The Goddess Returns

Chapter 4: Cave, Possibly Fissure

They found some more flotsam from their ship—a few planks, a broken crate, some disintegrated food—which they skirted around. Eventually they reached a rocky wall reaching high above, which circled the island's circumference and joined up with the mountain at the rear to create an almost perfect crescent. No obvious caves two girls could temporarily call home, however.

"Looks like we can get through here," Levana said, pointing along the uneven wall of rock.

The jungle to their left was thinner than elsewhere, to the point where they could push through without too much fuss. With the temperatures soaring already and humidity at close to one-hundred percent, finding a nice cool cave seemed like an excellent idea.

Squeezing through the vines and branches, they fought their way through towards the island's rear, noses filled with the tropical scents of sweet fruits and deadly diseases. Recent medical and magical advances meant the diseases were less of an issue these days, thanks to special medical-magical compounds which acted to prevent infection in the first instance, but starvation was a very real possibility.

Sui used her pistol as a makeshift axe in an attempt to hack through some of the worst of the overgrowth. This was less effective than she might have liked, and prompted her to consider whether a blade attachment might be a good idea when they got back to Akasar. If they got back.

Thorns and sharp creepers slashed and punctured her skin as she pushed through, doing her best to leave a clear way for her partner. She called back over her shoulder, "How are you doing?"

Levana was doing fine, primarily due to Sui's selfless actions going ahead and dealing with the worst of it for her. "I'm fine, Sui, thanks to you!"

"Let me know if you need to rest," Sui added, stepping over a large rock. "Mind the rock here!"

"Rock, rock... ah, yes, a rock," Levana muttered, jumping over it. Her dress snagged on a thorn as she did so, ripping away to reveal more leg than she normally would. The dresses she preferred were perfectly serviceable and even practical, but jungles cared little for such things. Even the most hardened adventurer expected to leave a jungle this overgrown with rather less material than they started with.

The distance from the beach to the mountain's base wasn't all that far, no more than a mile. But the sheer effort required to even reach it meant they had been at it for over an hour already, and were maybe halfway there. Finding a small area with less growth, they collapsed together and took a breather.

"We should be a fifth of the way to Hourence by now," Sui said, leaning back against the cool surface of the rock face. She looked down at her legs, which resembled a miniature battlefield streaked with blood and dirt.

Levana shuffled over and used the piece of her dress that had been torn off earlier to gently clean her beloved's legs, using a few drops of water essence from a small pack she always carried on her person to disinfect and ensure no further problems.

Sui winced at the sharp stinging sensation. "Been a while since I last got sliced up like this."

"Two years, I believe?" Levana muttered, focused on her work.

The soft lavender-like smell of pure water essence wafting up Sui's nose cleared her mind of the pain, at least a little. Magical essences were almost miraculous in their effects, which was why they cost an arm and a leg and possibly one's immortal soul to purchase, unless you happened to have the skills required to make your own.

"Yeah, that botched job over in Yavenza," Sui said. A job that should have been simple, but ended up with her and several others having to walk through the Razor Marshes, a location named with precisely no hyperbole intended. It had taken weeks for them to heal fully, even with the use of the latest magical treatments.