Elmo couldn't see too far ahead of the torch Owen was carrying. Mostly because of how dark it was otherwise and the light from the torch blocked his ability to see very far past it. Not that he was complaining. He doubted he'd be able to see much even he was the one carrying the torch.
What had raised his spirits the most during their trip to Owen's camp had been Kim waking up. Even though he knew she really didn't like him, she was one of the strongest members of their team and if she died, he was quite confident that he would be soon to follow. Especially with Jonas incapacitated. Until he found a way to increase his MP significantly, he wouldn't be able to be of much use overall in combat. At least not with his spells as weak as they were.
While he could jump into combat with his staff and the brown shirt for some armor, he wouldn't be very useful there, at least not with his Str as low as it is. He was pretty much just flat out useless as he was.
That determination in his mind made him realize something. If he was useless as he started, but had potential to become rather strong, if not overpowered, depending on how he allocated his stats, would that mean that others, like Kim, might become more useless later on when their levels became much higher?
"Almost there," Owen commented, breaking Elmo out of his thoughts.
Elmo looked ahead and could see a faint light in the darkness ahead of him. He wasn't sure if he'd have noticed it even if he hadn't been lost in thought without Owen having said something.
"Good, my feet are getting tired," Elwin complained.
"Come on!" Leon protested. "You've hiked for much longer periods than this before."
"That doesn't mean my feet didn't hurt after that," Elwin countered.
"If you two need some time alone together, I'm sure the rest of us would be willing to let you stay here until you get it all out," Elmo remarked, turning to back behind him where Elwin and Leon were.
"Kid, that's disgusting," Leon snapped.
"Yeah," Elwin agreed. "Why would I want to do anything like that with my brother?"
"Do what?" Elmo asked. "I didn't say anything specific. If your minds went wherever they went on their own, that's your problem. I merely was pointing out that you two clearly have something going on, and offered to let you fall behind the rest of us so you could take care of it privately. I mean, even if you just had a fist fight, that would maybe help you get whatever is going on between the two of you taken care of."
Elmo turned back to face the direction they were traveling in. He did his best to ignore the heated glares he could feel boring in the back of his head. He wasn't sure if he was exactly in danger at the moment, but was confident that the brothers wouldn't do anything directly to him at the moment. At least not with Kim and Elin present. Although, he couldn't be sure if he'd be safe with Owen or Bart around, so he determined that he needed to stay around an alert Kim or Elin at the moment. His own survival might depend on it.
It didn't take long after they saw the weak light in the distance to reach Owen's camp. When they got there, they saw Patricia sitting on Patrick's lap with Patrick's hand down her leather pants. There was also a woman laying on the ground, her head propped up by a bag for a pillow, lengths of wood tied to her leg.
"I see you brought company," the woman remarked as Owen set those he'd been carrying with his powers down gently near the woman. "Are they here to join out team?"
"No, they're not, Michelle," Owen replied. "They were the ones who killed the most goblins, so we decided to help them. Just in case more goblins came through that portal."
"Hope they brought their own food," Michelle remarked. "We don't have much left."
"Then we're in luck," Elwin said, setting the bag he had down. "The goblins were loaded with food. We got plenty for the next few days."
"Did you get Heather and Sonya rescued?" Michelle asked after glancing briefly at the bag of food as it was opened, revealing a thoroughly cooked turkey.
"Actually, the team we brought back with us saved them. Though, we brought the girls back too, since they weren't in any condition to move on their own," Owen replied. "As you would be able to see if you looked around."
"So, who's in charge of your team?" Kim asked, startling Owen, Michelle, Elwin, and Leon. Elmo realized he couldn't see Bart. Even looking around he couldn't see the boy.
Was this a skill of the kid or was it something else? Elmo couldn't help but wonder
Shrugging, he pushed that out of his mind as he sought for a way around the group and took a seat near the bag of food that showed the cooked turkey.
"Owen is, pretty much," Michelle stated. "Bart and I were our own team until we ran into Owen, Leon, and Elwin about midway through the second day. After we encountered some, I think they were lizardmen?" Michelle trailed off for a moment before continuing, "Anyway, when we encountered them, Elwin and Leon came and helped us kill them and after talking with them, we decided to join Owen's team."
