—2 years ago. 28 ATA, May 19th. Sowhere near the eastern shore of North-Arica—
Sera's head felt like exploding. She couldn't even open her eyes, and even the darkness in her vision felt too bright. Her entire body felt awful, too, exhaustion evident in her barely moveable limbs.
After spending an eternity in pain, it eventually beca bearable. She couldn't move her body yet, but for now, she accepted the peace of not being in constant agony.
Gradually, her senses began returning one-by-one. First, her sense of sll, which picked up an abundance of different pleasant and horrid aromas.
The breezy air was full of the sll of pine, while she also perceived the sll of fire mixed with freshly cooked at. However, from further away, her nose picked up the sll of blood and excrent.
The putrid, disgusting sll couldn't have belonged to any human… It was definitely so dead monster!
Next ca her sense of hearing, which picked up the sound of faraway fighting. A bit of worry rose in Sera's heart. She couldn't possibly fight in her current weakened state!
Her concern, though, soon lessened. The fighting stopped after a few minutes, and soon the sound of confident footsteps arrived next to her.
"Damn, she's still asleep… Wonder how long she'll need to sleep to recover…"
The female voice mumbled to herself. Sera recognized it imdiately. It was Faith, her loyal Shadow!
With a bit of struggle, Sera managed to force her mouth open, then she tried to speak…
"I'm already awake, fool!" She said with her weak throat, then instantly began coughing. Her mouth felt drier than a desert.
Whatever Faith was holding, it fell to the ground, as the dark-eyed woman glanced at the Angel, frozen in shock. Tears welled in her eyes as she collapsed next to her Goddess!
"My Lady! I was so worried about you! You haven't shown any signs of consciousness… I thought you would never wake up… I was so worried…"
Faith's voice slowly devolved into relieved sobs. Her shaking hands gently held Sera's own.
The angelic woman concentrated all her willpower and gave a small, reassuring squeeze to Faith's trembling hands.
The Shadow, realizing what she's doing, blushed heavily, and slowly placed Sera's hand back on the ground, like it was so holy object.
"Wa-ter… Water… Please…"
Sera barely managed to push out the words before she broke into another coughing fit. When she could breathe again, Faith moved quickly and soon she felt a tal flask near her mouth.
Water gently trickled from the opening and down the angelic woman's throat. It felt like the best drink for Sera's parched lips. Her body slowly reinvigorated, and soon she began gulping down every droplet within the flask!
Afterward, she took a deep satisfied breath, and tried opening her eyes. Her eyelids flickered open, but her vision hadn't gotten any better. Everywhere she looked, darkness surrounded her!
"Fuck , don't tell I beca blind! I can't see shit!"
Sowhere nearby, Faith coughed awkwardly. She then giggled to herself, clearly embarrassed about sothing…
"Sorry, that's actually . You've been lying here for a long ti, so I raised a barrier of shadows surrounding us for a few kiloters in every direction. If anything enters, I imdiately notice and can attack or take you away swiftly!"
Slowly, the surrounding darkness brightened as Faith carved out the barrier's core. The shadows stayed further away, letting a few dozen ters brighten by the campfire.
Sera's golden-green eyes glanced around, still lying on her back. Her vision stayed mostly blurry, but everything cleared gradually.
Their campsite looked miserable. Faith had skinned so monster and used its fur as a makeshift bed. The only light source was a single small campfire, which slowly drowned under the falling grease from the at cooking above it.
Nearby the trunks of trees stretched widely. Each trunk stretched close to ten ters in diater, which ant their actual height must've been gigantic.
The sound of insect buzzing echoed around the campsite, and Sera spotted a few large moths flying around the campfire.
"Well, this place looks like shit… Also, where's this disgusting sll coming from?"
Faith looked a bit surprised by her Lady's question. She shadowy woman glanced around, her senses moving through the darkness nearby.
There were corpses all around the campsite. However, Faith's confusion stemd from Sera's inability to see them.
"Uh, my Lady? Can't you see through the darkness? There are monster corpses all around us, hundreds of them!"
Sera looked confused for a mont, then she reached out her hand and tried summoning light. However, imdiately after consuming essence, the strong headache reappeared.
