. Even if he procured her enough time, he doubted she was in the right mind to focus on that.
Jason chanced a look at her, "Alexa, if you don't calm d—"
The leaves rustled, and a crimson blur shot at him.
He leveled the sword at the incoming monster, but his swing was slow and weak.
The creature flapped its small wings and ducked under the attack.
Jason tried to step back again, but this time he didn't find the right foothold. What happened next was inevitable.
He fell down, the crimson little monster falling with him — on top of him. Its beady, amber eyes narrowed in anger as it jabbed a claw at his face. Jason instinctively raised one arm up, sacrificing it in favor of saving an eye.
The claw tore through his sleeve and cut into his skin. Blood flowed out freely, soaking his shirt and spilling onto the creature. The sight of it would have frightened him, were it any other day. Now he was in a state of overdrive. Survival being the top priority in his pain-laden world.
Unlike him, however, the crimson devil's small eyes widened in glee, its forked tongue sweeping out in hunger.
However, what the creature didn't account for was its claw getting briefly stuck in the fabric of Jason's sleeve.
Alexa, in a sudden burst of courage, wisely took advantage of the opportunity and slammed her book against the back of the creature's head. The blow pushed it off of Jason, freeing him.
"Jason, are you okay?! Oh my god, you're bleeding!"
"Not now, Alexa," Jason quickly scampered back to his feet, his uninjured hand reclaiming the sword.
The winged creature was still shaking off the trauma of Alexa's attack. Another opportunity had just presented itself on a silver platter.
Jason felt his muscles strain as he lifted the sword up over his head with one hand, his knuckles whitening over the handle. He didn't think about it. He let his body move on its own. It was do or die, and there was no way he was going to die.
The creature's poisonous glare didn't deter Jason.
For all of its aggressiveness, its body didn't 'look' sturdy enough to endure the sharp edge of his blade. If a book, of all things, could stun it, then a sword should draw blood.
Jason emptied his head of distracting thoughts and swung his arm in a downward arch.
His hand faltered a bit when the tip of his sword made contact with the creature's skin, but his hold didn't yield. The creature's defiant growl turned into a hiss of pain. And when its eyes registered the spurt of blood coming from its neck, panic overplaced the hunger.
The sword's descent continued unimpeded until a gash ran from the little devil's neck down to its mid-section.
Jason didn't know who dropped down first. The creature, his sword, or himself. His left arm was a bloody mess, with three deep claw marks right above his wrist. He was sweating, his heart overworking to pump more blood to replace what was being lost each second his wrist was left untamponed.
At least the copious amounts of adrenaline helped numb the pain. 'I guess this is where I say thank God for small mercies…'
Alexa was quickly by his side, hands trembling and hovering over his body, "You're not going to die, are you? Jason, stay with me! D-Don't close your eyes, please!"
Except that besides providing moral support, she didn't know what to do.
Jason was pale, but the ethereal darkness that was death hadn't claimed his vision yet, so he supposed he was… fine.
For now.
"You're going to be fine!" Alexa said, more to herself than to him. She opened her book, staring hard at the first page, as if she intimidated it for long enough, she'd be provided with the knowledge to save him, "I'm going to heal you!"
"I know you will…" Jason encouraged in a breathy voice. He was getting a bit dizzy, and the foreign energy in his body was in disarray.
Alexa perused the divine text with unbreakable concentration.
And then she cupped her hands over his spurting wound, "Ye who sits in the throne of light, bright and divine, shine upon the wounded the blessing of thine might. [Healing]!"
Jason and Alexa watched with rapt attention as a gold spark fizzled in her hands. But that was all.
The wound didn't mend. In fact, more blood was trickling out, staining her hands.
"WHY?!" Alexa snapped her eyes back on the book, going over what she had memorized, "I did everything correctly! So why is not working!?"
Jason watched as her shaking hands fluttered over the gashes.
"Ye who sits in the throne of light…"
Alexa chanted the whole verse, her voice rising with each word that failed to produce a result.
"Ye who sits…"
Tears flowed down her cheeks.
"Why…"
But it didn't matter how much she cried, the spell didn't work.
The leaves around them rustled again.
Jason was faintly aware that something else was spying on them, probably gauging their threat level. Perhaps the corpse of the crimson creature was acting as some sort of deterrent.
His heart thrummed, and he commanded his limbs to move. To get up. To fight. To do anything!
"Ye who…"
Alexa's eyes were bloodshot, the veins on her temples bulging. She didn't know of the new threat closing in on them.
