Darkness

Chapter 5 : Darkness

For a time all was darkness and swirling thoughts. Even as he slept, Kaito could only imagine that he'd perished. His mind was filled with thoughts such as, "Death didn't hurt as much as I thought it would." or "Fuu….Artemis….Sylvia."

That's why, when he heard Sylvia's voice, Kaito imagined it was just part of a delusion.

"Kaito. Kaito. Kaito-kun!" His eyes opened as he sat up with a start. He was disoriented, thus he focused on the only familiar thing around him -- the White Queen.

"Sylvia!" Kaito shouted as he hugged her tightly. He was relieved, yet at the same time immensely sad.

"Where's Artemis? And Fuu…" Kaito's voice trailed off as he remembered the sight of Fuu's corpse. There was no way she would have survived, but Artemis..there was at least hope.

"Kaito...listen." Sylvia said as she pushed him apart so that she could gaze into his eyes. The surrounding area was dark and cold, Kaito had no idea where he was currently but the tone of Sylvia's voice gave him ill tidings.

"I don't know what happened after the slime attacked. I was..run through. I managed to close the wound before passing out and I woke up here. Wherever this is.. I've been trying to heal you ever since. I'm so glad you woke up." Sylvia said, embracing Kaito even as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"But Artemis? Where is she?" Kaito was thankful that at least Sylvia had survived, but things were looking more grim for Artemis by the second.

"I..I don't know it was just you and I in this place." Sylvia said as she wiped a tear with the back of her hand.

The area was exceedingly dark, only the smallest amount of light found its way in. If Kaito had to guess, they were in some sort of cavern. The ground below them was hard to the touch, almost like stone. He could even feel the slight growth of moss in some places and his clothing felt damp.

His mind raced, even as he struggled to understand his current predicament. One thing was clear though, they needed to reach the settlement pronto. At the very least, they needed to leave this place.

Kaito reached into a waist pack at his side and fished out a small clear crystal. He flowed some of his mana into it, causing the exploration tool to light up. It was a miniature Sun Crystal, affectionately called a solar torch by many. Simply by giving it a bit of mana it could be used to light the way, the only drawback was that one needed to constantly supply mana to keep it lit. Unlike its other counterparts, they did not possess the trait of storing accumulated mana.

"Sylvia. Stay close. We need to get out of here." Kaito could feel a breeze, signs that there was an opening somewhere within this cavern. He and Sylvia would need to find it if they ever wanted to escape.

*And avoid any monsters on the way.*

Now that Kaito had personally experienced the hell of fighting a slime he regretted the idea of ever entering a place called "The Forest Of Rot" to begin with. Such a menacing name should have been an indication of the terror which lurked in the shadows. Kaito had no intention of making the same mistake twice. Once he managed to escape the cavern he would not stop, for any reason, until he and Sylvia reached the settlement.

"Let's move." He said, looking back at the White Queen who silently observed his actions. She nodded her head as she got to her feet, dusting off her under thighs in the process. The two then made their way through a series of long, dark tunnels. Neither spoke, it was that sort of atmosphere as they traveled.

For Kaito every moment seemed tense, strained even, as he devoted all of his senses to escaping his current predicament. He couldn't help but think of Artemis in this instance. Her role as the party's scout would have been immensely useful - but that would no longer be possible. Memories of Artemis' body as two crystal spikes protruded from her abdomen and face briefly flashed in Kaito's mind. The imagery was so vivid that he was forced to shake his head to dispel them.

"Kaito.. Are you okay?" Sylvia's grip on his shoulder was enough to fully bring him back to the present.

"Yes.. I'm fine. Sylvia, how long was I out?" Kaito asked, his voice barely breaching the loudness of a whisper.

"I'm not sure. It took maybe ten minutes to heal you fully. You lost a lot of blood, not to mention mana and stamina. I had to rest often. Maybe an hour or two later you woke up?" Sylvia estimated.

