Hours later…
It felt warm. Strangely warm. I opened my eyes, my vision still slightly blurry as I looked around slightly. Where… was I? This didn't seem like the chasm I had fallen into while Odale was fighting whatever that creature summoning the powerful blizzard was. In fact, this seemed more like a… Room. Of a house.
There was a very delicious smell in the air – coming from what looked like another room in this place. As my vision finally cleared, I rose up into a sitting position, holding my head. "Argh…"
Careful.
You had sustained quite the frost bite. It'll take some time before I can fully heal you.
"You… Healed me?" I replied to the Ancient One, slightly surprised.
I still have access to my abilities from when I was still living, Master.
I'm simply more limited in how I can use them, since I am now technically your 'skill'.
I see… Well, it's not as if I'm complaining. It was useful at this time.
Pushing my body onto the edge of the bed, I let my feet touch the floor, before looking down at my human body. I was missing my outer clothes, with only my trousers left on. My body also had these strange bandages wrapped around it, that felt strangely warm.
It seems to be a specialised type of bandage, with a very light amount of Magical Energy infused into it, allowing it to act as a 'heat source'.
A heat infused bandage… More and more this world surprises me.
Looking around again, this time with clearer vision, I examined the room I was in. The walls were made from what looked like tree logs, while the ceiling and floor were made up from wood planks. There were all sorts of furniture around as well, all of it seemingly made from scratch by someone, as they seemed less like professional work of an expert, and more like something someone would throw together for a log cabin in the middle of nowhere.
Up onto the ceiling, there was the pelt of a very, very large bear hung, held in place by large, thick nails. "Where are we Ancient One…?"
I am unsure.
After you hit the ground, you fell unconscious.
A few moments after that, a cloaked person found you and while at first, it seemed as though they would leave you there, they did approach you after a bit of hesitation. After examining you, they simply picked you up and brought you here.
They're also the ones who put the specialised bandage around you.
I see…
So someone helped me? But… Who could possibly be wandering about in a giant chasm located in the mountains and for what purpose?
Shaking my head lightly, I stood up, clenching my stomach a little while at the same time using the shadows around me to prevent myself from falling over.
I told you to be careful. You're not quite fully healed yet.
"Yeah, yeah… I got it. Just— Unexpected pain." I replied, before tapping the floor boards gently with my foot. In an instant, Arvalor came out from the shadows, his size adjusted to a smaller scale, so that he could comfortably fit inside the room. Leaning against the chimera, I carefully moved to the doorway in the room together with him.
Upon reaching it, I looked out from it.
Outside the room I was in, seemed to be a sort of living room – With all sorts of furniture all around, as well as a fireplace, which had a gentle, yet large flame crackling inside it. The entire place felt warm – a nice change compared to the very cold climate outside in the mountains.
Moving out from the room, Arvalor was careful to match his pace to mine, staring at me with a worried gaze. "This is rather… Cozy. Like a winter cabin." I commented in my mind, before noticing a drawer to my left, hidden slightly by Arvalor's body.
Carefully moving around the shadow beast, I walked up to the drawer.
There was a picture frame on it of two people I didn't recognise. Picking it up, I examined it a bit more closely. The two individuals inside the picture seemed to be friends, judging from how happy both of them looked and their closeness.
"Good to see that you're not dead, but don't you think it's a little bit rude to touch stuff that doesn't belong to you?" A sudden voice spoke from behind me. Flipping around a bit, my eyes met with a person standing across the room, in another doorway. Arvalor growled lightly, while I placed the picture frame back where I had found it, gently petting the shadow beast to calm him down. "...My apologies… I didn't mean to be rude."
The person didn't respond.
Despite the cloak around their body and the hood over their head, based on the voice I could tell it was a woman under the cloak. Maybe one of the two who were in that photo?
After a little bit, she turned around, only turning her head back to look at me. "Follow me. The food just finished cooking." She stated, before moving through the doorframe she was standing in, disappearing in whatever room was through there.
I hesitated for a second, however taking in a deep breath, I carefully followed after her, leaning against Arvalor for support. While one part of me was telling me that it was a bad idea to 'trust' this stranger, another part was telling me something else: If this person wanted to harm me in any way, they would have done so already. Plus…
"Ancient One, is that who found me and treated me…?"
Indeed.
Thought so…
If they were someone who meant harm to me, I doubt they would have helped me.
Moving through the doorway where the other person was in earlier, I was met with a rather small room – seemingly a kitchen space. There was a table with three chairs around it, with a basket of what looked like fruit in it, though it was a little hard to tell, as they didn't look like any sort of fruit I knew of.
