My mind feels lighter as I pull myself up, off a cushion that feels soft. Opening my eyes even more as the dizziness fades, I see that I'm under a tent. My shirt is off.
Outside the tent is where a conversation is being held, my groggy mind doesn't process it well enough for me to understand the words.
Holding myself in a seated position, I pop my neck and reach over to massage my shoulders, one side, then the other.
Slowly as my fingers dug in a bit, I felt a bump on my back then the wrap that is around my chest to hold the bandage in place.
Putting myself into all fours, I begin to crawl to the opening of the tent and push it open, letting whatever light that's out there cover my face. Exiting fully, I slowly bring myself to a stand as I wipe my face, feeling the fabric of the eye patch on my face.
Angel, Timi, Rosa and John all sit by a campfire, and talk amongst themselves, as something sizzles over the campfire, not paying much attention to me until Angel looks up, form her side.
"Well, morning sleeping boy."
"Why am I naked?"
I ask, as I wipe my eye.
John, Timi and Rosa all look at me.
John and Rosa having to turn their body's since they were facing away from me.
"Well, you were running a fever and we had to really check that wound of yours."
Rosa says.
"Yup!"
John nods along.
"So you slept with me and my honey."
"What?"
I ask as if I didn't fully hear them correctly.
"Yeah, we haven't slept in the same bed as our kids for a while, so we really thank you for that. Oh, and I hope you don't mind."
John says, then asks.
I shake my head.
"It's fine, but..."
My stomach grumples.
"Is there any food?"
John scotches over a bit, breaking his legs position on the ground as he looks at me.
"Yup. Some Chicken fish."
"Nice."
I say, still half awake.
Walking beside John, I kneel down, then sit down. My butt gets planted into the ground as John reaches to the fire in the middle of, now, us and hands me a stick that has a well done, piece of fish, with chicken legs on it.
Grabbing the stick doesn't burn my finger, but when I try to grab the meat right off from it's kabobbed body, my finger get's burned.
"Damnit!"
"Language!"
Rosa says before shakes her head at me.
"Young kids like yourself shouldn't be cussing."
Looking around the group as if to see if this is her way of joking no one laughs.
"Oh, you're serious?"
I ask.
"Yeah, if you're under the age of fifteen then you're not allowed to cuss."
Blowing on the meat, chuckling, then slowly grabbing a piece, I answer.
"Yeah. Okay."
Eating the piece I ripped off I savor the taste.
"Wow. This is pretty good."
"Yup."
John says as he takes a bit. He covers his mouth as he speaks.
"Would be better stewed in a pot, but we don't have a pot, nor the needed ingredients so, this'll have to do."
John finishes at the same time as he swallows.
"Lazuli... Whu... Why did the you come into this place alone?"
Timi asks me.
Her staff laid beside her as she sit's in a crisscrossed.
"I was never meant to come in alone. I was with Sply... An..."
"That small Steel ranked woman?"
"Yeah. She is the one that was suppose to teach me archery, to improve myself."
"What happened to her?"
Rosa asks. Sympathetic to me.
"I'd like to say that she's currently looking for me, but I really don't know."
"Well, then we should... Wait, She's a Steel ranked Hunter?"
Rosa asks again, as if to confirm what she heard.
"Yeah. Okay, guys, I know where she'll end up at, we need to go to the end of the Cave."
Rosa jumps up, then with a confused look, then as if he was given a light bulb moment he jumps up.
"Yeah, since this is an easy Cave, for many, us included if we're all here, she should already be at the Cave King."
"Cave King?"
I ask as John jumps up.
Both John and Rosa begin packing their stuff, and bringing down their tent.
"Well, let's get to it. I want to get you back to your mom as soon as possible."
'My mom?'
For a second, my mind flashes to the same woman that would patronize me at every minor inconvenience for her, or whenever she felt I was being lazy. Not working, Not studying, anything that was bad in her book, would be normal in any one elses.
My bag lands beside me, as John puts his hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes as if he's Steel.
