Asher's frown receded as he started to calm down. Whatever unknown 'magic' Nova was using was very soothing. In fact, that brief moment of her touch was the most peaceful time he had experienced in seven years.
And it would have been more. It wouldn't have just been a brief, fleeting moment of peace if Asher's dang instincts weren't so sharp.
"!!!" Asher suddenly jumped up from his seat and stuck his legs and one hand on the ceiling, while the other clutched a black dagger he had just taken out of his pouch.
"Hehe. You're acting like a cat from those cartoons." The Old Man chuckled at his behavior. "Can't you just chill for a little while? Your body still hurts like crazy."
However, Asher was not in a joking mood this time. "She just moved, didn't she?"
Asher rubbed his head, reminiscing about the calm feeling he had just felt. Nevertheless, he covered his hair with his hood as such feelings felt too risky. 'Not good. I almost fell into a deep sleep.'
Deciding to stick to the ceiling for now, he looked at Nova's face from above. She seemed to be in a confusing dream. Asher wondered what it was about.
But in the middle of his thoughts, the door to the room suddenly swung open, and a female nurse walked in.
"Hiip!" She opened her mouth in shock, looking at the scene in front of her. A suspicious man with a dagger was on the roof, above the patient she was about to check up on.
"Shh." Asher placed his finger on his lips, signalling for her to keep quiet, however, the nurse took it as something else.
She moved her hand to the emergency button on the wall beside her and was about to slam on it when she suddenly realized that she was now also hanging off the ceiling.
As Asher held her waist under the armpit of the dagger hand, he tapped a particular point on her neck, putting her to sleep. He then threw a small round object on the door, sealing it to prevent any other 'intruders' from interrupting.
"Now..." He turned his head back down to Nova, wondering when she was going to wake up.
———
"There, there— Hm?!"
"Ngh!" Nova rubbed her head in pain as she pulled up her body. "What... happened?" She started recalling the last things she saw before waking up in this place. But before that, where exactly is this place?
She turned her head around rapidly to scan her environment.
But the colour white was all she could see above and below. And it would look familiar to the place she saw in her dream before venturing on her ten day adventure, if it wasn't from the fact that unlike that one, this place had a yellow sun glowing in the distance. And what was more, was that there were clouds moving around on the ground. However, on a closer look, it was her who was floating in the sky, sitting on the large bed of a cloud.
"What the!" Nova exclaimed as she looked down the edge of the puffy cloud. "What is this place?" She then turned her eyes back to the sky. "And is that... a yellow sun?"
#Probably.# The wind blew into her ears.
"But the sun is blue— wait?" Nova looked at the cloud beneath her feet closely. She thought she had heard a voice within the blowing wind. But how was that possible? She had spoken to an owl before, but a cloud? That was a whole another level of craziness.
She tapped the puffy white cloud with her feet. "Did you say something?"
#Yeah, light human.#
"Light human? Wait... Is that you, bird?!" She fell on her knees and moved her head closer to the cloud.
#Ouch! Don't you recognize the smooth feel of my bod'?#
"Haa~." Nova fell on her back in relief. "It's good to see that you're also in the afterlife.
#Yeah... hey! What's that supposed to mean?#
"Why didn't you tell me we were going to die after using that 'forced alignment' you showed me?"
#I didn't know! Back then, I just wanted what you wanted, which was to wipe that guy's smug face on every hill in the highlands. So technically, the aftermath was both our faults.
"..." Nova didn't reject its claims because it did feel good when they were beating up Desmond. 'Well at least Ash was there, so those squad members should have escaped.' She thought.
#Plus...# The cloud got back her attention. #I don't think we're dead yet... At least, I hope where we're going will take us out of here.#
"What? Do you have children you want to go back home to?"
#No man! I'm a special being, I can't just screw with any random beast to make offsprings.#
"Don't say that... I don't want to think about where babies come from."
#Oh, that... Well, I haven't experienced it myself, but from my years of observing beasts, I reckon it feels pretty goo—#
"Bird!!!" Nova screamed as she punched the cloud, with her velvety cheeks glowing red.
