Yallia 

 

Waking up the first thing I noticed was that I was shivering, the second thing I noticed was that my head was pounding with pain. “Oh god, my fucking head.” I said as I cradled my head in my hands. 

 

Searching my memories of the previous night I found them to be fairly jumbled. I remembered the two of us leaving here after finding the maps hoping to find the edge of the cavern. We had made our way to the edge of the city without any monsters finding us and then continued onward.  

 

After a short time we found an extremely tall pillar reaching to the top of the cavern. It had been a dozen paces around and had been carved with more runes than I had ever seen before on a single object.  

 

Neil had almost walked right past it without comment, it was only when I told him I wanted to take a closer look at it that we stopped there. When I had told him about the monuments left behind the Old Empire this was what I had been talking about.  

 

This pillar was a marvel of magical and runic engineering. While none of the runes were too complicated, they were mostly for strength and stability, allowing the pillar to support vast quantities of weight. What made it truly impressive was how effective it was. If any of the powers from Eurastia attempted to make something like this, it would probably be three times the size and still not half as effective. 

 

The way the different runes were layered over each other, creating synergy with each other rather than inefficiencies was incredible and if it could be studied it would probably advance the entire study of rune magic by decades. Hell I had a few new ideas just from seeing it. 

 

As much as I had wanted to study it for as long as I could Neils impatient looks and huffing eventually reminded me that we were on a timer and I reluctantly left the pillar. 

 

Shortly after that we came across an entire underground field that was somehow not only growing but thriving despite the complete lack of sunlight.  

 

Neils ability to identify things told him that it was just a mutated wheat, and while we shouldn’t eat it, it wouldn’t be dangerous to walk through.  

 

It wasn’t until we had passed through the field and came across the Moving Tree and our subsequent panicked flight through the wheat field and the fight against the Feral Fruits that we had seen anything dangerous. 

 

The fight had gone well, even if Neils suggestion to use my Dark Affinity to slow the tree had been somewhat perplexing. Dark Affinity in any large amount was so taxing physically and mentally that I had never attempted to use it on a target that dangerous. Fortunately he had actually been able to finish the monster, if he hadn’t managed to kill it, I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to retreat very fast. 

 

Then of course I remembered us finding that ridiculous pot. He had clearly wanted help carrying it back but even if I had been up to it I wasn’t going to bother with something that silly. It wasn’t until he was actually carrying it up the stairs that I thought he would be able to manage it. At the time I couldn’t decide if this indicated an incredibly strong character or just a stubborn streak that was truly legendary. 

 

Either way I had decided to have a drink of Kallaz to celebrate the maps we had found while he had his bath.  

 

That was about where my memory started to get patchy. 

 

I remembered cooking food, but not eating anything, which probably at least partially explained the hangover, then after a few drinks I had decided to check on Neil, and...... oh shit. 

 

Suddenly it all came back to me, seeing him naked, leering at him and even taking off my clothes, washing up and hopping in the bath with him, and then taking charge and kissing him. After that I couldn’t really remember much of anything except stumbling inside with him. I could tell we hadn’t had sex, probably because of how drunk I was. Even through the misery of my hangover I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment. What had I been thinking throwing myself at him like that? The fact that barely anything happened just made me feel worse. There’s nothing like throwing yourself at someone just to have them turn you down, probably because your too drunk to stand. Well at least Neil seemed to be a gentleman, that was nice at least. 

 

Cursing myself, Kallaz, and the distillery that made it I started wishing for a hole to crawl into. Alcohol had always made me a little... friendly, but I had never done anything like that before! 

 

I had probably done it because Neil was a Human. I hadn’t lied when I told him that Humans were legends, if anything I had undersold it. I really hadn’t wanted to explain to him the legends and mystique that had sprung up around the memory of Humans since the fall. 

 

I tried to remember what had happened after I had joined him in the bath, and while I remembered talking and drinking with him I couldn’t remember much more than that, the pounding in my head certainly wasn’t helping my memory.  