"I guess I need a bit more ti before using my abilities again… Anyway, is the at done cooking? I'm famished!"
Faith's eyes still looked concerned, but a small smile appeared upon hearing her Lady's request.
"I thought Transcended can survive without eating." She said, while reaching down and plucking a large piece of monster thigh at.
The angelic woman slowly sat up cross-legged and reached out as Faith handed her the at.
"Neither of us have need to eat. However, I'm hungry, so I don't give a fuck!"
With that, Sera turned her glistening, starving eyes to the juicy at. She opened her mouth and bit away a large piece, barely chewing it.
The at was scolding hot, but for a hungry Transcended it was perfect temperature. Sera breathed out steam as her saliva boiled.
Her eyes seed like golden stars, as desire shined in them. Without taking a break, she ate the entire at, then another one, then the next…
After devouring about fifteen kilograms worth of at, she finally felt full!
"Faith, that was amazing! You're the best cook ever!"
The shadowy woman just raised a confused eyebrow while munching on her single piece of food.
"I literally just cut it off a monster and placed it atop the flas. I didn't even have salt or spices to use on the at!"
Sera just leaned back against the tree and shrugged with a content smile.
"Well, the at still tasted good, so whatever you did, good job!"
Faith just sighed while shaking her head, suppressing her laughter. Slowly, she also ate her al.
In the anti, Sera, with the help of the nearby tree, climbed to her wobbly feet. She stood there proudly for a few monts before her legs finally gave out.
The Angel yelped in surprise, but just before she would hit the ground, the shadows nearby caught her wings and body. They gently placed her back on the monster's fur, where the divine woman cursed under her breath.
"Fuck, it seems like walking isn't an option yet… Uh, dammit, the stupid headache ca back…"
She rubbed her forehead with an annoyed, pained expression, while taking deep calming breaths.
"A brief word of advice for you, Faith! If you ever feel like Evolving, don't do it while you're dead!… The backlash is fucking awful!"
This ti, she couldn't hold in her laughter anymore. The dark-eyed woman burst out suddenly, and Sera's own chuckle soon mixed with hers.
They both laughed for a few minutes, then fell into silence. The only noise surrounding them was the dying fire's last few crackles and the insects' gentle buzzing.
"Faith, how long was I asleep, exactly, and what happened during that ti? I rember arriving to North-Arica through Vicky's portal. Then I just felt really tired and fell asleep… Did anything important happen?"
Faith leaned back against the sa tree's trunk a few ters away. Her dark eyes staring above, through the extensive foliage and shadows, at the night sky.
"You were asleep for about a week. I've been defending you all this ti, killing every monster I could. However, I also ran across a few strong foes, whom I couldn't defeat easily. I moved you lots of tis whenever your safety beca precarious."
Sera nodded, while staring at Faith's side profile with thankful eyes. The shadowy woman glanced to the side, into her golden-green eyes, and smiled affectionately, but also full of respect and reverence.
"One week huh?… Then I guess you had so ti to look around while rescuing … What is your initial reconnaissance about North-Arica?"
The smile disappeared from Faith's face, like it never existed. Her mouth turned into a thin line, while her eyes beca firm and serious.
"The state of this continent is much worse than anything we hoped for. For comparison, Europe feels like a paradise to this hell! In just one week, I had to kill close to a thousand monsters, if not more!"
Sera's eyes went wide with surprise. Slowly, she was regaining control over her essence, so her passive Angel Sight activated again! She finally could see through Faith's shadows!
Around their campsite, the gigantic trees stretched far and wide. However, that wasn't too surprising, even though Sera didn't expect to see such enormous trees.
What truly shocked Sera was the amount of dead monster corpses all around them. Because of the trees blocking her vision, Sera couldn't see far, but even then, she counted about two dozen corpses!
"Don't worry. I killed these before setting up the campsite! You were safely tucked away in my shadows the entire ti!"
Slowly, a wide grin spread across Sera's face. She took a deep breath of the gore filled air, and chuckled to herself.
Her eyes moved to Faith's curious and a bit worried expression. The Angel just winked at her shadow, and said, "This place might be hell, but it's perfect for its intended purpose. It has lots of monsters that need killing… Just what I need!"
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