Loot, Fire, and more Rain
After the white mist dissipated into the rest of the five skeletons, four of the skeletons froze.
Then, they returned to where they came from-standing a row in front of the white-haired girl-who was still standing right where Skeleton E left her.
As if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Skeleton E picked up the rusted knife from the floor. After pulling off the red-eyed skeleton's hand that was still on the hilt, he inspected it.
Was it one of those magic items? Imbued with enchantments and the like?
No matter how many times he turned it over, swinging it, and trying to cut his own bones-which didn't do anything, he can't find anything remarkable about it.
What a useless enemy, to drop such trash loot.
The skeleton man shrugged.
Better than nothing.
Then, he looked back at the group. Who was the best at using the knife?
Skeleton E walked over to the group, and stopped in front of one of the four skeletons. Looking straight into its soulless, empty eyes, he held the handle towards it.
Skeleton B, the skeleton with the bent spine, looked at him. The skeleton man looked back it it.
All of a sudden, Skeleton E grabbed Skeleton B's hand. Forcefully opening it, he placed the hilt onto its skeletal palm. He closed its hands into a fist, and let it go.
Skeleton B's hand dropped to its side, and the knife fell onto the ground with a flop, splashing on the watery muddy ground.
"..."
In the rain, under the barely lit dark cloudy skies, Skeleton E looked at Skeleton B, and it looked back at him.
The skeleton man stared hard at it, and it simply stood there. Then, he shrugged.
What did he expect from a brainless numbskull?
That didn't stop him from trying to burn it alive with his eyes. As the skeleton man stared down hard into its empty eye sockets, he heard the splashes of water.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
Submerged within the sounds of falling rain, stepping on the soggy ground and puddles, a cloaked figure came up to him from the side.
Radiating a dim light, it was the white-haired girl, and she was looking at the ground. Kneeling down, and through the cloak's center front opening, her pale hands reached out for the knife.
Gingerly picking it up, she stood up and looked at Skeleton B. The crouched skeleton turned its skull, its empty, soulless eye socket looking at her.
Just like with Skeleton E, Skeleton B also stared at the girl, but the girl didn't flinch. Instead, looking right where its eyes should be, she held out the dagger to it.
Skeleton B stared at the white-haired girl. Suddenly it reached out its hand and grabbed it.
Bringing its hand back to its side, it held onto the knife firmly in its grip.
There was a slight smile on her face, and the dim light around her seemed to glow a bit brighter.
The skeleton man tried to look into Skeleton B's eyes, but it only looked at the white-haired girl. Just like every other skeleton.
'This is outright discrimination,' the skeleton man thought.
Then, he shrugged.
Brainless numbskulls. He couldn't really blame them. It couldn't be helped.
Eventually, the skeleton man returned to the row of skeletons. Next to Skeleton D, he simply stood there, waiting alongside his fellow bretheren.
As they stood there, waiting, the white-haired girl walked in front of them.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
Under the dark sky, the cloak assisted in helping cast a shadow over the top half of her face, but they could still see her eyes.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
The rain didn't stop for no one in the world, and as they watched her, they heard a whisper. Not, not a whisper, it was the 'feeling.'
The feeling that spoke to them. The feeling that Skeleton E can understand. A feeling that his fellow bretheren and he shared.
Why else would they come here, but to serve this child?
𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚. 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙢𝙚. 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙢𝙚. 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙢𝙚. 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙢𝙚.
...
Pat.
Pat.
In a dusty room, the skeleton man patted the dust off a chair. After he did so, he gestured towards it, and the white-haired girl sat on it with a small smile.
Dangling her legs off the chair, she looked around with childlike curiosity.
They were in a simple house. Luckily, it was one of the more 'fixed' ones. Meaning that there were no holes in the roof or the house, nor was it overgrown with nature.
It was simply barely broken down, unlike most of the ruins here.
There were a couple doors, and Skeleton B and D had gone to 'look,' while A, C, and the skeleton man himself remained behind with the white-haired girl.
Skeleton E looked at the cloaked figure, and he saw how she wrapped her hands around herself in the heavy cloak, shaking.
The skeleton man had noticed it before, but the new foe temporarily made him forget.
She was only a little girl, and even with a heavy cloak, it was expected she would be freezing cold.
