【 𝑫𝑰𝑽𝑬 】 ✦❆ 𝙖 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 ❆✦

3: Traveler

Pers was laying on the ground. He was nothing more than a bunch of mechanical parts, broken into a million pieces. His once-blue eyes were lifeless and had gone dark. The creature responsible roared and sent ripples in the water which sent me flying back at least a good six feet, maybe more. It took time to regain my balance. It came at me head-on. Eyes widened in disbelief and shock, I froze in fear. Unable to do anything, I floated there and watched it inch closer and closer to me until it was in my face. Then, bang.

An agonizing pain in my head caused me to stir. Blinking a couple of times, I tried to move a bit to get up, but no avail. My entire body was sore. Just my legs moving was painful. I could feel tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat as I remembered what had happened. I thought I died, but instead it appeared that I was in somebody's home. On the nightstand sat my sad diving helmet which was completely banged up, especially on the side where I was hit. There was a huge dent and even a hole in it and the front glass was cracked, on the verge of completely shattering. I quickly scanned the room before forcing myself to sit up and look to the other side.

"Pers...? Pers?" I called his name, but there was no squeaking sound that followed. I spoke louder. "Pers?"

"Who?"

A voice appeared out of nowhere in the room across from mine which scared me at first. Then, a person came from it. They had long braided blond hair that fell to his lower back and wore foreign clothes in the colors black, white and gold, definitely not something that the local people of Fontaine would wear. Despite his unusual attire, he seemed friendly, unlike others who have come from outside the city. His eyes were golden yellow and sparkled when he looked at me.

"Is Pers the name of your penguin friend?"

"Yes." I said eagerly. "Where is he?"

I attempted to get out of bed, but my head started to spin and I could see dark circled around my eyes, causing me to stop and blink hard a couple of times.

"Here- stay right there and I'll go get him for you."

I did as I was told and stayed put. Silently, I prayed that he didn't look like what he did in my cursed dream. All that mattered was that he was here, and whoever that guy was had saved us both. It wasn't long before the stranger came back with Pers. He handed the little penguin to me and I took a moment to observe the damage done to him. A few bent parts and broken pieces here and there, but nothing I wasn't able to fix.

"Thank you." I said. "For saving me, I mean."

"Don't just thank me." He said with a laugh. "Paimon was the one who noticed that huge whale-looking thing in the water attacking you."

"Paimon?" I echoed.

Suddenly, a little girl came out of nowhere and hovered next to the blond. She had short hair the color of snow, bluish-purple eyes and a cute white and bronze dress. She also wore a galactic scarf that flowed behind her as she hovered. A bronze hall floated over her head. Was she some kind of god? How did she just appear like that?

"That's right! Paimon and Aether were going for a swim off the side of our boat and that's when we saw you getting attacked! We had to help!"

Her  unusually high-pitched voice caught me off guard. It caused me to flinch at first. When people talk to me, it's typically in a more soft tone. I wondered if this was her actual voice or if she was just pretending. I also wondered why she spoke of herself in the third person or if it was a mistake. Oh well. I'll never understand why people do the things that they do.

"Your names are Aether and Paimon?" I asked before setting Pers down next to me.

"That's us!" Paimon answered cheerfully. "What's your name?"

"Freminet." I looked down. "My name's Freminet."

"Ooh, that's a cool name!" The girl spun around. "Are you also from Fontaine? Paimon thinks they're all too mean, but you seem nice Freminet!"

Looking back up, I nodded. "Yes, that's where I live. You two don't look like you're from around here."

"That's right." Aether spoke up. "We're traveling together, Paimon is showing me the ropes of this world. My sister and I got separated and I ended up here. I'm trying everything I can to find her. She's the only family I have, so I can't give up on her."

His words stuck with me. He's trying to find his beloved sister who he has no idea where she is. I think I would do the same for my siblings if I ever lost them. Lyney and Lynette would do that for me, too. At least, I hope they would. Did they even notice that I was gone? I wonder if I was missed yet. Doubt filled my mind, realizing that they were probably too caught up in their fame to even notice that I was missing.

"So uh," Aether shuffled his feet. "What were you doing so deep in the ocean? If Paimon and I weren't there, you could have died."

Picking at my fingernails, I let out a short sigh. "I like to go underwater diving. It's one of my favorite things to do. I was taking care of a crab that was hogging the romaritime flower, then I was going to find a few things on the ocean floor. That was when it attacked."

Paimon's eyes widened and she gasped. "You're really brave going out all that way! Paimon doesn't think she could ever be underwater for that long."

Aether made a smug face. "Paimon also can't swim, apparently."

The girl frowned and gave him a smack on the top of his head before putting both her hands on her hips. "Hey! That's not nice!"

He rolled his eyes and laughed it off. "In any case, do you know how to get back home from here? If not, then we have no problem with helping you get back."

Embarrassed, I put my hands in my lap. My light blond hair fell into my face more than it already was. "If... you wouldn't mind. To tell you the truth, I didn't know there were any houses outside the city. I always thought it was an endless expanse of only land and water."

Paimon gave a thumbs up. "We've got your back Freminet!"

"In that case, we can go tomorrow. So rest up." Aether fixed his shirt sleeve and smiled.

"We aren't that far from Fontaine, are we?" I asked nervously.

He scratched the back of his head. "We're actually uh... in the Beryl region. From here, we'll have to go to Belleau, and back to Fontaine. We'll have to walk since we got attacked by a pyro abyss mage. Blew our boat to bits."

"It was more like a raft, really." Paimon chimed in.

"Whatever it was, it's toast now." Aether sighed. "Sorry Freminet."

I shook my head. "Not at all. Don't be sorry, please. You're going through all this trouble to help me out. I... really appreciate it you know."

From here, I could hear Paimon's stomach growl. She blushed in embarrassment before tapping Aether on his shoulder. "Paimon's hungry. Can we go and get some food now?"

He cocked an eyebrow and chuckled. "Hungry already? I guess we can go see what kind of stuff we can find to cook up. You stay here Freminet. We'll be right back with something for you too."

With that, we said our goodbyes and they were off. They were nice people. I was still in disbelief that they had saved me from what seemed like a guaranteed death. I wanted to do something for them in return. Maybe I could help them cook when they get back. I'm actually not that good of a chef. That's not the best idea. All I would do is overcook the food. I'll think of something else. It was just Pers and I who were left in the house. Laying down again and making myself comfortable in the bed sheets, I closed my eyes, wanting to go to sleep again. It'll come to me. Eventually.