 

Rather than spend any more time thinking about this I decided to help myself to some of the remaining health potion that we had. A few potions had been left here just in case we needed them, which turned out to be an excellent idea. Getting up I paused almost immediately upon seeing Neil. He was curled up on the ground as naked as the day he was born, shivering, with his head inside an old bucket. 

 

“Well there's something you don’t see every day.” I said out loud. 

 

I was about to start laughing when I realized why I was also shivering, I too was naked and had slept on the ground. 

 

Groaning I stood up and got dressed. “Good job Yallia, get drunk and hop in the bath with the first Human anyone has ever seen in almost a thousand years. Why not? That's a great idea.” 

 

I couldn’t find the clothes I had been wearing yesterday but I had brought a few extra clothes with me so I instead put those on. Having a small drink of the healing potion my headache immediately went from pounding to throbbing, and that was mostly caused by dehydration which the potion couldn’t help with. 

 

Finding one of Neils water bottles I helped myself drinking as much of the water as I could. Already feeling better, I looked to Neil. Now that I was dressed and feeling better I could try and help him out a little.  

 

Covering him with a blanket and taking his head out of the bucket stopped his shivering and probably made him more comfortable. Placing a healing potion and his smaller canteen of water near him I went in search of our clothes. 

 

I didn’t have to go far to find them, they had apparently been placed in the pot last night when we had stumbled into the office. The water in the pot was now a reddish brown colour. I really hoped that was from our clothes and wasn’t just what we had been sitting in last night. 

 

Dumping out the water from the pot I used some of the water in the larger canteen and his soap to clean our clothes as best I could. They were still pretty stained, and Neils shirt had enough holes in it that it was pretty much useless as anything but a rag. I had considered just throwing it away, but knowing that this was all he had in the world I wouldn’t feel right about throwing anything out. 

 

I had just finished ringing out our clothes when I heard movement and cursing in the office. Carrying our clothes back into the office I saw Neil was sitting up holding the blanket over him looking around blearily. 

 

“Good morning, there’s a healing potion and water right beside you.” 

 

He looked at me for a few seconds blinking slowly, before moving. Drinking the potion first I saw his face morph from a look of confusion and pain through relief finally to embarrassment when he looked at me. 

 

Great so he remembered me throwing myself at him, and now he was feeling embarrassed for me. 

 

Picking up the canteen next he drained the water as I picked up his rope and made a clothes line for our wet clothes. 

 

“Feeling better?” I asked facing away from him. 

 

“Much.” He said standing up holding the blanket in front of his waist, looking about as awkward as I felt. 

 

He was probably feeling embarrassed for me, I thought to myself. It was bad enough getting turned down, but having the person who turned me down feeling pity for me was just mortifying. 

 

He nodded before unsteadily making his way over to his clothes and getting dressed. I had finished hanging up our clothes by the time he had put his clothes on. We looked at each other uncomfortably for a few moments before I decided I needed to fix this.  

 

“Alright, if we’re going to be working together, we can’t be awkward like this. So yes last night was awkward, but we need to put it behind us if we’re going to keep working together.” 

 

He seemed to be surprised by my directness and started answering slowly. 

 

“I’m sorry for what happened last night, it's just that I haven't really done that since I was 12 years old,”  

 

He had done what when he was 12? Here I was feeling pity for myself that someone didn’t want to sleep with me when I threw myself at them, and meanwhile he had been molested as a child. Snapping myself out of my thoughts I started listening again to what he was saying. 

 

“and I always told myself I would never do that again. Even where I lived before whenever people asked I always said no, but then when you offered me some last night I thought, hey why not? What’s the harm? I can try it, and then I go ahead and throw up all over the place.” 

 

As I listened to Neil speaking I got more and more confused.  I had offered some? That was an odd way to phrase some drunken kissing. 

 

“Neil I apologize, I had no idea that had happened to you when you were so young. When I started that I thought you had wanted it, to be honest I barely remember doing that to you.” 

 

“It’s alright, you only offered and I was the one who said yes. If I really didn’t want to I never would have done it, and besides now I know I still don’t like to drink alcohol.” 