Those would be Ollarak fruit.
They're only in mountainous landscapes, or rather, colder spaces. They're regarded as a delicacy, though, primarily to those who can actually handle them.
"Handle… them?"
Their spice level rivals that of Greydeath fruit.
Or, by your old worlds standards, the weakest Ollarak fruit would be around four times as spicy as the spiciest natural fruit or vegetable from your old world.
That's… quite intimidating to hear. How can anyone handle something that spicy? Truly something to wonder about – though, not now. Shaking my head gently, I looked to the other side of the small room. The cloaked woman was crouched down next to a pot, which was on top of a circular stone slate, with what looked like a magic circle etched on it, glowing gently with a red colour. In her hand, she had a wooden ladle, which she used to gently mix the food cooking in the pot. The smell that I had picked up earlier was a lot stronger in this room, making it clear that it was from here that it came.
"Take a seat. I'll pour you some."
She stated, not turning her attention towards me for even a second. I remained in place for a moment or two, before moving towards the table, pulling one of the chairs back and carefully sitting down on it. Arvalor gently licked my face, before moving behind me, sitting down behind me, while keeping his eyes locked onto the cloaked woman.
Clearly, the chimera was still on high alert and not completely trustful of the stranger.
While sitting and waiting, I looked at the other things in this room. There weren't a lot. Three cupboards lined against a wall, with a window above them – a snowy scenery outside the window, with a snowstorm raging on. Above me, hanging from the ceiling was a candle lantern hanging via a small black chain, with light rust on it.
To my right, lined up against the wall was a pair of larger cupboards, taller than the doorframe of the room — Perhaps places to store food?
Once I was done examining the room, the cloaked woman approached me with a wooden bowl and spoon, placing the two items in front of me. Inside the bowl was what she had been cooking in the pot – a stew, of sorts.
After placing the things in front of me, she moved back to the pot and poured another bowl of the food, before moving back over to the table and sitting down just across from me. After what looked like a prayer of sorts, she picked up her spoon and began to eat, not saying a word to me or even really paying attention to me. I sat there for a bit, hesitant to start eating myself.
"Don't worry, I didn't spike the food with anything." She suddenly stated, before raising her head slightly up, seemingly to look at me. "...Not like it would affect you even if I had."
I remained silent. She wasn't wrong – because of my natural poison immunity, even if she had spiked it, I wouldn't be affected by it. Looking down at the food, I could feel the warmth from it. The smell alone was so good as well. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to eat…" I thought, before picking up the wooden spoon and digging into the food. Upon first bite, I was hit with a strong, spicy flavour. For a split moment, it felt like I had put a fire inside my mouth. However, quickly it subsided, to the point where I barely felt it. All I could taste was how delicious the food was.
After a moment of savouring the first taste, I dug more into the food, eating it. I could feel the inside of my body warming up – with every joint and bone heating up while I ate. It was a… funny feeling overall. However at the same time, it was strangely comforting…
"Most people are incapable of handling Ollarak fruit, even when it's cooked into a stew. They describe it as far too spicy. In fact, I know a few people who have even needed serious medical attention after so much as nibbling on one of the fruits." The woman commented, finishing her serving of the stew, placing the spoon to and bowl to the side, before resting her arms onto the table, looking at me.
"Personally, ignoring the spicy taste, I think Ollarak is a very bittersweet delicacy. Works the best in salted meals." I remained silent, slowly eating the stew in front of me, while listening to her and throwing a gaze at her.
After I finished eating, I pushed the bowl to the side, looking at the woman, who had been staring at me the entire time I ate. "...Thank you for the food."
"Don't thank me. I don't need your gratitude." She shot me down, before getting up and picking up her bowl, before moving over and taking mine as well. "How are you feeling overall? Better?" She asked as she moved over to a large wooden bucket, placing the bowls and the utensils inside it. "Yeah… I feel a lot better. A little weak, but nothing I won't recover from."
"That's rather impressive. Not many people could simply 'walk off' such a frostbite. Your regenerative abilities must be very powerful." She commented, before moving over to one of the cupboards, opening it and rummaging inside. After a moment, she took out a green, long fruit before closing the cupboard and moving over to a different one – from which she picked up a knife.
I remained silent, observing her.
Something felt off about her… Despite not exactly showing hostility, a part of me refused to fully trust this stranger. Whether it was because she was deliberately hiding under that cloak of hers or that she helped me - for whatever reason - I don't know. But something just told me to not fully trust her. To at least keep my guard up a little bit.