Looking at her now, she was clearly shivering, and the light around her dimmed a bit.
So the skeleton man set off to find a decent shelter, and here they were, twelve hours later.
Twelve hours later.
𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦.
...
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
In the rain, under the darkening gray sky, five figures trailed after a skeleton. Walking on puddles and muddy dirt, Skeleton E tried to find enjoyment in the silence.
Only to remember that there is real danger here.
It had been a little more than three hours since the fight with that red-eyed skeleton. Three hours since the white-haired girl asked them to help her.
At first, they only listened to her.
No, they only watched her.
Just like with his fellow bretheren, Skeleton E simply watched her.
Then, when the white-haired girl stopped asking them with her 'feelings,' falling silent, the skeleton man truly then realized what it means to be the only one who can actually think.
He had to be the first to actually do something.
Consequently, the skeleton shook his head and looked around. Seeing that no one was moving, Skeleton E just picked a random direction opposite of the cathedral and left.
By that, he meant simply walking away. Although he didn't ask nor gestured for the little girl to follow him, she still trailed after him, which made the other skeletons naturally in turn follow her.
Along the way, only the endless pitter-pattering of rain made the journey somewhat eventful. Including every single one of them staring into the dark alleyways and shadows.
That made it much more eventful and mentally taxing.
...
Mid-journey, during the sixth to seventh hour, the white-haired girl began slowing down.
Dragging the heavy cloak across the puddles of water and muddy ground, the rain falling hard onto her, she shook and struggled to push forward, huffing and gasping.
Ah, she's still a child.
To think she would last this long…
The skeleton man's shoulders sagged, but he still walked up to her.
In a matter of seconds, holding her bottom with his left hand and her back with his right, Skeleton E lifted her up, almost putting the girl over his left shoulder.
She gasped in shock, but by then the skeleton man continued walking forward.
That was the only eventful thing that happened.
...
Five hours later, when the sky was really beginning to darken, and the winds howled and the rain fell harder, they finally stumbled upon somewhere inhabitable.
In the distance, the six looked like a standing complete structure of a house.
Seeing there was a window, Skeleton E put down the girl and walked up to it. Trekking over to it, he peered into the small window. It was blurry from the rainwater, and so he wiped it off as best he could.
The bone didn't help, for it only scraped the window, not pushed the water away. The rain continued to fall, making what little progress he made worthless.
Eventually, he gave up and tried peeking through the small window.
With his somewhat useful night vision, inside, the skeleton man saw two small curtains on both sides of the window. To the far left of the window, he saw a few chairs, a table, and other ornaments that did not look useful. To the right...he can't see anything.
He tried to lean his skull to the left to look to the right, but he still cannot find the perfect spot to see anything.
The window was simply too small, and the rain continued to make it even more stressful.
After double checking, he looked at the door. A standard wooden door with a doorknob. Walking up to it, he grabbed the handle, twisted it, and pushed it.
Looking at it again, the skeleton man pulled it.
...no dice.
In the end, Skeleton E looked back at his fellow bretheren and the white-haired girl. More specifically-Skeleton A.
The large skeleton was merely looking into the distance, doing absolutely nothing but watching out for danger.
In the end, he had to do a few gestures, and the white-haired girl figured out what he wanted.
She turned to look at it.
Seconds later, the large skeleton rammed into the door of the house.
𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮!
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!
The door was pushed cleanly sideways, and Skeleton A walked inside.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!
The large skeleton's skull hit the top of the doorway. Stepping back, it paused before walking forward again.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!
Backpedaling back once more, it paused. Then, it walked forward again.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!
Then again.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!
Then again.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!
As it was doing so, Skeleton E looked at the white-haired girl. The girl in the oversized cloak just looked back at him. After gesturing a few more times, eventually she understood, and she finally managed to get Skeleton A to lean down and walk inside.
The rest followed behind it.
Skeleton E was the last to follow them.
Before he walked inside, however, the skeleton man looked back. In the rain, all he could see were several other ruins, some semi-complete, and some broken down.
And the shadows in the alleyway; they were always hiding.
Always watching.
With another sweep of his skull, he walked inside, and quickly thereafter closed the door shut.
...
Walking in, Skeleton E was first greeted to a dark, dim room filled with coughing and dust. The dim light came from the doorway, the small window, and the white-haired girl.
