Amity and Enmity

Chapter 7

Day: 971

Days Left: 4509

Lives Saved: 5

The two groups left the campsite with the rest waving goodbye and good luck. Oscar hugged Sumit tighter than usual, almost hesitating to let go. With each mission that Sumit left on, Oscar's fears of him returning wounded, or worse without his memories, worsened. He considered joining the scouting party for the Land of the Lost but decided against it as he did not want to coddle Sumit like an overprotective parent. Oscar himself hated it back when he and Sumit were recovering from their burn wounds and everyone would constantly ask them if they were okay or performing simple tasks which Oscar and Sumit could have easily completed themselves. No, Oscar did not want to repeat that with Sumit, nor did he want to annoy Lili any further as she seemed already frustrated from the new changes to the teams.

A burst of laughter erupted from Oscar's mouth as he recalled Lili's confession that the two of them had made out once. Oscar controlled himself as he received odd looks from Ms Ivette and Corinna. He did his best to not think or imagine it for the rest of the day but occasionally he would have a short burst of snickering to himself.

Whilst the others were gathering water or scouting out the forest, those at camp would focus on food preparation, tending to the Abyss Plants or construction projects. Later in the evening, Oscar and Ivette prepped dinner so it was hot and ready for the others when they returned exhausted and hungry. With the water that was collected yesterday, Oscar and Ms Ivette boiled and cooked the silver food packets. These food packets were beginning to decrease in number and run out but Oscar knew how to bulk out all of their meals, using the bark from the trees which were edible when boiled down. Using rainwater and bark was not exactly healthy to consume in large quantities but in the Eternal Abyss, they, fortunately, could not die and recovered from disease and illnesses at an accelerated rate.

There was something about cooking that invigorated Oscar and for those moments when he cooked he forgot that he was imprisoned in the Eternal Abyss. He truly felt as if he had a purpose in life and that was to cook, even if all he could do at the moment was boil food packets and dice Abyss Fruit. Though he had told Sumit that they should not focus on the past to discover themselves, Oscar believed that his previous self got it right- that cooking was their talent, perhaps born to do it. But what was he other than a chef? What else was there to Oscar than cooking? Or was that all that defined him?

He glanced back at the tent on the outskirts of the campsite, where the silhouette of Princess Alfreda was cast. She seemed to always be in her tent, never leaving. The only time Oscar had ever seen her was when they were moving locations across the Abyss. He remembered screaming when he first saw her, as did Sumit. Everyone else in the group remained in their human forms for the majority of the time, apart from the imps, Calixte, and Princess Alfreda. However, Oscar grew quickly accustomed to these monsters, with Calixte being so polite and kind and the imps clearly only being children, but Princess Alfreda... even when it was explained to him that everyone in the Abyss was actually human, it took Oscar a long time to no longer consider Princess Alfreda scary as she remained in her fire demon form. It was likely that aura of hostility around her, warning others not to dare talk to her or go near her. The only ones who ever went near her were Lili, Calanthe, Corinna... and a few of the imps which Oscar found odd.

Oscar glanced away from the tent and focused back on preparing tonight's dinner. He then noticed Corinna staring at him, she smiled meekly and he smiled back. Did she notice him looking at the princess' tent? It wasn't like he was being subtle about it. If Corinna also talked to Princess Alfreda, then perhaps she could answer some of his questions, but then he paused, remembering that Corinna was mute and would have to answer by writing. He did not want to bother her with his curiosity.