CHAPTER 213- MEANWHILE

In a small town near the border of Tamist a young woman walked down a small, decrepit wooden path above the marsh. At the end of this path a house that’s seen better days, so ramshackle that it’s surprising it hasn’t collapsed from a gentle breeze yet. Loose boards creaked as she stepped, a few rotted ones nearly dissolving under her feet. Her face scrunched with a variety of emotions. The murmur of gaseous marsh bubbles popping accompanied by their distinctive rotten stench of corpses and decay wafting around. She was glad it was near the cooler seasons as the stink would die down a lot more than it does in the warmer ones. Though she worried about her friend since the winter was always the most dangerous for her, especially in this ruin of a shack she lived in. When she finally reached the door, she noticed it was falling off one of the hinges…again. Pushing it open with a bit of effort she stepped inside.

[??? POV]

Walking into my friend’s house through the shoddy door that we’d need to fix again later, I looked around.

“Kay, you still alive in here?”

I stepped further in, moving carefully so I didn’t shake the unstable foundation too much lest this place finally fall into the marsh below us…again.  Honestly, this place is a complete mess. Falling apart, junk and failed potions tossed everywhere, various things growing in the darker, moister spots. I don’t get how she can live like this, but that she has much choice.

After carefully moving some things, I finally found a heap of blankets laying next to a cauldron, the fire underneath it long since gone cold and the contents still yet smelling surprisingly delicious.  I moved a few of the blankets away, finally revealing the long, tangled, messy golden hair hiding inside them like a cocoon the wolf-like ears atop her head remaining completely still despite the loudness of my entrance. Pulling away more my friend’s face was finally revealed. Extremely pale and her skin cold to the touch, I looked down at her.

“Did you really die this time?”

I tried the usual trick of pulling out a small, nice smelling honey cake from a small bag and waved it under her nose. For several minutes she continue to lay there like the dead, making me think she actually DID die this time, then her stomach growling and in the next second the honey cake was gone like it never existed. Her rust colored eyes flashed open and she stared at me, stars forming in them as a bit of drool leaked from her lips.

“Rafie!! Do you have any more!!??”

Her tail was waging so much the house started to shake.

“Kay, calm down. You’ll make this place fall again.”

She calmed down a little, but the stars and her eyes were still there. Sighing, I pulled the other honey cake out and gave it to her.

“Thanks Rafie!  I love you!”

My heart skipped a beat at her words, but I knew she didn’t mean it that way. She savored this treat and slowly sat up, her ears now twitching happily.

“*ahem*So, Kay, what happened this time?”

“I found a new mushroom and mixed it into a potion!  It smelled so good, but it made me fall asleep after feeling icky. Though it did give me a weird dream.  But it was a fun weird!”

“Weird how?”

“I saw a bunch of pretty ladies!  And, and!…And?…Oh yeah!  And they were helping us!  One of them was SUPER pretty and she smelled nice and her eyes were cool!  AND! She made that weird icky feeling inside me go away!  You know that one that I started getting when I ate that weird plant?!  And you were there and all that annoying stuff you have to do ended and then we fought a lizard, but I woke up at that point and I don’t know how it ended.  I wonder if those pretty ladies have any honey cakes? Oooooo! Or maybe lemon biscuits! Honeylemon biscuits?”

“What do you mean annoying stuff I have to do?”

“That annoying stuff that makes you leave home all the time!  Where you gotta get that money stuff and all your hard work in the potion place gets stolen!”

“Kay…*sigh*”

I patted my friend’s head as she tried to recount more about her strange, mushroom-potion induced, dream but aside from a few more vague things, she didn’t really say much more.

“Oh…one more thing.”

Kay’s demeanor completely changed from her normal innocent jubilance to a timid, almost scared one.

“It’s gonna get scary soon. The bodies in the marshes are gonna wake up again.  We’ll have to get a dragon’s help.”

With her words a sharp gust of wind blew, making ominous sounds as it blew through the holes in the walls.

“Kay shush. You know that’s saying something like that will get us kicked out of town even further. They already don’t like us much, we can’t let them take even this ruin of a house from us.”

“I know, Rafie, but it’s the only way. Our potions and curses won’t work on them and the strong people won’t help. The two of us can’t protect everyone by ourselves.”

“Then if it comes to that, I’ll take you and we can run away together. I only care about protecting you, after all.”

“But Rafie, we’re needed here!  Remember the nice people that helped us back home?  Or the aunties with the tasty honey cakes?  Even that one guy!  The one that likes to get close to you when you make potions!  He always help you and doesn’t mind when I sneak into town to watch you work!”

“When did you start doing that!?”

“When you told me I can’t go mushroom hunting or playing with the funny trees that talk. I even heard something about some pretty plants that started growing recently!  They apparently smell good and if you get close you feel good too!”

I had heard those rumors as well, but they were always coming from the warlocks who visited the red light district.

“Kay, don’t go near that place where you heard the flower rumors again. It’s full of bad people.”

“Really?  But they tried to sell me some good smelling potions!  They even said I could take a few for free if I helped them!  But I didn’t. I remembered you said that anyone giving away things for free was no good. *sniff* Eh?  Why is my potion stinky now?”

We both turned our heads toward Kay’s cauldron and though the flame underneath it had long gone cold, the brew inside began to bubble. We both jumped up and grabbed it, running outside the house and tossing its contents into the marsh under us.  The second it hit the murky water, the small grasses began to simmer and die, creating a nauseating looking bluish-purple smoke.

“*sniff, sniff*Ooo.  Smells nice again.”

“Kay…-”

*Crack!  CREAK!*

We turned to look at our home only to see it starting to fall into the marsh, one of the supports under it snapped and being pulled in by the murk.

“…”

“*Sigh*Kay, get ready, we’re going swimming again.”

“Yay!  I get to take a bath with Rafie again!”

“…That’s not…ugh.  Fine.”

We jumped into the murk next to our crumbling home and with the little bits of normal magic we knew began fixing it back to as near livable again as we could.

Chaos Realm:

Order: There is a lot to unpack here, Honey.

I know.

Atmos: Hmm.  Near prophetic dreams. Is she perhaps a Diviner?

Order: I don’t think so.  Keeno’s world seems to lack Diviners, unless they are now starting to be born.

A little bit of both. If anything, I’d say she is more a shaman type. While her friend is more of the stereotypical witch.

Atmos: Hallucinations?

Basically.

Order: That girl…she either has an iron stomach, or she’s built up a tolerance.

I’d say both, but saying any more will spoil stuff.

Atmos: Boooo!

Order: Atmos, you of all people should say nothing.

Atmos: Hmph.  Where’s my apprentice?  I’ve got more things to teach her.