Fleeing from that beast I stumble upon a clearing, judging from its extremely faint roar its distance is quite far away now and its relatively safe to rest here. lying next to a tree I breathe deeply and realize my throats dry, thinking back to dictionary's water magic information I focus on the area in front of me and concentrate on creating a stream of water.

  I ran through the forest trying to dodge every tree and bush, it wasn't a quick get-away but I trusted the foliage to keep the thing at bay. I heard some trees behind me crack at first but eventually, it gave up the chase and started roaring in my direction.

  Just as luck would have it, as the roars of the beast started to die off completely I came upon a nice spot to set up camp with some sunlight to enjoy as well. First things first... I'm thirsty. So calming my breath I focus on something entirely new in the area in front of me and concentrate on creating a ball of water.

  Unlike when pulling water from the river there was no source for this water so I had to completely improvise and make up my own steps and thoughts as I went along. Slowly I feel as if its working and after exhausting around 5% of my mana pool I open my eyes and look around.

  Eh, where is it I look around and spot nothing and soon become depressed. Just as I sigh and look up to the sun I realize it a bit too late. The water came crashing down on me, it was much much more than I anticipated and the force of it knocked me to the floor soaking me completely and washing away the sweat from earlier.

  Letting out a laugh I ignore Voice laughing in the background, grinning I slowly concentrate and directly pour a small stream of water into my mouth. Pure water is quite refreshing.

  I forage and find some fruit for dinner by the time the sun sets I settle down, and make myself comfy with some of the poorly skinned furs I use for a bed and rest my back from carrying the vine bag. I modified the bag a bit back when I was building the doomed raft.

  I'm lazy, yes I know Its high noon and I'm just sitting in the forest playing with the water magic playing all sorts of made up games, though I wonder how much of this before Voice starts to complain. Still theirs only so much I can do with simple flashy magic before I tire of it and move onward.

  Picking a trail I start walking my way through the forest once more, its not very thick foliage but can be cumbersome if you're trying to run. Like I was earlier, I still have a bruise or two from tripping over a thick bush.

  Surprisingly I found another one of those lizard creatures before it found me, knowing its hostility from the last encounter with one I quickly rushed and just before it could try anything slammed my foot into its chest. It held a small stone shiv but it's not anything that I could consider useful.

  Pinning it down I grab the stone shiv before she tried to stab me and for a moment I space out as red and blue seem to cloud all my thoughts and vision.

  I treat the intrusion as a irritation and as I'm in the middle of killing something I try and snap out of it while feelings of anger and a relaxing calm wash over me. Eventually, as I grasp for control again I let the calmness wash over me and the red light vanishes while the blue slowly dwindles down.

  Taking the knife in hand I stab into her heart and clasp my hands around her kneck before I feel her body lurch and give up life. Then I begin dissecting her.

  Just as I finish cleaning off the blood from my hands after pulling the beasts core out to begin snacking on, off in the distance I hear a loud scream.

  ~”I wonder what creature that scream came from, let's go check it out there could be some useful remains left around. I really hope its a bone of a strong creature, oh all the lovely things we can do with that.

  Traveling through the forest I rush towards the source of the noise but also taking care to listen for any creature I may encounter. Eventually, a rustling ahead startles me and I dive for cover.

  (Unknown)”Those boys couldn't have gone far, hey old veteran there's some more tracks lets keep moving this way.” (Incomprehensible to MC)

  Two figures, their shape looks like me and the sound of metal in contact with itself is present. I would rather not contact them unless I know their ability and can flee if they show hostility.

  I wait, counting to fifty I finally move and follow the tracks they leave behind and eventually come across a small clearing that boasts of violent activity.

  Waiting for a moment nothing stirs in the area and dont sense anything living here anymore so I take a step in and the first thing that catches my eye is a corpse.

  Dark and humanoid and extremely gaunt, probibly a female who is propped up against a tree.

  ~”Call her a dark elf, and are you completely certain that she's dead, I see movement!”