#Just saying, just saying.# The cloud shook. #Hang on, I think we're there.#
Nova looked passed the edge of the cloud.
It turns out, the white land beneath her feet were just milky seas, because now they were descending towards a hard white land filled with golden coloured sands and white trees. The sand, like everything else in this place, wasn't normal. Its colour was close to beach sand, however, it had a special radiance that made it prettier than normal sand.
"What is this place?" Although the colours of the strange realm she was in were limited to just white and gold, it's alluring beauty couldn't be denied. "Is this heaven?" She blurted, moving her fingers to touch the cloud beside her.
#Oh, the other clouds here don't talk like I do, so don't bother making contact.#
Nova rolled her eyes as she pushed her hand deeper into the cloud beside her. 'Like I didn't know that before.'
"Oh really? And how'd you figure that out?" She asked with sarcasm. Still, the cloud that couldn't tell the difference between sarcasm and a real question answered anyway.
#Uhh, while I was trying to... 'communicate' with the other clouds. You know? To get directions.#
The cloud was practically dripping rain at this point so Nova was curious as to why it seemed nervous. But thinking about their former conversation, she quickly understood what the cloud meant.
"Wait... Were you trying to flirt with a cloud?"
#Hey!... Don't judge me!#
"Pft! Hahaha." Nova started to giggle. "You're a desperate one aren't you?"
#Tch.#
After laughing her heart out, Nova suddenly noticed that the cloud her hand was in was turning viscous. She looked curiously at it and when they got to the end of the cloud, she was now certain that there was something very wrong with it.
"Hey... bird." She called out.
#What? Want to make fun of me again?#
"Are you sure this cloud isn't alive?"
#!!!#
Nova forced her hand out of the cloud as a space suddenly opened up on its surface, forming a mouth with teeth. Turning its mouth towards them, the cloud opened its not—so—soft maw and took a large bite at them.
#Woah! Hold on!# The cloud below Nova's feet swooped down to dodge the attack, with Nova clasping her hands on its surface so as not to fall off.
Nova pointed one hand at the cloud chasing after them. She tried to cast a skill from her ability to attack it, however, she soon realized that it was not working. In fact, not only that, but she couldn't access her system either. "Why isn't my system working?!"
#I'm not sure... Just hang on!# The hungry looking cloud suddenly sped up, but the cloud beneath Nova outpaced its advances no matter how close it got. #Haha! I knew I could handle this.#
It wasn't long before the duo reached the golden beach. As they passed by a thin looking tree, Nova stretched out her hands and pulled it towards her. Letting go of it when it had been bent enough, the tree sprung forward, hitting the cloud and splitting it in two.
"Got it." Nova smiled as she watched the cloud dissipate.
#Yeah! Now let's see what's on this beach—
#
While they were jubilating, the two of them failed to notice the wooden hand reaching out for the cloud from behind. When they did, it was already too late, a large chunk of white had already been ripped off.
#Gah!# The cloud fell on the golden sand, throwing Nova off its back.
"Bird!" Nova tumbled on the ground before finally stopping to look at the cloud up front, and the tree like monster walking towards it.
The cloud made a low wind howl as it started to grow smaller. Very soon, Nova was looking at a girl in white top and pants with bushy, long white hair over her back, instead of the cloud.
"Bird...? Bird!" Nova was surprised by the cloud's sudden change in form, however that surprise soon turned into panic as she noticed that the right hand of the cloud turned human was missing. Nova ran over to the woman's tall figure and carried her over her shoulder.
BOOM!
The tree monster stomped its giant feet, making Nova and the hurt girl roll on the ground. But Nova's body was strong and resilient, so she stood up again and picked up the white clothed girl before running as fast and far as she could, away from the monster.
Nova was quick on her feet, even though she was carrying along extra weight. However, with the tree monster throwing large chunks of its self at her, running was a little harder to do.
Reaching a small cave, Nova dropped the white haired girl in it and ran outside to lure the monster away. The white haired girl was in too much of a bad shape to be moved around too much.
