A Perfect World - Chapter 2 (Patreon)

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Darkness withdrew from their sight to reveal a simple campfire, flickering with a dim red light. A sudden gust of wind caused it to waver, blowing golden sparks into the freezing night air.

A sudden burst of cold caught them in its grip, seizing onto the sweat-soaked state of their body. They reached down to grab at their coverings and, pulling them up to their shoulders, they realized that they were covered in wrappings.

“Had a bad dream?”

The sudden question startled them, and they almost scrambled backwards on instinct. It was only the sensation of intense pain blossoming near their ribs that prevented that response.

“Be careful, you’re still hurt.”

One of their hands went down to rub gingerly at the spot, a low hiss of air exiting their mouth through clenched teeth.

Their eyes flicked upwards in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the speaker.

Opposite from them, a cloaked figure sat in the darkness. It stared at them in silence, as if expecting them to suddenly take flight like a bird freed from its cage.

However, seeing that they remained still, it slowly lifted up its fur cloak and took something from inside.

“You should have something to drink. It’s been nearly two days since you were last awake.”

The words must have touched some invisible trigger, for they were suddenly overwhelmed by a deluge of chaotic memories.

Many fragments of thoughts and remembered emotions bombarded their senses. Holding on for dear life, like a castaway onto a rickety life raft, was all they could do.

They came to a few minutes later, kneeling on their hands and knees, retching and coughing as waves of nausea wracked their body. All the contents of their stomach would’ve been emptied onto the dirt if it hadn’t already been empty.

A hand, patting comfortingly against their bony back, restored them to a state of calmness.

They felt something wet touch their lips, a water skin held up by the figure. For the first time since waking, they realized the arid state of their throat. They took it in a weak, trembling hand and drank from it desperately.

A few moments later, the skin fell uselessly to the ground. The sound of the impact didn’t even have a chance to dissipate before it was overwhelmed by another – an angry growl that would have put even the largest dire-wolf to shame.

“Hungry too? I expected as much.”

Following the sound of crinkling of paper, a wondrous scent wafted into the air. Their eyes were magnetically drawn to the source. On an unwrapped piece of oiled paper, a few strips of tender smoked meat rested.

“Here, eat th-...”

Within a heartbeat, and without waiting for the figure to finish its sentence, they started stuffing the food down their throat, swallowing it down without bothering to chew.

Unfortunately, thee meal concluded all too fast, and they were left to stare hungrily down at the piece of paper on which only a few grease-stains remained.

Before they had the chance to lick clean the last few nutritious remnants, a hand snuck within their sight and snatched the piece of paper.

They reached after it with protesting groan, but their grasping fingers were testily slapped away. They could only rub their stinging digits in frustration as the item was quickly folded and shoved into a rugged knapsack.

The figure’s cowl had fallen away during their short scuffle.

The child looked at the revealed face of their benefactor, not too surprised at his appearance – after all, a voice served to reveal the identity of its owner.

A young boy with curly, dirty-blonde hair, perhaps a year or two older than themselves, stared back at them. His nose and cheeks, dotted with light-brown freckles, were pink from the cold.

The two of them looked at each other in silence for a moment, one with an accusatory expression on his face, while the other was unrepentant.

Eventually the boy sighed and, reaching to his side, he grabbed a rag and tossed it into their lap.

“Wipe your face with that, you look like a beggar’s child.”

After saying his piece, he slumped forwards with a sigh, holding his hands over the fire for heat. Exhaustion was evident in his pose.

The child, in a sitting posture on their knees, took the cloth and wiped their mouth. There was a slight soreness there, but it was the type of soreness that characterized an injury on the mend.

Not being sure of what to do next, they scooted over to sit near the fire as well.

The silence between them, initially awkward, soon turned tranquil. Both started ahead, lost in their own thoughts. The dancing flames were hypnotic and mysterious, almost seeming like they were hiding some truth within their ever-changing shape.

“Dawn will come soon.”

The child looked up at the boy’s face, only to see him staring off into the distance. Their head turned in that direction as well, and they saw the orange glow highlighting the silhouette of the far-away mountains.

That hint of light revealed something surprising to them, something they hadn’t taken notice of until now. There were green plants all around, pushing up from beneath the snow. The trees had started budding, and tiny green leaves could be seen on their branches.

The boy must have noticed the surprised expression on their face.

“I’m not sure exactly, it’s difficult to know the date out here, but it must’ve been two months at least since the time I found you.”