Large amounts of dust were floating in the air, but he pushed past them, waving them off.
𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩! 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩!
Her hood down, the white-haired girl covered her noise while waving the dust away, coughing. His fellow bretheren around the poor girl did nothing to help, only watching silently.
The skeleton man looked at them.
'Dear god.'
Walking over to the wooden table and chairs, he grabbed a chair and knelt onto the wooden floorboard, dusting the dust off. Soon after he was done, he patted on it, and the girl sat on it with a small smile.
Skeleton E stood back up and took a look around. In the dark house, on the floor, something caught his eye.
It looked to be a small stick.
Picking it up, he held it up to his eye. Or where his eye should be. How he could see, he doesn't know.
Anyways, in his hands, it looked to be a bolt.
The skeleton man looked back at the closed door, and saw where the bolt would be inserted. It probably fell from it when Skeleton A rammed the door aside.
Sliding it back in, he grabbed the door knob and pulled at the door.
After pulling it a few times, the skeleton man nodded his head.
The door wasn't that broken at least.
...
Twenty minutes later, Skeleton E had the house mapped out. Skeleton B and D, under the orders of the white-haired girl, had previously searched to see if this place had any danger.
There was none.
Other than the 'living room,' there were three wooden doors. None were locked, and so it was easy for us to go in.
No, not easy. Simple.
The skeletons made it harder, for they kept bumping into it during the initial visit. The poor white-haired girl had to actually 'order' them step by step.
Eventually, the girl got them to open it and 'ordered' them through her 'thoughts' and 'feelings' to be cautious while exploring inside in case of potential danger.
Afterwards, when all was clear, Skeleton E went in.
One is the bedchambers, or the bedroom, where they found only a broken bed with two pillows and a blanket.
The second room was, to his surprise, a library. A small library, but a library nonetheless.
So this was a house where a knowledgeable or better off person had lived.
Inside the library, there was a small table with empty ink and quill, but that didn't matter. The skeleton man opened a book, and with excitement he found out that he can't read.
His excitement subdued, he placed it back where it belonged and left.
Last, but not least, the third room. Inside, there was...a bucket.
Skeleton E left the room and closed the door shut right then and there.
Walking back to the living room, he saw the white-haired girl was still on the chair.
And the poor girl was still shivering. Trembling from the cold no doubt. At a rate less than outside, but it was still cold, and the night was approaching.
Getting the blanket from the bed chambers; shaking off the dust from it, he soon knelt down on one knee and wrapped it around the poor shivering girl.
Standing up and looking around, he saw the fireplace from earlier. It was a hearth, to the far right of the tables and chairs upon walking in from the door.
Walking over to it, the skeleton man began to examine it.
At the hearth, there were two wooden rocking chairs. In it, there was a pot hanging on strange material with nothing in it.
Below it, there was charcoal and burnt dry wood, albeit a few left.
As he knelt down before the hearth, the skeleton man stopped.
'How does one light a fire?'
Skeleton E looked around the hearth, and he soon found how to light it.
There was a piece of metal, a 'steel,' perhaps, It looked to be a dark blunt metal blade about as wide as the palm, with a handle curved back on the reverse to hold it by
At the side, there was a rather small gray rock. Looking at it, the skeleton man looked at it, and shrugged.
Grabbing the handle with his left bone hand, and the rock to the right, he swung the rock against the steel...and nothing happened.
𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨!
Skeleton E swung it again, this time putting more force.
𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨!!
...nothing happened.
He looked at the two things in his skeletal hands again.
'Were these defective?' he thought.
As the skeleton man was looking at them, footsteps came up to his side. Looking to the side, he saw Skeleton A, B, C, and D looking at him.
Through their bones, he saw that the white-haired girl was peeking through them. When the girl saw him looking her way, she hid back behind Skeleton A.
'...I could still see you.'
She was asking them to help them, wasn't she?
All of a sudden, Skeleton C suddenly knelt down. Grabbing the 'steel' thing and the small gray rock, it held it over the charcoal. Then, it swung the rock onto the steel thing.
𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨!
Sparks flew out, and landed on the pieces of charcoal and wood.
In a matter of seconds, the fire started to grow and began to crackle.
Skeleton E was still kneeling when Skeleton C placed the 'steel' and rock down, returning to its place alonside its fellow bretheren.
