Then, I heard it. Clear as crystal.
"Can you understand me now?"
I looked around in utter confusion, a wild thought racing through my mind.
Did I just hallucinate someone speaking English? Am I finally losing it and becoming schizophrenic?
I vigorously rubbed my ears, trying to clear out any dust. Yet, the voice came again, cutting through the silence.
"Hello? Can you understand me now?"
It was coming from the girl. Without even realizing what I was doing, I grabbed her by the shoulders.
"You... you are speaking English!" I stammered, my voice shaking with a sudden, overwhelming surge of excitement.
"You can understand me now, right?" I pressed on, but she didn't reply. She just stared up at me, completely bewildered.
"What?" she muttered, looking at my face.
By now, hot tears were freely flowing down my cheeks.
Finally... I can actually talk to someone. Someone can finally understand me, I thought, a massive weight lifting from my chest.
Then, she spoke again, shattering every single piece of hope I had just built up. "I'm sorry, but I can't understand a word you're saying."
"Ar... Are you sure?" I whispered, desperately clinging to the absolute last shred of hope left inside me.
"I really don't understand what you're saying," she said softly. Slowly, gently, she pried my trembling hands off her shoulders, but instead of letting go, she held them in her own.
"Though, it seems like you can understand me, can't you?" she continued, looking directly into my eyes.
I nodded slowly, a bitter weight sinking into my stomach. I had to accept the harsh reality: no one was ever going to understand me in this world unless I spent months learning a brand-new language from scratch.
Seeing my slow, defeated nod, she must have realized that my spirit was entirely crushed.
"You don't need to worry," she said, stepping a fraction closer to me. "I promise you, I will figure out a way to decipher your language."
Slowly, she let go of my hands and opened her arms, pulling me into a hug.
Normally, I would have been far too suspicious. My guard would have been up, and I would have stayed alert. But for some reason, I didn't stop her. Maybe it was because I had been completely, mentally alone for the past week, with nothing but my own voice keeping me company. Maybe I just desperately needed comfort after my hopes had been so brutally crushed. Or maybe, being held after experiencing something so mind-shatteringly massive was just something I had never known before.
So, I let her.
RUSTLE
As she wrapped her arms around me, bringing her head close to my shoulder, her scent washed over me. Beneath the heavy, metallic tang of blood, sweat, and dried mud... I smelled peace. My racing mind finally grew quiet.
She rested her head against my shoulder and whispered, "I will do anything for you."
Before my brain could even process the weight of her words, my arms acted on instinct, wrapping around her and pulling her in tightly. A bit too tightly, as it turned out, causing her to let out a soft, sharp gasp.
"Ahh..."
Realizing what had happened, she quickly lifted her head from my shoulder, pulling back until her face was only a few inches from mine.
"Tha... That was because of my... uh, back pain. Yeah," she stammered, her cheeks flushing as she tried to cover up her embarrassment. Before I could even attempt to speak, she rushed along. "I've had terrible back pain for the last few weeks. It got way worse after my en... slave... ment."
Her mood suddenly shifted, her eyes darting around as reality caught up to her. She was likely realizing that this taste of freedom might only last a few minutes, and that the slavers could already be hunting for them.
I opened my mouth to tell her no—to explain that she was completely safe and that the slavers were gone.
But she interrupted me, her voice climbing with a frantic, shaking excitement. "Though we don't have to worry about that! Now that we're free, we can just run away. Maybe we can start a farm life, just the two of us, forev—"
She stopped mid-word. She noticed I was shaking my head.
"What do you mean... no?" her voice dropped, turning brittle. "You don't want to run away? You want to stay with the slavers? Don't tell me you joined them! You can't do this!"
The questions poured out of her in a panicked rush. She wasn't even pausing to take a breath, and her face was turning dangerously red as her entire body began to visibly tremble.
Acting quickly, I placed my hands on her cheeks, trying to ground her. I looked into her eyes and took deep, exaggerated breaths, mimicking a slow rhythm for her to follow.
"So... Sorry," she whispered, her breathing gradually slowing down. She didn't pull away from my touch. "Seems like I talked way too much without even hearing you out."
As she finally calmed down, I began to draw my hands back, but she instantly stopped me. Reaching up, she caught my hand and firmly pressed it back against her cheek.
"Sorry... but can you leave it like this? Your hand... it brings me calmness," she murmured, her eyes fluttering shut as she melted into the feeling.
No, I replied by gently shaking my head.
Seeing the immediate flash of sadness on her face, I compromised, only taking my right hand back. I twisted my body slightly to the side, creating just enough space between us so I could explain things by drawing on the dirt—just like I had done with the little girl before.
"Thanks," she murmured, placing both of her hands over the one I left on her cheek.
I hadn't even realized her eyes were completely closed.
With my free hand, I began sketching in the dirt, trying to map out a clear explanation showing that all four slavers were completely dead. After a few minutes of careful scratching against the dirt, I was finally finished. I looked over, noticed her eyes were still tightly shut, and loudly snapped my fingers right by her ear.
She jolted awake with a start.
Did she seriously just fall asleep? I thought, amused.
"I... Uh, what happened?" she blinked sleepily, shaking her head. "I saw you doodling on the ground and thought you were writing a summoning circle or something. So, what are you summoning?"
She finally let go of my hand, leaning forward to inspect my crude artwork.
Does this girl really think I can just summon monsters out of thin air? I thought to myself. If I could do that, I would've been out of those chains days ago!
But then a thought struck me. Wait... summons? Does that mean there are actual character classes in this world? Like a Summoner? If that's a thing, is there a chance someone can be a Necromancer? A Paladin? A Succu—wait, stop. I'm wasting time.
"That doesn't look like any magical pact I know," she said, looking back up at me, thoroughly confused. "So, what does this summon?"
"No," I said, shaking my head. I reached down and pointed directly at my drawing of a stick figure trapped inside a cage, and then pointed straight at her.
"Me?" she asked.
"Yes." I nodded vigorously.
Next, I pointed to the other four stick figures drawn further away, making a slashing motion across them to explain that the other slavers were dead—that I had killed them.
"Are you trying to say... you killed all four of them?" she asked, her eyes widening as she tried, and failed, to mask her sheer shock.
When she saw me nod, she pushed herself up to her feet. Following her lead, I stood up slowly. A sudden prickle of anxiety hit me; I imagined that she might be absolutely terrified of me now, or that she might lash out in fear. Instinctively, I braced my weight on my back leg, sliding my foot outward just in case I had to jump backward out of range.
Yet, instead of reacting with fear or feeling threatened, she threw herself forward, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck and practically jumping onto me in pure, unadulterated excitement.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she cried out over and over.
But on her third ecstatic leap, her weight shifted, squeezing directly against my fractured, recovering ribs.
CRACK
The sudden, blinding agony shot straight through my chest.
"Ahh, FUCK!" I screamed.