Starry Resonance

Everywhere they looked, it was as if a giant had thrown a tantrum and mauled everything in its path. Craters with no perceivable bottom, gashes on the ground wider than Great Divider, massive trees ripped off their roots and/or burnt. Half the forest was on fire.

That didn't stop Selt from leading the way.

"Don't rush too far ahead. We're way over our heads here." The destruction before Yvain reminded him of the beast he had recently fought. Selt could survive many things, but he wasn't sure the kid could get out of such a confrontation alive. To be honest, every part of him wished to just stay in the great hall and pray for rescue or for the dungeon to end by itself, but neither seemed like a possibility. He didn't know how he survived in the end, but such an occurrence couldn't be something that could be repeated.

Selt looked back, a rare seriousness on his expression, "Is that fear I hear in your voice?"

Yvain couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic with him or not but decided to answer honestly regardless. "For all intents and purposes, I died in this dungeon." He went on to explain what he went through after he left. Selt stopped, and Yvain didn't urge him to move as he got lost in the recounting.

"I've never felt so helpless before." Eyes gaining focus, Yvain looked at Selt and kept going, "If we manage to get out of here, I think we should abandon the idea of leaving Empryon for now and focus more on our preparations. Maybe even merge with a stronger guild."

After a second or two of silence, Selt spoke, "So that's why you were n.a.k.e.d when you walked in."

"Come on Selt, I'm being serious," Yvain said with exasperation. He should have known it'd be pointless to try and have a serious conversation with him.

Ignoring the mention of his genitals, Yvain did feel a bit silly now that Selt mentioned his n.a.k.e.dness. It wasn't the perfect attire to have a serious conversation considering the circ.u.mstances and the participants. "We'll just continue this later, it's not like we can do anything without talking to Nelimir first," he said and surveyed their position.

When they first opened the doors to this new area, besides a clear look of the forest, they were greeted with descending stairs that were coming out of a castle very much like the one they entered at first. The castle itself was much bigger and with an unorthodox shape not meant to follow any logical architecture. They could see it from where they stood so it served as a nice reference point. Still, what were they supposed to find here? So far nothing had happened even after walking for over half an hour. Some disaster had obviously come through here, but where was its source?

"Should we head back and check another section of the forest?" Yvain asked, more to himself than his companion.

"What for?" Selt said as he pointed to the deeper parts of the forest. A woman was staggering toward them. Dried up reddish-brown blood was sticking to her mouth. She was wearing a form-fitting obsidian suit that covered her whole body and could easily hide her in the dark, but it was covered in tears that gave view to countless lacerations that seemed fatal. Standing out from the dusky clothing was her pasty skin, framed by a mane of smooth vermillion hair that reached her waist.

As she got closer to them, Yvain could see that her eyes were barely keeping focus. She was simply walking forward without actually seeing.

With no regard for the atmosphere, Selt ran toward her while waving. "Hey, mind telling us what happened here?" he yelled. The woman didn't show any recognition and just kept walking with the same lost gaze.

"I told you not to rush ahead idiot!" Yvain ran after Selt. Seeing the wounded woman and the destruction around them gave him a bad feeling. He tried to clench his right hand but it was no use. He would have to make do with just his left. At least it was his stronger arm.

"Jeez calm down, look at her. She can barely even move." Selt stopped in front of her and put on a friendly face, "Excuse me miss, you wouldn't happen to kn-" but she walked past him, oblivious to his attempts at engaging.

Slowing down to a trot and mirroring Selt's look of confusion, Yvain stared as the woman stopped in front of him. Now that they were face to face, he realized that they were of the same height which was something uncommon with female humans. It could be said that her age was somewhere around the late thirties or early forties, but it just added an air of maturity that increased her beauty rather than detract from it.

The bleak cyan eyes of the woman regained their light. At the back of his head, Yvain was marveling at how striking they were, but at the forefront, he was engraving an image he would never forget for the rest of his life. The woman beamed at him, her eyes taking the shape of crescent moons, and laid her head on his shoulder. Immediately all strength left her and Yvain was forced to hold her weight against his c.h.e.s.t, dropping the sword.

"You sly dog," Selt came running back and looked up and down at Yvain and the woman he was now holding in his arms. "This paints quite the image. Did she pass out?"

Yvain's mind was currently in turmoil. The image of her smile and the joy in her eyes when she looked at him kept replaying over and over again in his head. Each repetition made his c.h.e.s.t become warmer. Mixed inside that warmth was a strange elation at the way she rested her head on his shoulder with no hesitation, subsequently allowing herself to pass out.

