Till Death Do Us Part - Hide and Seek

"Argh, what a headache..." - Hope's mouth was plugged almost immediately.

She couldn't see who was in front of her, everything was complete darkness, as if she were locked in a dark and empty room, she felt that she should be afraid, but she felt strangely safe with the person in front of her.

"uhm, humpf humm, mmmmmmmp" - Hope tried to fight, but her body still didn't have the strength to move, a beam of light appeared next to her, a firefly maybe, no, it came from the ground, from a spear, the spear of the girl who was in front of her. She saw in front of her the girl who had helped her earlier, she was looking around as she covered Hope's mouth with her hand. A few seconds passed without any of the girls moving, and the glow of the spear stopped flashing, returning them to complete darkness.

The red-haired girl brought her face close to Hope's face and whispered in her ear, almost as low as the rustle of the leaves on the trees:

"Don't talk, don't move, just follow my instructions."

"She smells like blood, it's hard to breathe. -

"I want you to lightly move your head up and down, to YES and slightly sideways, to NO. Got it?"

Up and down.

"Great. Have you encountered any creatures other than the Nightwalkers?"

Left and right.

"Did you know that the Endless Night would arrive today?"

Left and right.

"Are you a Lamp?"

Up and down.

"Your body isn't a marked one yet, you're an ember, no, you managed to recklessly use the volcano forge, your level is at least ember and at most campfire, am I right?"

Up and down.

"Listen very carefully, if you want to survive, I will remove my hand from your mouth, but you will say absolutely nothing, act as if your mouth is still tied, you will obey me without question, because if you question or delay in obeying, I do not guarantee your survival. Got it?"

"It's not like I can get very far with my body in that state. -

Up and down.

The girl slowly removed her hand from Hope's mouth, who stared at her in silence. The girl moved away a little and with her eyes closed, for a few seconds she whispered something with her hand on her chest, when she finished, she removed her hand from her heart, which now held a small blue flame and brought it to Hope's chest.

Hope felt the flame enter her body, she was cold, she could feel it inside her body, as if it were a second heart, it was uncomfortable, but she felt the flame diminish her pains and in the next moment, Hope felt that she could move normally, perhaps better than before any injury.

"I know I'm just an ember, but I don't remember any superior citing such a ritual in the name of the Forge god. -

-Forge... In 200 years, it's the first time anyone has mistaken me for a false god.- Hope remembered the phrase of the girl still without a name. - Her body is covered in scars, her eyes seemed to glow in the dark, one green and the other blue, maybe for now I'll call her Iris. -

The girl Iris picked up her spear from the ground and returned the flameless lamp to Hope.

- Once a flame from a Lamp is extinguished, it will never be able to reach the forge's light again. Hope fastened the lamp to her belt and hurried to follow Iris, who was already walking in front of her.

The environment around her was completely taken over by darkness, as the sky was completely dark, without stars, without moon, without clouds which made Hope follow the warrior closely so that they would not be separated, even though the top of her spear was like a firefly, her symbol of a raven and a book flashed from time to time, and whenever this happened, Iris changed the direction she went. But even if there was no such source of light, even if they were engulfed in darkness, Hope felt that she could find Iris no matter how lost she was.