Even as a minute passed, the white-haired girl watched worriedly as the skeleton man remained kneeling, looking into the fire.
...
It was night.
The rain became heavier and colder, and the winds howled louder than before, its rage stronger and more terrible.
It was even more terrible than the night before.
𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬!
𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬!
The flame in the hearth crackled, sending small yellow pieces of sparks out. Thankfully, they only made it a centimeter away, so it never touched the wooden floorboard.
Staring into the flame, Skeleton E enjoyed its strange music. The crackling of the fireplace, the sound of the rain...they joined together in a beautiful, natural ambience.
Looking at the side, he saw the white-haired girl sleeping sideways.
Her head on the pillow, with a blanket over herself, as well as the cloak providing itself as a cushion; she was sleeping peacefully.
As her face was towards the fireplace, the flames and the dim light surrounding her seemed to join together in a hodgepodge of color. Their light lit up almost the whole living room with its dim strangely-orange light, lighting her pale face and casting a shadow behind her.
Near her, the four skeletons, Skeleton A, B, C, and D were also standing around, doing...as one would expect, nothing.
They seemed to be looking at something, past the walls of this house and the rain.
Probably a beautiful sunset or something. If so, the skeleton man would be terribly envious.
As he was looking at the fire, Skeleton E noticed the fire was beginning to die down, with the wood and charcoal quickly burning up.
Dry grass. Yes, grass was plentiful, and these ruins were overgrown with nature after all.
A little over twenty minutes ago, the skeleton man had looked outside the small rectangular window. What greeted his sight was, of course, darkness and rain. With his strange night vision, he saw the tallest of flowers and leaves swaying back and forth, at the mercy of the howling wind and heavy rain.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
The rain fell heavily onto the window with small tapping sounds, and from the window, droplets of water slowly fell from it. As the window became more and more murky, he closed the curtains and walked back to the fireplace.
As if there's dry grass out there.
It's most likely better to use the stuff in the house then to go outside and randomly search for something useful for what could be hours upon hours.
As he was staring at the fire, the skeleton man had a thought. He realized that he didn't even really think about thinking. About the future, about the past, about now.
Henceforth, he began to think. To really dwell upon the thoughts of what he would do in the future. Thoughts on how he had got here. Thoughts on if he should get back.
So, Skeleton E began reviewing what he could remember.
He died.
He woke up as a skeleton.
Other skeletons, who were total numbskulls, woke up alongside him and began following the 'feelings.' With them, he walked through the ruins, broken down houses and buildings, with nothing worth noting except endless rain and the cathedral.
Later, he found the source of the 'feelings,' the white-haired girl, and fought a red-eyed skeleton.
Then, now they're here.
As he was thinking, he realized what was really off.
Was he really in a fantasy world, and not some dream? He wasn't smoking some weed or opium, right?
Should he find a way back?
...his life in his old world was terrible for sure. Although he recalled not much of his memories, he had gotten the gist of things.
...life is daijoubu for now.
Then, the skeleton man looked at the white-haired girl. She was the most curious and objectively important subject.
She was obviously strange-light literally exuded off her like some aura. Somehow, she can talk to the skeletons with her 'feelings' or something, and she...
"..."
The skeleton man can only make assumptions. He can't talk, and she can't talk.
Or she wouldn't.
Not to mention he can't understand jack crap of the language here.
Skeleton E looked back at the fire.
Would he follow her 'orders,' or rather-'feelings?'
Why not?
Could he, almost useless and have no real skills, help her in surviving? Sure.
Could he protect her? Possible and doable with his fellow bretheren numbskulls.
Guard her? It was the same thing.
If that was all, then it's fine. The skeleton man and his fellow bretheren can do just fine if they used common sense and logic and stayed far away from danger.
However, there was a strange, underlying feeling in his chest.
There was obviously more to 'help her' than normal.
So, after a good amount of thinking, the skeleton man felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Settling down, he simply stared into the fire, its crackling sound joining with the sound of rain creating a beautiful ambience…
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥.
The skeleton man turned his skull around. At the same time, his silent fellow skeleton's skulls all turned around.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥.
The door was shuddering ever so slightly. As it was shaking, they also saw the bolt was trembling as well. Each time there was a knock, both the door and the bolt shook.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥.