When August awoke, he was laying on hard dirt.
The sound of water droplets falling into a puddle was all he could hear, rhythmically and silently filling his ears.
There was no way for him to tell exactly how long he was out, but the relieving lack of pain in his body told him it had been quite some time.
August sat up, realizing his arm had been put in a sling made by what seemed to be the remains of his tank top. His burned skin seemed to have healed over incredibly, though red scar tissue covered them all.
Most importantly, even though it was covered, he felt that his eye had been reopened.
He scanned the area with his good eye, making sure he was safe.
The area was dim, with a single bright source of light somewhere to his far left.
Looking at the black stone walls of what he now recognized to be the luminous cave, August took in a deep breath of the earthy air.
He placed his hand on the wall he was laid against, using it as a support to find his footing in the damp cave. He was surprisingly almost devoid of pain entirely, his rigid body being his main adversary.
He slowly made his way towards the light, which he assumed to be the cave entrance.
He was correct.
He winced at the sudden light, looking away for a second before gently exposing his eye to it.
From what he could see, the blue flame had burnt away every last piece of shrubbery or forest for miles on end, leaving behind the ash of a once great ecosystem.
Burnt leaves covered the felled trees of the dark forest, the trunks being used as mere firewood to continue the carnage.
Though the flame was no longer as ravenous and fearsome, it still burned strong.
He shook his head at the sight, looking at the flattened forest– particularly the large, burnt black stump miles away. He smiled ruefully on at the tree that had fed him and saved his friend's life.
In regards to Alia, the redhead sat silently, leaned against the entrance of the cave.
She had removed her bandages and was now left in simply her sports bra and makeshift jean shorts. She looked out into the now blue sky– currently devoid of ash, staring off into space as she often did.
August broke the silence.
"Hey" he spoke, causing her head to snap back at him.
"Bloody hell! You have to stop sneaking up on me!"
Though she seemed quite surprised, the corners of her mouth were playfully being tugged upwards. A soft light glimmering in her eyes.
August smiled back, releasing a breath he had not realized he was holding.
Even though she had not shown any resentment towards him when he first reunited with her, a part of him still believed that she was still angered by his betrayal, however minor it may be.
Thankfully, that seemed not to be the case.
"If you want me to stop sneaking up on you, maybe increase your situational awareness." He quipped.
She smirked back at him, and immediately August regretted his words.
"You snore and talk in your sleep, specifically mumbling philosophical questions. Doesn't seem pretty situationally aware."
He rolled his eyes, walking to the other side of the cave entrance, staggering a bit as he let go of the wall before falling into a sit. A shooting pain rushed up his spine and caused him to jerk unnaturally.
He heard a small laugh escape the redhead's lips.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing, just laughing at your pain."
He scoffed at her, then reached up, pulling at whatever covered his other eye.
He flinched as he felt a stinging sensation, but slowly pulled off the cover nonetheless.
His eye had been covered by a piece of his old tank top, torn into a crude square and stuck on by a strange gooey substance.
August ran his hand over the now dried goo, trying to inspect it.
"It's tree sap" Alia said to him "I took it from the trees before bringing you back inside, I also pried your eye open."
As she said this, he opened his eye. A flood of tears came streaming out from it, running down his face. His eye was also profusely upset by the sudden influx of light for a moment, but adjusted within seconds.
He looked back at the redhead, noticing now that her face and skin were coated in dry blood and dirt. Then he attempted to ask her a question.
"How did you end up like this?"
She looked at him and stared blankly.
"How do you think?" She responded, though her tone was sharp and harsh, August sensed a bit of dejection in her voice.
He sighed, it came as no surprise that Alia was unwilling to discuss her time with the armored behemoth. It was only fair that trauma like that would be something she wished to remain unspoken. Nevertheless, August could more or less imagine what had happened.
She was probably dragged back to the behemoth's den to serve as its meal, probably in an attempt to circumvent the encroaching monsters. There the beast probably tried everything it could to tear the redhead apart, though with her skill, it was probably unable to.
Judging from the sword wounds that had covered the beast, she had fought back with twice as much ferocity. Eventually the behemoth must have given up on her, realizing she was not as easy prey as it had once thought.
That's why it had returned to the clearing, where it could hunt the large crowd of monsters that had made a home there. It was probably already satiated when it came into contact with the lion. Sadly for the armored behemoth however, it had made a fatal mistake challenging the white lion whilst August was in sight.
The thought of what had happened to her made him look at the red haired girl differently.
He had not wanted to speak of what he had done, because he had not wanted to admit his own shortcomings, but he could not face her like this. So August readied himself in the moment of silence, gathering his courage.
"Look, I-" August barely got the words out when Alia shut him up with a momentary sharp glance from her piercing red eyes. It was as if she knew what he was going to say and wanted to put a stop to it.
"So, how did you change so much in such a short time?" She asked after a short pause confirmed his silence.
August, eager to rid the air of awkwardness, began to tell her the story of how he came to reunite with her.