To Be Proud: Revamped

Chapter 8: Steady Recovery

~Thwok~

Running, dashing, fleeing. From something that I couldn't see. The sky was filled with melting ribbons, and berries larger than myself were growing everywhere. What was behind me? Why was it screeching? Why couldn't I see it? Was it crying for help? Why did it hurt? Just. Keep. Running.

Suddenly, everything was void. I couldn't hear anything, which was somehow worse than hearing everything. Everything slowed down, and I was able to take a minute to breathe. I couldn't see myself, but it felt better not to in a weird way.

There was pink in the corner of my eye. I looked over and saw Bona, standing a distance away. Something was off about him, something wrong and menacing. His eye sockets were hollowed out, and there was a band of metal binding his teeth together. He stood still, motionless. Carefully, I tried reaching out to him.

His eyes suddenly appeared, red and oozing. Some substance started to leak from the metal, filling the now confined room I was locked in. I tried to flee, but I couldn't move my legs. I started to panic. It was crawling up my waist, slowly reaching my head. I looked up, and those dead eyes stared right back at me as I was fully submerged.

I woke up suddenly, feeling as if everything in my body had stopped at once. Catching my breath and realizing that I suffered through a nightmare, I tried to calm down so that I could process the situation. I was laying down on something, so with a bit of effort and struggling I managed to sit up and look around the room I was in.

It wasn't a big room, but it was large enough to hold essential items. The walls themselves were smooth, formed from a polished crystal of sorts. I was laying in some sort of bed that was carefully fashioned out of bones and some variant of vine. A singular window behind me looked out into what seemed to be pitch black darkness. There was a place for books at the far wall, and a chair was sat in the corner. A rug also adorned the floor to match with the room.

      "Oh, you're finally awake." Startled, I looked around frantically for the source of the voice.

At the door of the room stood a monster that, though not encountered by my being, was familiar to me in a peculiar sense. Her colors ranged from dull browns and grays to a spectrum of bright reds and oranges, and she emitted a soft glow from the waist area. Her head was shaped like that of a volcano, with spikes protruding from her cheeks and smoke leaving the top of her head. Every part of her seemed to be made of some sort of dark rock. Her eyes shimmered a tannish-brown, and her smile casted a subtle soothing aura.

      "W-Who ahe you?"

      "I'm Kayna, of Bone Island. You can call me Kay. You are...?"

      "Thwohk."

      "Thwok. Pleasure to meet you." By now, she had walked in and started to study me a bit. "I don't think I recognize your element combination. Or your class, for that matter. What island are you from?"

      "Wuhblin Island." I watched as Kay's face lit up in realization.

      "Wublin Island, of course! Not much is written about that place, you know? Especially of its formation and early history. You gotta tell me about that stuff once you're all set, okay?"

      "Awlright, I hahve a few quehsions."

      "And I have a few answers. Hit me with your best shot."

      "Fiuh awahy?" Kay bounced a bit and clapped her hands.

      "Someone knows the chant." I laughed a bit, then proceeded to ask the questions in quick succession:

      "Wheh ahm I? Whaht's gohing ohn? Wheh ahe my fliends? How ahm I heuh? How do you knowh abouht Wuhblin Island?"

      "Okay, we're doing speed-round. Let's do this: You are in the Bone Island Quarritz castle, you and your friends fell from up above, they're in the next room over, Wubbox carried you here, and I read a lot in my spare time." The precision was perfect.