 

“Drink alcohol? Wait what? What are you talking about?” 

 

“I don’t drink.” At my confused expression Neil continued. “You offered me some alcohol, I said yes and I drank way too much of it? Wow Yallia you must have been hammered if you don’t remember my being drunk.” 

 

“You're talking about alcohol? I thought we were talking about the kissing. I practically threw myself at you.” 

 

“You didn’t throw yourself at me.” At my look he spoke again. “Okay I guess you kind of did, but I didn’t mind. I just wish I hadn’t given myself alcohol poisoning before anything happened.” 

 

The two of us looked at each other for a few moments before Neil started laughing. My pride was still a little stung so while I wasn’t laughing I was feeling relieved. “So you weren’t molested when you were a child?” I asked. 

 

“What? No, never. I just got into my parents alcohol, got really drunk and threw up all over myself. I had to go to the hospital and everything. Ever since then I promised myself I wouldn’t ever drink again. You thought that I had been molested?” 

 

Shrugging my shoulders, I didn’t really answer. “So what exactly happened last night? My memory is a little foggy towards the end.” 

 

“After you joined me in the bath you offered me a drink. I figured that I should try some alcohol since I want to try new things. We talked for a bit and started kissing, when we came inside, I guess I drank more than I thought because shortly after that I got sick. I don’t remember anything until I woke up.” 

 

As he had started talking I had vague recollections of kissing, and then emptying his bucket before passing out on the ground. 

 

“Now I feel even worse.” 

 

“What do you feel bad about? I’m the moron who got so drunk he threw up.” 

 

“Well I hopped in the bath with you, threw myself at you and also got so drunk I passed out. Any one of those in this situation is bad enough, but all three? We’re lucky nothing came along and ate us.” 

 

“Yep, we are kinda a couple of dumbasses, by all rights we should be dead now. I think we should probably pour out the Kallaz, we shouldn’t drink for as long as we’re down here, and we need the bottle for potions.” 

 

“That’s, not a bad idea.” As much as I hated to waste good Kallaz we needed the bottle more than the alcohol. “I also think we should put aside any physical relationship between us.” I said preparing my explanation. 

 

“Because as long as we’re working together like this we can’t risk the awkwardness sleeping together might bring?” 

 

“Exactly.” I said relieved, I honestly hadn’t thought he would get that. “We’re going into dangerous situations in the future, we can’t risk something like this causing us to fight, or be awkward with each other. We’re going to be relying on each other too much to risk it.” 

 

“I agree, which kind of sucks, because you are really hot.” 

 

Smiling at his joke for the first time since I woke up today I started feeling better. “When all of this is over we’ll see what happens.” 

 

The awkwardness finally dispelled we began discussing our plan for the day. 

 

“We need more potions, and a better way to carry the poisons. Also, the glassware we have is too fragile, if all of our new potions are destroyed again; we might not have enough flasks for a third batch.” 

 

“You can make more of the potions though right?” 

 

“Yeah that’s not a problem for now, some of the potions use the same ingredients though so I don’t want to use all of them now. I can also use the plants I got from that garden the other day to make my poison more potent.” 

 

I actually frowned at that. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I’ve never liked poison, it’s far too easy to use it on yourself by accident.” 

 

“I don’t really like it either, that’s actually what happened to me just before I met you, but with the crappy quality of our weapons we need something to give us a little more punch. Everything we’ve faced up until now are probably the weakest monsters we’ll be facing.” 

 

“Alright then, we’ll just have to be careful with the poison. Do we have anything else that we could use as weapons?” 

 

“Not unless you brought something, I only have my two knives. I thought about attaching a knife blade to the end of a spear, but I couldn’t think of a way to do that with what I have on hand.” 

 

“That would make a more effective spear, but if the blade came off of the spear it could be lost and we would be down a blade, not really worth it to risk it. I brought a small hatchet with me as a gift for the Lamia, but I don’t know how effective that would be as a weapon against the monsters.” I said as I laid out all of the tools I had brought with me. It was several hand saws, a hatchet, the heads of different farming tools, and a file to sharpen the hatchet. More than that would have been too heavy to carry. 

