Kairezi Jungle

As the two girls trudged down the path to the town, Aisha felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.

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She had broken down in mistress's arms.

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God, the woman had... she had... she had told her that she loved her.

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But Aisha still couldn't believe it. She was... she was...

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[

"Last night meant nothing." She had said, that morning. Lorian had nodded, of course, with that sickeningly sweet smile. That damn... that soft look in her eyes, that fake, fake, smile, accompanied by those fake, fake words.

]

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Aisha shook her head violently. She wanted her mistress to forget about it, but more importantly, she needed to forget about it.

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But it was so difficult, with the woman in question right next to her, staying close and constantly reminding her of her presence. Even though Lorian could easily teleport directly to her university and save herself the ~45 minute walk, she chose to accompany her, annoying her all the while with her stupid questions and games. With her stupid... caring about her.

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(I don't owe anything to this girl.)

(Why do I feel so bad about lying to her?)

(Why does the thought of her sadness make me feel like this?)

(... What is this guilt?)

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She almost turned to Lorian and told her the truth, but then she remembered the last day's events. That feeling of helplessness…

She clenched her fists angrily, her will steeled. It didn't matter. She was going to go to that address, and get stronger. It didn't matter that she was basically acting on pure hope. Any chance was better than nothing, especially when she had nothing to lose.

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Aisha felt like tearing herself out from the inside. Why did those words feel so fucking wrong?

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The two girls eventually reached the end of the forests, where the same two guards greeted them. Aisha walked pass them, ignoring their greetings, while Lorian opted to stay and chat. Aisha was filled with thoughts of what was to come.

(Maybe the voice wants to do experiments on me.. Or maybe it needs a host to possess… one without a soul.)

She shook her head. It was pointless to speculate. It wasn't as if she could do anything to prepare anyways. She glanced above. It was much earlier than mid-day… She gave herself plenty of time to find the building she was supposed to go to. The buildings in the town were placed seemingly at random, which frustrated her immensely. But she had plenty of time, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem. She looked at the two buildings next to her. One of them read 122. The one next to it read… 254. She sighed.

3 hours later, she found where the building was supposed to be. Supposed to be… because what she was looking at was an empty square of dirt, where a building could have went. She looked up at the sky again. It was a little past mid-day. She gripped her hair with her hands in frustration, at believing that stupid voice and paper, for getting her hopes up, for the ridiculous numbering system of the town. She sat down, waiting. She didn't know what to do. For a second, she had believed…

A large shadow fell over her. She turned around to look at a towering man with long hair, dressed in all black, with a long coat that fell to his ankles. The first thing that came to mind was that he looked really stupid, dressed like that in the searing heat. The second thought that came to mind was that he was easily 7 feet tall. He looked down at Aisha, sitting pitifully on the ground.

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"You're late." He spoke, in a deep, smooth timbre. It was the voice!... What an asshole!

"So are you."

"That is correct."

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Dark black eyes stared into dark red eyes. The stranger was the first to speak.

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"You're going to need this."

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He took out a lump of black fabric with a gloved hand and tossed it at Aisha, hitting her square in the face.

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"...What's this."

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He ignored her question, walking towards the empty lot. As he reached the center, the light around him began to distort upwards. A second passed and he was gone. Aisha felt partially annoyed at herself for not exploring the lot further. But that didn't matter now…

She glanced at the bundle of cloth in her lap. She unfolded them to reveal.. Clothes.

(I don't know what I was expecting… He did say that I would need them. I might as well try them on.)

She began to put on the uniform. The street she was on was unpopulated, but more than a few passerby looked at the undressing fey girl.

Aisha finished dressing by tying a sash around her waist. She looked down at herself. The center of her chest held a strange symbol that she did not recognize. She was in a long, loose one-piece sleeveless outfit that kept her shoulders and the side of her chest exposed. It was much easier to move in this, she supposed.

(And the clothes actually fit...)

She folded her old clothes and tossed them aside in the corner of some alley. She steeled herself, and stepped into the center of the lot, feeling a strong pull. Her body lurched violently, as her surroundings began to shift…

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Aisha took a look around as her vision began to stabilize. She was in a room with… 20 other people. In the corner was a black stone with markings… a teleport stone. The mysterious man was nowhere to be found. She took stock of some of the people in the room. Most of them were human, and were gathered around a small blond girl, the same height as Aisha, who was dressed in a lacy white outfit. On her neck hung a cross with pointed ends. Aisha assumed she was some sort of priest. In one of the corners sat an inconspicuous boy with short black hair. He was looking down at his lap, so she did not get a look at his face.

She did not have any more time to look at the rest of the people in the room, as a deep voice sounded, startling her. Where had he come from? He was not in the room when she had entered.

"You have all been gathered here to become stronger. I want you all to remember why It will be important later."