"You are quite wary of me." She commented, while peeling the green fruit she had taken out from the cupboard earlier. I shed a slight sweat, while she shrugged, throwing a look at me over her shoulder. "No need to worry. It's only natural that you'd be cautious around a stranger like me."
"...Why did you help me?"
I asked. She remained silent, turning her head away, continuing to peel the fruit in her hand. "...Hard to say. Not so sure myself." She replied a bit later, finishing peeling the fruit. Placing the knife down, she turned towards me and moved towards me, before breaking the peeled fruit in half and handing me one half. "Here, this will help with the recovery process."
I looked at the fruit she offered me, before taking it a moment later.
I could feel Arvalor growling behind me, his guard up – if the woman made any funny or jerkish movements, Arvalor would jump her no doubt. I tapped the ground gently with my foot, sort of telling Arvalor to settle down, while the woman moved towards the doorframe of the room.
"A very unique companion. You're the second person I've met who is capable of controlling shadow beasts."
Then, she moved out of the room.
I stared at the door frame for a moment, before quickly standing up, looking at the fruit half she had handed me. Exhaling, I threw it into my mouth, quickly chewing it up and swallowing it, before following after her, Arvalor springing to my side to help me out instantly. "Thanks." I nodded towards the chimera.
Back in the other room, I saw her now sat on a couch, two needles in hand, knitting something. Observing her for a moment, I moved to a chair nearby, sitting down on it. Then, after a bit of silence, I looked at her. "Who are you?" I asked.
The woman continued knitting, not paying attention to me. After a bit, I opened my mouth again, about to ask the same question again, but she cut me off. "I heard you already once." She said, before looking towards me slightly. "No need to repeat yourself."
"Not my fault you're deliberately ignoring me…"
Afterwards, she looked away once again.
"My name is Ariealle. Just Ariealle." She introduced herself. "And you? What's the name of the fool who I found unconscious basically on my front porch?"
Did she just call me a 'fool'...?
A little hurtful if you ask me, but whatever. I've been called worse things in the past. Exhaling, I leaned forward a bit. "Faofa Shin. You can call me Faofa Shin." She stopped knitting for a second, remaining still for a little bit, before looking at me. "..'Shin'? As in 'Abyss'?" She asked, looking at me. "Did you name yourself that or did someone else name you so?"
"....Someone else?" Technically I wasn't lying.
It was Arabor who came up with the name 'Faofa Shin'. I just hadn't expected that the name actually had a meaning to it… Then again, I had never really thought that much about it.
The name 'Faofa Shin' is a combination of Primal language words.
'Faofa' means 'Friend' or 'Companion' while 'Shin', as the lass just said, means 'Abyss'.
….So in other words – Arabor named me basically 'Friend of Abyss' or something like that?
You could say so.
I facepalmed lightly. I guess he had felt quite lonely while imprisoned for three thousand years, so his instinct was to name me a 'friend' at the first opportunity, but… Really? Unbelievable that it's something that a god like Arabor came up with.
The woman remained silent for a bit, before shaking her head and resuming her knitting. "Anyways… It is nice to meet you Faofa."
"...Likewise, Miss Ariealle."
"Please, drop the formalities. I dislike them."
"...Very well, Ariealle." I replied, a little taken back by her rather sharp statement. "So, tell me Faofa – what kind of fool goes to a cold region of the world without proper equipment to resist or handle it, especially as a serpent born?" My eyes widened the second she mentioned me being a 'serpent'. I shed a sweat before sharpening my eyes. She wasn't at all fooled by my mostly human appearance…
She threw her gaze over at me, while continuing to knit – her eyes narrowing onto me with a strong, coldness to them. "Well?"
"...We didn't originally plan to come to these mountains, so we had no time to prepare anything." I replied. The woman tilted her head to the side. "..'We'?"
"My companions. I got separated from them after a…. Strange monster attacked me suddenly." She let out a small scoff. "You seemed impressive in terms of magical energy and strength, yet you couldn't hold your ground against the weak monsters in these mountains–?"
"Well, it's not my fault that the monster was capable of summoning blizzards."
That statement made the woman freeze up.
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow — Did I… say something I shouldn't have? After a bit, the woman put what she was knitting to the side, and looked at me. "A monster that could summon blizzards…?"
"..Yeah? Is something wrong?"
She didn't answer my question.
She simply stared at me for a bit, before looking away and seemingly thinking about something for a moment. "...I knew that they had been acting weirdly recently, but to think one would attack someone in the open…" She mumbled to herself. After a bit of silence, with me simply staring at her as she was lost in thought, she finally looked at me once again. "Where are your companions?"
