Resilience Run

Chapter 26

When I was able to, once again, recover from the darkness, I found myself exactly where I thought I was going to be; wrists tied up, rope tied around a tree. there was a fire close by, we were in a clearing, but it was too far away from my tree for me to feel much warmth from it.

The fire was encircled by several men, none of whom I recognized, and one woman, who I unfortunately recognized too well. Sallaena smirked and walked over to me once she realized that I was awake.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"No." I said. My stomach rumbled on cue.

"You should eat your fill," said Sallaena, "Once we find the vessel and get back to the emperor's castle, it won't be long until he finally has your head on a pike. So, where is the vessel?"

"What vessel?" I asked.

Sallaena's hand shot out and grabbed me by the throat.

"You know what I mean, Newman," said Sallaena, "The vessel."

"I have no idea what you're babbling about." I said, "Really, I don't.

Sallaena and I stayed like that for far too long.

"I don't believe you," the blood elf finally said before she let go of my throat and allowed me to breathe, "But it's clear that I'm not going to be able to get the location out of you. No matter, we'll find the vessel eventually. Your little adventure is over."

"We'll see about that." I said. In truth, I had no idea how I was going to get myself out of this situation, though my mind was racing to figure a way out.

"We surely will." Sallaena said. With that, she turned and walked back to the camp, disappearing into a tent along with her men, leaving me alone by the fire. I started looking around for something, anything, that could help.

There was nothing.

My mind was racing at a breakneck speed, trying to think of some way for me to get out of this situation, but all I could draw was a blank. I couldn't think of a way to get out of this.

"Don't give up, moor-acu," Felice said, appearing by my side, "There has to be something you can do!"

"If you can think of something, I'd love to hear it," I said, "Because I don't see a way out of this one."

Felice thought, hard. A finger was pressed to her temple, as though she was trying to push a good thought into her skull. Then, her eyes opened.

"I... I think we can magically make a blast that will break the rope on the tree," said Felice, "But... it'll be strong, it'll knock me out for a while, and they will hear it in their tents, so you'll have to run, and you'll be on your own. It's gonna be super risky."

"We've been living super risky ever since I got here," I said, "Go for it, and I'll figure something out."

"... Okay." said Felice, "Good luck, moor-acu, I wish you the luck of Oktu himself."

"I can assure you, I'm praying to him silently." I said.

Felice put her hands together and whispered something that I couldn't hear. The ropes around my wrists began glowing a bright red and feel really warm. I closed my eyes and braced for what was going to happen.

The ropes exploded. The tree exploded, smoke clouding the entire camp. People started yelling, confused, coughing through the smoke, while I started blindly running, nearly knocking right into a tree ten steps away from the camp.

I could feel Felice was still with me, just unable to do anything, and I silently thanked her as I made my way through the woods until my burning lungs forced me to stop and catch my breath, leaning against a tree.