  Walking over I put my hand over her mouth for a moment… shes breathing, her arms are both injured with old cut wounds that look to be healing quite nicely. Her body itself though is in far worse position than her arms are. Like a shriveled fish her body lacks almost any meat on her bones, she's the best representation of all skin and bones I think anyone could find.

  ~”From what I see about her, shes of a strange breed, her body treats itself differently than most creatures. Instead of the flesh healing that one spot where the injury occurred, it salvages what flesh it can spare from other areas of the body and places it there closing any wound in a rather quick manner. Just look at the injuries, that blood still isn't dry but her injuries look like they were caused weeks ago.”

  While Listening to Voice I slowly remove her outer armor and manipulating water magic I slowly tend to her wounds. At first, as if she was dying of dehydration her body absorbed all the water I put to her skin. Thankfully instead of draining my mana supply completely it eventually saturated itself finally allowing me to clean her injuries and patch them with makeshift bandages.

  ~”I wonder just what bloodline allows for this? It's quite unusual for the body to be this flexible in its cells. I highly doubt that she's the escaped experiment of one of my past… *cough* some random mad scientists experiments.”

  Whatever she is, shes hurt and if her skin just covers the injuries quickly then the injuries still exist, it still doesn't explain so much as to her shriveled state.

  ~”Didn't you listen? I already hypothesized that her body literally pulls flesh from other areas such as muscle and fat and uses it to replace these injuries. To put it in an easy to understand way, to her a cut is like a drop of blood in a pool of water, it simply dilutes itself but still exists waiting to be removed. Or in her case healed, so get to it.”

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  I drag her lightweight body to a tree and collect the nearby instruments, the latter of which weighed more than she did even though it was a knife and sword alongside a small bag with vials and other slots emptied though remnants inside show it was recently full then used.

  As I finished scouring the area and start to prepare a fire I hear her mumbling in her sleep, anything you can do about the language barrier?”

  ~”Been working on it since we saw those two earlier, been twisting wrenches and dissecting frogs ever since.”

  While tending to the fire something shiny from her direction I look over and am surprised to find her awake... with a metal shin guard I removed earlier in hand. It takes a moment but after being spotted she winces and moves back closing her eyes she starts swinging.

  ~”No I… won't go! Leave me alone demons, let me live in peace”(Still gibberish to MC)

  Swinging the metal back and forth she eventually loses her balance and falls to the floor. Rushing over I pull the shin from her hands and before I do anything shes back asleep. It takes a moment but it clicks the girl must be having a nightmare, more than the one in the waking world that is.

  Time passes, I leave her next to the fire asleep, though I tied her hands and feet to keep her from moving in a fit again. I took a couple short scavenging trips so I'm good on wood and food for when she awakens.

  About the time the sun starts to set Voice gets active once again.

  ~”Aha! That's the last bolt to screw in! Gimme just a moment… there now in 3, 2, 1. Feel the Burn!

  Right at the end of his countdown that horrible feeling appears once more, like someone scratching the inside of my skull with metal claws causes me to momentarily lose focus, thought and control.

  ~”Did it work?”

  It better have, I shake my head trying to remove the last of that horrible sensation.

  ~”Yes! You're not speaking in brain talk anymore it's a success.”

  So you made me go through that on a whim that it would work!?!

  Yes, I mean no! Of course, I was completely confident everything would go smoothly there, why would you ever doubt my abilities?

  Before I reply I hear a groan coming from the once-thought-to-be-a-cadaver, at first she looks around confused then realizes that shes tied up. The shock of it clears her mind and once she spots me her eyes go big and she struggles to try and escape from her bonds while also trying to slither away.

  I admire her for a moment but the way she moves triggers something In me, I get up and just as I try and walk forward I stagger and fall to one knee. My vision like earlier that day goes blurry and a white sheet covers my mind. It takes a moment but I find tiny specs of red litter all through it. I focus on one and it releases a stimulating feeling, drawing me in deeper into it.

  I quickly snap out of it and reel back, its nothing like the red from before... and looking deeper at it I realize its pink. I consider basking in the feeling again but ultimately I focus on the white to clear my mind again.

