“Hm…” Blue’s ignited eyes were focused, evaluating… “Bruised, scratched, minor cuts… But nothing more than that.”

  The shadowy cloaked and plain-dressed survivor had been perched against the cavern wall, the ice mage’s ball of wispy-dusty illumination having been lowered in both proximity and brightness. This survivor’s skin was fair and fresh—hardly blackened, rotted, or desiccated; although, Blue had yet to do a full figure inspection to see if there were pockets.

  Regardless, whatever had affected this one so was not the same as…whatever had even happened to the others.

  Naturally, such only made Red more suspicious even if he had said not a word. He was preoccupied looking the other way, keeping his attention firmly focused on the larger more menacing tunnel.

  “Nuh…” The survivor was hardly awake, phasing in and out of consciousness with eyes that swayed barely open to fully closed. However, she was breathing even if…strugglingly so; sweating too…

  “Her muscles…” Blue was squishing, evaluating the face, arms, and so on. “Very relaxed—almost mushy. This isn’t normal.”

  “Uhuh… Any sign of her being bashed in the head?” Red, not even turning, thus inquired.

  Blue had already lowered the hood, revealing the maroonish-toned hair. “Nope.”

  “Hm…” Red just mumbled, cogitating… “I don’t know; everything you’ve described so far still sounds like death magic… Paralysis.”

  “Or poison.” the ice mage so remarked—ironic, indeed; that the mage would suggest the material whilst the adventurer would suggest the arcane. “Although, considering the major bruising on her neck… She might’ve been strangled unconscious, maybe?”

  “If she was strangled unconscious, why poison or paralyze her to keep her down?” Red mused… Indeed, why was this one still alive? Nevertheless, “Strip her.” he promptly commanded; “Check her full body for anything, and don’t—”

  “Make it weird, I know…” Blue thus completed, already knowing. “I’m many things, Red, but I am not a violator… Absolutely not.”

  “No. You’re just really-really pushy.” Red, naturally, replied—lightening the mood, although only barely.

  “I won’t be able to heal, just to say. It’s either the light or healing. You make your choice.”

  “I wasn’t going to have you bother wasting your mana anyway. Not until she talks.” Red so replied, partially glancing. “Also, hand me whatever crap she has on her—bags, satchels, whatnot. I’ll look through them.”

  “Wait,” and Blue gave him rather the glance, “are you serious? You want to snoop through her belongings whilst she is…”

  “Yeah.” Red was very blunt. “I do.”

  “You can at least wait until she’s fully awaken…”

  “Nah…” Yet Red merely shook his head. “I’ve got a strong feeling the moment she wakes up, she’s gonna get feisty.”

  “…help… who…” A voice meanwhile began to less speak and more…bleed through the weakly breaths, only the whites and half an iris being visible from how barely her eyes were open. “…tell…them…we’ve… ‘n…cross… who… wha… oh… muh…” Mostly gibberish.

  Blue’s attention returned to the survivor. “Sweetness, hold a moment. I shall do a quick inspection, and you will be…back up eventually! Just remain…steady now.” She gave Red one more glance, firmer. “You keep your eyes that ways and not my ways, Reddy.”

  “I know the procedure, lady. I’m not you.” He just had to say.

  “~Teh. Exactly right.” Blue thus began to conduct a full body inspection.

  Ultimately revealed was more worse bruising in the waist, chest region, lower torso, a couple patches on the thighs, and…

  “Oh…” Indeed, there was momentary sinking in Blue’s breaths. “Trinity’s Father in Heaven above…”

  Her religious invoking alone was enough for Red’s attention to flip her way. “What?” He did not turn even if his voice had; his hands remained preoccupied with sorting through the survivor’s belongings.

  “Uhm… Well…” Blue’s breaths only became more disturbed—heavier, irregular, and with added difficulty in communicating. Certainly, there were widening eyes and a bodily shake.

  “Blue, seriously,” now Red flipped his gaze, “what is it?”

  Blue’s position acted as an almost natural censorship to his sight. She required a moment to collect herself, breathing in and out, relaxing more especially as she realized the implications were…not…in the direction she was initially assuming.

  “Bruising in her…lady area.” She finally said it. “Considering she was fully clothed and there isn’t any…tearing, bleed, or…other… Uhm…”

  “You’ve colored the painting enough.” Red quickly cut her words. “Aggressively handled, beaten up a bit, and probably hard kneed down there. I get it.”

  “Yeah…” Now Blue was the one sweating slightly, though once again breathing in and out… “I am fine. I am fine.” She was telling more herself than Red.

