Pain. Hot, searing pain. Ripping away at her body, tearing away at her flesh with its bare teeth. There was a scream. Such a scream that its echoes rippled through the newly deserted village.
Then nothing.
Silence
As if nothing had ever happened.
T...
Rất tiếc! Hình ảnh này không tuân theo hướng dẫn nội dung. Để tiếp tục đăng tải, vui lòng xóa hoặc tải lên một hình ảnh khác.
┏━━━━━━༻⚜༺━━━━━━┓
Zoey had shown Ariella around the entire village, including introducing the forest-eyed girl to almost everyone. She had been right in saying it was a small village, but it paved the way for a tightly-knit community who all cared about one another. Even her. It surprised her. They were all so welcoming. They didn't know her, nor her story. Some didn't even know how she'd ended up in their village. But she was always greeted with warm smiles and sometimes even a hug or two.
After showering her around and dropping her off at her new home (Aphmau was right, you really couldn't miss Nona's house), Zoey had left, claiming that she needed to babysit for Lord Aphmau, but with a promise to return later in the day to see how she was getting along.
As she wandered her new home, she teared up a little at what she saw (and then cursed herself for being such a crybaby today. What was that? Three times now?). Zoey had explained when they finally reached her house that she had quietly told the villagers of her living situation. That she had come to them with nothing but the clothes she wore and the book in her satchel. And while the blonde had kept Ariella distracted at the docks, they had all banded together to provide her with any basic necessities they could part with.
Her kitchen cupboards were stocked with enough food to keep her fed for a few days until she was able to get on her feet. There was a bed in the room upstairs, complete with plain white sheets that were stuffed with feathers, and even a wardrobe in the corner of her bedroom that contained a few basic clothes, so she could at least change out of her chest wrap and hose.
Ariella took a quick look at herself and decided the best course of action would be to bathe before changing into clean clothes. She hadn't technically bathed in five years. She gagged at the thought. Sure, there were ways around it, but since water evaporated within seconds in the Nether, having a proper wash wasn't something she'd been able to do in a long time.
Stripping herself of her grimy and sweaty clothes, she headed down to the basement of her house to where the tub was. She pumped out enough water to roughly fill it and stepped in. The cold water nipped roughly as her skin, but it felt like utter bliss in comparison to the sweltering heat of the Nether. Almost immediately, the dirt and grime began lifting off of her skin. And the more she scrubbed, the cleaner she felt.
She leant over the side of the tub to pull up a bottle that Zoey had provided - a concoction of her own making to use for her hair. As she massaged it into the limp strands, the thick liquid foamed up around her hands, and the sweet scent of almonds filled her nostrils. She pulled her hands away and giggled like a child as she watched the bubbles drip from her fingertips. She wondered if she could finally begin to grow her hair out. She'd wanted to for so long, but it was just more practical to keep it short in the Nether. It fit under her helm; it was easier to maintain; it didn't get in her face while training. At first, she had cut it herself but had to allow Sasha to take over when Ariella had been prohibited from using weapons (it took a lot of courage at first to let Sasha so close to her neck with scissors).