"Hey!" After she ran a certain distance away from the cave, Nova swung her hands in the air, calling it over. The monster increased it's pace towards her, making Nova take a few more steps backwards. However, as it got to the cave, it suddenly stopped and poked its branch like fingers inside it.
"What?! No!" Nova panicked. That wasn't the plan. The tree monster was supposed to come after her, not the wounded girl.
"No no no no!" She started running towards the cave, however, she was already too far away from it by now. The monster pulled the exhausted woman out of the cave and rose her above its head. It wanted to smash her body on the top of the cave itself.
"Stop!!!" Nova screamed at the top of her lungs. There was nothing she could do but watch the woman die at this point, but Nova just couldn't give up like that. She wanted to do whatever she could, even if it turns out to be futile.
She picked up a small pebble on the ground and threw it at the giant tree monster. "I said stop you bastard!!!"
The tree sensed the stone coming at it so it caught it in its other hand effortlessly. It looked at Nova, tilting its head like it was asking her why she would try something so childish.
But in the next moment, its hand suddenly burst open.
"?!!" The small rock that Nova had thrown, shot out of the monolith's palm and blasted into its head.
The pebble didn't stop there though, as it soon split open a small mouth and started growing limb after limb the more wood it ate. Nova staggered in surprise as the growing rock continued to devour the wooden monster from the inside. But even with its gory, she knew that this moment of reprieve was exactly what she needed.
She ran over to the writhing wooden monster as it dropped the white haired woman. Nova caught her and bolted into the forest.
"Bird... Are you okay?" Dropping her beside a tall white tree, Nova checked on the woman's condition.
"You..." The woman placed her hand on Nova's shoulder. "Its all... you..."
"What... What are you talking about? You're wasting your energy." Nova tore one of the woman's sleeves to tie her wound. After that, she took off the top of her metallic armour and put it on her.
"Here, this should help." Nova was still wearing the brown jacket and white shirt she had put on over a week ago, so she had plenty of covering.
However, instead of showing gratitude, the cloud turned woman pushed her away.
"It's all because of you!"
"What?"
" You don't get it, do you? Those things, those monsters were all your fault! I saw it, whatever you touch here turns into a horrifying beast.
I shouldn't have come here with you in the first place." She covered her face, letting the tears drip down her slender arms.
Nova moved her hand towards the woman to try and calm her down, however she slapped it away.
"How could you just forget me like that? I mean... Haha, who forgets half of their own self in the wild? Who?!
I suffered all those years while you lived a comfy life with a nice, cozy family. You got to choose whatever path you wanted to, while I... I needed you to do that!
I stole your amulet so it could lead me here to finally sever our soul completely, to gain freedom. But still... I couldn't do that without bringing you into the equation! I had to carry you on my back just so I could go through that damn gate, and worst of all, follow you around just so your reckless rampages wouldn't end your life. I mean, did you even think for once, who takes you to the healers when you faint in the middle of a farming ground?... No!
But I come along here, with you... and my life might as well be over already, because the monsters you create keep trying to get me. You treat me like some kind of infection, while my body needs yours to survive!" She pushed Nova to the ground. "How is that even fair?!!"
Nova stared dazedly into the crying woman's eyes, but she knew her vision went deeper than that. There were times when her stamina would fall so low in the middle of a farming ground that she wouldn't be able to walk home. Times when she would fall asleep in the safe zones, believing scouts would find her body and take care of it. And times when after a draining battle, she'd feel perfectly fine from just a few hours of rest. She had been taken care of the whole time without even knowing.
Her heart clenched as she realized how careless and exploitative she had been in the past, even if she didn't mean it. She had been too absorbed with getting more EXP that she failed to realize the unusual things happening in her life.
"I'm getting out of here." The white haired woman staggered as she pulled herself up, white blood dripping from her torn arm. "I hope you suffer Nova Tuttel. Even if it's just half of what I've been through... I hope you suffer."
She ran away, leaving Nova with a lot of things to process and ponder.
Who forgets half of their own self in the wild?
She recalled the owl's, cloud's, woman's words. Nova pulled on the hair on her head as she muttered shakily.
Who? I don't even remember.