"Lazuli. Are you okay?"
He asks as he lowers my bow on top of my bag.
"Yeah, just lost in my thoughts, that's all."
"Okay, I'll let you rest, but I need you to understand that my honey, doesn't want to waste any time to bring you back to Sply."
"Okay. I understand."
"Good. Now put on a shirt, if you were older you'd be making me feel jealous."
He says as he points to my abdomen. The work of progress and, unlike my first life, being able to actually enjoy enough food to live comfortably.
John leaves and goes back to helping out around his tent with Rosa, as Timi and Angel begin to pack up for themselves as well.
Finishing my Chicken fish, not even daring to grab the legs of the Chicken fish.
Turning to my bag, I grab it to see the weird new way they put the bag, for me to still hold it.
The bottom of both sides are put to the one corner of the bag, giving it a V shaped angle for me to hold the bag over my shoulders now.
Opening the bag I grab another shirt, one like before, the white shirt, with a design running through it.
My shirt slightly touches against my back, and against the bandage. making me wince a bit, but as of right now, the pain isn't as bad.
'Guess exhaustion and hunger don't mix well together.'
Getting up, I pull one strap on my arm, then putting my other arm under the other strapletting the bag lean against the good should, and making the top of the bag, brush slightly against my neck.
"Itchy."
I scratch my neck once, then reach down for my bow, putting it on my other shoulder, like usual, the line on my back, and the hold on my front, this way it's less tension when I have to pull my arm back and release and arrow.
By the time I get to finish my food, then get on a shirt, then put my bag on myself. All of them get a good amount of packing down, the fire still being the only one to not be touched by them at all.
Looking around Angel did pack much, just a tent.
Timi is the one with the most to pack, since she's seems to be stuck inside of her tent.
Rosa and John have a dou type of thing you by on so their is no need for them to worry.
Heading towards Timi's tent I tap the cloth.
"Knock knock."
Saying it since it wouldn't be heard, because of it's texture.
Behind the silhouette is that of Timo who is completely still for a moment, like she's meditating, for some reason that gives me a sense of Deja-vu.
Timi's silhouette behind the tent moves a bit, and she stands back up.
"Come in."
Timi says that and then she looks me in the eye with a smile.
"Hi.. Lazuli. Is everything going well?"
I nod to her.
"Yes, I was just wondering if you needed any help with your tent?"
As I say that, I take in the surroundings of her tent, there is a small stuffed animal, a horse with wings on its back. A Pegasus?
'They have Pegasus' in this world too?'
"No, I was meditating for now… or… ah.. actually I think I do need help, with.. muh.. my tent. Can you help me?"
"Yeah. What do you want me to do?"
"Just help me take them down and put them outside."
"So you want me to help you clear out your tent as well?"
"If.. you don't mind."
I shake my head, she stands up and we begin to slowly clear out the tent, off, its few small things in the inside.
Soon we exit the tent and bring it down on one side, slowly we begin to shift to the other side.
Both of us on the same end, and for some reason it feels awkward now, like I have to strike up a conversation.
"So, why do you stutter?"
We both slowly drop this side of the tent.
"Suh… sorry?"
"Your stuttering?"
"I think it's because I'm a bit weird sometimes."
She says that as we both begin to move to the entrance and grab the tent stick that was holding it up on the inside.
Which we put on top.
"Step back please."
She grabs her staff from the ground in front of the tent, as she does that, I do what she asked and step back.
"I don't think you're weird."
She looks at me with a smile.
"Thank you Lazuli, but it's not you who thinks I'm weird."
"Oh."
Timi begins to speak in a language I can't understand and soon, with a puff of air everything that she had on the tent, Cloth, Stick and Stuffed Pegasus disappears.
"WOW."
"Yuh.. yeah. Apparently before they had me in their group they hauled everything everywhere in a bag, n.. now, they have me use… Pocket for their stuff. Whi.. which makes me sometimes think that's the only reason they have me around."
"That's not true."
I jump away from the voice, surprised.
Angel comes up from behind me. Mace in hand.