"Alexa!" Jason's voice came out with a hint of steel, his hand grabbing her wrist, "What are you doing?"
"I'm… I'm… t-trying to heal you!"
Why was speaking so damn hard right now?
Jason gritted his teeth and stared deeply into her eyes, "Liar. You don't believe you can heal me… that's why you're failing!"
"T-That's not true… I believe it! I really do!"
"Just leave me here and run…" Jason loosened out a soft sigh, his hand losing its grip on Alexa.
"I can't leave you here, you fool!"
It was comforting to know that she was willing to stay by his side even when the situation looked so pathetically hopeless.
Comforting yet endearingly stupid.
"Alexa…" he began, but she cut him off with a harsh glare.
"NO! I'm not leaving you! I'm going heal you and we're going to get out of here!"
Alexa growled in anger and frustration. But it was directed towards herself. Raven was right. She was useless. She had been given power, yet she couldn't use it. She didn't know how to use it. And now Jason might die because of it…
No... she couldn't allow that. She wouldn't allow that.
Alexa steeled her hands, mustered the flickering energy inside her, and chanted in a voice loud enough to attract unwanted visitors, "Ye who sits in the throne of light, bright and divine, shine upon the wounded the blessing of thine might! [Healing]!"
This time her voice didn't quake. There was no hesitation, no self-doubt. Only determination. And hope.
A shadow leaped out of the treetops just in time as a faint, but steady white glow bathed Jason's arm with its pulsing warmth.
The pain receded. And then the gashes mended themselves back with renewed, unblemished skin. The blood was still there, but the source of it was gone.
Jason clenched and unclenched his fist, marveling at the display of magic. He knew it existed. Raven had made it abundantly clear it did, but he was a Goddess. Alexa was a human. Or was she?
"W-What is that?!"
A snarl, followed by the pitter-patter of footsteps.
Alexa fell down on her butt, scurrying back in fright.
Jason rolled around, grabbed his sword, and immediately shoved himself back up. A new creature — no, monster — had come out of its hiding place.
It had a grotesque appearance. Sickly green skin. Yellow eyes. A wicked-witch nose and a maw full of prickly, rotten teeth. Its ears were big and pointed. It wasn't tall, probably around the height of a monkey, but that wasn't a good reason to deem it an easy target.
Not to mention the fact that its wizened hand was clutching a dagger. And it was pointed at them.
Jason had no intention of making the same mistake twice. He wouldn't be distracted this time. Still, he moved until he was at an angle that secured Alexa in the corner of his peripheral. That way, he would be better prepared if another monster ambushed her.
The creature didn't move right away. It stood rooted on the spot, sizing him up. Did it have some degree of intelligence? Unlike the crimson-skinned devil who attacked them earlier without a care in the world, this one seemed to be carefully thinking about what best course of action to take.
If it was indeed working up a plan to take them on, it meant it wasn't particularly confident in winning.
Maybe the height difference was another deterrent?
Jason's eyes flashed as he stomped a foot forward and made a beeline for the monster, sword hanging vertically. He had to secure the advantage of the first strike. Behind him, Alexa gasped in shock, probably not expecting him to jump back into a fight right after recovering from what would have been a crippling injury back on Earth.
The monster was caught off guard for an instant, but quickly brandished the dagger in Jason's direction.
The distance between them shortened. A clang sounded out as the blades collided. The creature staggered back, barely avoiding the sword's longer reach. Jason pivoted on one foot and swung the sword in a stabbing motion. The action itself wasn't particularly fast, which gave the short monster enough time to roll to the side and promptly avoid being skewered.
Jason dived a kick at the downed creature. This time it didn't have enough time to dodge it. Not that it needed to.
It decided to receive the full power of the blow in exchange for wrapping all of its limbs around Jason's stretched leg. While a bit dizzy, and with most likely a fractured rib, the monster snarled and tightened its grip on him. Yellow eyes narrowed in anger, and then the dagger flashed, stabbing into the soft flesh of its foe.
The sudden flare of pain nearly made Jason let go of his sword. The little bastard wasn't content with the damage done. It pulled the dagger back and continued stabbing everywhere it could.
Rivulets of blood flowed down, yet Jason didn't fall down. He held his ground. Something vicious bubbled in his chest. Perhaps a primal instinct long-forgotten, or an innate defense mechanism. It didn't matter. Rationality had been thrown out of the window at the moment.
And that was fine. It was what helped him weather the pain. It was what allowed him to keep standing.
All Jason wanted was to hurt back the creature that was hurting him, that had come out of nowhere and demanded their blood.
