Chapter 18: Chapter 17: campfire stories

After Laying still long enough to regenerate about a third of my mana, I sat up and looked at the carnage we wrought. The viscera laying strewn about feels absolutely disgusting, though it doesn’t carry the same wrongness that the abomination did. Standing up, Jools follow my example. Having had enough of being dirty, I cast cleanse on myself and Jools. I feel that I should be more surprised at my skill in the battle against the abomination, though Zenas memories inform me that I should have done better. That last attack was wasteful, and my dodging should have been better. The ice spell was telegraphed, so I should have countered it.

Shaking my head, I turn to Jools and answer his statement from earlier. “Jup, that was a lot more exciting than when it was a game. Though, we didn’t need to clean in the game. What do we do with the goop?”

“Do we need to do anything though?” Jools says reminding me that we are in the middle of the wilderness.

“Maybe, what if it’s contagious or something?”

“It never was in the game.”

“Yes, but it didn’t give that awful feeling in the game either.”

“No need to worry, it’s not contagious.” David intejects.

We immediately look around, searching for David and not finding him. 

“Where are you david?” I ask into the sky.

“Not there”. He answers

“Why not? We are alone here.”

“I’m not not going anywhere near that goop. It was bad enough in the game, and seeing the mess you made, I stand by that opinion.“

“Anyways, thanks for confirming that we don’t need to take care of it. By the way, are you always watching us?”

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“No, well sort of. I can retroactively watch an event. It’s honestly weird and hard to explain.”

“Anyways, why don’t we leave this general vicinity, Jools?”

“Honestly, I was about to suggest it. It’s starting to smell.”

As we agreed to leave, we started walking south. For the first few hundred meters we had to step around pieces of the abomination, but after that it was smooth sailing. Stopping at a hill, we turn around and see the absolute mess we made. Seeing the sun, which was now quite low in the sky, we decided to set up camp here, since we would not be able to return to the city today.

I helped Jools out of his armor, and helped him put it in his inventory. He also used the opportunity to get out his bedroll and a decent meal. I take his example and take out my ‘tent of restitution’ which is a recovery item that doubles your natural recovery, at the cost of immobilizing you. Not useful in combat, but very useful if you are doing a boss rush, or your team spent an uneven amount of resources. Somebody should tell the devs the meaning of restitution, because I’m pretty sure it was used incorrectly in that item. Either way, now it’s a comfortable one person tent. I really wanted to set up a campfire to set the mood, but honestly, I have no way to do it. No fire starting items, nor fire magic. Both existed in the game, and cooking on a campfire was a thing, but why bother when you have an inventory. I kinda regret not having it for the sake of it. Asking Jools about it, reveals that he does know how to start a fire the manual way. He started telling me a story of how he was stuck in the wilderness for a couple days before being rescued. He managed to find a river to drink from, but those days were hard on him, especially the cold nights. After he was rescued he vowed to learn basic survival skills, which he did. It took him a while to find someone to teach him properly, since learning survival tactics online can only do so much.

I never knew that facet of him. I always assumed he was a city softie like me. I would simply die if I was stuck in the wild, at least without magic, though he seems confident he could survive in perpetuity. He apparently trained in everything, though he doesn’t claim to be an expert. Setting traps and hunting, navigating by the stars and many other life saving things.

I’ll guess I have been underestimating him all along. He proves his claim, by managing to start a fire with some of the grass, and fueling it with a dead branch from the nearby copse.

With the mood set by a combination of the campfire and him revealing something about himself that I never knew, we sit down on the ground on opposing sides of the fire and I start telling him about my past. We continued talking into the night, trading stories.

Eventually I mentioned my friend that died, and my voice caught in my throat. I really loved her. We were never in a relationship, but I was closer with her than literally anyone else, then or now. I tell him some funny stories we did together and eventually go on to how her death affected me. To emphasize it, I magic away my sweater, just my sweater not the rest, so that I can show him my butterfly tattoo. I explain what it means, she was beautiful like a butterfly, but she also lived a way too short life like one. Not the deepest symbolism, but the fact that we both loved butterflies only added to it. In fact, we first met as children who happened to chase the same butterly. That first butterfly was a monarch butterfly, though we didn’t know that at the time. Our parents later showed us a picture they took of us that day and she went on to identify it. My tattoo is not orange like it, but kept the same patterns on the wings. I got the tattoo a little while after her death, shortly before I found the game to fill the hole in my heart. At the very least it distracted me from the sadness long enough to climb out of that rut and get my life in order. Dragging my finger across it as I show him, I can’t help but shed a tear at what could have been. I channel a bit of mana through it, hoping to illuminate it better, which works. It starts to glow green, which brings a smile to my face.

I’m taken out of my now quiet reminiscence by Jools staring wide eyed at something behind me, causing me to turn around. I catch a glimpse of something moving away from my vision, and I panic. I fire my thruster so that I end up next to Jools, facing the location of the assumed threat. Noticing my panic, Jools pulls me into a hug and tells me to calm down. It’s unexpected, but works. As I calm down, he simply tells me to take out a mirror. I do as he says, and look at the reflection. There, in my reflection, I see the most beautiful butterfly wings I have ever seen. And they are attached to my back. Turning my head to the side, I can see them. They are shaped like the monarch butterfly, but instead of orange, they are shades of green. I fall down on my knees, crying. 

She would have loved wings like this. Hell, I love wings like this.