  “Yeah. You are.”

  “Thus,” indeed she refocused, “…an orc? Or hobgoblin—those are the bigger ones, rightly?”

  “One of those two, maybe. Could’ve been an ogre or demi for all we know. Lots of kinds that despise mans and especially lady mans.” Red so remarked. “Weaker, prettier, more alluring—whatever blah, blah, blahs… That’s what we’re told, but I’ve been involved in enough clearances to know what some adventurer doorknobs end up doing on our side. Goblins aren’t pretty at all, but it was never about the prettiness—but the unspoken words stated by that kind of violence.”

  “…you know how there is a moment for my perversions, Red?” Blue gave him a bland glance. “There is also a moment for your monologues, and this is not it.”

  “Yeah...” Red sometimes could not help himself in the same vain Blue could not help her own remarks. “Sorry.”

  He was more a thinker than he ever gave himself credit for.

  “Anyway,’” Blue meanwhile moved on, “I would like to do some healing.” She changed her mind. “At least…on that…afflicted area. Mind if we move into…the tunnel, where it’s…safer?”

  “I’d like to, but… I’d prefer to stay here.” Red, however, replied. “Pop the light or dim it or do what you have to do. I’ll keep watch.”

  “I shall attempt dual casting, then… I still have some life school spellcards that may work.”

  Red wanted to remain at the scene; for once that survivor awoke, her reactions to it could yield information she herself might not be willing to provide forthright.

  -||-

  “Nugh…” With mellow groans and awaking moans, eyes so slowly—so indecisively—opened and closed; opened and closed.

  Yet she was able to perceive again—perceive that she could see; that her vision was blurry; that her eyes felt weakened, her limbs too stubborn to move though she was trying.

  “She’s trying to move again… I think she is starting to come back….”

  “Finally, Gods’ sacred…”

  And she could perceive that her ears were able to hear…voices.

  “Relax… Don’t try to move too excessively.”

  Pain… Sharp, stingy, and almost pulsing. Much of her body was in pain—much of it felt far too sensitive, as if having been ‘stimmed up’.

  Yet as her consciousness returned, her gradual awakening sped up into a sudden and immediate surge. Indeed, “HUH?!” a gasp; she jerked and jolted, eyes popping wide open; breathing and breathing, gulping air in and out, in and out. “WHO?! WHAT?!” Her voice had lanced.

  “Easy… Easy… We’re friends! Friends!” Blue promptly leaned in to reassure, attempting to calm and soothe.

  In this surge, however, the survivor began to move her limbs, recoiling as she tsked; as if both her mind and body were attempting to ascertain her environment, her surroundings, where she was, and what had even happened.

  And she so immediately realized…

  “Huh?! Why… Why am, am I…naked?!?” Indeed, she did not even need to directly inspect herself; she could feel the exposure, let alone seeing her cloak and clothes aside. “Uch, uch… Fuck! Rave—Gods, ach… Uck, my skin—my—what did you…do to…”

  “Easy now, easy…” Blue, her voice mellow and soft, kept trying to appear as unhostile and nonthreatening as possible. “I used a healing spell on you to help with your bruising. Your sensitivities are amplified, consequently.”

  Indeed, life magic—at least in its most basic form—amplified, augmented, and-or otherwise accelerated the body’s own natural recovery and repair mechanisms. However, by consequence, life magic was ultimately a stimulizer or energizer that heightened sensitivity and nerval responses.

  Thus, paradoxically, although the survivor’s body was in better condition—still bruised, albeit now several days far more ahead in recovery—she nevertheless felt as though needles were pricking her.

  And, indeed, her legs tightened in an almost clench—a disturbing flare ricochetting throughout her pelvis.

  “You had injuries…down there also—I apologize for the discomfort.” Blue carefully and softly spoke.

  “What… What happened to me?” The survivor’s breathing elevated, however; implications pre-traumatizing.

  “You were beaten up, that’s what.” Red, however, lacked any of the same…courtesy. “So, you tell me.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Indeed, he remained seated down plainly, his eyes not giving the survivor an acknowledgement. Using the dim shine of Blue’s still active ball of wisp-dusty radiance, he merely—as if in show—inspected that which he had already inspected; opened satchels and document cards.

  “Oh, rightly, uhm…” Blue stood up, attempting to salvage the mood; “I am Blue, and he is—”

  “You.” The survivor’s eyes sharpened, narrowing as if having been preinstalled with everything one ever needed to know regarding a certain notoriety figure.

