The sky was barely tinted orange when Regius felt a soft kick on his shoulder. He turned around, trying to get comfortable on the weirdly hard bed only to hit his head against a rock. A rock?

  “Ow,” he grumbled, sitting up and seeing the cave environment. With a pang, he remembered that he wasn’t in the village anymore. It’s annoying how he has to sleep somewhere new whenever he gets used to somewhere. “I forgot we were here.”

  “We have to keep going. We don’t know how much longer until you burn up entirely,” Deina declared bluntly, arms crossed. She was already ready to go, her cape back on and her bag on her shoulder. Interestingly, the bag was on her left shoulder- not her injured one.

  “Is your shoulder alright?” Regius asked. Deina grimaced, a brief look of pain flashing across her face before she shook her head. “I’m alright now. Hurry up, eat.”

  The girl tossed a ham and cheese sandwich wrapped in wood paper at him. Regius caught it without too much difficulty, unwrapping it and taking a bite.

  Despite his usual dislike for sandwiches, his hunger quickly overtook him and he gobbled the breakfast down. Once he was finished, he retrieved his cape from the surprisingly clean cave floor and threw it back on, not before taking a sip of water from his bottle.

  “Good to go,” he announced to Deina, who had been standing leaning against a stalagmite with a blank face. The black-haired girl nodded, looking around to get a hint of direction before heading off.

  “Geez, we have plenty of time,” the brown-haired boy grumbled, but he was dubious. The entirety of his right index finger, as well as the tip of his middle finger, had burnt away now. How much time did he really have left?

  ‘Stay positive,’ Regius scolded himself internally, before setting off into a run to catch up with Deina who had not waited for a moment.

  “Careful!” Regius stumbled back at Deina’s shout just as he reached her. In front of them stood (floated ? those things didn’t have legs.) another shadeling.

  Deina lit her torch and tried to lift it, but flinched in pain as she put weight on her shoulder. Regius rushed forward, unsure what to do. “Are you sure you can fight?”

  “I don’t exactly have a choice,” his sister grumbled, shifting the burning torch to her less stable left hand. At that moment, Regius turned his brain off, completely disregarding the fact that he had never fought before, and snatched it from her. “Allow me!”

  Unfortunately, his smug pride faded a moment later when the shadeling attacked. Not used to fighting with a torch, or at all, he barely stumbled out of the way.

  “Get out of the way, idiot! You’re not even trained!” Deina shouted, running forwards to take back the torch. Regius was, however, too caught up in the excitement of a fight to acknowledge Deina.

  The shadow monster jumped towards Deina, who was trying to grab back the torch. Panicking, the brown-haired boy jumped back and tried to jab the torch at the shadeling. Unfortunately, due to his missing finger, the flaming tool slipped out of his hand.

  Deina, caught by surprise, fell over as well, her knee hitting right on a pebble on the cave floor. Muttering swear words the rule-following girl didn’t usually say, the girl rolled out of the way just before the shadeling hit the rock beside her.

  Regius scrambled around, moving the torch so his left hand stabilized it and his dominant right hand could guide it. Standing up and lunging forward in one smooth motion, he jabbed the flame into the cluster of shadows.

  With a hiss, it disappeared just like its kin.

  With a sigh of relief, Regius turned back to the furiously scowling Deina who sat on the cave ground, clutching her newly wounded knee, and handed back her torch. “See? Told you I could handle it.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The black-haired girl stood up, wincing but not complaining, and snatched the wooden weapon back. “You are not trained in Shadeling Combat. Leave the combat to me, even injured, I am still more skilled than an untrained person.”

  Regius rolled his eyes, taking a step towards the direction they were previously headed. “Geez, calm down. It’s gone now, isn’t it?”

  His brown eyes softened when he noticed his younger sister’s knee wound. “Sorry, are you okay?”

  Deina bravely strode off, but pain was obvious in her step. Her shoulder hasn’t even been treated, and now she’s hurt again. “I’m alright.”