*It feels later in the day... Much later. There's a good chance that Sylvia and I both were knocked out for a longer period of time.* Kaito also based this on the temperature of the air, which felt cooler on his skin. It could have been due to the humidity within the cave but Kaito's internal clock "felt" as if considerable time had already passed.

If this was the case, then there was even less chance of Artemis having survived her wounds.

*It really is just Sylvia and I.* Kaito lamented this somber fact silently as the two continued walking.

Nearly an hour passed before Kaito saw any improvement in their situation. He spent the previous minutes exploring dead ends or talking with Sylvia about their best course of action. In the end he managed to find the opening of the cavern without encountering any creatures. He even managed to find a few rare medicinal herbs along the way.

"I knew it." Kaito's first words as he gazed up at the sky. Nightfall was upon them, given that it took roughly three hours to reach the treehouse from the settlement, Kaito realized they wouldn't be able to travel much farther.

Monsters reveled in the darkness like humans thirsted after the light. It would be nearly impossible to traverse a forest filled with wolves, bears and boars after sunset.

"Dammit." Kaito glanced downward, even as he extinguished his solar torch and placed it into his waist pouch.

"What is it Kaito?" Sylvia asked.

"The sun's nearly gone. We won't be able to get far like th-- Sylvia! You're injured!" Kaito said as he glanced towards Sylvia's feet. The White Queen had been walking around barefooted the entire time, sometime during their escape from the cavern she must have gashed her foot.

The blood seemed to have dried for the most part, but her toes and even her heel were still bleeding slightly.

"Oh? This? It's nothing." Sylvia said as she tried to laugh it off.

"Besides, I kind of exhausted all of my mana healing you earlier. This much is nothing, I can bear it until we reach the settlement."

"It's more than nothing. Wounds can still get infected. Sickness and disease might not be an issue for us but bacteria will most definitely kill. Sit, please." Kaito was firm in his rebuke, solely out of concern. He'd lost enough party mates today, he didn't need to lose anymore.

He guided Sylvia by the hand and walked with her to a nearby log so that she could have a seat. Even though Kaito wasn't the healer he still made sure to inspect Sylvia's wounds thoroughly.

"This might sting a bit." He said as he poured water from his canteen onto her right foot. His eyes widened as he examined the damage, there was a huge gash running diagonally along the bottom of Sylvia's foot.

"Sylvia, this wound is pretty terrible! How are you even standing?" Kaito reached into his waist pack and pulled out even more basic supplies such as gauze and wrapping tape. He even had disinfectant salve ,which he applied liberally, after washing the dirt and grime from Sylvia's cut. She never protested, or even flinched throughout the process. She simply stared, observing every movement of Kaito's as he gently handled her feet.

After bandaging both he knelt for her to hop on and refused to budge until she accepted his invitation for a piggy back ride. He felt her arms wrap around his shoulders and immediately felt safer. This sense of comfort was something Kaito desperately needed as well -- just to keep his own thoughts at bay.

"Are you ready? Let's go." Kaito asked before standing and heading out.

"How do you know where we're going?" Sylvia asked after a short while. She quickly made herself comfortable, nuzzling her cheek against his as Kaito traversed for the both of them.

"The moon. Based on its position we should find the settlement if we keep heading in this direction. But, before that we should run into the treehouse. We'll spend the night there -- but only if it's safe. If that damn slime is anywhere nearby, we will need to give up on it and return to the cavern until day break." Kaito could feel Sylvia flinch at the mention of the word 'slime', his sentiment was the same. Now that he'd left the confines of the cavern even more questions began to pop up in his mind.

How did they even get there? How had they managed to survive, and mostly unscathed at that? He pushed these nagging doubts to the back of his mind and picked up the pace.

"I'm going to run, hold on tight I don't want to jar you too much." Kaito warned. Sylvia did as told, hugging him tightly as the two continued their journey through the Forest of Rot.