Yukio Shinazugawa

"Oh no you don't!" I heard Alex yell before he launched himself before me, blocking the creature with his body.

The creature made an indescribable sound while Alex held it at bay. I pushed back against him, trying to give my strength to him as I tried to calm myself down from shaking. I was scared; never before was I scared for my life like I was now. not even when I pulled the trigger, the fear of being devoured alive in this dark cave from a giant lizard was on another level, not to mention my fear of lizards was making everything worse as I was stuck frozen, just barely managing to push Alex to give him strength, hoping it would be over soon. 

"Die, you bastard!" Alex yelled once again, throwing his sword on the ground, snapping me back to reality as he lunged his right arm into the lizard's stomach, tearing it to pieces, and tore out a big chunk of its insides. Looking at the bloody Chung, I realized it was its heart as the creature fell on the ground dead.

still in shock of unfolding events I noticed green steam coming off of Alex; he was in a completely destroyed state, barely recognizable, his legs and right hand completely skinless, blood gushing from his mouth and shoulders. My eyes started to blur as tears fell on my cheeks.

"Alex," I mumbled between sobs.

confused Alex turned to me with a smile... I did it, he said, gesturing at the dead creature.

As soon as he turned around, I noticed his left hand was even worse than his right, his fingers barely visible anymore, acid devouring him with ease.

"HANG ON, ALEX!" I screamed, trying to run to him as he looked down, realizing the state of his body.

"I see," he smiled as he closed his eyes, falling on his back unconscious.

I rushed to him, immediately grabbing my pouch of healing water. I poured it in his mouth; he started coughing as blood and water mixed in his mouth, completely disappearing into his throat.

"WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE; DON'T DIE ON ME!" I tore parts of my armor wrapping around him; my old red coat we used to carry the water was still a little wet from it, so I wrapped it around his legs, hoping it would somehow help him heal. His pulse was weakening, and he was shaking, fearing taking him.

"DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU SUICIDAL MANIAC! YOU CAN'T DIE YET! NOT BEFORE I PAY YOU BACK!" My tears were covering my hands and Alex's chest as I wrapped parts of his clothes around his arms.

His pulse started to ease as I finally finished wrapping him up, but his body was severely damaged, as he shook all over with burning fever.

"There's no use...at this rate..."

Tears and a sense of guilt hit me at the same time; it hurt. This strange guy has saved me 2 times now and was dying because of me! Was I cursed? Did people around me die because of me? Did my whole family crumble because I was born? Is this how I repaid everyone who tried to help me? Was I hopeless to even save the person before me? Guilt was unbearable; my mind was numb, a vortex of destruction roaring and destroying everything in its path. I wanted to disappear; I wanted to be anywhere other than here. but I could not; I was stuck in this cave with possibly the only person that cared about me dying in my arms... and it was all my fault...

"SLAP!" I snapped myself out of my thoughts with a slap as my vision turned clear. I needed to do something; I needed to find help; I needed to help Alex. 

"Okay," I let out a shaky breath, calming myself down and thinking of a way out. 

I could continue searching for a way out, but I didn't know where the way out was. Alex was slowly dying, and I could not go alone not knowing the dangers ahead as well. We just barely managed to kill the lizard, and likely there were more of them. It was too dangerous; I had to somehow help him without leaving the cave, but how? There were no medical supplies here; even if there were, he was in bad shape. He would not be able to move even if healed, unless the sweet water healed him completely, but he drank only a cup or so; that was not enough.

And then I decided. The only solution for Alex to live and us to get out of here was more miracle water; however, it was 3 hours from this location, and Alex could not possibly defend himself if something happened to him while I was gone. Could I even make this journey alone? we barely managed to make it together

"cough" I was snapped into reality once more when Alex coughed up blood.

"ALEX!" I rushed beside him, sitting him up.

He was still unconscious with fewer burning him. 

"There's not time; I either do it, or we're both dead." I finally decided to go back.

Grabbing torn cloth, I put wet compresses on Alex, hoping it will help him fight the fever. Then I moved Alex towards the big crystal 20 meters from where we fought the lizard. I tore out many small crystals in case of emergency and surrounded him with them. I figured it would help with creatures avoiding him as I took the blade with the golden handle and went back.

