N'Jobu felt in a particularly bad mood.
He wasn't sure which upset him most… the sudden brawl between those gigantic junjus, which lead to the attack from a hoard of other junjus, and the loss of their only means of transportation, the fact he was completely useless during said attack, or that he, and the rest of them were now stranded on a tower with no way to escape.
He raised his eyes to the sky—there was no sky, only the cold emptiness that was this strange fog. The thing was so dense that no light from above could filter through. At least it was possible to tell whether it was day or night by how bright the surrounding fog was.
This was such a shame. Here he was, exploring a lost city from the Nchāren civilization, but he couldn't see shit.
What kind of nasty joke was that?!
N'jobu walked over the edge and peeked below. The fog was too thick to see anything beyond it. The waters had been restless earlier, violently crashing back and forth against this structure. At times, he would hear noises—roars and shockwaves of a battle far away.
He wondered, would that guy manage to climb here?
The warrior, Ike, had been so confident when he casually stated he would kill those two massive junjus. And N'jobu had believed him when he said that. The warrior was strong—overwhelmingly so. It was impossible not to notice. The guy never seemed threatened by anything—even earlier, when we were attacked, he did not seem the least bit bothered, even when unstable ground is the last place any other warrior would want to find himself on.
"It's getting cold; we should cover her up."
He glanced over, noticing Sazayi rummaging through a bag, searching for sheets inside. Kayin and Ewa were bent down over the lying figure of the Nchāren woman, Vyswe'eyaga. She was unconscious, her breathing laboured, and she was sweating profusely. Her complexion had also turned alarmingly paler.
When she first collapsed, he figured it was due to the intense fatigue from depleting so much of her essence. But as the night advanced, her condition had steadily worsened. She started shivering uncontrollably and developed a high fever.
It is then, that he, and all the others, realized that something was terribly wrong. Had she pushed herself that hard?
She had been continuously suppressing the presence of seven people for eight days and nights, even if the task was not as demanding as she claimed it to be, it remained no less impressive. No artifact N'jobu knew of could do what she had done so effectively, nor any sorcerer as well… although he had never heard of anyone with an ability like hers.
Vyswe'eyaga… When he had learned of her heritage, he remembered feeling so very disappointed. She had come as a very shy and awkward person when he initially met her, then when he went on and travelled with her, he discovered that she was also very dull. Her personality being quiet and reserved, was also very underwhelming.
He was even more disappointed when he learned of the duty she was given. One would expect someone driven and strong-willed as the one chosen to face a fate such as hers, yet there she was, a foolish and meek woman. She failed to embody the incredible legacy of her people. Or… as a nation that had never known war or hardships, were the people of the great Nchāren empire all as underwhelming?
But he had been wrong to judge her so quickly, because she was actually very skilled and dependable.
To be able to protect everyone from that giant wave… then from the junju in the water, all that while being severely exhausted… She was incredible.
"This is soaked," N'jobu turned to see Sazayi standing next to him, a blanket extended to him. "Can you dry it, please?"
N'jobu stared at it for a second, his fingers twitching, and as he raised his finger to the blanket, a single thought took over his mind.
Don't burn it. Don't burn it. Do notburn it.'
The moment his finger left the blanket, it turned from soggy wet to cosily warm. He sighed. "How is she doing?"
Sazayi made a complicated expression. "Not well. She has been given medicines, but they don't seem to work, the fever won't go down. Ewa thinks she may have caught a bad cold from staying in cold water for long, while Kayin just hopes it is not some… arcane illness."
An arcane illness? True. If it were some weird, mystical illness—or a never-before-known Nchāren illness—the situation would become much more dire, and Vyswe'eyaga's life might really be at risk.
The pair turned their gazes at Vyswe'eyaga.
The sight of Kayin's and the warrior woman—Ewa's—worried faces as they tended to her strangely reminded N'jobu of two parents fussing over a sick child.
"We will have to wait till morning to see how it turns out," N'jobu says.
"Hopefully, she will get better by then."
~~~~~~~~~~~
I blink awake, sluggish and disoriented, my body heavy with exhaustion. Though I may have passed out and slept through the night, I feel anything but rested.
A dull ache pulses in my head. I still feel that pain in the back of my eyes, my whole body is sore, and I can't stop trembling despite my body feeling as hot as an oven.
"Vyvy, are you awake?"
I raise my eyes, just realizing that my head is resting on Ewa's lap. She gently pats my hair. "How do you feel?"
"Everything hurts," I grunt, "It feels as if someone has battered me to the core of my life."
She smiles wistfully. "You sure know how to scare people; I'll give you that."
"Vyswe'eyaga!" Soon, Kayin comes into view. He has dark circles under his eyes, and he looks paler than he already is. "You are awake! H-how are you? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
"Eh, let's just say I have seen better days."
I attempt to get up, but Ewa pushes me back down promptly. "Don't even think about it, you're still sick."
"It was just a fever," I say, though I do not resist. "And the extreme exhaustion is just a drawback of abusing so much of my essence."
"You can talk," Kayin says, "You were not the one to stay up all night while you were burning up."
"You stayed up all night?" I ask after a moment, looking at Ewa and Kayin.
Ewa shrugs.
"I feared you were dying, or something," Kayin says awkwardly.
A long silence follows his words. For some reason, I feel strangely emotional. I was vaguely aware that they had been there at some point, but I did not expect they had both been nursing me all night long.
"Thank you." I finally say.
Kayin smiles, "Don't mention it."
Ewa clears her throat. "Alright now—you should eat."
Soon, we are all seated in a circle on the research centre's rooftop. Gamba, Azikiwe, Sazayi, and N'jobu all inquired about my health. Apparently, no one had truly slept last night, they had all stayed awake to keep an eye on me. Knowing that made the warm feeling in my chest swell.
I also noticed that Ike was nowhere to be found, according to the others, he had not been since we last left him. It worried me, but I tried not to make the worse of assumptions. He is strong, and certainly not helpless.
We eat in relative silence. I did not have much of an appetite, but Ewa threatened to feed me herself if I did not finish my food. It is such a shame that all the nice dishes Ike made are all finish and only the dried and smoke ones remain. I think I would have been much more enthusiastic if it had been otherwise.
"You should rest some more, Vyvy," Ewa says after we are done eating. Her tone unusually serious.
"But—"
"—No 'buts."
"You should rest, Vyswe'eyaga. Your fever was reasonably bad last night; you are certainly not healthy enough to be up and about." I look at Sazayi.
"Still, I… I can't be doing nothing."
"You won't be of much help when you can barely stand on your feet," Gamba says as he collects my plate. "And you did more than enough already. Just focus on getting better now."
I don't "…What would you be doing then?"
"There is not much to do," Azikiwe answers. "We are stranded." For the time being, we will be on the lookout for junjus while waiting for that guy to return—if he ever does—then we will have to figure out how to move on now that the canoe was destroyed."
Ewa has already made a makeshift bed for me to lie on.
"Oh, I can open the entrance to the research centre's roof. If its arrays are still working, then the inside should not be flooded."
"That's good to know," Ewa says, covering me with a blanket. "We'll deal with that later."