As Jonas opened his eyes, he felt like he was coming out of a deep sleep. The kind where you hardly feel like you got any sleep at all. Aside from that, he also felt like his body just ached.
He had to squint against the bright light that practically blinded him. The light kept him from making anything out. Aside from a blur that was moving around to his left.
He waited a few minutes, but it felt like his eyes weren't wanting to adjust. Either his eyes weren't going to adjust or they were just that used to the darkness that it was going to take just a little longer than usual.
"Where are we?" he croaked, shocking himself at how dry his throat felt. He wasn't sure if the moving blur was Elmo, but he suspected it was. If it wasn't, then he wondered if he was on his own.
"You're awake!" Elmo cried, sounding happier than Jonas would have expected. Though, it did make him aware of his pounding head. He couldn't be sure if it was related to Elmo's volume, but at the very least, it didn't help.
"A little quieter, please," Jonas requested, closing his eyes as he tried to will the headache to subside.
"Sorry. You've just been out for a while. At least half the day, today."
Jonas wanted to respond right away, but didn't want to open his eyes at the moment while dealing with his headache. So, he waited, hoping his headache wouldn't last, but it just kept going on. Much like an upset stomach would continue to complain for a long while.
"What happened?" Elmo asked after several minutes. "I checked your stats and it said your shadow sight was 'overextended' and I didn't know what that might mean."
Jonas sighed. "I have no idea what it means, either. All I can say is that it felt like I was entering some darkness that was so thick you could feel it."
"So you don't know what happened either? How you were acting like you were high or shit-faced drunk?"
Despite his determination to keep his eyes closed until his headache subsided, he opened his eyes and looked at the blur he was pretty sure was Elmo. "What are you talking about? All I remember is that I entered that darkness and I don't remember a single thing after that."
Elmo sighed, as if he was talking about something else altogether. "So you don't know about that."
Jonas wished Elmo would explain what happened rather than going on about how he was acting. Whatever he was doing, Jonas was confident that he'd probably done worse. Especially since there wasn't anyone for him to really get into a fight.
He doubted he'd have swung at Elmo, not matter how out of it he got. If anything, he'd expect he'd have fought on the same side as Elmo.
"Where are we?" Jonas asked, closing his eyes again. "I think I might have asked that already, but I can't be sure."
"Oh! Yeah. I'm not sure where we are, but I followed what seemed like a riverbed or something that led to another chamber that led to here. Though, I had to carry you most of the way and I couldn't move more than a few inches at a time. So, it took a while and I'm not sure how far we really got, but because there's light here, I thought I'd at least wait until you recovered before trying to continue on."
Jonas felt like whatever had happened to him before was occurring again. Not so much with entering a thick darkness, but rather that he was only able to catch a word or two of what Elmo said and make any sense of it. Kind of like when he'd watch a political speech after he'd gotten drunk.
"What?" Jonas asked, feeling like that single word summed up everything he felt at that moment with what Elmo had said. Although, he wished his mind was clear enough that he'd be able to articulate everything that was going through his mind in regards to the spiel Elmo had given him.
When Jonas' question was met with silence, he wasn't sure if it was because Elmo hadn't heard it, or because he was otherwise unable to go over what he'd said a little slower, or even because he was hurt that Jonas had understood what he'd said. He really didn't want to deal with all of this, but it wasn't like he had many options here. Especially since he wasn't really sure exactly what Elmo had said to begin with.
It was several minutes after his question that Elmo spoke. "Which part didn't you understand?"
Elmo sounded like he was hurt by Jonas' question, though Jonas felt like it wasn't his fault for not understanding Elmo's question. Even if he was wide awake and in perfect condition, he was confident that he wouldn't have understood what Elmo had said. Especially with the speed in which he'd said it in.
"I pretty much could barely understand any of what you said," Jonas answered, his voice cracking from how dry his throat was. Why that was he couldn't figure out. He'd never had that problem before, even when he had been standing in the sun for hours on end. "It was like I heard what you said, but it was like white noise for the most part."
It really didn't sound like white noise, but he figured he should add that in to try and soothe any hurt feelings Elmo had. The last thing he needed was to get Elmo depressed for one reason or another. Especially since Jonas was realizing he couldn't rely on his shadow sight as much as he thought he could. Whether it was similar to the issue Elin had with using more MP than she had at the moment or something else altogether, Jonas was pretty sure he could only use his shadow sight ability for a certain period of time before he'd need to stop. He didn't know if it could get extended, like adding to his MP or stamina or if it was a fixed amount of time, but he recognized that he needed to be more judicious in his usage of it.
Elmo sighed and did his beset to explain what had happened more slowly, taking time to answer questions Jonas asked to clarify some points. Jonas could sense that Elmo wasn't happy with needing to do it this way, but Jonas couldn't help but appreciate the effort he was going to.
Part way through Elmo's explanation, Jonas opened his eyes as he felt his headache start to subside. Though, he felt like his throat still needed some water, but he knew he could survive like that for a little bit at least. At the very least, Jonas was happy that his eyesight wasn't as bad as when he'd first woken up. Elmo was still a little blurry, but not as blurry as he had been.
Jonas was even able to make out some of the other details of the chamber in the cave they were in that he'd missed when he'd first opened his eyes.
When Elmo got to the part about his using his Open Earth spell to create pits in the wall of what Elmo was pretty sure a riverbed, Jonas had a feeling he'd gotten the gist of the picture. Which felt more comforting than he had expected it to feel.
"Is there any water nearby?" Jonas asked, wanting to next take care of his throat. "I could use a drink of water."
Elmo nodded. "Give me a minute. It's still down a dead end, but it's fresh water."
Jonas nodded, not really sure he ever understood about what 'fresh water' meant. Especially since he knew not all 'fresh water' was safe to drink. But that wasn't important right then. What was important was getting his throat to stop being so dry.
Jonas watched as Elmo left. While he couldn't make out where the entrances and exits to this chamber were, he didn't worry too much about it. At least aside from the big one in the ceiling where the light was coming from.
At first Jonas hadn't been sure if it was an opening in the ceiling or similar to the crystals and moss combination in the cavern where they'd encountered the giant bear, but now that his eyes could focus a little more, he could see that the light was from the sky. The sun wasn't shining directly into the chamber, but it was much brighter than what Jonas had been used to for a little bit. So, it was taking a little getting used to.
At the very least, it was good to feel like they were that close to the surface. Although, it was clear that they wouldn't be able to climb out of that hole in the ceiling. They could technically throw a rope and try to climb out, but even with his eyes not being how they had been, Jonas was certain that it would be too far. At least in their current condition. If that even had anything to use as ropes as well.
Jonas mostly hoped that they'd be able to find another exit that would take them to the surface soon, but if not, at least this chamber was a welcome sight. Though, if there wasn't another way out of the cave close enough, Jonas wondered if they would need to try climbing out anyway. His eyes definitely wouldn't be of any help right then, but when they were better he figured he'd be able to determine if that was just a pipe dream or a real, if very difficult, possibility.