Soren’s eyes cracked open, his body feeling sore all over.
He felt almost like he was run over by a dragon ten times over.
He stared at the ceiling of the cave, the faint glow of orange illuminating every crevice of the cave.
He sighed in relief, glad that he didn’t wake up to another dream in space like he had the previous times he fell unconscious.
He didn’t know what he’d do if he woke up in the middle of a void, staring at a blue sphere-like world.
‘A faint glow of orange?’
Soren, his vision still hazy, attempted to sit up.
He didn’t remember lighting a fire or anything before he fell unconscious so his mind started to immediately panic.
In this barren, volcanic world, he didn’t know if the orange glow was from a monster that was about to eat him or lava that bubbled up from the numerous cracks of the surface.
He winced as the muscles screamed in protest, begging him to rest a bit longer, but he ignored it and sat up.
Soren came face-to-face with a girl, mere inches away from smashing his forehead against their noses.
He did a very manly yell—not a scream, not at all—and scrambled backwards, hitting the back of the cave with a thud.
He groaned as the back of his head hit the stone wall, cursing at the familiar situation.
Sitting cross-legged beside where he was unconscious was the girl who he ran away from.
She looked to be around his age, clad in dark, travel-worn leather and a charcoal black cloak.
Her hair was midnight black with streaks of gray, spilling beyond her shoulders, and her eyes—staring deep into his eyes—were a mesmerizing, void black that captivated him.
“You’re awake,” she stated plainly, breaking his trance.
Her voice was flat, soft, and unnervingly calm—like a quiet whisper that echoed in an empty street at night.
She didn’t seem to mind that he just panicked.
Soren instinctively reached for the Dream Sword before finding that he couldn’t find it.
He looked around subtly, hiding the rising panic in his eyes before he remembered that he left it outside to pick up later, after he was safe from the night.
She tossed a giant hammer across the cave where it landed right next to Soren with a bang, sending dust and pebbles flying from its heavy weight.
Soren looked at her before looking at the Dream Hammer next to him.
“Thank you,” he said, grabbing the hammer.
He sent a pulse of syntropy into the sword and changed it to a longsword before sheathing it.
“And, uh, who are you?”
The girl continued to stare at him before her gaze shifted down.
He traced her gaze until he saw she was staring at the Order Essence pulsing gently on his chest.
“You can’t have this,” Soren said, holding his arms over his chest in an attempt to hide his heirloom from her greedy eyes—well they didn’t hold much emotion, but he assumed it was greedy.
The girl shook her head.
“No.
I already tried and I couldn’t take it.”
Soren stared at her dumbfounded.
“Anyways,” he continued awkwardly after a minute, moving on from the silence that was threatening to swallow him.
“Who are you?
I’m Soren.”
“Kaeris,” she replied simply, seeming to not notice the awkwardness that floated in the air.
“What are you doing here?” Soren questioned further, accepting that the awkwardness was going to be the normal when he was around the girl.
“We’re way past the central city’s wall.
This is no place for some normal human to be wandering.”
Kaeris looked at him before standing up and brushing the dust and ash off her clothes.
“You made a lot of noise killing the Abyssal Creature,” she replied, walking over the campfire in the middle of the cave.
“And I’m doing the same thing you’re doing… going to the academy.”
Soren looked at her in shock, not believing what he just heard.
This girl he woke up to, Kaeris, was also going to the very same academy he was going to.
He didn’t know if this was some bizarre coincidence or if this was some Abyssal Creature that was messing with his mind.
This could be a dream just like the first Abyssal Creature he fought!
Soren quickly snapped out of the thought, reprimanding himself for the illogical thought.
Of course it was possible he was in the dream of an Abyssal, but the chances of that were much more improbable than Kaeris being real and going to the academy like he was.
“It should be day now,” Kaeris continued, walking towards the mouth of the cave.
“We have to set out and find the academy using the daylight.”
Soren winced at the comment, feeling his muscles ache.
Although he did agree with the sentiment that he should set out as soon as he could to gain ground, he still vehemently disagreed that he should go right now.
His body and mind protested at the thought of moving.
“I don’t think I can move right now.
I used too much entropy that my reserves are still completely dry and every part of my body hurts.”
Kaeris merely glanced back at him before she continued walking.
“Don’t you want my necklace,” he called.
She stopped mid-step, paces away from the mouth of the cave.
“I won’t let you keep it, of course, but weren’t you curious about it?
If you stay, I’ll let you look at it.”
Soren felt bad at the… blackmail, but he’d rather think of it as coercion.
Well, that also sounded bad, but it wasn’t with any nefarious reasons on why he wanted the beautiful… no, creepy girl to stay.
He just knew that two was always better than one and if they were going to the same place, they might as well go together.
Kaeris turned around with a blank expression on her face, studying him, before nodding.
I’ll stay.”
Soren inwardly cheered but outside, he nodded seriously.
“Good, then we’ll leave tomorrow at first light.”
Kaeris nodded, going back to the campfire and sitting down to eat the cooking food.
He looked at her before his stomach growled loudly, demanding food.
Soren looked at her sheepishly before scooching over to the campfire where the smell of cooking flesh was coming from.
When he looked at the meat, he found that he couldn’t really identify what it was.
“What is this?” he asked, taking a stick that had the cooked meat skewered onto it.
He took a whiff and his stomach rumbled loudly, demanding that he eat the delicious-smelling sustenance.
He took a bite and nearly fainted again from how good the meat was.
It was tender, juicy, and flavorful—easily among the best thing he had ever eaten.
“It’s the spider creature you killed.”
Soren froze, chewing slowly.
He thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging and digging in with more vigor than he did before.
He was a scavenger afterall and they couldn’t afford to be picky with their food.
It certainly beat the dried rations he purchased in the fortress-city earlier!
Soren continued to eat the food in peace until Kaeris finished her food and walked over.
She loomed over him, slightly intimidating him with her serious presence, before crouching and grabbing his necklace.
“Hey!” he shouted, his voice muffled from the food shoved in there.
“Do you have to do this now?”
Kaeris simply ignored him, grasping the Order Essence between her hands.
Just when he was going to yank away to eat his food in peace, the stoic woman closed her eyes and leaned against him, cradling the stone in her palms.
Soren froze, unsure of what to do.
He stared at her motionless, beautiful figure and found that he couldn’t find the strength in him to push her away.
She finally seemed so peaceful, a stark contrast of what he knew her as in the very short few minutes of him knowing her, but he knew deep in his soul that this opportunity was a rare one.
As he looked at her, he noticed her tense shoulders and body loosen and she seemed to become more real.
He didn’t know how to describe it, but it was almost as if touching the stone grounded her into reality and before, she was slowly fading away.
Soren shook the thought away.
It was dumb.
He felt a wave of fatigue wash over him as he body begged him to rest and recuperate.
He tried to resist it, knowing that he and Kaeris shouldn’t be asleep at the same time and one should be on guard, but failed.
Soren slowly laid against the ground until sleep consumed him, pulling him into the blissful embrace of unconsciousness with Kaeris on his chest.