  I look over and find her struggling to use a tree to try and stand, hope burns in her eyes for a moment but extinguishes itself when she realizes that I'm looking at her again.

  ”No need to run, I'm not going to hurt you I only tied you up for your own good. Wait no, please stop. Hey, voice! Are you completely certain it worked, I'm not sure that she understands me?”

  ~”Well, you did just get the language, try practicing with it more.”

  Grabbing her by the bonds around her ankles I try to calm her down more. After a minute she still refuses to listen and continually squirms in my arms finally I use my weight on her and look her dead in the face and say.

  (Nameless)”Look If you would stop struggling for one second I can cut these vines, if you want to run away after that fine by me, but do know that that little pile of fruit over there next to the fire so please stop struggling, ok?”

  ”... ok”

  Finally, I tear the vines apart with the knife I found earlier and by the time I stick some fruit in her hands she has calmed down enough to talk.

  ”Why… did you do this for a deldealos?”

  ”I did it cause you were hurt and needed healing, plain and simple. Though whats a deldealos?”

  ”Its what you humans call my kind, and you have to have a reason. Everyone would want something from me after saving my life.”

  ”I don't really have a reason just did it on a whim, deldealos… arent you called Dark Elves?”

  Biting into another of the fruit she gulps it down ravenously after wiping the juice from her face she looks glaringly at me and says, ”Once a long time ago before humans changed it. It still is in our native tongue… those few who know the tongue anymore. Besides that, you must have a demand or such, humans always do. No matter saving another not your own is still strange.”

  Turning back to her fruit I simply sigh and think it over for a minute... what should I say? I really wish I understood how she thought… any help there Voice?”

  ”Nope, not even if you held the ability and power to get into her mind unless you have tons of equipment lying around to translate what her brain says into something that can be understood in yours its a pointless endeavor. What you need most right now is wisdom… or specific knowledge.”

  ”If you want a reason so badly then… knowledge? I don't know much about things . Just look at my clothing, I've lived in this forest my entire existence and consider everything you've shown me. Clothing, tools, and an entire world that I have yet to contact.”

  While beginning to munch through the latter half of the fruit she stares at me in the face for a moment before finally sighing in resignation.

  ”I… can't do that anymore, everything I once knew is gone now. Even the princess is possibly long gone at this point. But I still have to try something.”

  Remembering her cause she stands up and starts walking over to her equipment lying on the ground but stumbles halfway through and is unable to catch herself falling face first into the dirt.

  ”You aren't going anywhere with injuries like that, even if their not on the surface anymore your body still has to heal.”

  Walking over to her I help her back to the fire and using water magic I clean the dirt that used the sticky fruit juice to stay on her face.

  ~Surprised she rubs her face with her hands and says more to herself than me, “Was that magic? No, you didn't have any chant but… I don't understand how did you do that?”

  ”You mean this?”

  Closing my eyes I summon a medium sized glob of water and making all sorts of strange shapes and patterns. It becomes quite the mesmerizing performance with the way the moonlight reflects through the water. Glancing at her eyes I see them sparkle with curiosity and awe when I finish, though she quickly hid it away when facing me again.

  ”Yes, how are you doing that? It's not very strong but your not using any chants to control it.”

  Juggling some water in my hands I just shrug, “It comes naturally to me like I said I've lived in this forest for a long time and have never been taught anything like chants.”

  Returning to the original question she tries once more to head over and grab her weapons, but as she stands up I grab her arm and pull her back down.

  ”Look at yourself before you die by tripping and breaking your skull on a rock. Your body is extremely exhausted, those injuries don't just disappear into nothing. Its taken a toll on you so for or now, forget about your ‘princess’ as your involvement will do more harm than good at this point. Just think about it… for now, I'm going to sleep. Looking after you was quite a task and I'm quite tired now.”

  With that said I lay down enjoying the last of the fire's warmth, eventually I hear her let out a sigh and lay down. Eventually, as if to comfort herself she hums a soft tune to lull herself to sleep, I listen in and slowly drift into a nice slumber.