Ravine

'What're you doing in this hole?!'

"Ugh... my head..."

'Your head! It's bleeding!'

"It... is?" Kuoka touched his head, but he couldn't feel any pain. He looked down at his hands and saw them stained with blood. "Oh... it is. Where's my pouch?"

'It's got a big cut in it, and the plants are already on the floor.'

"What about my other pouch... my bag?"

'It's to your right shoulder... your shoulder! The wound opened!'

"Ah... that's not a big problem..."

'Did you hit your head?!'

"Didn't you say that my head was bleeding? Don't blame me for this..."

'Shut up already, stop talking! Slightly lift your right arm, and you'll be able to grab the pouch!'

Kuoka slowly lifted his arm against the floor, "it's cold... Shizuku, what happened? I can't remember anything..."

'I said stop talking! Now do that thing that you did last time when you injured your shoulder!'

"Yes sir..." He grunted as he stuck his hand into the pouch and dragged out a long cloth. He grunted again when he sat up. His head was rapidly spinning, he could barely make out anything that was even 5 centimeters from his face.

His entire body wobbled as he reached for the herb pouch. He touched around the inside of it, but there was nothing. 'The wolves are trying to drop down to you! Get into the cave!' Kuoka looked up, and there were hundreds of wolf heads trying to jump down into the ravine.

He slowly crawled to the cave on his knees. Water dripped from the stalactites in the cave, and stalagmites laced the entire floor, making it seem like a maze for those who weren't standing on their feet.

Kuoka made his way through the maze, and he heard thuds coming from outside the cave. 'The wolves are somehow dropping down... are you alright? Are you alive?!'

Kuoka grabbed onto his bleeding shoulder. "My head isn't spinning so much... but the pain coming from both my head and shoulder is starting to come out..."

'Uh... what do I do...'

"Relax, I'm fine... I'm just falling asleep is all..."

'You're what?!'

Everything turned black for Kuoka. He could still faintly hear Regalia's voice in his head, he could still feel water dripping onto his face from the ceiling. He could still feel the damp atmosphere in the air, as well as the water seeping into his clothes from beneath him.

'Wake up! Hey! Are you alive?!' He could hear her yelling; but he couldn't respond. "Shut up already... I'm waking up ok? Huh?" When he awoke, Shizuku had stopped yelling. It became awfully quiet and all Kuoka could hear was the dripping of water.

He cautiously walked deeper into the cavern. And he came across a bright red light that came from around a corner. He walked to the light, "a crystal?" He reached his hand towards the bright red rock, and it became dim when he touched it. "Huh?" He suddenly felt warm, and his pain started to fade. Kuoka took a step back and frantically touched his head.

"What is this?" The pain in his head and shoulder, as well as in his entire body was gone. It'd just faded away; but his injuries were still visibly there. Broken bones, most likely a fractured skull, and the wound in his shoulder that had already mostly healed; opened again. But it was just a little bit.

He could finally take a good look at his surroundings. His body still felt heavy and tired, so he had to force himself to move. "Those wolves... just what are they." He approached the crystal again, this time it was grey in color.

"What was this thing, it made my pain disappear." He poked it, but nothing happened. "A one-time use? I see." His head felt much clearer. The stalactites which hung from the ceiling looked like they were going to break and fall. "The sound stopped?"

The thuds that he heard earlier were no longer there. He slowly approached the entrance of the cavern. The stalagmite and stalactites formed what appeared to be fangs at the entrance. The opening to the cavern was also filled with small stone spikes, and somehow Kuoka managed to avoid hitting any of them. Or so he thought.

There was blood covering one of the spikes on the floor. He suddenly felt a cold wind in his body and looked behind him. There was a small hole inside his back, luckily it didn't stab into his spine.

He looked outside at the top of the ravine. The wolves were gone, and there was nothing at the bottom of the ravine. "What were all those sounds? They sounded like bodies hitting the floor..." He looked around the side of the ravine, and there was only a blood trail from where he had landed, which led to the inside of the cave he was still inside.

"One-time use? Why did that pop into my head? A one-time use item, is something that can only be used once. And then is gone forever." He scratched at his head. "Forget it, I need to focus on staying alive."

"What's that?" His legs suddenly felt extremely fatigued. Like he'd been running across an entire open field several times. "Eh? My head..." he fell to the ground again, nearly blacking out. "No, I can't faint again..." he started punching the ground in an attempt to fight against his fatigue.

"Damn it..." he fell unconscious again. But this time, he'd fallen unconscious in the middle of the ravine. Where rain could continuously slap him in the face until he woke up.