 

“I think we can use anything you brought with you, if we succeed then that should make the Lamia happier than getting some tools.” Neil said picking up one of the fence posts and turning it in his hands. “When I had first arrived I thought about making an atlatl. I never did get around to it.” 

 

“A what?” 

 

“It’s something I learned about when I was in high school, about 5 years ago. It’s a kind of spear and a straight shaft that you use as a thrower for it. It gives you some extra leverage when your spear. I heard you can throw the spear five times further with it.” 

 

“That does sound pretty useful, although maybe not so much for where we’re going. You can’t make one?” 

 

“Not without some wood.....” Neil said trailing off, after a moment he started speaking again. “Although.”  

 

Taking the spear in his left hand he looked at his right and slowly a small shaft of water formed in his hand. As long as his forearm it had a groove in it that should hold anything that was laid on it. Laying the fence post on the water it sunk into the water and started to fall through. With a look of concentration on his face the post slowly began to rise up until it was sitting on the water. Slowly the water began to change, getting shorter, longer, then changing its shape until the spear was sitting comfortably on top of it. 

 

After a few minutes Neil was apparently satisfied with what he had. Taking it into the hallway he moved his arm back and forth a few times testing it out before his arm moved in a throwing motion and the spear shot forwards. Travelling far faster than I would have thought possible it struck the closed double doors with a solid thud. 

 

The two of us examined the doors and although the spear hadn’t managed to stick in the wood it had left a large gash in the door.  

 

Shaking his head no he picked up the spear and tried it again, but this time he made the water construct longer, instead of being as long as his arm it was almost as long as he was tall. Throwing the spear again he extended it further out on the throw as well.  

 

This time the spear shot forwards faster than I could follow with my eyes, the spear slammed into the door and the tip stuck in for a few seconds before it fell out again with a clatter. As I walked over to the door I noticed that Neil had stopped, looking back at him I saw that his eyes had an unfocused look to them. He had probably gotten a blue box. Idly swiping at the air he had me come back beside him. 

 

“Look at this.” He said with a smile. 

 

Putting his arm back he formed the atlatl, and then he formed the spear out of water as well. The water constructs were looking even more solid than before with no drops of water falling off of them. The point of the spear was extremely long and looked sharp enough that even touching it could cut someone. 

 

Throwing his arm forwards the spear shot forwards penetrating through the door with a solid thunk. It sat in the door for a few moments before it lost its shape and splashed all over the ground. 

 

When we examined the metal spear and the whole from his water spear the difference in damage was pretty impressive. 

 

“How many times can you use the water spear?” 

 

Thinking about it for a few moments Neil answered. “I’m not sure, maybe 10 or 12 times. Just using the atlatl with the metal spear is a lot easier.” 

 

“I’m not sure how useful these will be in close quarters but with the poison the atlatl should be pretty effective.” 

 

“Well we don’t actually know what it will be like down there, so there might actually be some wide-open spaces.” Neil responded 

 

I was about to argue with Neil when I realized he could be right, when I came down the stairs at the summit  of the mountain I had never expected any of this, so who was to say what was underneath us. “How quickly can you make the new potions?” 

 

“A few hours, I guess. What’s the rush?” 

 

“I’ve been thinking about the monsters you face when you got here and the ones that I’ve seen. I think they’ve been escalating. You told me it was one slime, then a group of them, then the spider-rats, the single Lamia, then the three creatures fused into one. The monsters have been getting more numerous and larger. If this keeps up we could be in serious trouble.” 

 

I watched Neils facial expression as I spoke and although I still wasn’t sure of what all of his expressions meant I could see that he was alarmed “I’ll get these done as quickly as I can then.” 

 

“While you do that, I’ll sharpen all of these posts.” 

 

Our plan decided we got to work. A few hours later when Neil had finished his potions we set out.