The Haunted Cauldron

They're real

My mount landed roughly almost knocking me off in my weakened state right in front of Plainsong's entrance. My arrival seemed to have gotten the attention of the few residents still awake at this hour and hurried over to me just as I wobbly dropped from my mount.

"The outlander is here!"

"Carja! You've arrived!"

"What happened to you?"

"Goodness, she's injured!"

"Someone get the healer!"

Their voices of concern fell on ears hearing almost nothing but ringing noise. Their faces are getting obscured by big black spots plaguing my eye sight. Happy as I am with my miraculous survival, a simple fact still remains: I'm exhausted as fuck. And just like that, I fell to the floor amongst everybody's gasps.

***

"Feeling better?"

"Mmm..."

Ahmik was the first person I saw when I came to. When I fainted last night, they took me to a healer's tent to tend to me. My thigh was disinfected and wrapped up with the pesky piece of metal finally removed from it alongside some medication so there was no fear of infection or fever. I don't feel much pain anymore thanks to the pain killers I had earlier. Now I'm seated in bed currently taking slow sips from the herbal tea they gave me. My Carja armor was replaced with a lighter and simpler Utaru outfit - headgear removed and hair loose around my shoulders. Apparently I have been out for the remaining few hours of the night and woke up around dawn. And with my injury batched up, there's nothing else for me to worry about but rest until I have achieved full recovery. I can hardly wait to put this shitty as hell experience behind me and carry on with my life normally like nothing happened. The sooner I forget about it, the better. But not at the meantime. Everybody must know the truth.

"You know, you're quite different without your ponytail and headgear. You should rock that look more often!"

"......."

"......."

"Talanah - "

"They're real." I whispered finally finding my voice.

"Huh?"

"You were right, Ahmik. The jinn do exist." I declared circling my finger around the cup rim. "I went over to the Haunted Ground, then went inside their lair, they attacked me, they... they..."

"Whoa whoa, easy." Soothed Ahmik as he grabbed my shoulder. Guess talking about what happened proved to be more difficult than I thought. I must be quite shaken up if I can't speak of it without the risk of breaking down. "You can tell us later. Now rest."

"Everyone must know the truth, Ahmik. I have found out what's really happening. It was the jinn! You were right all along!!!"

"Talanah..."

"Shadow figures. They were everywhere. They - they were throwing stuff at me until it led to this!" I pointed to my patched up thigh. "They were trying to kill me. I wouldn't have been able to escape without my machine-"

"Talanah!" I raised my head at Ahmik's outburst. "All this can wait. Trust me, no one is going anywhere near that place. So take all the time you need to recover." And at that I took some really eager sips from my much-needed tea. "I'll leave you alone now to talk to the Chorus and let them know you're awake. Now finish your drink."

When he got out of the tent, I took in my surroundings. My safe, sweet surroundings. The rough cloth of the tent walls. The herb sac hanging from a wooden beam. The empty food plate and water jug next to me which I have downed the entirety of in a single gulp. Even right now, it still feels surreal that I'm not trapped with the jinn anymore. I literally got stuck with them for so long that I felt like I was going to be with them forever, dead or alive, never to make it back out again. I even had this not-so-funny bullshit thought that maybe I'm still unconscious and dreaming back there and when I wake up, I'd find myself back at the cauldron again. I rolled my eyes and took another sip. Yup, definitely bullshit.