It took me 3 hours to get to the cave we found elves in. I quickly searched their remains, finding more cloth, even bandages, and more water pouches, cursing myself for not searching them properly last time as I continued my path. I passed the giant dead lizard once more, noticing parts of it missing from last time I saw it as I started looking around cautiously, fearing whatever was out there.

It was now 6 PM when I finally reached my destination, making it a 5-hour-long journey. The water was still there, as everything seemed peaceful compared to where we fought the lizard, parts of me questioning why we even bothered to leave this place. After filling up all 7 pouches I gathered from bodies, now I was heavy; luckily, I used a piece of rope I found on one of the bodies to bind all of them together, as now I had them on my back, easing up the heaviness a lot. I looked around the cave once more before drinking a lot of sweet water and filling my energy back up and returning.

On my way back, I heard weird sounds of creatures as I approached the place where the dead giant lizard was. Scared of the unknown, I hid behind the crystal formations as I listened cautiously.

[#$@!*&]something spoke as other voices started chuckling

terrified of new sounds I slowly started to peek to see the source of these strange sounds as I heard slices of meat hitting the ground; I froze, thinking I was noticed when one of the creatures screamed. 

"GHAAA!" one creature screamed, hitting something as other creatures went silent only to cheer a moment later.

I barely managed to hang on to my consciousness as I sighed in relief as I realized I was not seen. 

The creatures made sounds for 10 more minutes before disappearing into a small entrance of a wall as I peeked, only noticing their small, dwarf-like figures in the dark.

I slowly walked out from my hiding place, looking at the corpse of a lizard almost entirely gone; beside it lay the same creature as the others as I walked to it. It was a dead corpse of a green creature; its skull was completely crushed, making it hard to see its face; however, the long nails and disgusting triangle ears, as well as the stench, were enough for me to recognize another creature from fantasy: Goblin. It wore a small cloth fragment, reminding me of something Neanderthals wore. a bloody wooden club was laid beside him, figuring it was the weapon that killed it. 

"Well, sh*t," I cursed to myself, noting that we had another thing to watch out for as I continued my journey back, trying to not leave any traces of me being there. 

After 3 more hours, I was finally at the end of a swamp, hopefully marking my journey as I noticed a small raft-like structure next to an island we fought lizard on. 

I rushed back, worried about Alex, as I slowly approached the raft. 

It was a small raft, with small pouches laying on it. It was designed to carry something much smaller than people, as I feared goblins were behind it as well. 

I snuck across the right side of the giant crystal where we killed Lizard as I heard a familiar voice once more.

[@$%#]A creature stood at the body of a lizard inspecting it as it smashed its head, only to stop once he noticed the red blood trail, the same blood trail Alex left when I dragged him to the crystal.

Tilting its head, the creature started following the trail, approaching the place where Alex was.

"Oh no you don't," I mumbled to myself, reading my bow. 

"GAA," the creature heard me mumble as it turned around looking at me.

It had red eyes, wrinkly green skin, and sharp fangs. "What a terrifying, ugly presence!" I yelled back, shooting an arrow and hitting it in the stomach.

"GHAA!" the goblin held its stomach as blood poured from it.

"Die, you filthy monster!" I yelled, shooting an arrow once more, hitting it right between the eyes as the goblin fell on the ground, dying immediately. 

passing its dead body, I hurried to Alex, reaching him.

Tears filled my eyes once more when I noticed he was still alive, his clothes stenching in hot sweat as he shook from fever. 

Grabbing one of the 7 pouches, I poured water on his legs and arms, completely emptying it.

I grabbed the second one and tried to make him drink, but he was unconscious, not managing to drink water.

"COME ON, YOU NEED TO DRINK!" I tried to snap him back as my heart started to beat faster.

Alex was barely responding; I didn't know if the water around his arms and legs would even help, but he needed to drink it somehow. 

"Here goes nothing, I said to myself, trying to cheer myself up as I held his face.

"You better not hold this against me." I thought to myself as I stretched his mouth open and poured the liquid in.

"MFFT," Alex snapped, his eyes choking as he drank the water in one go before his eyes closed once again.

"Hopefully that'll help." I sat down next to him, grabbing my face and wiping both sweat and tears off, hoping he would wake up and recover.

I was afraid of dying.

but more than that, I was afraid of being alone in this godforsaken place.