Pain could go fuck itself. Anger had the priority.
With both hands gripping firmly the handle of the sword, Jason stabbed down.
The blade met a bit of resistance, but after some insistent pressure, it speared through the creature's skull, until the pointy tip poked out of its jaw. Blood slid down the length of the blade. The painful grip on Jason's leg lessened as the creature slumped back and thudded down.
It was over.
… or so he hoped. Jason didn't have the energy for another fight.
He was too tired.
"J-Jason…" Alexa ran over to him right before he could fall. She slung one of his arms over her shoulder and walked him to a tree, where she helped him down, "Jason…"
She sure liked to say his name, he idly noticed. Her face was set into a frown, her blood-stained thumb between her teeth. 'How unsanitary…'
He lazily followed her line of sight.
"Oh…"
The creature's dagger was still lodged into his leg. That could be a problem.
"It's okay, you'll be fine…" Alexa released a shuddering breath, "I just need to recover a bit first, and then I can heal you. I promise you that you'll walk again."
"You're so confident all of a sudden… I like that…" Jason managed a chuckle.
She stared at him in exasperation, and with just a tiny, tiny hint of pride.
"We need to tend to your wound first…"
"Just do some quick fix…" Jason grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt and slipped out of it, "You can heal me later," he folded the tattered garment, folded it, and bit down on it.
He nodded at her.
Alexa hesitated, but time was a luxury they didn't have right now, and she knew it. With a preparatory intake of breath, she grabbed the hilt of the dagger and pulled it out. His teeth pressed hard into the fabric of his shirt, his muscles tightening.
In such cases, pulling it out would not be recommended, but Jason was in the middle of a forest. Rescue wouldn't come.
No ambulance. No antibiotic. No cozy bed to lie down on and slowly recover.
Alexa stared at the bloodied dagger in her hand with concern.
It could've been her who was attacked. It could've been her who was stabbed.
No, it could still happen.
The thought was scary. Why was she even here? Wasn't she collateral damage? Wasn't she unneeded?
She wanted to go back home.
But then she stared at Jason, who was smoothly wrapping his shirt around the many bleeding wounds on his leg. He wasn't crying. He wasn't whining. He wasn't complaining. And he was the one who had it the hardest the moment they arrived at this place.
He was strong… unlike her. Yet he had almost died. He would have if she wasn't there with him.
Alexa balled her hands into fists. They trembled under the strain. But the trembling ceased as soon as the comforting touch of another hand patted her shoulder.
She looked up.
"Thank you," Jason smiled through the wince of pain, "I would have been a goner if you weren't here."
He withdrew his hand and stood up, leaving her there, blinking, staring at the spot he was just in.
'I see…' she thought, 'I'm here to help him. To heal him. To make sure he doesn't die… he needs me here as much as I need him.'
"Are you coming or not?" Jason asked, briefly looking back at her as he limped forward, "It's getting dark. We need to find shelter."
Alexa secured her book in her arms and scampered after him… well, not before pocketing the dagger. It could always come in handy.
////////
She watched him.
It was too dark outside. She couldn't read.
So she watched him. It was all she could do.
They had made a temporary shelter with logs, branches, and leaves. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. The forest was quite lively at night, Alexa noticed. She could distantly hear roars, howls, and the buzzes of stubborn insects. It was a bit chilly too. And in response to that, she snuggled further into her makeshift bed.
It was dangerous outside, so Jason and Alexa decided to take turns sleeping. He wanted to be the first one on the lookout, and now she knew why.
His sword slashed through the air for, what, the hundredth time? She had lost count. After a certain set of swings, Jason would pause, switch arms, and then resume. Alexa couldn't see his face that well in the darkness, but she could bet that it was set into a determined frown.
Didn't it hurt? Wasn't he tired?
Alexa healed his legs earlier, exhausting herself in the process, but she couldn't do anything about fatigue. He was pushing himself to the limit, and she was scared he'd hurt himself if she wasn't awake to intervene promptly. What if another one of those creatures popped out right when Jason was at his weakest?
She released a soft sigh.
That couldn't happen.
So she watched him.
She watched his hand wrist tremble, his legs on the verge of giving in, and his grunts becoming louder and louder…
… yet he continued swinging that sword.
Alexa rolled around, chin tucked in the crook of her arms. She wanted to call out and beg him to stop. He had done enough already, but she knew he wouldn't listen to reason. He was, after all, hurting himself so he could become strong enough to protect them. The least she could do was to be there for him if he — no, when — he collapsed.
Because it wouldn't be long now.
Her eyes never once left Jason.