  “Yeah. ‘Me’.” Red blandly replied, still not eyeing. “Quite a few daggers you have, and some master clearances you’ve got on yourself too, lady. Full realm clearance that covers the whole of Huckleberry and even its sub-vassals; clearances for Sparklewater, Leafgate, Amberfield, Autumngate, the Pumpkin Dutchy, and…the High Garden of Greenfield.” These were awfully specific realms, indeed.

  “You…were looking through my things?” The survivor mustered a partial scowl. “Heh… Unbelievable.” Truly, some ‘rescue’ or ‘saving’ this was.

  She immediately could tell what this was turning into.

  “No special Guild clearances, though. Clever—hides association. But none of you bothered to change your Gods’ forsaken cloaks? It’s obvious to anyone who’s been around you bugs enough.” Red only continued onwards. “Oh, but you’ve got yourself an Imperial passport—how did you figure that? Huh? What kind of strings are you playing at, huh?”

  The survivor’s focus shifted astray and away… “I don’t know what…what…you’re talking about. I just woke up believing I’d been orc-raped, so if you can…please…just…” Her breaths were tensing. “Oh, fuck… It hurts… I hate this feeling…so much.” She was greatly discomforted.

  “Red, seriously,” and Blue was quick to come to her fellow lady’s support, “you are prodding too aggressively. She has only recently—as in only a minute ago—awoken.”

  “Hm.” Red did not subscribe to any sympathy, however. “Orc-rape. So, that the guy you fought? He was an orc?”

  “Red…” Blue was starting to growl.

  “Alright, alright.” Red backed off, but only somewhat—less out of concern for the survivor as much as…Blue. Because of the nature of the survivor’s injuries, his companion had an especially…sensitive response.

  This was personal for her.

  “Thanks…” the survivor thanked Blue, slightly warmer; “You’re gentle.”

  “Never a problem,” and Blue was likewise warm, “though…” Indeed, although… “I am ultimately on his side.” She had to clarify. “I just…understand…waking up in such a way—the need for time.”

  Red kept his eyes on her belongings and less on she herself. “At the very least,” he began to ask, “can you tell us what happened here, huh? What you were even doing here?”

  “Hmph…” The survivor’s eyes swayed aside… “I… I… I don’t remember.”

  “…” Red tried his best not to stare the nude survivor down with rather the bland glare. “You…don’t remember?”

  “I don’t remember… Sorry…” Her teeth began to grit. “It’s just…all so…blurred and…messy—and the more I think about it… I just… I am sorry…” She clenched herself, tsking from the still radiating discomfort. “I just… I want to get out of this place… I don’t even know why I’m here…”

  “Mh…” Red just mumbled… “Well, ain’t that convenient now? You can remember an orc bashing you in your lady hole, but not why you were even fucking here…?”

  The survivor’s posture only tightened more. “Ugh…”

  “Red! Seriously!” Blue, however, was having none of this. “I have had my own peculiar lapses and gaps in memory…after…certain things—being left…delirious and…not even knowing…why…” Her own breaths were tightening, tensing… “Could please demonstrate a modicum of courtesy for once?”

  “See, there’s the difference.” Red, however, was not interested in backstepping now. “You’re getting trembly, but she’s—”

  “Also shaking.” Blue, being the one whose eyes were actually looking at the survivor, so interrupted. “You are being…exceptionally… Ugh…” She was becoming frustrated. “She was assaulted in an undignified fashion even if not violated, and that is something…”

  “Sure, yeah—but come on… She doesn’t remember why she’s here and specifically that? Blue, you’re smarter than that…” Oh, now he was arguing… He had become too caught in the moment, and it was difficult to withdraw.

  “Maybe she is telling the truth, Red. Have you considered that? That she doesn’t remember in this moment.” Blue was also becoming caught. “You presume she was ‘kneed’, but with that bruising? It could have been far more than that even if, again, it wasn’t the full…event… Again, I myself often barely remember…some of the things…that…”

  Red inhaled in and exhaled out… Fuck, he was certainly becoming riled over perhaps one of the worst subjects with Blue. Truly, he could only be more angry at the culprit—the orc or whoever—that had decided to go too far with its beating.

  “All I am saying Red,” and indeed his companion had an evident bias, “is that you don’t know. And there is a time for these things.”

  The survivor herself was listening… “Ain’t that the truth…” muttered her breaths.

  “Would you be as aggressively interrogative if you stumbled upon a fellow adventurer who’d been sodomized?” Blue then pondered a hypothetical. “Think of it in that way.”

