Tossing and turning, Lauri felt his body begin to repair itself. One of the bones inside his body shifted back into its correct place with a sickening feeling, a feeling the warm light could only barely suppress.
Biting his lip, Lauri strained against the unnatural feeling. 'So one of my bones was broken, was that before, or after the fall… Ah-' Lauri's train of thought became lost as the pain his body was under resurfaced. The radiant warmth that flowed through his body only served to heal him, only slightly numbing the pain. Lauri let out a sigh. 'Still, I'll take this feeling after all that… water...' Despite the warm light, Lauri shivered. 'Did I come across some crack leading to the surface? How far down would that have to be to reach me? Although that wouldn't exactly explain why my bones were fixing themselves.' Lauri was about to open his eyes when he felt something.
It was the presence of a creature. No, not just any creature. The same feeling that sent shivers down his spine when he crossed paths with the 'rhino', although it wasn't as intimidating as that monstrosity from his memory.
Swallowing, Lauri slowly opened his eyes. It's not like he could just stay lying down forever, not if this creature was a threat.
Squinting against the light, Lauri could see the creature knelt over him.
Its hulking size, standing taller than the 'rhino' this creature towered over Lauri. It had an exoskeleton that glowed with the same colour as the Lucent Drone Swarm. Although this glow was more concentrated, the luminous surface of the creature's shell seemed to shine in the dark.
It had two arms, from what Lauri could only call its shoulders, two large broad arms each the size of tree trunks. At the end of these arms, three chunky fingers each ending in thick claws were curled, resting the creature's weight on the floor. Sticking out of its chest, two smaller arms emerged from the side, unlike the outer arms, these two arms only had its glowing exoskeleton on the outer portions of its surface, leaving the inner part of the arm bare. With no exoskeleton, Lauri could see its veins under the whitish skin. A barely visible light pulsed within the veins.
The smaller arms ended with four finger-like appendages. Lauri's eyes widened, seeing what was coming from the creature's fingertips. The warmth that had pulled Lauri back from the gates of hell was coming from this creature. Its fingertips glowed with the warm light. Lauri could barely take his eyes off of it.
It was so, warm, so friendly.
Lauri's eyes wavered, where had he felt this light before?
Slowly, his eyes moved up, past grooves in the creature's body showing more of its pale white skin and pulsing veins, past its armoured chest, coming to rest on the creature's face.
Lauri should have been afraid, by all reason he should have tried to run. This creature, it had to be tied to the Lucent Drone Swarm, from its glowing exoskeleton, to the mystery substance that glowed under its skin.
This thing was as powerful as the 'rhino', that was one thing Lauri was sure of. It radiated an aura that made it hard for Lauri to stand. But upon looking into the creature's eyes, six of them to be exact. It didn't exactly have a neck – its head was simply an extension of its body – but on its head, two large eyes with two smaller eyes flanking them looked back at Lauri.
And it was warm, the look in its eyes, the feeling it gave Lauri was almost as warm as the light shining from its fingers.
The creature pulled its arms back, it used its two stumpy legs backwards – it seemed to use its larger arms to help it walk – this reminded Lauri of another thing he had read once. It was the same book Lauri had read about rhinoceros'. What was it, an animal that used its two big arms in a form of locomotion?
'It was a… Gorilla.' Staring into its eyes, Lauri tilted his head. 'No, that wouldn't be a good name for you. You seem much more,' Carefully picking himself up, Lauri was mindful of the wounds that he still had despite the healing he had just received, although no longer on the verge of death, that didn't mean his body wasn't still in pain. His eyes coming – nearly – level with that of his guardian's, Lauri smiled. "That's it, that's more fitting. Lucent Guardian."
Lucent Guardian watched Lauri with interest. Its four smaller eyes looked Lauri up and down, its two large eyes stayed focused on Lauri.
Biting his cheek, Lauri stared back at the Lucent Guardian. Its eyes were mostly black, but within this blackness, a light shone in each of its eyes.
"Why, why did you save me?" Taking a step towards Lucent Guardian, Lauri raised his hand.
All of the Guardian's eyes focused on Lauri's hand.
"Easy now," Lauri held his hand up, flexing his fingers. "I've got nothing, nothing at all-"
A series of loud bangs echoed from somewhere far away. Almost immediately, the Lucent Guardian turned around. Lauri saw the fingers fold on its smaller arms before they moved to fit into the grooves in its exoskeleton, slotting into place, forming what looked like an impenetrable defence.
Moving its outer arms, the Lucent Guardian moved faster than its large body should have been able to. Dashing away, the light that illuminated the area vanished along with it.
Left alone in the dark, Lauri stared at the passageway Lucent Guardian had just vanished down.
Completely dumbfounded.
Lauri stared on.
Strings of light burst from his body, forming into the familiar shape of Luminescent Helper.
Looking at the ground as his eyes became reacquainted with the light. Lauri scowled.
'Whatever just happened was good… But why don't I feel happy about it.'
Turning his head to the side, Lauri stared at the flowing river. Taking a few steps towards it, Lauri stopped. His body was freezing, he could barely make out what he had hit before losing consciousness. The platform he was standing on was a bridge and not just any bridge. A man-made bridge built with white stone bricks. The white stone seemed to reflect the light of Luminescent Helper, magnifying it, making it look like the helpful Imprint was glowing brighter than usual.
Beneath the bridge where the ever-dark water flowed, a grate made of the same rock stuck out of the water. 'So that's what saved me…' Taking a step away from the edge, Lauri turned his head, looking to the other side of the bridge. The river continued on until it disappeared into the dark, looking up it was just as before. The river really did carve a corridor of perfect stone into the heart of the mountain. Lauri felt his body shake, 'If I hadn't come across this bridge, would I- Would I have just drowned- I would have died.'
Lauri's eyes opened, dread filling his body as his heart beat faster and faster. "No- No, it's not would have- I did die." Tearing himself out of his state, Lauri ran across the bridge, Luminescent Helper followed behind.
Reaching the edge of the bridge where the white stone joined with the natural stone of the cave. Lauri threw himself onto the cold stone, attempting to put as much distance between himself and the river as he could.
Lauri's body shook uncontrollably as his mind repeated the same two words. "I died- I died- I died- I died-" Choking as his body shook, Lauri could feel that he was having something akin to a panic attack. "I did die, my- my- my what? My soul? My soul was drifting down a river, to hell? The afterlife? I saw my, mom and dad? I remember them- I have a mom and dad."
Lauri's panic attack disappeared almost instantly as he remembered seeing his parents.
"I remember I saw them…"
Gritting his teeth, Lauri stood.
"So the Lucent Guardian brought me back from death itself and then rushed off to fight something." Stretching his neck, Lauri's lips curled into a soft smile. "Looks like I need to do anything I can to repay this debt I've found myself with."
Without looking back, Lauri drew his knife, beginning to run down the cave Lucent Guardian had disappeared down minutes ago.
***
Lauri stumbled on the rocks dropping to his knees. Lauri had been walking for an hour – give or take – chasing the Lucent Guardian, but it seemed whatever creature it had gone to fight was further away than Lauri had anticipated, and that the Lucent Guardian really was faster than it seemed.
A terrible rumbling shook Lauri's body, clutching his body Lauri winced as he felt a terrible pain take over his body.
"I… I…" Throwing his knife against the floor, it bounced a few times hitting the side of the cave and coming to a stop. Lauri pounded the floor with his fists as he let out a howl.
"I'm so damn hungry!"