Strangely enough, her body still felt warm despite the apparent blood loss. Every rising and falling of her c.h.e.s.t, pushing against his own, sapped the strength from his knees. And every breath she softly inhaled and exhaled made his ears go numb. All this, happening directly on his n.a.k.e.d body, intensified the tactile attack. But all of these feelings were clashing with a perspective formed over his entire life.

At twenty-five years old, Yvain was still a v.i.r.g.i.n. It wasn't for any lack of potential partners, he just never felt any shred of attraction at the women around him. Many considered him strange for it, just as many found it attractive. But he couldn't care less. He would watch on as others would talk in excitement about a woman or a man. The particular physical trait they liked. The way they talked, walked or ate. The little quirks. He couldn't understand any of it, as he couldn't relate it to his own experiences.

This was one of the reasons why he wanted to go out into the world of monsters. His own friend managed to find someone that was a part of it, so maybe it'd be the same for him. Maybe out in that world, so different from his, contained the person he was looking for.

But this woman was human. Nothing in her features said otherwise. Even the elves, who were the closest to a human-like appearance, had their distinctive long ears.

"She looks quite elegant, doesn't she? Are you making sure to cop a feel?" Selt's voice appeared right next to Yvain's ear. He quickly turned and saw the kid wearing his trademark smirk, finally grasping how he must look.

Selt's eyes suddenly threatened to pop out of his eye sockets and his jaw went slightly slack. "No way."

"Are you blushing?!?" Selt said in a harsh whisper with both incredulity and the delight of a kid getting a new toy.

On reflex, Yvain looked away and immediately realized his mistake. He might as well just had said yes. "Can you stop messing around?" he said, cringing at how weak the words came out.

Selt quickly moved to glimpse more of his cheeks burning up, almost skipping around. "Damn this is a million times better than your shocked expression. We need to finish this dungeon already, I'm dying to tell the others of our mini adventure." Intent on fulfilling his needs, Selt started heading deeper into the forest.

Yvain tried to think of a way to stop Selt from going, but nothing came to mind, and while the woman in his arms didn't seem to be in critical condition he couldn't walk around with her being unconscious. "I'll stay here while I wait for her to wake up. Don't stray too far," he said.

Selt just waved his hand dismissively for an answer and disappeared behind some trees.

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Yvain was becoming self-conscious. Besides Selt who never seemed to care and Nelimir who grew up with him and was used to how he was, everyone always gave him a hard time for his unabashedness.

He always thought of them as weird. He still did. But it felt like he could now understand just a bit of their reservations.

After gently setting the woman down against a tree, Yvain started looking for any resources that could work as makeshift clothing but found nothing of use. Deciding that he would just have to stay n.a.k.e.d, he started the frustrating journey of finding the perfect angle to greet the woman whenever she woke up without letting her see his more embarrassing parts.

Understanding the futility of the matter, he just sat in front of her with his legs crossed.

He couldn't help himself from wishing she wouldn't wake up until he could make himself decent, even if it meant taking longer to finish the dungeon. It was unfortunate that reality often disregarded any type of wish.

When he looked at her face, feeling a compulsive need to stare at her, he saw that her cheeks were trembling and her lips were fighting back a smile. Even in their bloody state, he found them alluring. Then it dawned on him.

"H-how long have you been awake?" Yvain's eyebrows scrunched up at his stuttering. 'Damn it man, get it together' he thought, frustrated.

The woman covered her mouth and started laughing. It was as boisterous as Selt's when Yvain opened the left door at the great hall, yet it didn't feel unpleasant at all. It had a husky undertone to it that made the hairs on Yvain's back stand on end.

The laugh went on for at least a dozen seconds. And the more confused Yvain looked, the harder the woman would laugh, holding her sides with her free arm and groaning a little. Probably from her current injuries.

It got to the point that tears starting spilling from the corner of her eyes.

When she finally managed to gather herself enough to talk, the woman sniffed a bit and wiped her cheeks with a part of her sleeves. She then mimicked Yvain's crossed-legged position and rested her chin on one arm. "I quite enjoyed your attempts to seduce me," the woman said.

Yvain inwardly and outwardly g.r.o.a.n.e.d, finally understanding. "I'm sorry you had to see that." He was endlessly grateful that Selt wasn't there at the moment.

Yvain cursed a million times in his head as he felt the heat rushing to his cheeks. His c.o.c.k had inadvertently grown to raise out of his crossed legs to stand at attention.

The woman looked back at him and his blush got fiercer when she widened her smile, her eyes almost turning to slits.

'Stars help me'

"A-anyways, my name is Yvain. What's yours?" The woman straightened herself, the sultry aura from before a bit more subdued.

She gave him a different kind of smile this time, one closer to simple contentment. "Hello, Yvain. You may call me Nora." It was devastating all the same.