Passenger

Chapter 21

The sun beat down on my face as my consciousness returned. My eyes fluttered open, my brain taking a few seconds to switch back on properly. I was lying on my back in the dirt, an ache in my neck.

With a groan, I started to roll over. That was when I felt the burning pain in my chest, a sudden and violent feeling. I coughed and hacked for several moments, curling into a ball as I did. it hurt like hell. All I could do was take it and try to resist the urge to throw up.

When that had ended, I rolled onto my stomach, groaning again. everything hurt. Everything was sore. I felt like a human ball of pain. But I couldn't stay lying on the ground. I had to...get...up...

This was the moment my brain actually turned back on. And this was the moment I realized that I could feel the dirt, the sun, and the ache in my body. My...actual body. My physical body.

Grunting, I got to my feet. They stayed solid against the ground. I looked up at the sun and had to close my eyes against the sunlight. I waved a hand through the air and felt the resistance of the wind against my skin. I felt the temperature of the noonday sky above me. I inhaled. I exhaled. I felt my lungs fill.

I...was real again. laughter escaped my lips without my meaning it to. I was real. Real! Laughing, I jumped up and down, feeling gravity against me. Real! I was real! I was alive! I was –

A figure was sprawled out on the ground. Glancing over, I realized it was Krys, bloodied and bruised, lying unconscious on the ground. Nearby, Sarah was slumped against a rock, unconscious as well, blood streaked across her armor. The ground around me was spattered with blood, and now that I focused, I could smell the faint iron scent of it around me.

I rushed to Krys' side first. There was no trace of the weird red aura he had possessed earlier – he seemed normal again. "Krys? Hey, Krys!" I shouted at him, shaking him. No response. I put a finger to his neck and found a pulse. He seemed stable enough, for now, at least.

Then I checked Sarah. She was doing worse than Krys – her pulse took me a few seconds to find, it was so faint, and her breathing was shallow. The wounds she had taken from Krys' Red Magic weapon had left deep, jagged gashes all across her, tearing through the armor like it was paper. If I didn't help her, she was going to die.

Putting a hand on the wounds, I tried to summon Green Magic. Nothing. I couldn't feel any magic. "of all the things to still not have!" I growled in frustration, moving back. "come on, Rachel, think. You've got a body, what can you do with?"

Once Krys was awake, he could heal her properly. The biggest thing for me to do was keep her alive until then – the first thing to do would be to stop the bleeding. Grabbing a knife from Sarah's belt, I cut off the lower part of my tunic and part of my pants up to my calves, giving me a good several feet of makeshift bandages. Then, removing pieces of Sarah's armor as best I could, I started binding the cuts and gashes, stemming the bleeding the best I could. Having nothing else available to me, this was all I could do for now – Krys would have to be the one to deal with the actual wounds. This would just keep her alive for now.

Once I was finished, I turned back to Krys, dragging him over to Sarah so I could keep an eye on the two of them easier. He was surprisingly light, I noted curiously. Hadn't he mentioned his bones were hollow or something? I couldn't remember.

But now that the two of them were taken care of...what about Neb? Sarah had been able to get back up relatively quick, after all. Maybe he was close to the edge?

Well, I certainly couldn't just give up on him. Making my way to the edge of the canyon, I knelt and peered down, looking for any sign of the Gnoll. Sure enough, I spotted a mound of brown fur several meters down, seemingly unmoving.