Her loud, beastly screech echoed throughout the cavern as Arlo immediately froze where he stood, instinctively raising both hands into the air, to show he meant no harm.
Slowly, he took another cautious step forward, and this time, she didn’t screech.
She remained where she was, allowing him to crouch before her and examine the wounds covering her body.
A massive hole had torn through her shoulder, while another gaping wound in her chest had clearly pierced straight through the vessels close to her heart.
There was no saving her.
The creature before him should already have been dead.
Even so, Arlo gently wrapped the cold handkerchief around her injured arm, offering the dying beast the only comfort he could.
Almost immediately, he noticed the bulging veins across her forehead gradually relax as the unbearable pain subsided, and a faint growl of relief escaped her lips.
"That’s true. It must have really hurt..." Arlo murmured.
The female Vorath suddenly snapped her head toward him, her black eyes widening with horrified shock.
"SCREECH... GRRUU... RUUUU..."
The incomprehensible sounds spilled from her lips, causing Arlo to raise an eyebrow.
"Yes... I can understand you. Is that really so surprising?" he asked, watching the disbelief spread across her face.
One of the greatest reasons behind the endless bloodshed between humanity and the Vorath was their inability to communicate.
Ordinary Vorath couldn’t understand human speech, while only those standing at the very pinnacle of their race possessed the intelligence to converse fluently.
Yet somehow...
The young man standing before her understood her every word.
"GRRUUUU... FIRU ZUUUU..."
"You’re not a human!"
[A/N: These are the actual words spoken by her. To avoid interrupting the flow too much, I’ll translate them directly into English.]
"And what makes you say that?" Arlo asked, his expression becoming strange.
He had never once considered himself anything other than human.
Even so, compared to the grotesque creature before him, whose appearance resembled a beast far more than a person, he was certain he looked considerably more human.
Slowly, she stretched out one of her claws and placed it against his chest before closing her eyes.
Silence settled over the cavern.
Several moments later, her eyes abruptly snapped open.
The darkness within her pupils began swirling violently, causing Arlo to instinctively step backward and break the contact.
"Your heart..." she whispered in disbelief. "It is overflowing with magic. Such pure magical energy... it is strengthening my dark magic."
She stared at him as though she had witnessed something impossible.
"Humans don’t possess magic within their bodies."
Arlo instinctively placed a hand against his own chest.
All he could feel was his wildly pounding heartbeat. Standing only inches away from a creature capable of tearing him apart with a single swipe, how could his heart not race?
"Wait..." Arlo suddenly said, narrowing his eyes.
"Your chest... it’s burning."
Confused, Miliani lowered her gaze.
Only then did she notice thin wisps of smoke rising from the wound over her heart.
"What is this...?" she muttered.
Before she could react, Arlo gently reached forward, took hold of her trembling hands, and slowly placed them against his chest.
"GROOOOWWWLLLL!!"
A pained growl instantly escaped her lips the moment their bodies made contact.
The wound over her heart suddenly began blazing with brilliant light, and right before Arlo’s eyes, a tiny metallic object was forced out of the opening before dropping onto the blood-soaked ground with a soft metallic clink.
Moments later, the flesh around the wound began knitting itself back together.
After nearly two minutes had passed, Arlo finally broke the contact before collapsing onto his back, gasping for breath like a man who had just sprinted for miles without rest.
His entire body felt unbelievably drained.
Even so, he forced himself to sit up and looked toward the Vorath, noticing that the hole in her chest had completely disappeared.
His curiosity deepened further as she slowly removed the handkerchief wrapped around her arm, revealing that the wound there had vanished as well.
Not even a scar remained.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
Arlo simply placed a hand against his chest once more, confusion filling his own eyes.
"I... don’t know."
Slowly, she rose to her feet.
She was completely healed.
As she looked down at him, Arlo once again saw the darkness swirling within her eyes, but this time the emotions behind them had changed.
The confusion was gone, replaced by the instinctive desire to kill, the same hatred he had seen in every Vorath that had attacked the squad.
Now...
It was directed entirely at him.
"GROOOOWWWLLLL..."
Arlo’s expression stiffened as she suddenly lunged toward him.
Instinctively, he shut his eyes and braced himself for the claws that would tear through his body.
But, the expected pain never came.
Instead, he found himself wrapped in an embrace colder than ice itself, slender arms tightly encircling him while icy breath brushed softly against his neck.
"Thank you... Thank you for saving my life."
Arlo remained frozen for a moment before finally letting out the breath he had been holding.
Slowly, he raised a hand and gently patted her back.
Only then did she release him.
"I... still don’t know your name."
"Miliani. My name is Miliani Eboncrest"
"Eboncrest..." Arlo repeated thoughtfully.
"That sounds like the name of royalty."
"If you’re truly not human," Miliani said, her expression turning serious, "then you must have been brought here from another world as well."
Arlo gave a slow nod.
Almost immediately afterward, however, his eyes widened as the meaning of her words finally sank in.
"Wait..."
"You mean..."
"You were transported here from your own world as well?"
Miliani quietly nodded.
"Tell me how you came to this world, and I’ll tell you how we survived here for so long."
"I’ll also tell you the truth about this war, a truth the highest ranks of humanity would never allow you to hear."
She lowered herself into a cross-legged position before him.
Arlo remained silent, his brows tightly knitted together.
He still didn’t know whether he could trust her, and judging from the knowing look in her eyes, she seemed to understand that too.