Encounter
1603 Words
Lissana Mons
I think I went on for more than a day just blankly relying on nothing but my strength and appellations. I haven’ felt this powerful in decades when we were still at a frenzy, when the forest was still a bit wilder. “Ahh~~ Now that really hit the spot, I don’t normally black out like that, and it was different when I was fighting prince too. I was so much weaker than him. The only thing I could do was evade and block, but even blocking seemed like a death wish. Anyhoo~! That was a nice little buffet and exercise session, may Luna treat you all better in the next life.”
Now about those two Weres that needed my help…Ah, I better wash all of this blood off first, I might encounter more of those cave beasts, but they’re really just wild animals now, the Weres having lost their sanity to whatever cause. Being so power hungry doesn’t do one any good, that’s why we live in packs! We remind each other that there is something more important than power and that is family and companionship. Wait ‘til the guys hear about the s**t I’ve been through here! And Boen, I can’t wait to see her face. At this point I don’t even know why I like her so much, I just do and I want to learn more.
But first I have to wash the blood off! If I manage to find those Weres, we can find a way out together, and if they’re cursed, they can just show me the way out, they owe me after all. I helped them out, it should be natural that they’d help me too…Ah! Just over these stalagmites is the river!
“Huh?! Where’d the river go?” Damn this stupid cave! I’m never coming back here when I get out! It’s all so confusing and ‘mysterious’. It’s almost like it’s trying so hard, regular caves are much cooler in my opinion. They don’t need the magic of Luna to keep people lost, they’re just really f****d up like that. Hm, then I guess I should find another body of water…I bet there’s one nearby, there’s always water here.
“Hm~hm~” I’m in a really good mood, I have so much energy stored up from the beast meat and I managed to exercise my forms too. It really filled the void in my mind and stomach, most people don’t notice this, but eating and moving around is really important to the mental parts of the body. Just putting a little lid on the jar of our deep dark thoughts. Man~! Man~! I just feel so great it’s like it’s illegal. I shouldn’t be this high-spirited but I can’t help feeling like I’ve eaten the best meat and the clearest water! All that’s left is for me to clean my body. The blood’s starting to feel sticky. My shirt keeps getting messed up, although I guess it’s a croptop now since Neel ripped the edges of it. I kind of like it this way, man I already miss the guy and I didn’t even spend that much time with him. Maybe if I ask around I can find him later, ah no I can’t, Mer Weres aren’t part of the collective anymore. Then I guess I’ll just have to look for him!
Ah! “I didn’t think I’d find one so soon! And it’s thermal springs! Lucky!” I should probably separate my clothes from my body, I don’t want too much blood to contaminate the springs, or more specifically, the spring that I’m going to take a bath on. I’ve been feeling like abandoned store hotdogs since the last beast, I need a clean-me-up.
“Let’s see, maybe I’ll throw in my clothes here and let the spring wash them…yeah sounds good.
Guh, it’s drenched! That probably means that I’m f*****g drenched too. s**t, so that’s why those two ran away, I must have been a terrifying mass of c*****e. Hm, welp, it doesn’t matter, once they see I’m all clean, they won’t run away when they see me.”
I’m taking this pretty big spring all to myself, the amount of blood on me won’t even spread to half of the spring, “Splash!!!”
“Ahhh, that hit the spot. Another lid on a jar of this, Wolf Were!” I could stay here all day, I’ve found a couple of springs while wandering aimlessly, but I wasn’t really a stinking mess of blood and guts. I feel like all the dirt is being washed away~~ Even Boen’s ring’s glowing more now that it’s on the water. I normally just hung on to this thing with my fists closed all the time, alternating from my two palms like a maniac, but that seemed like the only way I won’t lose it. Now that I’m looking at it closely, it might actually fit my pinky finger…
“It…it fits! Oh my god!” I could have just worn it on my pinky finger all this time?! Ah, but I wouldn’t have allowed that in the beginning, it was really annoying too! Having at least one of my fists closed completely shut, like I’m always waiting to punch someone. I was to be honest, but now that I’ve punched more than I’ve chewed, I feel that it isn’t necessary anymore. I can be more at ease with the ring this way, I don’t need to try so hard anymore.
Hm, I wonder if this was the best way for me to realize this. I just succumbed to primal instincts and now I claim that I have a clearer mind? No, I do. Let’s not deny that now, it doesn’t matter how I reached clarity, as long as I didn’t hurt anyone lucid of on purpose, it’s not the wrong way. Yeah, I deserve to feel that I’ve progressed. I’m still here, I’m not dead yet.
“Splash!!!”
Wha-what?! Did someone just throw a rock in the spring I’m in? …hmm it’s probably just the stalactites, they’re drippy-droppy things. I don’t sense anything sinister either, I hope it’s finally a bat then. I think I deserve to see a bath now, it’s been weeks. I’m tired of pretty gems, stones and moss. I want to see something that isn’t ancient.
“Hey!”
“Splash!!!”
So someone really did throw a damn rock in my spring. “What’s yer prob---it’s you! You’re that kid who asked for my help and…hey! What are you doing with my clothes!!”
“Me and my brother are warning you! If you come any closer to us you won’t get your clothes back!”
“Hmm…” we’ll see about that, “Bold of you to assume that I can’t fight with no clothes on.”
“Eeeeeekkk!”
“Stand back, Goa. I couldn’t protect us from those beasts because we were out numbered but now, we have the advantage!”
“B-b-b-b-but she’s n-n-naked!!”
“Ah! Stop covering my eyes, Goa! How am I supposed to fight if I can’t see!”
These boys, they’re Kaya and Koto’s age. How in the moon did they get here by themselves?
“Hey!” Ah. They’re no match for me after all, I used to pick Kaya and Koto by their collars when they were still new to the group. Oh how time flies.
But, hm, I thought maybe the older one has a trick up his sleeve. “Aaaaahh!!! Please don’t come any closer! Take your clothes! Please move away!!” I guess not.
“...I’m done with my bath anyway.”
⁂
“No way you’re a Were from the outside! I’ve never seen one before and you’re a girl too. I don’t see girls much either! Your hair’s shorter than ours though, but you’ve got boobs! They’re huge! ”
“Goa, stop talking. You’re being gross and creepy. You can’t just tell a girl her t**s are huge.”
“You can’t?!”
“Sana, why are you reacting?!”
“Ah, well I…uh…I didn’t see a problem with it! At least, every woman I’ve met doesn’t seem to care when I tell them that!”
“That’s because you’re a girl too! It’s different!”
“My brother used to say it with me. We respect women!”
“I can’t believe this. Let’s just stop talking about it now, please.”
“Benan, you know nothing of the outside etiquette! We’re learning from a real live Were from the outside!”
“He’s right!”
“Sana, shut up!”
“Ahahahahahhaha!!!”
Man, these kids are alright. From what Benan has told me so far, Goa and him got separated from the groups they were with and are now semi-lost in the caves because the only safe way towards their old settlement is blocked by cave beasts, or wild Weres. Maybe some of the Weres I ate were the people they once knew, but you can’t go back. Once you’ve lost your sanity, you’ll never be able to regain it, that’s why they turn into their full forms and never revert back.
“Soooo…are you guys cursed? Should I be worried about those kinds of things?”
“Cursed? Oh no, Sana, kids don’t inherit curses. It’s true that we were born here, but our parents were the one’s that were cursed, not us.”
“Oh! Then doesn’t that mean the you boys can go out of these caves?”
“...what?”
- Writer
