The Truth about the Lazuli

First Encounters (2)

Sophie stared at him, a bit dazed, but shook her head. Yet she didn't grab anything. The guy knelt down beside her and examined her. He took gloves out of his pocket and then put them on. Then, taking out a ribbon, he tied his blond locks of hair up into a small ponytail.

"Roan!" a voice shouted. The man looked up towards the voice and then stood up.

"Over here!" Roan called. "Sige, a War Fly attacked. I need an antidote."

Three people came running towards us from the woods and down the hill. One, a smaller male with a cloth satchel, ran faster than the others. A burly man and a woman in tight clothing followed in tow.

"We're going to have to take out the needles and clean the wounds," Roan said, directing it towards Sophie. Her gaze broke away from the other people approaching her and turned back to him.

"Oh... Okay." Sophie responded. And then, her eyes fell on the monster and she felt her stomach sink in fear.

"What... was that?"

But Roan ignored her question. Instead, he started to lecture her.

"Why the fuck are you out here alone? You should know not to be out here in these dangerous parts. And why are you naked? Who are you and what happened?"

"I-I don't know," Sophie said, startled. Tears welled up in her eyes, and a rush of heat filled her cheeks. She felt embarrassed and confused. She always hated when people yelled at her, especially since it's always left her crying. She couldn't help that she was a cry baby, and she couldn't help that she was in such a situation. "I don't know where I am or why I'm here."

The other three people finally made it to where Sophie and Roan were. Their breaths were a bit heavy, but not not as hard as someone would normally have for sprinting down a hill to where they were. Immediately, the smaller guy took off his satchel and started rummaging through it.

"Arthur, start making a fire. Celia, I need you to fetch me water. We're going to need to boil it," the guy barked. "Roan, take my pouch and this cloth. You'll need to use this to clean her wounds when you take out the needles. Be careful not to stick yourself."

Roan sat the water pouch and cloth on the ground, and crouched next to Sophie. Carefully, he started to pluck the needles out of her skin and tossed them off to the side where tall wheat-like grass grew. Sophie winced from the pain, but was still too stunned from what had happened to cry.

"Thank you, uhm... Roan?" Sophie managed to say after a minute of silence.

"Yeah. What's your name?" Roan asked, giving a small smile.

"Sophie."

Celia and Arthur returned with the water and wood, and Sige started laying out different plants on the ground. With a bowl and a thick stick in hand, he started putting the plants in the bowl and smashing them.

"Oh, that's a.. Uhm... Mortar?" Sophie said, trying to remember what it was called. All she could remember was that it was used to grind things or make guac. She didn't mean to say it out loud, but Sige heard her. When she realized that she spoke out, she felt her face heat up from embarrassment for saying something silly. Sige stared at her for a moment, before giving a small smile.

"I'm going to have to make a large dose with how much poison you have in your body."

"Ugh, is it that bad?" Sophie asked. She felt stinging and soreness from the needles, but she didn't have any other symptoms. At least, not yet.

"It's not a fast poison. Within 10 min or so, you should start feeling hot with a fever. You'll feel nauseous and drained, and you won't be able to stand. I'm making tea that you'll have to drink every few hours. You'll feel like shit for a few days, but after that, you should be fine. The herbs will help with the symptoms." Sophie grimaced at the sound of his explanation. It already sucked having to have the needles plucked out of her body, but now she gets to deal with symptoms for the next few days.

"Sorry. Once I finish your back, I'll get your legs and that should be all of them," Roan apologized when Sophie let out a small cry. It was already painful enough dealing with being plucked from the arms, but the back was on another level of pain. Slowly and carefully, after some time, Roan finally finished plucking out the rest of the needles. He grabbed for the water and soaked the cloth.

"Thank you," Sophie said as Roan wiped her wounds clean. Her body burned and stung, but she felt too exhausted to let out any noises of pain. Sophie felt herself feeling dizzy, and she knew she was feeling feverish.

I hope that antidote is finished soon. God, I feel like shit.

Sige poured the tea from the pot he had on the stove into several containers. He then took one of the containers and poured the tea into a cup and handed it to Sophie. She took it graciously, and blew on it a few times before trying to take a sip.

"Ahh tch," she let out as she felt the liquid burn her tongue. It was way too hot for her to drink, but she felt too impatient to wait.

"Celia and Arthur should be back from hunting soon. It's getting late, we need to start setting up camp somewhere. This is not exactly the greatest spot," Sige announced with a frown. Roan nods and stands up. He had just finished bandaging the rest of Sophie's wounds, and went for his backpack. Pulling out a shirt, he tosses it over to her.

"Ah, thanks," Sophie said, remembering that she was still naked. With great pain, she put the shirt on. It covered her like a dress, which didn't surprise her since she was of short stature.

"You'll have to walk until we find a good place to camp, then we can talk about what all happened," Roan said to Sophie as he held out a hand to her. She grabs it and pulls herself up. She felt a little wobbly, but felt a bit better after drinking the tea. Even though it was bitter and tasted earthy, the warmth kept her body feeling nice as the fever was giving her chills.

"What about Celia and Arthur?" Sophie asked as she watched everyone packing their stuff. "Shouldn't we wait for them?"

"Nah, no worries. They'll be able to find us. Celia is good at tracking," Roan replied. Sophie knew she wasn't in her world anymore, that she knew when she was attacked by the War Fly. However, it was still baffling to hear someone casually say that their friend can just track them down so easily. She didn't know why she was here now, when she should have been dead, but with all that had happened to her; Sophie didn't want to think too hard about anything right now. She felt exhausted, shitty, and anxious. Trying to think about why she was even here was definitely something that would cause a lot of brain wracking and impossible questions that would never be answered.

Everything was packed up, and Sige and Roan started to walk. Sophie trailed behind, silent, and hoped that the rest of the day would end without any other troubles. But with Sophie's luck, she didn't expect her wish to happen.