"Before we start, I want you to all remember something. At the end of the year, only one person in this room will remain. If you want to leave, now is the time."

(Ominous.... Wait, start what?)

She did not have time to collect her thoughts as he knelt and placed his palm on the floor. Blue markings began to move outward from his hand, as a massive glyph soon drew underneath all the people in the room. A blinding blue light filled the room, and Aisha felt a familiar pull…

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(Urg.. where am I this time...)

She took stock of her surroundings. All she saw were trees and foliage.. It looked like she was in a jungle of some sor-

"Gah!"

A sharp pain erupted in her left shoulder. She whirled around, seeing a massive green beetle, chittering. Two transparent wings grew out of it's fat body, vibrating intensely with a low hum. She saw her blood dripping from one of two sharp blades that jutted out from the side of its mouth. Aisha did not even have time to feel the wound on her shoulder as the insect screeched and charged at her a second time, aiming for her head. It whizzed past her alarmingly fast, Aisha ducking just in time.

(Damn! It's fast!)

Aisha did the only thing she could think to do, and ran. It was just some dumb bug.. But it was much faster than her! She also had no doubt that it was also stronger than her. She looked at her frail arms with anger. She could only hope to put some distance between her, and hope for the bug to forget about her.

She ran through the jungle, her exposed sides being scraped and bruised by various thorned ferns and branches. She cursed the man dressed in black. He had given her these on purpose!

She looked behind her. The beetle was gaining fast, as it's movement was unencumbered by the foliage of the jungle. She looked around, for something to help ditch the insect.

There! She spotted two trees, placed next to each other. She ran in between them and crouched, praying that the beetle would be stupid enough to attempt to go the same way.

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It was not, flying around the pair of trunks. It did not get stuck, but It's momentum carried the sharp branch that Aisha held directly into one of it's beady eyes. It screamed in pain, as blue blood splattered over Aisha's chest and arms. It fell to the ground, twitching.

Aisha stood over the insect, breathing heavily. She glanced at the long gash in her right arm that the insect had left on her as she pierced it. The now broken twig was tossed aside, and Aisha picked up a rock, ready to finish off the beetle.

As the beetle's dying breath, it's mouth shot a beam of energy, about the width of a coin, directly through Aisha's left shoulder. She screamed, clutching her now useless left arm. Angrily, she began to stomp on the beetle's sturdy carapace, chitin, blue blood and guts covering the previously green foliage.

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Aisha fell into a sitting position, the threat now gone. She finally had a bit of time to think, before the next animal came, attracted by the insect's death. She was in a dense jungle, teleported here by the mystery man. She had no idea where she was… she guessed that it was a test of some sort, and that the objective was to leave. The pain in her left arm reminded her that she had barely won against the beetle, and was now down her dominant hand… if another beetle came, or hell, some sort of larger beast, she was definitely dead.

(Almost dead two days in a row… I could almost laugh.)

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She looked at her bleeding left arm.

(Dead, in a couple of minutes, from blood loss.)

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Aisha fell over in defeat, her head hitting the damp jungle floor, her hope shattered. There seemed to be no way she was going to be living, and the look in the mystery man's eyes told her that she would not be getting saved. She glanced up at the sun leaking through the jungle canopy, and began to accept her death, for the last time…

(What about Lorian?)

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(Who cares.)

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(She would be sad.)

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(I have to live.)

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Aisha sighed, averting her eyes from the blinding sun. It reminded her too much of her mistress, and her disgustingly radiant warmness.

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Death could wait. Death wouldn't even get a soul, so it probably wouldn't even bother to claim her. She looked at the sun once more… It did not come from directly above. It had been a while. She had not fought the beetle for long… so why had such a long time passed?

It was the teleport! It was delayed somehow! But why?

Her eyes widened. It was just a gamble, but it was her best hope. She had to get back to where she had arrived! She looked around, but the twisting jungle around her gave no hints. She guessed that the man had planned this too… the setting and the circumstances were designed for each person to go through the jungle alone, for them to lose their sense of direction. But there had to be some trace of her path through the jungle…

The blood running down her arm gave her the solution. She spotted an almost indistinguishable trail of red, leading her to the small clearing that she had arrived in. She walked around, knocking around dirt with her shoe. Sure enough… below the dirt, was a black stone with markings on it. She stopped and waited.

It was only about 10 minutes before the air in front of her began to ripple. The person who came out was the frail, blonde priest girl that she had saw earlier.

(Great… the popular girl. She reminds me of mistress...)

Shaking off thoughts of Lorian, she quickly explained the situation to the girl. She was shocked to see the bloody Aisha, but she quickly understood. It pained every fiber of her being to do so, but Aisha asked for the girl for her help getting out of the jungle.

"We should stay here and help everyone else."

"No."

"Why not?"

"They can help themselves."

"You couldn't!"