They had no idea how to react to that revelation.

‘Has it really been that long? It can’t be, and yet…’

The changing of the seasons was evidence enough that the boy’s statement was true.

“I’m called Sixth. And you?”

“My name is Griffin.”

Their voice came out a little scratchy, their throat still sore from their earlier coughing fit.

They watched as the boy’s eyes widened unbelievingly, looking for all the world as if they’d just pronounced themselves to be the king of Midland.

“Ah, sorry. Can you say that again?”

He rubbed his forehead as he asked the question, blinking repeatedly like someone trying to rouse himself from a waking dream.

“I’m Griffin. That’s my name.”

Amusingly, the boy seemed to become even more distressed upon receiving confirmation that ‘Griffin’ was indeed their name.

“O-Oh, I see.”

A strange sort of silence descended over the conversation. The child, Griffin, looked at the boy. He seemed to be extremely confused, to the point where it was a little absurd.

Sixth opened and closed his mouth, trying and failing to form words. Eventually he managed to gather his wits and asked another question, his tone strangely cautious.

“Uh, you’re a girl…”

The child, Griffin – a girl – combed a lock of long silver hair out of her eyes before responding to him in question.

“And…?”

He looked like he didn’t quite know how to answer that.

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Even though dawn had come and the sun, a watery, orange orb, had risen above the horizon, the two of them remained seated in front of the fire.

They’d barely spoken to each other since. The reason for Sixth’s silence was unknown to her, while her silence was due to a silent panic. She’d reached her hand toward her neck to grab at her keepsake a moment ago, as was her regular habit, only to find that it was missing.

Eventually, her search of her person, which grew ever more frantic, drew the attention of her absent-minded companion.

“What’s the matter?”

Stopping her search, she turned to him with a frown.

“I had something with me, a thing hanging from a piece of string, but now it’s gone. Did you do something with it?”

Sixth looked unhappy due to the accusatory glare she was sending him.

“I don’t know anything like that. What did it look like?”

She outlined an oval shape with her bandaged hands.

“It looks like an egg, except it’s red. Its surface is a little lumpy.”

Uneasy realization dawned on his face.

“You’ve seen it. What happened to it?” She asked, her tone urgent.

He responded immediately, waving his hands in front of his chest.

“I’ve seen one of those things before, but you didn’t have one on you when I… tended to you.”

“If you didn’t find it on me, then where did you see it?” She asked doubtfully.

He sighed in annoyance, fiddling with his hair using one hand.

“I passed through a village and saw a suspicious looking old man selling one of those things. It gave me the creeps – that’s why I thought of it in the moment.”

She stared searchingly at him, biting on her lower lip in thought.

He looked straight at her in order to showcase his sincerity, not breaking eye-contact for a moment.

After a while, she lowered her gaze, having determined his words to be truthful.

She stood up and dusted some debris from the surface of her patched skirts.

“Take me to where you found me – it should still be there.”

He stood up after her, immediately denying the outrageous request.

“Do you think I stayed still for the past two months? We would have died from exposure if I hadn’t looked for shelter. I have no idea how to get back there, and even if we went back, what are the chances it would still be there?”

Clenching her fists at her sides, she marched over to where he was. Coming to a standstill in front of him, she had to restrain herself from shouting as she addressed him.

“I can’t lose it. It’s the only thing I have.”

She knew she sounded unreasonable, but she couldn’t afford to lose it!

“If I don’t find it, I won’t ever get my…!”

She stopped herself from finishing her sentence. It would only make her sound ridiculous, and be counterproductive in convincing Sixth to help her find the item.

The gears turned in her head as she tried to think of a way to persuade him. She was convinced that, if he could only bring her near to where she’d lost it, her intuition would help her find it again.

Seeing that she wasn’t going to give up, he pinched the bridge of his nose while sighing in exasperation.

“Look, trust me. I know something else about those things: they always find their way back to their proper owner. You don’t need to look for it.”

She opened her mouth, intending to question his statement, but he interrupted her.

“Don’t try to convince me to take you back there. I don’t know the way, and it would be a waste of time regardless.”

Not giving her a chance to reply, he immediately turned around and started packing up the camp.

“I suspect you won’t be willing to stay out here in the wilderness in any case. I’ve been living in this area for a while now, but I guess I can’t stay here forever. I’ve already invested so much effort into keeping you alive – it would be a waste if you died immediately after running off on your own.”

