Heart of Demise.

[CH. 20]

A thud. A thud. A thud. And a swoosh.

I didn't know how else to say it; those were the sole sounds I heard over and over. Their unaccompanied presence made them more grating to my ears.

My throat was coarse, my head was aching, and my eyes struggled to stay open. From all of these factors, I felt like I could die. I felt like I was dying.

But I couldn't do that. That would be, wrong, among other things. Still, that didn't mean I wasn't gonna relax. That felt wrong too but, hey, I just couldn't take much anymore.

Thank God Rupert had more strength than I, because he was bouncing and running through logs and tight gaps like nothing.  The mold population was getting nothing but denser. He was definitely going the right way. I just hoped he was going the best way.

"Gah, the air here reeks."

Even when I'm half-dead, I still had enough energy to complain. Maybe that's what's keeping me awake, now that I think about it–

"--GAAAAHHH!"

My eyes opened wide, and I was flung off the deer. I landed on the ground, rolled for a bit, spat out of my mouth, and rubbed my head.

"The heck... Rupert, tell me before you stop like that..."

The deer walked up to me and sniffed my hair.

"I don't know what that means, but I'm getting up, alright?"

Doing as I said, I pulled my body up and wiped some dirt off my clothes.

Now that I think about it, why do I still wear these things? They're covered in slobber from all sorts of creatures, and they only get more and more torn–

**CRUNCH**

"G-GAH! What was that for!?"

I held my swollen hand in the other and a dry tear came out of my eye. Rupert kept pointing his snout in some direction behind me.

"...Oh, right."

I got distracted. How did that happen?

"...Lewis? What are you doing here?"

"Ah, sorry, if I woke you up. But I uh, need your help."

"...What?"

"Alright, let me just, explain it or something..."

–

–

–

I wasn't talking as fast as I'd like to. My gestures probably made no sense, and I was hanging on some words far too often. I doubt Kyrelle could keep up with what I was saying, but I wasn't going to repeat myself.

All I knew was that she was making strained faces, had wide eyes, and bit her lips a few times. I was doing a good job making this seem like a big deal. And when I finished, I asked her--

"So... are you up for it?"

"..."

"Well?"

She turned her head away from me.

"This is so... sudden."

"I know. I'm sorry, about that. But, I really need your help, please?"

She cringed a bit. I... wasn't sure what was going on with her, to be honest.

"Lewis... you do know why I'm like this, right?"

"What? Your weird attitude? I dunno, why are you asking me?"