I shrugged.
"I don't know. One of the wheels on our carriage broke and so we got stuck on the road. I encountered the monster after leaving them both to search for some wood to use for a campfire. Last I remember, was being flung off a cliff and into a cavern all the while one of my friends was fighting the monster."
The woman listened to me carefully, her arms crossed under her cloak. After another bit of silence, she exhaled and turned around, moving over to a large closet, before opening the doors of it and rummaging inside of it. I observed her, slightly leaning up to try and see what she was searching for. After a little bit, she took out a rolled up, large paper, closing the closet afterwards.
Then, she moved over to a table, before gesturing for me to come closer.
Standing up, I walked over, looking down at the table. She undid the knot around the paper, before rolling it out. It was a map. A very detailed one at that – of the mountains we were in right now. "Can you show me where your carriage broke down?"
She asked.
I nodded gently in response. "Sure…" Leaning onto the table I examined the map carefully, activating 'Analysis' to speed up the search of the road we were on. After a bit, I spotted it, placing my finger onto it. "This is the road we were taking. We entered from the foot of the mountains and the carriage's wheel broke around her."
I traced our path, stopping at the approximate spot where the carriage had stopped. The woman examined the cliffs and the road on the map around the area I had pointed to.
After a bit, she exhaled lightly, rolling up the map. "I see… Thank you." She then picked up the string she had untied from the map earlier, before tying it back around it and moving over to the closet again, placing it back inside. "How capable are your companions?"
That… was a tough question to answer.
Both Odale and Avy, while absolutely stronger than me, were operating in a weakened state – Odale because of his many years trapped under the divine curse of the deities and Avy because of all that time she spent in the seal created by her mother.
"Well… They're both much stronger than me…"
"I see… Then I suppose they'll be fine."
I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms. "What does that mean…?"
"Doesn't matter right now. I suggest you rest for a while longer and allow your body to fully recover from the frostbite you experienced. It will take me some time to finish the adjustments to your clothes anyway."
"Adjustments..?" I asked, looking at her as she walked past me, catching a glimpse of her face and hair under the hood of the cloak. She looked back at me over her shoulder. "You don't think I plan to send you back out into this cold climate without proper equipment, do you? I took your clothing to add some Behemoth fur to them, so that you could resist the cold better."
I see…
Ancient One?
She's telling the truth. After treating you, she took your clothing to another room, which looked a lot like a workshop of a tailor.
Looking over to a window and at the snowstorm that was still raging outside, I sighed. No other choice really… I won't make it anywhere far in that snowstorm and I still needed a bit more time before the Ancient One finished healing me from the frostbite damage. It was better to just buckle down for a bit and hope that Odale and Avy made it out safely from that monster.
"Now then, I'll go and continue work on the adjustments for your clothing. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." She stated, before moving over to another door frame, which led into what I assumed was the 'workshop' that the Ancient One mentioned.
Once she disappeared into the other room, I was left alone with Arvalor.
For a bit, I remained silent, standing in place. "Such a strange person… She doesn't seem all that bad, if anything, she's quite kind and nice… But something is still telling me to be cautious."
Exhaling, I shook my head lightly, before moving over to the couch she had been knitting earlier on. Sitting down, I threw a look at what she had been knitting earlier – it looked like the beginning of a scarf or something, with a pretty pattern spanning across its middle.
"...She's quite good at it, isn't she?"
In the other room…
Ariealle was sitting at her desk, a bright candle lit next to her as she held Faofa's short coat, carefully lining the Behemoth fur into the inside of it. Her eyes were narrowed and she seemed to be lost in her thoughts while working. "What a strange man…" She commented quietly in her mind. "Even if you don't plan on necessarily heading to a colder region, everyone knows that it's smarter to prepare some equipment that can allow you to resist the cold, just in case… Yet, he had nothing."
She lifted her head up, looking at the desk surface, picking up another needle from it, before lowering her attention back down to the coat she was adjusting. "How has he managed to survive this long…?" She thought.
After a moment of continuing her work, she threw a gaze at Faofa over her shoulder, observing him as he rested on the couch, the shadow beast that he had with him, sleeping next to him on the ground. "....For some reason, there's this sense of familiarity I have with him…"
She thought, memories from years ago flooding into her mind.
Squinting her eyes shut, she shook her head, clearing her mind.
Then, she refocused on her work once more.
"...I should focus on finishing this as fast as possible. I can worry about everything else later."