She watched in confusion as he stuffed his meagre belongings into his hide knapsack before slinging it over his shoulder and kicking wet dirt onto the fire.

He walked over to stand in front of her, looking her in the eyes.

“Let’s go.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion. She had no idea what he was getting at.

“Go where?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“It doesn’t matter. Wherever you want.”

She had a strange look in her eye as she listened to his words.

“Okay…”

After staring at him for a moment longer, she turning around and looked into the distance. She was insistent on finding the fetish, but she’d quiet about it. She trusted her intuition. Despite how unlikely it sounded, she was confident that she could find it.

After a moment of searching, she rediscovered the sensation so familiar to her - that invisible thread leading into the future.

Her feet started moving in a direction as if by their own will, and it didn’t take long before a second set of footsteps could be heard, trailing behind her.

‘I guess it wouldn’t be bad – not travelling alone.’

A hint of a smile appeared on her you face, although her companion, walking in-step behind her, wasn’t able to see it.

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The two of them stopped for rest in the afternoon, having spent a few hours travelling. Griffin was not healed, and her injuries prevented her from doing more traveling today.

The girl in question had seated herself on a large boulder and, using both hands, was rubbing some feeling back into her thin legs. Being bedridden for so long certainly hadn’t done her physical condition any favors.

Sixth, noticing the frustrated look on her face, spoke up.

“Take it easy. If you force yourself, you’ll only slow your recovery.”

The girl opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, her stomach let its hunger be known.

She looked over at where Sixth sat, a sheepish expression on her face.

“Is there anything left to eat?”

She felt a bad for demanding more of him after everything he’d done, but she didn’t have much of a choice. She was starving.

Sixth shook his head morosely. She noticed, for the first time, that his cheeks had a hollowness to them.

“I set a few traps near the previous camp, but they were all empty. I’ll have to go hunting. Fortunately, there are still some daylight left.”

He took an unstrung bow from his knapsack and started re-tying it. She’d seen the ‘stick’ protruding from behind his back, but she hadn’t been sure what it was until now.

She looked on appreciatively as he went to work with practiced hands.

“You’re a hunter?”

He tilted his head this way and that, the gesture conveying a sense of ‘iffy-ness’.

“I wouldn’t call myself a hunter, but I know a few things.”

Her eyes sparkling, she spoke her request without realizing that she’d done so.

“Can you teach me how to shoot?”

She’d always been fascinated by weapons, and had trained her skills whenever she’d the chance.

Sixth looked at her, his expression slightly annoyed. However, he stopped himself from immediately refusing, and decided to give the request more consideration. After a few moments of thought, he agreed.

“Alright. Stand over there.”

She could barely contain her enthusiasm as he placed the bow, knocked with a single arrow, into her hands.

“Put this leg in front.”

Picking up a stick from the ground, he tapped against her knee.

“Hold the string like this. No, like this. And you should shift your grip on the bow downwards a little. Okay, that looks good. Don’t aim for a tree – flint tips break easily. Shoot something else.”

She drew the arrow to her cheek, as she’d seen a soldier doing before, taking aim at a bush one hundred paces away. It stood out to her, looking fairly unique with its budding purple leaves.

“You should try something a little closer for your first shot.”

Ignoring him, she held the posture, her arms straining a bit due to her infirmity.

After she was sure she’d taken proper aim, she loosed the arrow. Its path of flight was perfectly straight, arcing upwards towards a peak around half-way toward her target. Then it dropped, falling towards the brush like an eagle swooping downwards to strike its prey.

It was a really good shot.

She watched, smugness on her face, as it struck the center perfectly. However, her expression quickly turned into one of surprise when a loud series of squeals erupted from within the very same bush.

While she stood there looking stunned, Sixth had broken out into a sprint in the direction of the noise.

However, before he could reach the destination, a mottled figure burst forth from within the vegetation, fleeing at high speed.

Well, it wanted to flee at high speed, but unfortunately for it the arrow had pierced perfectly into its hindquarters, pinning its legs and restraining its movement.

It managed to cover some distance, leaving a trail of red behind on the snow, but it couldn’t avoid capture. With a few swift movements, its hunter, having reached it, withdrew a flint knife from somewhere on his person and cut through the poor creature’s neck.

Griffin, not letting herself be left out of the action, had followed after, although at a slower pace.

