novelraw Chapter 222- A Lot All at Once
Chapter 222- A Lot All at Once
[Keeno POV]
Staring at the kid who was hugging me, I was dumbfounded. Her body seemed fine but her soul was a complete mess. Sure, it was almost as pure as Pram’s was, but it had so many cracks that it should have long since shattered. And, the weirdest part, she wasn’t actually an undead, she was one hundred percent alive.
“If I died, Rafie would be sad, so I won’t ever die.”
“…”
“What do you mean how is she alive!? Is something wrong with Kay!?”
The black haired kid ran up to me, her scythe vanishing as she pulled her friend away, looking her over for injuries.
“Her body is physically fine, but her soul…it’s cracked, nearly shattered. But I don’t get it, she shouldn’t even be able to move like that.”
The honey headed wolf girl tilted her head before a beaming smile spread over her face again.
“Pretty fox lady! You’re gonna be our friend forever, right!?”
Her tail was wagging like a hurricane as she stared at me. Her friend pulled her closer as she glared.
“Kay, are you sure about this? I accepted everything you were saying at first, but I don’t like this.”
“It’s ok Rafie. She’ll be our friend and stop the dead people and kill the dragon and we’ll all be happy!”
I was so confused. I looked over at Pram and Freya because I genuinely have no clue on what to do here. Seeing their expressions, they clearly were at just as much of a loss as I was. The honey-haired kid broke from her friend’s grasp and latched herself into me again, her smile somehow growing even wider and her eyes shining like stars. I instinctively moved my hand and started patting her head which made her freeze up for a second before she started vibrating with happiness.
“You’re so warm fox lady. I like warm.”
It was almost like a spell was cast on her because she almost instantly fell asleep as soon as I started patting her head, though her grip on me remained vice-like. Her friend had a resigned expression on her face and she let out a tired sigh.
“As much as I don’t like it, don’t try to move her off, she’ll just squeeze tighter.” The dark haired kid said as she moved over and sat on a rock. “My name is Rafaela. Her’s is Kay. As you’ve probably guessed, we’re locals.”
I picked up Kay, moved and sat on a rock close to the other ki- Rafaela and crossed my legs, letting Kay rest on my lap.
“Okami. That’s Pram, and over there is Freya. My feathery friends here are Huginn and Muninn.”
The two ravens landed next to me and stared at Rafaela. They tilted their heads and hopped over to her. She flinched when they got close, but when they did nothing but stare at her, she relaxed slightly.
“Caw.”
“Cuuuuurrrr.”
“Cawaw.”
I tilted my head at the two.
“What do you mean she feels familiar? You met her today.”
“Caw!”
“Huginn, I’ve known you for your entire life, I literally hatched you. I know for a fact that this is the fist time we’ve met this kid.”
“Ra!”
“No, Muninn, there is no wa…you’re weird.”
“Cawawawa.”
“Shut it, Huginn, don’t presume to know what I was just thinking. Now both of you be quiet or I’ll tell Fia next time I get to talk to her.”
This made the two birds freeze for a second before they chose to fly into the sky again leaving a trail of cawing behind.
“Whatever you featherheads. I’m not a fox whose always in heat.”
Watching my birds fly overhead for a moment longer I returned my attention to the kid in front of me. She was giving me a weird look before she shifted her gaze over to Pram and Freya.
“Your friend is crazy.”
I was going to say something in my defense when Pram’s spoke first.
“You get used to it.”
“Oi!”
Freya nodded her head in agreement with Pram.
“We just roll with it at this point.”
I lost my chance to refute them, so I just returned my attention to Rafaela.
“I’ll get the two of you back for that later, but for now, Rafaela, what did Kay mean by all that she was saying?”
“Not a clue. She says and does things like this sometimes and, with the extremely rare occasion, they always come true. I don’t know if it’s due to some kind of mushroom she ate, some potion she made, or something else all together, but this time she’s been more insistent than usual. Now tell me she-fo…Okami, what did you mean her soul is broken and that she should be dead? Explain more.”
The clear worry in her expression showed me that she was genuinely worried for her friend.
“Exactly as it sounds. She should have died hundreds of times over, judging by the state of her soul, but her physical condition, and Pram can tell me if I’m wrong, is perfectly fine, if not overly so.”
“So all those times I thought she was dead, she actually was?” She mumbled this under her breath while blankly looking down at her friend in my lap before turning her gaze back to me. “I’m willing to forget what happened earlier if you can heal Kay.”
I grimaced.
“That…”
“That would be difficult, Rafaela. As this party’s healer, I can’t heal souls. I might be able to one day, at least that’s a goal I have, but for now it’s impossible.”
While thanking Pram in my mind, I continued.
“And, though it still puzzles me how, she is perfectly fine. Judging by the damage she’s been this way for years. If she hasn’t show any side effects of this, the you shouldn’t overly worry about it.”
She was clearly dissatisfied with our answer, but seeing the logic in our words, she sighed tiredly.
“Fine. Neither of you seem to be lying about this, so I can’t say anything. I- *grrrrrrr*”
All of us froze.
“*Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!*”
Looking down at where the sound was coming from, I saw Kay who’s eyes opened halfway as she sniffed the air.
“Hungy.”
Her words were slurred by sleep as she let go of me and started walking into a small thicket next to us. I looked at Rafaela in bewilderment only to see a tired look in her eyes as she jumped up and ran after Kay. A few minutes later she returned, Kay slumped in her arms still half asleep and with several toxic looking mushrooms in her hands.
“Kay! Drop them now!”
“Ehehe. Rafie look, shroomy friends. The belong in Kay’s belly.
“No.”
Rafaela knocked the mushrooms from Kay’s arms. This woke her up completely and she looked around confused. Once her eyes landed on me, her eyes shone like they did earlier.
“Oh! Hello fox lady! You should follow Kay and Rafie! We can show you the scary place with all the dead people! Not the swampy ones, the floaty ones that the scary ladies like to munch on…I’m hungry…Ooo fox lady, do you have any honey cakes!?”
She practically jumped into my lap again, her tail wagging uncontrollably. I was completely thrown off at her antics and how fast she shifted from one thing to the other. Seeing as I didn’t respond, Kay tilted her head, her earls flopping to one side before she sniffed again and hopped out of my lap.
“Ooo mushrooms.”
“Kay! Slow down!”
“Rafie!!!”
Ignoring the mushrooms she was grabbing for, Kay instead jumped forward and grabbed Rafaela in a hug.
“Ehehe, Rafie.”
My head spinning at the extreme change in, well, everything, I looked at my two friends to find them similarly exasperated. It looked like this would be a livery long day.
Chaos Realm:
Luna: …
Got something to say, Luna?
Luna: While I am interested in where this is gonna go, I feel Kay is a bit…crazy. I mean, even my pace is completely thrown off, and I’m just watching.
Hmm. But doesn’t that make it fun?
Luna: I’ll reserve judgement.
Yeah, yeah, I’ll just pretend I don’t see the happy tail waves.
Luna: I don’t know what you’re talking about.