Reincarnation to the Past

Chapter 22

Before the chapter, I had an issue regarding another story idea that I've been working on and I thought I'd see if you all could help me out. So here it is...

So the setting is on a small, freezing winter island, and Thalia (she is no longer a huntress) is somewhat trapped there along with a male stranger (he's good and could be her potential lover), and she has hypothermia, so she has two options:

1. Accept his help and share body heat

2. Freeze to death

Keeping in mind her personality (hatred of men) as well as the situation, which choice is she more likely to make? If you want to offer your opinion, please leave a comment beside the two options so it's easier for me to find them. Thanks for the help...

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Yǔ's POV

An hour later, Lì woke up first, followed by Bai Zou and lastly Bai Ze. All the others had started regaining consciousness and making sense of the new surroundings.

From what I could tell, we were on a huge island, surrounded by twenty-five or so other islands. We had been sitting down on the sand, which stretched over a distance. I had walked around a bit while they were all unconscious and got a gist of the area nearby. Beyond the sands, there was a forest, which split into different paths, on one side and a rocky plain on the other side, all of which I am assuming will ultimately, somehow, or the other, lead to the surrounding islands. People had already started heading in those directions...

From the time I had gotten a sense of where we were and the surroundings, I had felt two overwhelmingly strong presences, both in somewhat the same direction; one was purely of the water element but the other... If I'm not wrong, it had Hades' aura there too. But why would his aura be here in Poseidon's domain?

Lì (out of the blue): I can't summon Shadow...

Bai Ze (trying to summon his beast after hearing that): Neither can I... It feels as though my link itself was cut off.

Me (absentmindedly): That's to be expected... This is a pure-water zone. I don't think any other element or beast, save the water ones, can be summoned or exist here.

Lì: But why???

I shrugged in response, "Hey... I didn't even know about 'qi' till a while ago... This is just a guess."

Bai Ze: But if no other elements can exist, then doesn't that mean that the item is not here? Was Shadow wrong?

Lì: Well... While we were still outside, Shadow did mention that, in case we may not be able to find it on our own, we should follow you (motioning at me).

Me (shocked): Me??? Why me???

Bai Zou: It does make sense. If water is your element, then you are our best bet on finding it.

Me (curiously): What is the item?

Bai Ze (hesitating for a minute): We're not sure ourselves...

Me (confused): Say what now?

According to Shadow, there is an item that holds the shadow element, and it's so powerful that whoever owns that item can... well, ruling the world wouldn't be so hard... He said that the item is made from the darkness element so I should be able to find it, but if my link to the element is cut off, I guess that's impossible.

Me (remembering that aura I had felt): Actually, there is something here that exudes a shadowy feel... It seemed out of place so I did notice it. It's that way (pointing along one of the paths).

We started walking towards the forest, and I led the way down one of the paths, with the three following behind. It was dark and there were only trees in all directions; there wasn't even a clear path to go down. Along the way, I noticed that there were poisonous plants around the area and warned the three to be careful. The path seemed empty save for us, but I could tell that others had been down this way. There were pieces of clothing trapped in some thorns and the plant life had been cut here and there to make a clearer path...

After hours in the forest, slashing our way through places (I borrowed a sword from Bai Zou, not very comfy but the best I had at the moment) or cutting ourselves free from live vines and carnivorous plants or snakes and other dangerous animals, we reached the end, which opened out to a rocky ledge with water about 30 feet below. My eyes fell on Wang QinZheng and Juan, among the few others who had been standing on the ledge. They didn't seem to be making any attempt to move forward and when I walked closer, I saw why... There was no bridge, not even rocks we could use, to reach the island on the opposite side. And the water below looked weird; it had a reddish coloring to it and seemed to be boiling.

Bai Ze: Now what??? Where should we go? I don't see anything... Did you make a mistake?

Me (staring ahead): Nope... There's an island ahead... I doubt you can see it, though.

Lì (worried): But how do we get there? We can't even use our beasts...

Wang QinZheng (noticing and walking towards me): It seems we are fated to meet... Who would have thought that you'd come down the same path as us?

Lì (frowning and pulling me closer to him): I agree... Of all the rotten luck...

Wang QinZheng (glaring at Lì): Would you like to come with us (to me)? I could...

It was at this moment that I sensed something and whipped my head around to see an ice shard rushing my way. I instinctively pushed Lì away and took a step back (forgetting that we were on a ledge), which only resulted in me falling into the water. I had noticed both Wang QinZheng and Lì reaching out to grab at me but both were too late, as I found myself falling straight for the water below. Only when I hit the water with a huge splash did I realize that I could have just controlled the ice away from me.

The second I hit the water, I knew why it had a reddish color and seemed weird. Poison... This whole water was mixed with poison. I couldn't believe how I had just missed this. From what I had learned from Apollo, there were many kinds of poison, ones where you could directly consume them, ones where it takes a while to show the symptoms, others that show symptoms instantly, and ones that, with even the slightest touch, can cause a fatal wound, painful or painless ones. But the most atrocious of them all are the ones that, with just a tiny sniff, can cause deadly harm to the body.

And unfortunately, this would come under the last. This water, when touched, can even corrode the skin, and there is something at the bottom that releases some heat, turning the water and the poison with it into vapor, which, when inhaled, could corrode the internal organs.

I could see Lì staring down at the water and saying something, with a worried look on his face. Damn!!! How could I have missed that? The longer they stay up there, the sooner they meet their deaths.

I used the water to propel me upward and boost me to the ledge. I grabbed the edge and used the atmospheric waters to help me flip onto the ground. I was dripping from head to toe. Luckily, there wasn't any poison that could affect me, thanks to Apollo's blessing and the fact that I had tried a lot of poison before to learn more about medicine. Also, since the poison was mixed with water, there was no harm at all.

I looked up to see a shocked and worried Lì bringing his hand close to me and instinctively, I thrust his hand away without touching it. "Don't touch me", I growl, my eyes smoldering dangerously. That wasn't what I had meant to do but considering that just touching me could, at worst, kill him and at least cripple him... I reacted impulsively. This resulted in both Bai Ze and Bai Zou immediately getting defensive. Especially Bai Zou, who reached for his sword...

Lì placed his hand on Bai Zou's arm, stopping him, and, with a worried look, asked, "What's wrong?" ... I mentally went through all the medicines in my space (a dimension connected to Hecate's ring) and found one that was made using Apollo's blessings and could neutralize the poison. "The water is poisoned. If touched, it could corrode your skin, and if it is inhaled, it could even corrode your internal organs.", I explained.