Timi turns to look up at her with a smile.
"How the hell is someone so big so quiet?"
Angel lets out a laugh. Timi follows her laugh, but it doesn't feel like a real laugh.
Slowly her laughter dies out and the other two, John and Rosa come next to us, Rosa adjusting her glasses as she wipes sweat from her face.
"What's funny? I wanna laugh."
John says.
"Nothing."
Angel says, as she wipes a tear from her eye.
"Yeah… Nothing."
"Anyway. Timi, we put our stuff together to make it easier for you to use Pocket."
"Oh..Okay."
Timi says.
"What's Pocket?"
I ask as Timi moves away from the group around Angel and toward the pile of stuff behind them.
Rosa looks down to me.
"It's like an dimension for when hunters need to put stuff their in case they don't want to carry around a bag with them."
"Really?"
"Yup."
John answers me.
Timi grows a bit of distance from us, making us turn, she stands there for a moment and then the things there disappear with a puff of air.
"That nevers gets old."
Angel says and shivers as she does so.
"Great. Timi! Come on. We're going."
Rosa says, as she turns to me:
"You ready?"
I nod my head.
John puts a hand on his rose jilted katana, and Rosa taps her elbow on the bottom of her sheathed claymore sword, that's angled on her back.
Timi takes into a jog and with Rosa passing me and going into the lead.
"Okay, follow me. This shouldn't take all day for us to find."
Rosa says as she begins to walk before us, making Angel and John follow after her.
I pause for a second as I hear Timi's footsteps grow close then I begin to walk.
Timi stops jogging as she gets close to me, drawing a tad bit of heavy breath as she does so.
"Thank you."
Timi says as soon as she stops breathing heavily.
"For what?"
I ask her.
"For waiting."
"Oh, no problem."
I smile at her.
We begin to walk through endless paths, taking left turns and left turn, or right turns and more right turns, if we don't take a left nor a right turn, we go straight ahead, not encountering anything dangerous enough to worry the group.
The most of it being just a few Chicken-Fish.
"How did you guys meet?"
I ask as we all continue walking.
"We met Timi when we were at a hunters association event for noobies."
I turn to Timi and she nods as she tightens her grip on the staff.
"Angel..?"
"They met me when we were at a tavern."
John chuckles, slightly followed by Rosa.
"She was trying to hit on Rosa."
"And then… what?"
"She almost beat my ass, but I got the upper hand."
"That was years ago John, don't think I'd go the same way, I'm stronger now."
"Doesn't mean I'm not. You big hunk of muscle."
John says as he lightly taps her side, with a playful punch.
"Yeah. That may be true."
Angel says as she sends a heavy slap to his back.
"DAMN!"
John says as he tries to soothe the slap, but is unable to reach it since it was directly in the middle of the body.
Rosa and Angel share a laugh.
"And you two?"
"Who?"
John asked as he still tried to walk and reach around his back to grab and soothe it.
Timi begins to whisper in another language.
A soft breeze leave her staff and lands onto John's back.
"Oh, that feels nice. Thank you Timi."
She smiles at him.
"You're welcome."
"Back to what I was asking."
He paused as he walked regularly now:
"Who?"
He asked again, turning to me.
"You and Rosa?"
John lets out a small laugh.
"Well…"
"In a few years time…"
Rosa interjected before making John speak.
"What?"
"In a few years time, you'll be old enough for that story to be told to you."
"Anyways, it would seem that we are close to the place."
Rosa says.
Making me look away from behind her head and toward the front of everyone.
In front of us holds a door, big enough to be the doors to a castle, the design swirling again and again.
Everyone pauses as we get close to the door, stopping just outside of its range.
"Everyone ready?"
Rosa asks.
Angel picks up her mace and walks forward, John holds his sword by the hilt as is lays in its sheathe.
Timi stays behind them all as Rosa uses her elbow, hitting the bottom of her sheathe and making the claymore pop out of its sheathe, she grabs the hilt and walks forward.
"Angel, get the door."