  “Yeah. I would, and I have.” Red was dead honest. “And I’ve had my dignity stripped from me before, you know that. But it’s not about that; it’s about figuring out—”

  “I don’t remember,” the survivor proceeded to interject herself, “what happened here… Again, it’s hazy.” she thus stated; “I have a headache, I feel awful, the worst part of my body is in big pain; I don’t want to hear…whatever…this even is between you two…” She was almost as dead honest in this regard as Red. “Can I please put my clothes back on?”

  Both of them quieted themselves…

  “There you have it.” Blue simply said, calming down.

  Red too calmed, sighing. “Gods’ sacred toilet… Alright, fine. But don’t you think I’ve finished, lady. Once you’re all cozied again, I’m gonna—” His eyes finally went lancing her way as if to give her rather the firm and decisive glare, yet only for his whole face to freeze, his voice pausing with it.

  He just stared…

  “Uhm…” Blue eyed Red then eyed the survivor then eyed Red again, tilting her head. “Uh?”

  “…the fuck are you looking at?” And the survivor was promptly made uncomfortable; she immediately covered her chest. “Why are you staring?” Her eyes evaded, tensing. “Fucking asshole…”

  “Yeah, Red…” Blue herself looked at him… “Why are you looking at her so agasped? You aren’t typically this…creepy.”

  “Duh.” Red promptly shook his head, standing himself up and looking the other way. “Yeah, that was on me. Sorry. I don’t know what the Demon-fuck just happened there.” He ahemed and began to walk, yet he had a slight sweat. “Blue, help her get dressed up—though keep her daggers off her.” In fact, his foot kicked them away. “Keep your light high; I’m gonna do a final look around, and then we’re getting the fuck out of here.”

  “…got it.” Blue, not pursuing this subject further, opted to comply. She began to assist the survivor, the two not chatting much although there appeared to be a mutual supportive understanding.

  Red, meanwhile, was silent—pretending to inspect around, though he was far too caught in his own thoughts, his own mind. His own breaths had become somewhat shaken and perturbed…

  That survivor’s eyes, he had seen… They were a potent yellowish-amber color of a particular shade—similar even if not exact to his very own… Indeed, an awfully specific phenotype of eyes that were common amongst an equally specific population of people—former people, that was.

  Certainly… It appeared both had their persistent sensitivities; for Red’s mind had lost its fiery embers, becoming scrambled.

  -||-

  The survivor stood there, breaths still tingly from the remnant stings. Fully clothed and cloaked, although her hood was down; her collar was drenched from the water she had so gulped down—Blue’s water, to be precise… All of it. There was a slight chattery grit to her teeth. She stared at the derelict wagon and the bodies around it. Silent. Red too simply stood aside, lingering in the corner of her own yellowish-amber eyes… Watching her, observing her behavior.

  Blue meanwhile was at the other of the formerly two distanter bodies from the initial five. For as it had turned out, that body too was fresher than the rest—not desiccated or consumed by blackening necrosis. An accomplice to the survivor, judging from the survivor’s very own reactions when she had suddenly realized—that upward spring, half clothed, before she had lunged to that other body with such a frantic gasp.

  Although the survivor had still yet to speak a single word regarding what happened, Red was able to begin piecing the pieces together. Five bodies around the wagon, two—or rather one now—more distant bodies awfully closer to the entrance than not… He might be an adventurer, and she might be…whatever it was she was, Guild tactics were Guild tactics.

  There were those who ventured inwards, and those who remained outside as both witnesses and auxiliaries. When those five had never returned, the other two must have ventured themselves to see what had befallen—of course, their error was both going instead of only one.

  Always, indeed, leave behind a witness—unless, of course, they wanted none.

  “Yeah…” Blue’s voice echoed to both. “Bruises all over, but no…stabs. Her neck’s been snapped, very…visible.” She had done largely the same procedure, although she did not bother with an unclothed inspection. The cause of death was obvious by the contorted twist and major bruising on the neck.

  The survivor’s breaths tensed with an inhale. “Mm…” she merely mumbled.

  But Red kept his focus. “For someone who doesn’t remember shit,” he began to say, “don’t you seem awfully interested in the sight?”

  The survivor tsked, not even giving him an eye. “May I have my daggers back?”

  Red so simply shook his head. “No.”

  The survivor tsked again.

  Red flipped his eyes to Blue. “How stiff are the muscles?”

  “Stiff.” Blue replied. “Very stiff.”

  This Diamond-ranked adventurer had been in Death’s company enough to have long intuited the patterns of post-mortality. In her own way, Blue was also aware of the pattern. Although lacking the technical term, both understood that stiffened limbs, muscles, and joints meant that death had occurred within the last few hours, maybe day. Thus, not freshly recent but recent enough.