Coming to stand next to Sixth, she looked down at the wild pig, its body going through a few final seizures before becoming still. A pool of red slowly expanded underneath it.

Still a little out of breath, her companion looked up at her with an incredulous expression.

“You… have the devil’s own luck, don’t you?”

She shook her head mutely as she stared down at the corpse. Its fur was mostly white with a few black spots in the process of developing. Reaching downwards, she ran a hand over its cooling body.

“Its softer than it looks.”

Sixth, still looking like he couldn’t believe what had just happened, nodded.

“I’ve killed one of these before. I made this out of its pelt.”

Lifting his hands to her face, he wiggled his fingers. Her attention was drawn to his crude gloves.

Bending down, he wriggled his arms underneath the carcass and, taking a moment to steel himself, he lifted it up onto his shoulders.

“We should look for a good place to shelter so we can slaughter this thing. I don’t doubt for a second that wolves will show up, drawn by the smell of blood.”

Her face turned serious once she heard his words. It was always that way, wasn’t it? If a person got something good, there would always be someone – or something – wanting to take it from them.

She couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy when the face of that noble’s daughter suddenly came to mind.

“What are you standing around for? We need to get going.”

The words snapped her out of her malaise, and looking in the direction of her companion, she noticed that he’d already walked away from her.

Once she’d arrived at his side, him walking slowly due to his burden, Sixth spoke again.

“I saw something that like a cave near here. That would probably be the safest place for us to stay the night.”

The two of them, one boy and one girl, set off together in search of shelter.

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After going on ahead, leaving her to watch over their kill, Sixth went by himself to check out the cavern. It would be a disaster if they showed up to the area in optimism, only to find it already inhabited by a wolf-pack, or something… worse.

She didn’t have to wait long before her companion returned. He didn’t seem to be distressed, which likely meant that all was well.

Pointing his thumb over his shoulder, Sixth spoke.

“After tossing a few stones into the place and getting no response, I went inside to look. There’s a good chance that a bear hibernated there during the winter. If we hurry, we should be able to close up the entrance behind us before nightfall.”

Nodding, she stood up and stuck out her arm towards him.

“Let me carry your bag.”

After handing in to her, he took the pig carcass again.

The two of them made their way over to the area hastily, and Sixth was soon huffing and wheezing under the weight of pork on his shoulders.

“I can carry it for a bit.”

Sixth shook his head in refusal.

“I’m fine. Besides, we’re almost there.”

And indeed, it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes later that they arrived at the grotto.

The team bacon-carrier wasted no time in setting down his charge. He rubbed the back of his neck as he straightened himself, sore from his posture.

“What a fat pig, although I guess I can’t complain about that.”

After taking a moment to rest, the two of them started looking around for a way to seal off the entrance. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem that there wasn’t a bulletproof solution to the problem.

Griffin, after walking a bit deeper, thought of something.

“It gets narrower here. Maybe we should block this part off?”

Sixth, who’d been thinking, murmured in agreement.

“You’re right, but even if we do that, there’s nothing to stop something from digging through to us.”

She’d thought of that problem as well. It was hardly as if they’d be able to create a solid obstruction. The best they could do was pile together some stones and stuff snow into the gaps.

“Why don’t you go ahead and start on that? I have an idea that could work…”

Although she was curious about what he planned to do, she agreed. It wouldn’t be too complicated for her to put something together.

The two of them started working on their respective projects, and as was the case when one was busy, time passed quickly.

Griffin wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand, having just stuck the last stone into her barricade.

She hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Sixth in the past two-ish hours. She thought of going outside to take a look, but found that she was too exhausted.

‘So much for taking it easy.’

Sixth arrived sometime later to find her slumped on the dirty floor with her back against the wall. Her appearance, like a wrung-out rag, was evidence of her persisting illness. She greeted him.

“Hello.”

Seeing her state, he grimaced apologetically.

“Thanks for your work. If everything goes well, we should be able to hole up here for a few days.”

She wasn’t too happy about the idea, but she had to admit that, given how weak she felt right now, rest was probably the only option for her.

“Did your plan work out?”

She eyed him curiously, still wondering what exactly he’d been doing.

He lifted both hands to his chest, giving her a double thumbs-up.

“We should be safe.”

She nodded in relief. It would be nice, if they didn’t have to worry about being attacked by wild animals in their sleep.

“It’s getting cold. Let’s go inside so we can close up behind us.”

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