Elmo couldn't be sure if Michelle would have said more or not, because just then Heather woke up and started screaming as she woke up and was looking around frantically.
Owen moved over to her quickly and put his hand on her forehead, and helped ease her back to the floor. Her screaming started to die out as she was moved back into laying on the ground. Her expression becoming more peaceful than it had been since she'd been saved.
Owen was starting to move away from Heather when Sonya woke up, but rather than screaming, she hopped to her feet and ran over to a corner in the room, growling, her eyes darting to keep an eye on each person, small hairs of fur starting to grow on every part of her exposed skin that Elmo could see.
Elin moved over to see about making Heather more comfortable, but as she approached Heather, Sonya leaped at Elin, pushing her to the ground, her hand at Elin's throat, as her fingernails elongated a little into sharp claws. Then as Elin looked Sonya in the eye, Sonya froze. Almost as if she had been hit unexpectedly and didn't know how to respond right away.
Sonya slowly removed her hand from Elin's throat and kneeled next to Elin as Elin sat up carefully, her body returning to how it had been a moment before.
"Are you okay?" Elmo heard Elin whisper to Sonya.
Sonya's eyes darted around, apparently trying to keep track of everyone at once. She didn't even seem to register that Elin had asked her a question.
Then Owen stepped forward and put his hand on her head, faster than she apparently could react. At which point she fell to the floor, laying on her side.
"What'd you do?" Elin asked, sounding a little horrified.
"I merely put them to sleep and blocked the memories they had of being at the goblin's mercy temporarily."
"Why would you do something like that?" Elin asked her tone remaining rather horrified as her hands moved over Sonya. Elmo assumed she was checking her vitals, since her hands didn't go any lower on Sonya than her neck.
"So they could rest from their ordeal. The memories will come back in a day or two, so they should be able to at least know they're currently safe when that happens," Owen replied. "Although, I can't say if that'll help them or not. I just didn't want them to be attacking us without realizing that we're not the goblins."
"I hope it does help," Elin muttered. "I can't imagine what they went through."
"Relax, my gem," Kim said, propping herself up with her elbow. "I'm sure they'll be fine. Though, when our teams part ways, Heather and Sonya will accompany our team if they don't object."
Owen nodded. "Since your team was the one credited with saving them, I can't see how we can argue that, so I won't try. However, let's leave that until at least morning. We can first tell each other how we each got here. Or at least what we had been doing when we were kidnapped into this… game?" Owen suggested.
"Sounds fair," Michelle said.
"What's wrong with Michelle?" Elmo asked. "I mean, she looks like she could have joined you guys on the attack on the goblins."
"My leg got broke by one of the lizardmen," Michelle replied. "Can't do anything about it at the moment. Though, I can only hope it'll heal soon enough."
"Can I try to help?" Elin asked.
"Go ahead," Michelle replied, looking like she couldn't care either way.
Elin walked over and Elmo watched as her hand slid along Michelle's leg until Michelle winced in pain.
"Minor Heal," Elin said three times. Each time a small glow appeared around her hands and Michelle stared at Elin in shock when it was over.
"I th-think it's better," Michelle whispered in disbelief.
A moment later, she carefully stood up, her hand on the wall and started to carefully test her leg out. As she put her full weight on it, she laughed.
"It's no longer broken!" she cried happily.
Elin moved away from Michelle and sat next to Kim and leaned against her. Elmo walked over and sat on the other side of Elin, keeping a small, respectful distance from her, partially to keep from getting on Kim's bad side.
"Elwin, why not start passing some of the food we got around and we can start telling each other how we all got here," Owen said.
"What do you mean 'how we got here?'" Kim asked, leaning into Elin.
"Simple. We'll say what we had been doing before we found ourselves in those rooms that connected to that large room. I'm sure you remember when you woke up in that small room with nothing on and something that you could put on so you weren't completely naked when the doors opened and the announcer introduced us," Owen answered.
"I'll go first," Michelle volunteered. Then, looking at Kim, she added, "Maybe you'll get an idea of what he was talking about."