Surviving
2102 Words
"Argh!!" I scream, covering my face as I am about to crash on the ground.
A force inside my body swells and I feel I should let it go. I open my eyes and I see the ground. I am levitating.
"What?" I ask, confused. Not one part of my body is touching on the earth.
Then that awe is over when I hit the ground.
My glasses are broken. I look at the children who are behind the swing I came from. I am guessing one of those three pushed me. I can't make out who they are, because my vision is blurry without my glasses. Something warm is trickling from my forehead. I touch it and my fingers are covered in bl**d.
"You went too far with it man!" says a boy.
"I didn't mean to push it too hard!"
"Well, let's just get out of here!"
“Argh!!!” from the top of my lungs, I scream waking up. I feel pain all over my body!! I'm lying flat on my belly on the cold dirt and the wounds on my back are stinging!
“Hang on, Leo,” says the lady. “Stay put.”
She spreads something on my back that smells like leaves. As she said, I stay put and let her do what she wants to do. It must be something that will help cure my wounds. I have no memory to believe it will cure me but I just feel it would. The pain... it's proof that I'm existing. I'm aware but I don't know anything about myself or how I came to exist. I just... am. Is it enough to justify my existence?
And what was that dream I had? I don't know what it was about. It was clear as day unlike how it is now—cold and dark. It's nighttime and the coldness is seeping into my skin, reaching my bones to shiver me from inside out. My fear is piling up like dead crows. Now, it's a mountain of bird carcasses! Am I gonna die? Is death gonna take me? How should I know? Why do I know this thing about death? I don't know why I should fear it!
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*
Leo is shaking as Yanmei puts remedies on his back full of wounds and bruises. He should be lying on a clean, sanitized bed instead of the ground which could make his wounds worse. She has no choice because they have nowhere to go. This cave is the only place she considers safe.
“I'm gonna help you get up, okay?” she asks Leo but she didn't wait for his answer nor expects him to.
“Ugh...,” Leo groans, closing his eyes and sweating too much although it's cold.
Cleaning his chest and stomach with a rug, she looks at the locket which Mila gave him. It's the only thing that he has that can remind him of his past. She grabs it and hesitates ro take it away from him. Eventually, she lets it go.
“I'm sorry that we can't have fire to keep you warm,” she says, gritting her teeth because of how grave and difficult their situation is. “The enemy might discover us.” Then she stirs and sighs. “I have fresh fruits from the forest for you. Eat them well.”
Her left arm is around him so that she can help him sit. With her right hand, she grabs a fresh banana. She peels it using her mouth. After that, she put it against his lips but he can barely open his jaw—petrified because of his shivering. So, she opens his mouth by pulling down his chin. The banana is soft so when he closes his mouth, he takes a bite easily. With closed eyes, he chews slowly. She lets him take his time.
After he can't eat anymore, she gives him water from a coconut. He drinks so much until he coughs. Then she makes him wear his shirt. She covers the ground with huge leaves and lets him lie down. Sleeping is hard for him. The pain is keeping him awake. Even so, he tries. She's done tending to him and now has to tend to herself.
Like him, she has wounds and bruises all over her body. Although, they aren't as grave as his. Her left shoulder is dislocated and she has been enduring it for hours. She has to fix it now. Sighing, she numbs her nerves around that part and hits it in place with her right hand. Then using the remaining herbs she used on Leo's wounds, she applies them all over her body. She's bare but it doesn't matter for her. After that, she wears her torn clothes back and decides to sleep.
The sun rises, waking her up. She was leaning her back against the wall of the cave with Leo's head on her lap. She caresses his head. His scalp is full of sand and bl**d. Her body is stiff and she needs to stretch it so she gently raises his head and puts him on the ground covered in leaves. She stands up, stretching and a lot of cracks echo in the cave. Her left shoulder is swelling now.
To the mouth of the cave, she glares at the sunlight. She decides to set out, not waiting for Leo to wake up since he's still recovering. She carries him on her back as he sleeps.
The jungle is dense like it once was in this forest of South Columba. She makes use of the tree canopies as cover from the sky, knowing that the goddess that's after them will be flying to search for them. This is not enough for a cover so Yanmei runs as fast as she can, carrying Leo. All she has in her mind is just running away, no other ideas better than that.
*
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Ugh... I feel so weak.
I feel someone panting so hard as I'm bobbing. What is this? I'm not even moving my body. When I open my eyes, I see trees passing by me. Wait... no, I'm passing by them. This is when I discover that my chin is on the lady's right shoulder. She's carrying me, running.