  Such only further narrowed the timeline: whatever had happened here, had happened within at least this day. Which only begged further questions.

  “What are you two even doing here?” Truly, the survivor had the audacity to ask that of them.

  Red merely glanced, although struggled to retain…fixed eye contact the way he usually could. “Hunters,” he began to answer forthcoming, “they noticed a suspicious wagon and a bunch of cloaked people while they were hunting here. They followed until you—they—disappeared into this cave. We stumbled on them, they told us, and so we came here to see.”

  “Hunters?” The survivor tilted her head… “You”—the way she said ‘you’ was less directed towards adventurers in the abstract and more targeted to Red specifically—“happened upon hunters who happened to have noticed…and followed and later noticed you and then reported to you precisely what they’d noticed, where to find, and…so on?”

  “Pretty much.” Red was not going to deny—he had already found those hunters awfully suspicious himself, truth be told.

  “All…in the same day?” the survivor blurted, effectively confirming to Red the timeline. “Or, wait…how long has it been?” She still did seem woozy. “Still unbelievable…”

  “So, your memory starting to come back now?” Red so blandly interrogated; “Remember anything about, oh I don’t know, why you’re here… What happened here?”

  “I don’t remember, sorry.” She had replied awfully swift, sharp, and bland. “It…happened too quick…” There was a shift in her posture, once again a chatter in her teeth.

  Layered within what Red presumed to be lies were perhaps layers, even if thin, of truth.

  “…what even did this to them?” the survivor started to muse aloud; “Death magic?”

  “No…” Blue meanwhile had stood herself back up and made her way to them. “Or, rather… I do not know. I thought so too, but…I have never seen anything this…holistic—death magic rots but not necessarily dries or…turns to mummy.”

  “Mummy? What’s a mummy?” The survivor turned to Blue, gaze more cordial.

  “Uh…” Yet Blue gave her a stare. “You…don’t know what a…mummy is?”

  The survivor gently shook her head. “…sorry.” she apologized, however, before swinging her eyes away. “Stupid question… Forget it.”

  “Oh… Alrightly, then.” Blue thus forgot it.

  The survivor merely stared at the bodies, cogitating—keeping it all within.

  “Well, in whatever case,” Red thus spoke, “you’re coming with us.”

  And the survivor jerked. “Wait, what?” She glared at him. “I appreciate your…help, but…I must remain here and—”

  “Cover shit up? Yeah, nah… Sorry, lady.” Red was blunt. “You might not ‘remember’ anything about your mission, but I sure in all these Gods’ fucked realms remember mine.” he thus spoke, forthright; “The Company’s marked this cavern as handled; that’s obviously not the case.”

  “…wait, you’re working with the Company?” the survivor latched on.

  “Don’t know. Am I?” Yet Red just shrugged. “Besides,” he pointed at the larger and more menacing tunnelway, “with that giant opening leading to Gods’ unknown where, you don’t know… Maybe the guy who attacked you is still there, waiting for us to leave.” His eyes sharpened in their glare. “He already fondle-attacked you once; who knows what he’s gonna do for second serving.”

  The survivor cringed; her breaths nearly shivering, posture clenching.

  “Red!” Blue meanwhile scowled. “Don’t.” She so issued a warning.

  And Red so nodded, aheming. “Either way, you’re coming with us.” He simply went and grabbed the survivor by the arm, dragging her as he began to depart. “Come on, Blue. We’re leaving.”

  The survivor, however, began to pull and tug. “Wait, wait!” she fought; “WAIT!!!” That sudden shout made him freeze. Her breaths were elevated… “I… I can’t leave the bodies here.” she thus spoke, voice earnest; “Can we…at least…bring them out?”

  “Lady, that is six whole bodies and there’s only three of us. We’d have to do multiple—”

  “I KNOW!” the survivor raised her voice again. “But… I… I can’t leave them here… I can’t… I can’t…” She was looking straight at Red, tears starting to drip.

  And Red looked at her in kind, seeing those…forsaken eyes…which pierced sharper than even her words.

  His own breaths tensed. “Gods’ damnation… Ugh.” he groaned aloud, nearly growling; “Blue, hold onto this.” He promptly handed Blue, who had been trailing near, his polearm.

  “Woah…” And Blue nearly stumbled in her acceptance, beset with its…weight. “Weighty.”

  He unhanded the survivor. “I’ll grab two, you grab one.” he thus stated; “I assume you’re strong enough, Raven.”