"Kane…!" a bloody catling exclaimed as she woke up with a start. Instinctively lurching forward, she sat up. Her eyes showed some confusion, before she suddenly grabbed her head and groaned, "Ugh, what is this pounding headache…"
Luna blinked, trying to clear the fog from her mind. The sharp, metallic scent of blood filled her nostrils. She glanced down and noticed a large puddle of blood, her clothes soaked through. Panic surged inside her, but she fought it back, focusing on her breathing.
"What… happened?" she murmured, her voice shaky. She touched her face, feeling the dried blood caked around her eyes, nose, and mouth. Her body trembled with weakness.
Instinctively, Luna sniffed the air. Blessed with exceptional noses, most beastlings were able to differentiate blood by smell alone. 'It— It's all my blood…' she realized. Her mind flooded with both relief and confusion. 'At least it's not Master's blood, but… how am I still alive?'
She tried to piece together her memories, but it was a blur. She remembered the pain, the nanites, and then… nothing. Her head throbbed painfully as she struggled to recall the events leading up to her waking here.
Looking down, she noticed there was large rip in her top, right over her heart. Its surroundings were caked in blood. With trembling hands, she touched her chest, but found nothing. No pain, no wound. Only caked blood.
Confused, she whispered, "Master… where are you?" and looked around the clearing with wide eyes. But there was no sign of him, only his sword lying next to her. She reached out and grabbed the hilt, holding onto it as if it were a lifeline.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. 'Focus, Luna. Think. The last thing I remember clearly was the pain from the nanites and then… then those two men!' Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around the clearing again, half-expecting to see them. But she was alone.
Her mind raced with questions. She looked at the puddle of blood again, and a shiver ran down her spine. By all rights, she should be dead. Yet here she was, alive but weak. 'What happened after I fainted? Where is Master?'
Her headache intensified, and she clutched her head, groaning in pain. Her body felt like it was made of lead, but she needed to move. 'I need to find Master…' she thought, determination rising inside her. 'He would never have left me if he had a choice. Even if he thought I was dead…'
Gritting her teeth, Luna forced herself to stand. She swayed on her feet, using Kane's sword for support. Her legs wobbled, and she had to take a moment to steady herself. The pounding in her head made it hard to think, but she couldn't afford to stay here.
"Focus… just focus," she muttered to herself. She looked around the clearing, searching for any clues that might help her understand what had happened. The sight of the blood-soaked ground sent a chill through her, 'How much blood did I lose?'
She took a tentative step forward, then another. Each step was a struggle, but she kept moving. 'I need to find Master,' she thought again, her mind slowly clearing up. 'He'll know what to do. He always does. I might just… have to save him first.'
Luna paused, leaning against a tree for support. She closed her eyes and trembled. The scope of her task was beginning to set in. 'I don't even know where he is, and if I run into those elves again…'
But then her eyes snapped open. 'Right! That strange bond!'
Quickly, she closed her eyes again and focused on the tattoo etched below her navel. At first, she felt nothing. Her despair grew. But then she felt it. A slow, rhythmic pulsing, coming from the North.
"There!" she cried, her eyes snapping open again, her bloody lips spread into an excited grin. "All hail the strange pink sex rune!" she laughed strangely, hiding the immense, back breaking anxiety shining in her eyes.
"Master?!" she exclaimed in an attempt to use their telepathic communication. "Are you there?!"
But she didn't even have to wait for a response. She could feel her message wasn't getting to him. 'I guess we found the maximum distance…' she thought wryly. 'But surely the fact I'm still feeling him means he's still alive right…?'
True or not, she chose to believe she wasn't just sensing his slowly rotting corpse.
Taking a deep breath, Luna wiped her eyes and straightened up. She would find Kane. She had to.
First ensuring her backpack and swords were still strapped to her back, she then clutched Kane's blade tightly, and took another step forward, then another. She didn't know where she was going, but she would keep moving in the direction of that signal.
Every following step came just a little easier as her body slowly recovered. 'I'm gonna flay that bald fuck alive when we get back to Riftshade,' she snarled inwardly as Archibald's face drifted in front of her eyes.
The fact he had warned her not to go with her master didn't occur to her right now.
With a determined look on her face, Luna pushed forward, leaving the blood-soaked clearing behind her. She didn't know what awaited her, but she was ready to face whatever came next.
Based on the amount of blood, she knew she had somehow survived something that should have killed her, and she wasn't about to give up now. Not when her master needed her…
* * *
At the same time, on a crimson rock in the middle of a dark sea, Kane had also sensed that same rhythmic pulsing.Using their telepathic connection, he exclaimed, "Luna?!" his voice hopeful.
But just like Luna, he quickly realized the message wasn't getting through. 'I guess we found the maximum distance…' he thought wryly. 'But surely the fact I'm still feeling her means she's still alive right…?'
Unknowingly, his thoughts matched up to Luna's perfectly.
'Unless,' he suddenly thought of a second option, as he narrowed his gaze at the crimson-loving woman in front of him. "Are you faking this somehow?" his voice shaking ever so slightly with rage at the thought she might be trying to use the possibility of Luna's miraculous survival against him.
"Boy, you really do have trust issues, don't you?" Mána smirked mischievously. "I can assure you I wouldn't be able to fake something like that, even if I wanted to. Nor can the people holding you."
"As if the assurances of a stranger mean anything!" Kane snarled, desperately trying to fight the urge to simply give in and believe Luna was alive.
Obviously, he wanted her to be, but he saw her get skewered in front of his eyes. How could she possibly survive that? It was far more likely this Mána was up to some kind of fuckery.
Still, he couldn't help but ask with careful hope in his voice, "If she's alive, then… how? How did she survive?"
Mána sighed, and shrugged helplessly. "She doesn't fall under my jurisdiction, so I can't see inside her body. I can only see the surface level. I can tell you this, though: just as she was about to die, there was a strange bracelet on her wrist that dissolved into her body. After that she quickly stabilized."
Kane blinked. 'Strange bracelet…?' he thought with a confused frown, before his eyes suddenly snapped open. The sight of Archy snapping a bracelet around Luna's wrist flashed through his mind.
"That bald fucker!" he exclaimed with wide eyes as relief flooded his system. He always had trouble showing his emotions, but now they just poured out of him as gratitude towards Archibald filled him.
Strangely, this time, the master and his Valkyrie's thoughts were quite the opposite.