The only option she had was the encyclopedia, that is after she had found a safe spot to hide with Kai. Layla, who had come a long way from home, had just run into a serene environment and she had only realized it after her feet became wet from running into the small stream.
Layla, after taking a deep breath, finally looked around her, observing her environment as a desperate attempt to calm down her nerves.
She had just run like a girl.
As she panted heavily, she turned to Kai whose face twisted while he grunted from pain.
The vines had made a small hammock for Kai, and on Layla's command he was lowered gently to the ground. The more she stared at him the more she realized how much pain he was in. The scratches from the sharp claws of his opponents were deep and left quite the souvenir. Kai was clearly in discomfort, blood oozed from his openings whenever he tried to sit up, his recovery was slower than she had expected, at this point, Kai could bleed to death.
"I'm- I'm okay," he muttered roughly while trying to sit up..
Layla held him down from the shoulder, a fatal move as her hand pressed unknowingly into one of his cuts.
"Ahhhh!!!"
"I'm sorry, please, don't move," she cried.
His wound was in a worse shape than she had imagined and she couldn't let him bleed to death, or worse he could be infected, then what?
She couldn't take that risk, not when she hadn't figured out how this world worked yet, or with her zero survival skills.
"Bigo, where are you?"
"Bigo?" Kai asked as he sat up forcefully, his eyes all alert as he scanned their environment, "Who's that? Is it another male?" For a brief moment Layla stared at Kai with mixed emotions. Seriously, to think jealousy was the best he could do despite being in such a position.
"No, he's not a male, he's…" her tongue was tied, there was no words to properly describe Bigo to his understanding, Bigo was in fact a male, at least he seemed that way, "not in the way you think-"
"Host, I'm here," Bigo answered as he appeared out of thin air.
Kai frowned, "a toad beastman?" He had certainly seen toads but this was off the raider. The more Kai forced his body to move, the more difficult it became, his consciousness gradually faded and his thoughts clouded, Layla caught on that there was no time to waste.
"Quick, give me the book."
Bigo took out the book from the space storage he kept it, "umm- I need first aid treatment for a patient with deep cuts," she ordered and within seconds the words appeared with the perfect solution to their current situation. Yarrow, the word appeared, instantly forming images of the herbs, Known as "master of the blood," popularly used to stop heavy bleeding.
The instructions were clear, powdered leaves or a fresh leaf paste can be applied directly to a cut to promote clotting, and although there were others, this did the job just fine.
Layla turned the book towards Bigo, and showed him the image of the plant, "Here, I need this herb right here, get this as quickly as possible, I think I remember this being a weed so it shouldn't be difficult to find."
"But host," he interrupted, "how about, you try summoning the plant since we don't have much time. People with such an ability should be able to summon such a plant by conjuring it."
Layla gave it a quick thought, "You really think so?"
"Yeah, I mean it's worth a shot, so how about you give it a go."
Bigo's idea seemed to have intrigued her a bit and so Layla decided to give it a go, but that turned out more difficult than she had expected. Layla could only call for nature's help, not yet bend it to her will, it was a horrible failure as not even a sprout emerged, moreover she had spent almost all her energy trying to conjure the plant and she could feel her strength seeping away.
Bigo nodded, she didn't need to say anything else, his memory had captured the image of her need quickly he was on his way.
Despite help being on the way, there was no time to spare. Borrowing what little strength she had left she summoned more vines and wrapped them around him to serve as makeshift bandages before Bigo arrived, however Kai wasn't having it smoothly.
From the touch of the vines Kai but his lips aggressively, his teeth sinking deep that he began to bleed while he grunted from pain.
When it was done Kai was sweating, panting heavily like a dog, he could hardly make sense of anything around him, but the silhouette of Layla was something he couldn't forget, lips he kept repeating one name, her name, "Layla- don't leave me, don't leave me Layla."
"I'm right here, just stay with me, please," she whispered.
Perhaps it was the fact that she owed this man a lot, or the fact that he had sacrificed a lot for her, but all thoughts of abandoning this man if he became dead weight seemed to vanish.
Kai, in a desperate attempt to stop his mate mustered his remaining strength and pulled his arms tightly around her, even the smallest movement from her would cause his grip to tighten mumbling to not be abandoned.
"Host," Bigo yelled happily as ran towards Layla with the herbs, on one hand, "I threw in a couple extra herbs I thought would help."
"Bigo…" she murmured, her eyes teary, "you did that, for me?"
Layla took deep breaths, ready to get started on the treatment with Bigo right next to her, ready to assist with whatever she needed.
There wasn't a second to lose, the both began grinding the plant, unwrapping the bandages, applying the mixture before wrapping him back in the vines, although the most difficult part was getting Kai to let go of Layla and the pains from wrapping him up, the both eventually succeeded in finishing up the process.
"Hahh~"
Layla and Bigo, exhausted from their day's work, collapse to the ground, staring at the sunset. The day was almost over, and in no time, predators would roam the streets, staying here, although temporarily was safe, Kai's wound, filled the air with the scent of blood, it was suicide to keep staying there.
Since there was no deliberating any further, Layla got up, took a quick look at Kai and with a sigh, gathered courage to pull one more move. Although drained, she channeled all her remaining strength in requesting help from the plants once again to help pull Kai's weight, and together with Bigo, the three set off.
The day was running faster than the two had predicted and now was not the time to walk casually seeking for shelter, their best bet was to return to the cave as Bigo had reported that their enemies had already left.
Layla had never ran that much in a day when she was June and yet here she was, desperately trying to save the life of a man she barely knew.
Howl…
That of course, was not good news. The sun was down, and the predators were out to play, the game of course were those three. Immediately, they took to their heels.
"Home isn't so far off, at least over there, Kai's scent will block off predators," she said to Bigo.
Home, when did she start thinking of the one place she thought she hated as home? She had no clue, but it was surely better than being out in the wild.
"Um host, I'm picking up some presence coming from the cave," Bigo informed her.
He wasn't wrong, for the first time since June became Layla, it was the first time her nose had picked up an unfamiliar scent, she couldn't even tell anything wrong around those rabbits but it was different this time, she smelt outsiders.
"Bigo-" she called out worriedly, "we need to get out of here-"
However, when she turned around, Bigo was nowhere in sight, Layla panicked, "Bigo!!!" she called out, the thought that Bigo had gone to find somewhere to hide, but a big part of her rejected that idea, but that was not the only thing wrong.
"Gasp! Kai!"
Layla quickly lowered the vines where she had kept Kai, but there was no sight of him, the very place she had thought would keep him safe and easily out of reach was the very place he was snatched away from.
But who? And why?
Layla, now alone, couldn't help but panic, perhaps they got Bigo too, perhaps not.
Just as she did her best to collect her thoughts, the rustling of the bushes behind her quickly alerted her of another presence. Her senses had sharpened and this time, there was no way she was going to let it be as she chased after the person.
The more the chase dragged on, the weaker she got, she had exhausted her physical strength, her powers too were a mental drain and taking a toll on her, Layla's vision slowly blurred and she lost sight of her target as she watched him vanish deeper into the woods, her breaths were heavy, her legs were weak, she slowed down breathing heavily and fell to the ground, her vision, blurred and shaky when two figures approached her from the path the man had just ran into.
"Damn, she was extremely difficult to shake, but I guess she got tired," one of them said. The other moved forward, taking a squat in front of her so her eyes met his.
"Remembr this Layla, you can't die now, you still have a lot of crimes to pay for," he said.
Layla barely murmured, "scoundrels- d- don't lay a hand on them," slowly her consciousness wandered, Layla had lost the fight.