Introductions.... Again

'Cadavir'

'So that was his name'

I stared at his back as he left, the person who fought side by side with me against monsters.

The one who tried to kill my sister.

I know for a fact that if I had woken first, I would have killed him with my touch.

Does that make me an evil person?

Is Dad evil for murder? Or in this case attempted murder.

Was Cadavir evil for trying to kill someone he saw as a threat?

'I'm not a killer.' I thought, remembering what I told Alex after the accident with the robbers.

Was I wrong?

Clap!!

A loud and sudden clap dragged me out of my thoughts.

"OK guys we've finally gotten what we've been looking for" Ren spoke.

"We still have no water" He said, taking a pause. "But..... we have food, we just have to cook it." He said as he bent, lifting a piece of meat from the floor.

'Is that thing even edible?' I thought, bending to toucha particularly large corpse.

It was completely red, like the skin bled before it died, and incredibly soft like a thick wet cloth.

On its body I found a palm sized mark, the skin sizzled as though burnt.

My palm.

From that point it looked like it exploded, and yet, it was still huge and heavy.

Probably weighed more than me.

'Isn't meat usually washed before being cooked?'

But we didn't have water so that would be impossible.

I stood, turning to watch the others.

In the time I took studying the corpse, they had already gathered logs, the job must have been a lot easier after the flooding.

Ren took up a kitchen knife—definitely Cadavir's, and carved something into each log, making them shrivel up. Instantly dry.

He, mum and Dahlia sat on a long log in front of the makeshift fire pit while Dad gathered more logs to form seats and surround the pit.

When everything was done Ren picked up a single stick and took up the knife— carving again. Then, he dropped the carved wood into the pit.

Whoosh..

Upon contact the pit erupted in flames, it seemed his powers were truly capable of anything.

Ren took a bow, tipping an imaginary hat as the fire burned.

Mum seemed entertained, giving a standing applause to the "magician". She was happier than I've ever seen since we got to this cursed place.

Dad simply watched, indifferent as usual.

He sat on another log on the opposite side of the now made campfire.

And Dahlia.

She was still shaken, though i doubt anyone noticed, she still made an effort to smile and laugh cheerfully but I saw how long she spent staring blankly into an empty space, or how her hand didn't leave her thigh.

Ren suddenly locked eyes with me, then waved me over as though I just appeared.

I walked, moving past Dad while trying my best to avoid Ren's gaze.

There were four large logs, big enough for three. I took an empty one sitting on the end farthest from anyone.

Then Ren took the seat beside me.

I would have sworn he did it just to annoy me if I didn't notice how he tried to keep a distance.

Just to test it out I stretched, spreading my arms a little.

He flinched away, just as I expected. If he was so scared why did he seat next to me in the first place?

I ignored him, staring instead at the cooking meat, the pieces were cut smoothly and hung on a stake. Each stake was directly in the fire, and yet they didn't burn.

If only my powers were different, something actually useful and less threatening.

"Sigh"

From the corner of my eye I spotted three figures, Theo, Kendali and the third girl—Ren's daughter.

She must really take after her mum, her and her dad had nothing in common.

"Ahhh the cavalry have finally arrived" Ren spoke standing instantly to offer them seats.

'Were they called to help us? What a joke, we would have been long dead before they arrived.'

Ren ushered the girls to a single log, then, unsurprisingly he changed seats.

He along with Dad and Theo sat together, and with Dahlia and mum sharing a log that left only me to myself.

"Now that we are all complete, we can start a proper bonding experience" Ren spoke, "But before that. A moment of silence for the one we lost to the flood."

"Chrysa. Though we met only a few days ago, I knew her as kind hearted. May she rest in peace."

As Ren turned silent, everyone followed suit. Even though it was silent before, now it was tense, uncomfortable— as though everyone was scared of the slightest sound.

Only the fire crackled softly, with a few occasional hisses from the meat, all which only added to the tense moment as time seemed to tick on forever.

Clap!!

Breaking the silence with a single loud clap, Ren spoke.

"If we are going to survive this place we would have to work as a team."

"So for all our sakes I want us to reintroduce ourselves, you are all free to speak as much as you want; powers, likes, dislikes anything."

"As you all should know, I'm Ren. My ability lets me give attributes to objects through names—" His voice droned on and on enough to make me grow tired.

He spoke about his daughter— Karin, as his only family, and how they lived in one of the more dangerous regions, he didn't say how he got about life but I could assume he dealt in some really dark business.

Something about how he carried an unstainable paper sword, that could cut through anything, and how it must have always been with him for him to have been summoned with it.

Just when I thought my day couldn't get worse he instantly pointed me out to start first, tracing a clockwise path from me.

I stood, not bothering to argue it, "I'm Vicas, my power is Death." I said before taking my seat, it was the same thing I said last time but the difference was that I didn't stutter now.

There was a pause after me, as though they expected me to say more.

Dad was up next, and, like me he kept it brief, only talking about his power and occupation, and then the turns passed quickly.

The only important things I noted was that Karin's powers were related to blood making her a potentially dangerous person.

Dahlia spoke last, droning on and on about nothing particular and yet everyone payed rapt attention to her.

Ren took over after her, still managing to keep the group together.

Through it all no one talked about how our original fifteen man group had whittled down to eight.

No one talked about Ael and how we were supposed to get back home.