Passenger

Chapter 16

Absorbing that Harpy's magic had been a mistake.

Well, sort of. I mean, if I hadn't Krys and Neb probably would've died, so how bad of an idea could it have been. But as the hours passed and the two started walking again, it started feeling...weird. It was like nausea, though not quite. More of a feeling of being stretched and compressed slowly, over and over again, like some kid playing with that rubber stuff.

Suffice to say, it didn't feel good. At all. I think at one point Krys was basically just dragging me along behind him, because I had curled into a ball and started groaning from what was basically a stomachache. Again, not quite what it felt like, but...I don't know how else to describe it, so that'll have to do.

Yeah. Not one of my proudest moments.

When I did recover – and I did, thankfully – several hours had passed, and Cassion was well out of sight, along with the Harpy's tree. Good riddance to that thing. I did a few slow-motion flips to try and orient myself, then looked down at my body. It seemed like all the magic I had taken from the Harpy had faded from my system by now, which was probably why I was feeling better.

That had been so strange. "you know, I could feel it when I took the Harpy's magic." I said to Krys, prompting him to turn and look at me. "I'd forgotten what is was like to feel – physically speaking. Not emotionally, that seems to be working just fine."

Krys frowned. "but you've been complaining about pain for the last hour. Isn't that physical?"

"no, it's different. It's like...this feeling on my essence. On my soul."

"do you have a soul?"

"I don't know!" I threw my hands up helplessly. "It's just not the same, that's all I know. But what I felt when I touched the magic...it felt physical, Krys. So really, truly physical, and I could feel it. for a moment, it was sort of like –"

I quickly stopped myself. I didn't want to finish that sentence. But Krys looked at me knowingly. "like having your body back?" he asked softly.

"no. I mean, it did, but..."

I hesitated. The truth was that the little bit of the physical touch I'd had made me realize how much of my senses I had been missing. I was lacking so much – smell, temperature, touch – and I'd been without it for so long that I'd forgotten what it was like to even have it. now, it left an aching emptiness in me – knowing just what I was missing, and having no way to get it back properly.

But it wouldn't be right to throw that on Krys. Not when there was nothing he could do about it. so I just sighed and shrugged. "you know what, it doesn't matter. Either way, I'm fine, so don't worry about it."

Krys gave me a strange look, before turning his gaze skyward. I looked with him to see droplets of water were starting to fall, thanks to some large, dark clouds that had crept up on us. How fun.

Neb shook his head violently, sending a few drops scattering. "well, guess we'll just have to deal with this for a little while." He remarked, glancing back at Krys. "but it's probably not that bad, eh?"

Spoilers – it was that bad. 

The drizzle quickly turned into a downpour, with thunder and lightning dancing across the sky. Within a few minutes, Krys and Neb were both soaked to the skin as they trudged along, with no way to protect themselves.

Krys glanced at me. "at least y-you don't have to w-worry about getting r-rained on, right?" he remarked with a slight smile, but his teeth were chattering.

I frowned and looked over at Neb. The Gnoll's fur was protecting him from the cold rain – at least I assumed it was cold – for now, but it wouldn't save him forever. "you two are going to get sick if you stay out in this much longer." I murmured, looking back at Krys. "we need to find shelter. Somewhere out of the elements."