lirvothethird

  "You don't make dry wood, you find it."

  Why didn't I realize that. Dry wood. Where the fuck is the dry wood out here.

  My gaze must have been too sharp as she trembled slightly before protesting.

  "How would I know! It's logical that you can find dry wood somewhere if people can start fires by gathering wood."

  I held my tongue from spouting something about how did the people in the carriage do it. Pointing at the driftwood littering the rocky riverside.

  "Do you feel that is dry enough?"

  Right as I pointed towards a particurly rge piece, a rge beast that looked like it just climbed out of the ocean came out of the woods with a crunch. Slimy green tendrils draped off it as well as a thick green matting on top.

  Long cws jutted through thick fur. The cws had red specks on it!

  "Wait where'd you go?"

  The moment I saw the dangerous cws was the moment I hid underground.

  A long growl of some sort rippled through the air as the beast cpped. We had stumbled upon its territory.

  Caution clouded my mind but the thought of seeing someone I talked to torn to shreds is horrifying. Rising out of the ground, I tapped her shoulder and whispered fiercely.

  "Let's go! It's too dangerous."

  She turned around mouth wide open. Leaving no room for talking, I swiftly hug her close to my body before squeezing underground.

  If I developed my magic better it wouldn't be this tight a fit and all the previous times I escaped while dropping most of my food wouldn't be as painful. She pinched hard at my waist before a muffled whimper came out.

  "I can't breathe."

  Now that is something new. Moving an arm upwards, the pressure gradually increased on my right side. Pushing diagonally upwards, a hole was created.

  "If you can do that why don't you make more room?!"

  "Oh. But there needs to be space to push things to."

  I attempted to make more space by squeezing backwards, but it only resulted in her lying down on me. An awkward silence followed as only the sounds of water trickling and our breathes remain.

  I felt like I was doing something wrong so I tried to break the silence.

  "Do you know what animal it is up there? It seemed very dangerous, you know, with blood on its cws and mouth."

  She kept silent, letting out heated breathes. Eventually, she shifted around to face me. Sweat started trickling down my back. I made for a hasty escape.

  "It looks like it left, haha."

  Pushing upwards, a violent explosion of pebbles occurred. The clitter ctter as they fell on the rocky riverside as well as our heads hurt her, not me. The noise would've scared away anything small, but rge creatures might come to investigate.

  Releasing her quickly from my arms, I move to pick up my clothes left in the river. The leather pouch with all of the food was gone, leaving only the boxes of herbs behind as well as a small pouch of tools.

  "Let's move."

  She stumbled a step as she moved towards me.

  "I think I hurt my foot somewhere."

  Looking at the complete normal looking foot, I decided not to question it.

  "Do you want a stick to hold?"

  Shaking her head she reached out to hold my shoulder. Bancing the boxes and clothes on one side and the girl on the other, I realized I never asked for her name.

  "What's your name?"

  It seemed that she was stunned as well. I decided to just help someone to a town without knowing where I was going and who I was travelling with.

  “Anna.”

  “I'm Aerth.”

  Continuing on our trek, we headed downstream, picking up a few dry sticks and branches on the way. After finding a suitable location, we started setting up camp. That of course is signified by starting a fire.

  Pinching a few rocks into the shape of a rge knife, I proceeded to chop at the driftwood. It didn’t chop until I took another rock to smash into the back of the knife.

  “Wow, how convenient.”

  Anna gazed at my work as she huddled, holding her legs to her chest. That comment fuelled my ego, preventing me from asking for help to spread my wet clothes out to dry.

  I id down the branches one yer at a time, alternating the way I pced it. Then I realized I didn't have enough wood. Going to collect wood would be foolhardy as one person is limping and the other is almost buck naked.

  Instead, I casually piled the wood by pcing them upright, small inside rge outside. Grabbing the tinder from the fire starting kit, I struck the flint hard with another piece of rock.

  It just wouldn't spark, no matter how much I've done it. Closing eyes in contemption, I recalled the times I made fire at home. Flint struck at an unassuming bck rock, producing a cascade of sparks.

  If the flint isn't the problem, the rock is what's missing.

  "Darn that old man! I knew this was too cheap."

  Throwing the flint at the ground, it just silently clunked. Breathing a sigh of disappointment, I sat down. The sweat that was worked up rapidly cooled down my body.

  No chance of fire now. It left me with no choice. A voice interjected.

  "We can hug, if you feel cold."

  "What are you saying? Stop, you're gonna get cold that way."

  Holding down the dress from lifting, I sat back down. An idea popped into my mind, and I instantly got into action. Laying ft on the ground, I rolled.

  In the end, a weird ft indentation in the ground was made.

  "What's this supposed to do?"

  "I have no idea."

  The impulse I acted upon resulted in nothing. The sky darkened somehow already, ill clouds den with rain prepared to soak us to the bone floating in the sky.

  Hours had passed by without food. I, I was already used to it, and had a magical means to not need food, but on the other hand...

  So there was that reason she hugged her legs. Approaching suddenly made her flinch slightly. Quietly, I ask.

  "Is there anything in these boxes that can be eaten?"

  I had decided to forgo the medicine in exchange for her survival.

  "I don't know..."

  A faint sob came out. I removed the cloth covering my lower half, opting to pull the slightly damp pants I had. Pulling her up to her feet, I crouched in front of her, gesturing for her to climb on.

  After a few failed attempts, I just turned around before cradling her in my arms, cloth wrapping her up and tied around my chest.

  I started moving forwards into the darkness of the forest.

  lirvothethird