His shadow [Ja'far x Oc]

Chapter 12

"GYAAAA!!!" I heard my brother scream waking me from my sleep. "Wake up, you guys!" He yelled, making me finally open my eyes.

"KYAAAA!!" I screamed noticed the creatures slithering all over my body.

"Snakes... There are snakes!" Both Sinbad and I screamed waking up the others. Once we made it above ground from the snakes Ja'far seemed to be examining the snakes as I leaned against the wall in horror.

"Please look. This nest of snakes... They're all poisonous, but there are a variety of sizes and species. It's like a sea of snakes," Ja'far trailed off. I wasn't paying too much attention due to the fear of the snakes coming back and crawling all over me. I looked over to see Sinbad crying which confused me.

"Aah... I really wanted to choose the place I'd die... Surrounded by beautiful women with delicious food, delicious alcohol, and delicious...." Sinbad continued to cry.

"What are you saying?" Ja'far questioned. "Geez... It's not like you to say that," he said while reaching in the pit and pulling out a snake. "Is that really ok? Our situation has changed for the better," I looked at him in confusion. Having all of these slithering creatures around was not a good thing. "Having this many snakes around means that there must be small animals for them to eat, as well as water. If animals can come and go, then that means that there must be a hole somewhere that leads out of here," he had a point. "Despite that, you're acting like this... you're just being negative because you're hungry. That's easy to fix..."

Sinbad and Mystras were huddled together confused as to what the boy would be doing. I had a look of horror as I saw the young boy pull the heads off of two snakes.

"Here!" Ja'far said smiling holding up 2 headless snakes. Not to mention he was also now covered in snakes blood. "Eat this and get back your energy!"

"Ja'far... you can eat snakes?" Sin questioned taking the option into consideration.

"During my time as an assassin, we often ate them. They're high in nutrition, and if you cut their heads you can eat any kind of snake." Sin and Mystras looked at each other slightly drooling. I'd

Be lying if I said my stomach didn't growl.

"Thanks for the food!" The three of us cried out in happiness.

"Eat up. There are plenty, so there's no hurry." Ja'far said reminding us of the vast quantity of food. I walked over to the ledge and picked up a snake, I smirked slightly as I ripped its head off of its body.

"Ja'far I'll help you prepare the snakes," I said throwing the snake into a pile of now 3 headless snakes. He nodded and continued to grab snakes.

Days... No weeks passed we've gathered vegetation, started a fire, and built a shelter from the wind and rain. Sure it was nice to know we weren't going to die but I was eager to get out of this place. My desire to leave may have died down once we first discovered food, but we've done the same thing day after day. Also, it would be nice to have a proper bath because we haven't had one since we got here. Finally, Mystras came to his senses and also desired what I desired at the moment.

"What are we doing getting so accustomed to life here?!! It's strange, isn't it?! Please remember why we're here!!" Mystras begged. I knew I should trust my brother as he maybe already had a plan, but I wanted to leave as soon as possible. Each day I've been living in so much discomfort seeing everyone basically naked and knowing they saw me the same way.

"Why we're here...?" Ja'far trailed off into confusion. "In order to-"

"Live," both Sin and Ja'far answered. I sighed as I laid down.

"Are you guys actually content on staying here?" I questioned the two. "Don't you want to go back home?" I sighed when I didn't get an answer.

Soon it became dark and I decided I would go off and adventure with Mystras to try to figure out a way to escape. We took a torch and wandered off away from Sinbad and Ja'far.

"Mystras look," I pointed at the strange meat. "It's processed?" I mumbled in confusion.

"Woah," he said, eyes fixated on the object. "What is something like that doing all the way down here?"

"I don't know... We should bring it back to the others to see what they have to say about it," I said lifting up the meat. "Hopefully it allows us to discover an escape," Mystras nodded following close behind.

"F... Fresh meat?!!" The two males exclaimed seeing a strange delicacy.

"It's a little spoiled in places, but... it's a great piece of meat!" Sinbad exclaimed in excitement.

"Wh... Why is something like this down here?!" Ja'far questioned.

"Mystras... Amaris how did you find this!??" Both questioned looking at me.

"Last night whilst trying to find an escape we found it and it was already processed," I said still slightly confused as to why it would be processed. If it was processed it means someone must have dropped it down here... but why?

"So in other words.... Today we'll have a fresh feast!!" The two boys and I cheered.

No!" Exclaimed Mistoras. "Please use common sense. This is obviously processed meat that was cut into this shape by people!!! It's strange that something like this just fell down here, Isn't it?! It can't be a coincidence ..." The boy continued to rant.

"How do you like meat cooked," I asked the two as I lay on the ground watching them cook the meat.

"I like mine rare," said Sinbad.

"No. You have to cook it properly," Ja'far said as they continued to roast it.

"Aah! You're eating it!!" Exclaimed the frustrated redhead as he slammed his fists into the ground.

"Well yeah," I said. "If we don't it'll just go bad and plus it's not like this small piece of meat will be able to carry all 4 of us out of here," I explained taking a bite of the meat

"What are these stones?" Sinbad questioned as he spits some stones into his head as they had come from the meat.

"Ah, those are gemstones," Ja'far explained. "Now that I think about it there are a lot of rockslides in this valley. We always just ignored them because they're not edible." I nodded in agreement. My eyes widened slightly in realization if the Artemyre people are throwing meats down here to catch valuable gems they could easily use their birds to pick them up!

"Good job! This is definitely an important discovery. I'll help you figure out what's really going on here!" Sin praised the male. "So take us to where you found the meat!!!" I smiled knowing that my brother had most likely thought of the same thing that I did

"This is where we found it," Mystras said as we now stood back where we had explored the night before.

"What's all this?! There was nothing here during the day... But now that it's night, all this meat has appeared?!" Sin exclaimed both in excitement and in confusion. Mystras began ranting on theories as Ja'far, Sin, and I gathered up as much meat as possible. Soon Mystras and Sin began to argue and Ja'far and I saw the birds swoop down and start to collect the rest of the meat.

"My theory must be true then!" I exclaimed in happiness on how I had managed to solve the puzzle by using my brain.