Rhos slowly regained consciousness and the first thing he noticed was darkness. An endless void stretched in every direction. Not that he was certain of that. After all, he could not move his body.
That was the second thing he noticed. No matter how hard he tried, his body refused to listen. In fact, he could not even feel it.
This was a first to him, so that realization made him pause and think for a bit.
’Am I dead?’
Despite his desperate need to survive, that was a surprisingly calm thought. Mostly because after the ordeal he went through, death felt like a reasonable explanation. With such a dangerous job, he was bound to die eventually.
So this conclusion was not so far-fetched. Then again, dreams were also a reasonable explanation. He could be unconscious right now and was dreaming of an endless dark void.
Yes, that had to be correct. All things considered, how else was he supposed to explain the strange silhouette hovering before him?
The strange thing was incredibly small, it looked as though it could fit comfortably within a grown man’s palm. It had several pairs of wings stretched behind it, though their number seemed to change every time Rhos focused on them.
No, that was not it. Its translucent form seemed to be glitching, one moment it resembled a small winged creature and the next it became an indistinct blur of light.
It was speaking also, or it was trying to speak to him. Dozens of voices layered atop one another in a language he could not understand. Together they formed an incomprehensible mess.
’...What?’
Rhos strained to listen, but it was futile. Whatever was happening here certainly did not look good for him.
Once the tiny creature began to drift closer to him, the voices grew louder and even harder to understand almost to the point of driving him mad.
"Neth"
Rhos’s eyes suddenly snapped open as the word absentmindedly escaped from his mouth. He did not pay attention to that, for several seconds he simply stared with a blank expression.
It did not take long before his senses began to register his current environment. He was lying down and the first thing he saw was a roof made entirely from dark brown bark. He blinked several times before looking around.
He was in an enclosed space. The walls surrounding him appeared to be made from the same dark brown bark. They curved inward naturally rather than being constructed, as though someone had hollowed out the interior of one of the giant trees and transformed it into a dwelling.
’What the? I’m still alive?’
His thoughts were a bit sluggish, but he distinctly remembered falling and being plunged at the depths of cold river water. He also remembered nearly being cut in half and yet he was still alive somehow.
’My crappy luck for the win again’
Rhos sighed and focused on more important matters. Like for example, something warm and soft was pressing against him.
That was odd. His mind gradually pieced together recent events the more awake he felt, and that was when panic began to seep in.
His amber gold eyes widened once he remembered he was almost sliced in half. He immediately looked down.
He saw bandages. His chest and abdomen were tightly wrapped in cold bandages, especially around the wound he had sustained.
’Someone treated me?’
That was good and all, Rhos was glad that he was still alive, but his brain refused to process what he noticed afterwards.
’Why am I naked?’
For several seconds his mind became completely blank. Rhos was completely naked, other than the bandages, there was not a single cloth on him. What made this worse was the source of warmth clinging to him.
Curled against him was a busty young woman with fair skin and dishevelled orange hair. It was Leopard Cat Nimra, and she was completely naked too!
Her body was pressed against his side, her face looked pale from exhaustion.
Rhos stared at her sleeping figure for a while before shifting his gaze to the clothes hanging on the bark, then back to her to confirm he was not seeing things.
"...."
It was when she tightened her grip around him did he realize how real this was, his face was immediately drained of color. His head touched the leaves they were lying in, slowly turning his head toward the ceiling.
The expression on his face was one of complete despair.
’Shit, please don’t tell me I’ve become responsible for something again’
Although Rhos was not particularly experienced with women, complications involving them had somehow become a recurring theme throughout his life. And most of them could be traced back to one place.
There was a rundown bar squeezed between two apartment blocks located near the eastern district of the Biome where he lived where intoxicating drinks were cheap. It was due to this place that he had developed a terrible drinking habit. More specifically, a certain insane barkeeper.
Old Marn was an aggressive seller who treated alcohol like sacred nectar that must be enjoyed every day. The man refused to let customers leave sober. If someone entered his establishment, they were either buying drinks or being convinced to buy drinks.
There was no third option. Rhos had lost count of how many terrible decisions started in that bar.
Thinking about that crazy bastard unexpectedly lightened his mood a bit. A small smile tugged at his lips.
"A drink sounds really good right now"
The thought was so appealing he accidentally said it aloud. However, his mood instantly soured due to a recent memory surfacing.
He remembered a forest drowning in blood. Six blood red eyes watching as he and Nimra were swallowed by the river.
The smile vanished from his face as his body moved before his mind finished processing the thought. He endured the pain that shot through his stitched wound when he sat upright.
Leaves rustled violently when he stood on his feet, causing the sleeping Nimra to wake up.
"Hm, wha...?"
Ignoring her, Rhos crossed the room and approached the hanging roots where their belongings had been left to dry. His uniform was still damp and cold, but he grabbed it anyway.
The moment he started to put it on, a sleepy voice sounded behind him.
"Red Deer, don’t..."
Turning slightly, he found her rubbing one eye while struggling to stay awake. Her hair was a complete mess, and she did not appear to feel shame from being butt naked in the middle of nowhere.
"Those are still wet... you’ll get sick"
Rhos continued dressing without giving her a response. That caused her to frown.
"You idiot... do you know how much trouble I went through to keep you warm, I strip–!"
She was immediately silenced by the jacket Rhos threw at her face.
"Get dressed. We need to leave"
The jacket slid down her head as he said.
"If we stay here any longer, it won’t be long before that Wrath catches up to us"