The foul taste of iron invaded her tongue. Darkness engulfed her. The air was thin, cold with dew. Her vicinity shrouded by the moist, fragmented texture of earth. She tried to pry her eyes open, only to find it clogged by dirt and debris. From the tiny slit that she could manage, she caught a glimpse of light leaking from the surface.
There.
If she could see light, then she hadn't been buried too deeply. Alice reached for that tiny ray. She forced her limbs into motion—ignoring the screeching pains stabbing into her joints with every attempt. Inch by inch, she crawled, dragging herself closer to the surface. It wasn't time to die yet. She had no intention of making this her grave.
Her hands eventually found the surface. Her nails dug into the earth, ashen with blood from the fractured cuticles. Her chest was heaving, straining on the little amounts of air circulating through the porous earth. She took a gulp, and pulled herself free from the earthy grave.
"Ahhh!"
She let out a grasp, her lungs relieved at the taste of air. Exhausted, she laid prone on the ground. A dull buzz radiated throughout her body.
Internal bleeding. My legs and shoulders are pretty damaged. Excruciating pain in my chest each time I breathe in. Likely a few fractured ribs.
She let out an exasperated giggle.
"Well, this is all sorts of terrible," Alice mumbled as the severity of the situation settled.
She had been caught during the initial ambush of the ogres. She remembered Eden's abominations landing directly beside her. The thing she knew she was airborne, struck with an intense throbbing in her chest, before her back smashed into something hard. She blacked out quickly after that.
Now, she found herself in the ruins of a cabin just several meters from the ongoing battle. Alice strained her eyes, making out the figures of Marine, Vesper, and Kersen engaged in combat against the two ogres.
What should I do?
Nausea suddenly ambushed her. Alice felt something bloom inside of her chest. She gagged—her mouth forced open as a torrent of red spew out. The agony lasted a few seconds too long.
Dammit, getting blasted by an ogre was not part of the plan.
She shook her head, recollecting herself while wiping the remnants of the blood on her lips. Pain echoed from her chest, pounding with every heartbeat.
With a mischievous grin, she narrowed her eyes at the ongoing battle.
"I'll have to make a compromise then, if I want to get out of this mess alive."
-----
The ogre cocked its arms back. Marine raised her shield, bracing herself for the impact. The abomination's shadow briefly loomed above her. Marine's vision went white.
Boom!
"Argghhh!" Her skull rattled, dazed from the powerful blow. When she came to, she found herself on her knees. Her wrist throbbed. Her legs trembled. The earth beneath her feet cratered from the destructive impact. Even when enhanced by Vesper's Indura, her body struggled to withstand the ogre's power.
Her shield, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. Under the repeated blows, it was rapidly losing its integrity.
"Secare!"
A pair of wind blades arced around her. They slammed into the ogre's hands, eviscerating the flesh into gore. Marine grimaced. The ogre's blood splattered onto her head—blistering hot. The creature shrieked, recoiling from Vesper's attack, before bringing its arm up again for another attempt.
YOU ARE READING
A Distant Reverie
Fanfiction"Careful now. Try not to move too suddenly, alright?" Vesper Noir wakes up one day in a foreign land with gaps in his memories...and a sharp blade pressed against his throat. His assailant? A beautiful, self-proclaimed female pirate with a sweet voi...
