Vivien and the Scoria

Chapter 11: Unexpected Alliances

1st day hour

Twister's shop

Aernir City Centre

4th Year of Lord Tante's rule

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I groaned.

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"Shut up..." I muttered, feeling fuzzy all over, and not wanting to wake from the pleasant, pain-free haze that I was currently firmly embedded in.

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I flung out my right hand haphazardly, knocking into something squishy yet solid. That caused someone else to groan in pain, and was just loud enough to rouse me completely from my dream-like haze state.

My eyes peeled open with a mountain of effort, feeling like they had been glued together. I began to regain feeling in all other parts of my body, from my head to my toes, and drew in a sharp breath as I took notice of the stabbing pain that radiated from my abdomen. I initially squinted at the bright morning sun that was streaming in through a window above my head, but soon adjusted to the light.

Above my head, a ceiling of polished wooden panels stretched in a straight line towards a wall to my left, in which the window was situated. The ceiling also stretched further out to the right, beyond my immediate line of sight from my current position. Speaking of my current position, as far as I could tell, I was lying on a bed of some kind, which was pushed up against the aforementioned wall. I slowly tilted my head to the right to take a look at the rest of the room, and discovered Blaze, curled almost in half, clutching his nether regions.

Well, that explained what I had hit earlier, at least.

Beyond Blaze, the rest of the room in which I was laying was plain and simple. The wood panel ceiling covered the whole room without ornamentation. A single lamp hung from it in the middle of the room, to provide a source of light at night. The walls were also unadorned, and the only furniture in the room was a darkly stained wooden standing cupboard resting against one wall, a small table directly beside the bed that I was lying on, and a single rug spread out across the floor, red and gold patterned with a single red rose depicted in the centre.

I cleared my throat huskily, and uttered, "Morning. Mind explaining where the fuck I am?" Blaze's head rose from where it had been turned towards the floor, and he grinned in pain at me.

"Was it really necessary to hit me there?" He ground out between clenched teeth, completely avoiding answering my question. I grinned lightly back at him, unapologetic, and then tried to rise from the bed up onto my elbows. My stomach howled in protestation and pain at the movement, forcing me to drop immediately back down. Blaze rushed towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder, forcing me back onto the bed.

"You're not allowed to move yet, Vivien! You'll rip your stitches out if you're not careful." I grunted in pain at his words, eyes closed again as I tried to block out the fiery sensation that blossomed all over my stomach. Distantly, through the pain, I heard the door to the room open and close, but paid it no heed. Someone placed a hand on my head, and then lifted the sheets off my body to examine what I assumed to be the stitches Blaze had mentioned.

"Everything looks alright at this point. Vivien, please don't try getting up again so quickly. Let one of us help you." A very familiar voice told me as the sheets were returned to cover my stomach.