“You're awake, Leo?” she asks. Oh, that's my name. I'm too weak to answer so I just stayed quiet. “Let's rest for a while.”
She stops running and puts me on the root of a tree right next to the shore of a large lake. The water is clear and calm. Fishes are visible. I think I have seen this kind of scenery before. The lady goes to the lake and washes her face. Also, drinks from it. *Swallow* I'm thirsty too. She notices me so she walks here.
“Thirsty?” she asks so I nod.
I stand up and my legs are still weak. She helps me stand by putting my left arm around her. Kneeling on the sand, I wait for her as she scoops water with her hand, bringing it to me. I drink by sipping the water straight from her palms. A few drinks and I'm all good. Then I feel this strange sensation between my legs. I think it means... I have to urinate?
“I have to urinate,” I tell her.
“Oh, okay,” she says, blinking a lot of times looking from side to side before turning around.
I don't get why she has to do that. Anyways, I feel I had to empty this thing. Water comes out of it. And as it does, I feel a little better. Once I'm done, I stand up and can walk a little better.
She guides me to the jungle by holding my hand. It hurts me a little as her grip is too strong. Even so, I don't complain. I feel as if I'm indebted to her. I'm careful enough not to trip on the roots of the trees. Or step on something sharp. My feet are sore from stepping on sharp things like rocks and deadwood. It is getting hotter and hotter as the sun—I think that's what it's called, goes up higher into the sky. We have shade from the trees but it's still hot. I don't understand. She might know it. I should ask.
“Why is it so hot?” I ask.
For a moment, she turns around to look at me.“It's humid in the forest.” Then she faces where we're going.
“What is humid?”
“The air has a lot of water.”
“Water? Can we drink it?”
“We can't. It's so thin that it can't be seen in the air.”
“Why is there water but we can't see it?”
She stops and faces me. I think she's doing something called, “smiling”.
“Some things exist even if we can't see them, Leo,” she says. “Meanwhile, let's rest here.”
We're before this wide running water that comes from the left then runs to the right. A lot of water is flowing. I don't understand why.
“Stay here,” she says, pushing me down to sit on a lying tree. This is a log. “I'm gonna get us something to eat.”
She walks into the water and stops. She said she's gonna get us something to eat but she's doing noth-
So quick, she grabs something in the water. When she pulls it up, it's something big, bigger than my arm. “Jackpot!” she yells.
She lets me touch it and I'm worried that it might do something horrible to me because it's wriggling around.
“What is this?” I ask.
“It's a fish.”
“What's a ‘fish’?”
“Fish is food.”
“Food?”
“Yeah. Watch me how I'm going to cook it. We can make fire now since it's bright.” She looks at it and says, “I'm sorry little friend, we need your nutrition. Sorry, Buddha, yet again, I failed you. May this fish reincarnate into a bigger fish.” She speaks something I don't understand while closing her eyes. After that, she hits the fish's head and it stops moving. “Please, hold on to it for a while.” I hold it for her as she goes somewhere.
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*
In the jungle on another planet, huge trees are everywhere, not giving light to the swamp below them. Small plants wither as they could not get a single spot of sunlight—which is half scarcer than on Earth. This jungle is cold but life continues to evolve. Lifeforms thrive in this sun-deprived land. Mushrooms, however, have no problem in living. They grow on floating rotten logs and on the old barks of trunks of the trees.
Bridges connect each tree that has houses hanging onto them. In one of those houses, a young goddess is tying her gauntlet firmly to clad her left arm. After that, she puts her right gauntlet, followed by her armor, forged especially to fit her feminine figure. It's a traditional armor with no technology but only for display. On her chest plate, the insignia of a lion is carved onto it. Finally, she puts on her greaves. She's ready to come out. When she did, she's met with a god who doesn't like what she's doing.
“I won't let you enter the trial, Arina,” he insists, walking on the bridge towards her.
“It's for me to decide,” she argues as she stands with pride.
“No, I'm your lord and you shall obey me!” In front of her, he stands prouder.
“Even if you are, the ‘lord’ has no power over the Law of the Champions.” She walks past him but he stops her by holding her shoulder. “Let go of me, Viktor.”
“No,” he says, looking at her eyes.
Glaring, she answers, “There's not a woman on this Realm worthier than me to give birth to the new Deity of Chaos.”
“I won't allow you!” he growls, the fiery frown on his face shows how much he dislikes her idea.
Even so, she abandons his opinion and slaps his hand off of her shoulder. He watches her as she crosses the bridge, on her way to the trial.
*
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- Writer