  Regius wanted to help, but what could he do? Is there any chance they can make it to the sacrificial altar at this rate, and with Deina’s current injuries. Frankly, if it was Regius in her position, he wouldn’t be able to walk. Just how tough was it, growing up in the land of fire?

  With a sad sigh, he hurried after Deina.

  About an hour of travelling later, Regius was certain his sister couldn't keep going. The younger girl’s right arm stuck rigidly to her side, and whenever she moved that arm slightly she flinched.

  It was clear she was trying to hide her pain, but she wasn’t very good at it. Also, Regius had no idea where to go so he had no choice but to keep his eyes on Deina.

  “Alright, that’s it,” he announced, stopping dead in his tracks. Deina stopped as well, turning back with an annoyed look. “Ugh, what do you want now, idiot?”

  The brown-haired boy was mildly surprised by her rude attitude, since Deina was usually a blank slate. Regardless, he wasn’t focused on that. “You can’t keep travelling with two injuries. We need to find a way to treat your injuries.”

  Deina frowned, not convinced. “If I could, I would have. I don’t have anything, and neither do you. What are you suggesting?”

  That was as far as Regius had planned, so he needed to think fast before Deina disregarded her own safety and kept walking again. Back in the village, Laios had said something...

  “Didn’t Laios say something about a village on the way?” he pointed out smugly. “He said they were hostile or something, but they can’t throw out an injured fellow land of fire resident.”

  Deina narrowed her eyes, and shook her head a moment later. “You were lucky to have fallen into Village Archaois, we are one of the most friendly. The one elder mention- Village Polemos- they are known to sacrifice limbs of their own people for Lord Caleo. I will not comment on their choice, but I refuse to leave my fate to them.”

  Once more Regius’s smugness faded. And to think the Archaois people had seemed freaky.

  Deina sighed at her older but more childish brother’s sad look. “There are always some people who don’t live in a village. If we run into one of them, I’ll stop there, alright? So just shut up now.”

  “Yep,” the brown-haired boy replied without a beat, his earlier sadness immediately gone. Deina couldn't help but smile at his ridiculously fast mood change, so she turned around to keep walking. “Hurry up.”

  Regius hurried after Deina, once more finding difficulty in catching up with her quick footsteps.

  Despite the compromise, about an hour or two later, Deina didn’t look fine enough to walk another step. Since they had an agreement, Regius couldn’t complain. Frankly, his younger sister looked like she was about to collapse on the spot.

  Just then, by some miraculous spin of fate, the two exited the tunnel they were in and spotted a decently sized house with a wooden roof and walls made of what seemed like rock mined locally from the cave.

  “You promised, Deina. We’re taking a break!” the brown-haired boy announced, taking a few steps towards the house and then turning back to beckon to Deina. His younger sister sighed, clearly not expecting to actually find someone, but did not complain.

  However, a second later, the footsteps behind Regius faded. Worried, he turned around, just in time to witness the black-haired girl doubling over in pain and collapsing.

  “Huh- Deina!” he yelped, rushing back to his younger sister. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to get her to the house, which was about a hundred meters away. Should he drag her by the ankle?

  In the end, he carried Deina with her arms like he would a cat. Panicked sweat dripped down the side of his head as he ran towards the house. Thankfully, a man walked out when he was about halfway there. The man had orange eyes and dark hair, with a stripe of pink at the back.

  His eyes widened as he spotted Regius and Deina, before running over to meet the two midway. “Are you alright? Who are you two?”

  “Going to Caleo’s sacrificial altar,” Regius managed to gasp, starting to fail under Deina’s weight despite the girl being shorter than him. “Shadeling attack. Need help.”

  Tha man nodded, understanding the situation. He took the unconscious Deina from Regius’s grip and beckoned to the boy to head towards the house. “Come on. You need to treat her quickly.”