Anger welled up in Aisha's chest, but she kept it down.

"I do not know if more will come. It was luck that led me to you. The teleports are random. It is more likely we find people if we move."

She lied through her teeth, wanting to get out of the jungle as quickly as possible.

"Ok...." The priest said, her words uncertain.

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"Hey…Let me heal your arm."

"Do not heal me."

"But isn't it uncomfortable?"

The girl pointed to her arm, now bandaged sloppily with a big leaf and plant fibers.

"I'll be- urk!"

Aisha collapsed to the ground, a tingling feeling spreading out from her arm. Poison. The priest quickly knelt over her, pushing her palms out towards the infected arm. Wispy white light began to emit from her hands, flowing into the damaged arm, closing the wounds and purifying the poison in her bloodstream.

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Aisha clenched her teeth and her good fist on the ground, ripping up grass and dirtying her fingernails. She was so weak… having to be saved by this frail girl.

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After she could feel her arm again, she got up and started walking again, no words uttered towards the healer.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"I have everything I brought he-"

"No! I mean, you've forgotten to say something!"

She looked at Aisha expectantly. She was quickly getting on Aisha's nerves.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Ttttttttthhhhhhhank you."

The girl smiled at Aisha, and they continued on their way.

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The rest of their walk went uneventfully. More jungle creatures came, but were dealt with swiftly by the priest's magic, as they had no shield to protect against magical attacks. Aisha looked at how easily she had dealt with the creatures. The feeling of patheticness was familiar in her chest.

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"Hey! I can see the edge! We're almost out!"

It was almost sundown now, and the two girls could see the bright sun through the dense forest. They stepped outside to see a large field, with long grass flowing beautifully in the light breeze.

"Haa! We're finally out!"

The little priest girl cried out in joy, jumping into the field and rolling around in the grass. Aisha looked at her with disdain. She could see a grey blob vaguely on the horizon. Town was still far away. Her legs were already very tired… and the cuts and scrapes on her arms and shoulders stung. She got them too often for her companion to constantly heal them, and she didn't let her try.

"You two took a really long time in there."

Aisha flipped off the man that seemingly materialized behind her. She didn't know how, but despite being massive, he still managed to sneak up on her. At the sight of him, the priest stopped rolling around and stood up, angry.

"Hey! How could you do that! She almost died in there! If I hadn't…"

Her words faded away with her body as the man waved his hand at her, blue magic sending her back to town.

Aisha had her own set of questions for the man.

"Who are you?"

"..."

"..."

"You can call me Xelos."

"You know that is not what I meant."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Dark red stared into black, once more.

"...Why did you bring me here?"

"You wanted to become stronger."

"Why did you give me this uniform?"

"You will need it later."

She sighed, frustrated. She was not going to get any clear answers out of him, at least, not the ones that she wanted. She turned to look at the forest.

"Why save me?"

She received no response. He was gone.

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Wait. He didn't teleport her back! She looked at the small grey blob in the distance, her legs trembling. The girl's healing was no short of a miracle, but all the fatigue of the jungle had not left her. Slowly, she began to trudge through the grass back home.

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"Yeah 276 has some really nice ramen, you should go check it out!"

"Oh 276? Is that the one next to 345-"

Lushien and Varis paused as a small fey girl, once again, stumbled her way towards them. She did not offer any greeting as she walked past, slowly, covered in scrapes and cuts. She fell, starting to crawl up the steep hill on her hands and knees.

"Strange girl."

"At least she wasn't dying this time."

"Maybe the next time, she'll be uninjured."

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It was dark out when Aisha finally made her way back home, to that familiar house on top of the hill. Her entire body was screaming, and the cold air attacked her exposed body. She had never really looked at the house twice before, but in her tired state, the small abode looked like heaven.

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And if the house was heaven, then the woman who lived inside… was an angel. In her blurred vision, her muscles screaming, she could faintly make out Lorian's shape.. her soft, warm, pillow-like body… She did the only thing she could think to, and with the last bits of her strength, she threw her arms around her waist, burying her face into her stomach. Lorian looked down at her, fondly, returning the embrace. She did not mention the new clothes, or the red marks that littered her body.

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"Bad day?" Lorian asked softly, wrapping her arms around the poor girl. Aisha could only sink into the embrace in response, lacking even the energy to be embarrassed. She just needed the comfort.

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"Mnrrnnn..." Aisha choked out, muffled against Lorian's chest.

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She carried the tired girl back to their bedroom. She undressed her, carried her into bed, and pulled the covers over them. Aisha offered no resistance. She looked down at the sleeping girl, still buried into her stomach. She gently covered an ear with her hand and began to stroke it. Her stomach was ticked faintly by the gentle murmurs that came from Aisha as she continued to caress her ears. She continued to pet her throughout the night, until eventually she joined Aisha in peaceful sleep.