Day: 970
Days Left: 4510
Lives Saved: 5
The next day, two missions were enacted; one was collecting water from the Raining Marshes and the other to locate the Land of the Lost. Though no one could die in the Eternal Abyss, it was still unwise to drink rainwater, and thus they needed supplies from the Land of the Lost to filter the water and ensure that it was safe to drink. They didn't want to spread the group too thin or leave all of the non-combatants by themselves; they ensured that all three groups were equal in strength and the members' abilities and skillsets were appropriate for the task.
Lili was leading the scouting mission for the sector's Land of the Lost, accompanied by Rin, Kai, and Sumit. Meanwhile, the team tasked with collecting water from the Raining Marshes consisted of Corinna, Dex, Calanthe, and two of the seven imps; the rest remained at the camp alongside Ivette, Calixte, Oscar, and Princess Alfreda.
This was the first time Corinna had ventured on a mission in over three quarters of a year. Due to her lack of hands, Corinna had felt that she was being a liability to everyone else, unable to do the one thing that she was valued for in the group; her ability to build and fix things, but now she had to entrust the others in her construction projects through crude scribblings on her whiteboard. The delegation always caused a pang of guilt in Corinna's stomach. She had hoped that her new mask would grant her hands to build, but unfortunately, the form she changed into could not carry anything, nor was it particularly stealthy. It was the opposite of useful unless, of course, it was in a combat situation.
Corinna had only decided to join this mission in particular as she wanted to scope out the Raining Marshes herself and work out where she could safely leave any rain collectors out. However, carrying the water back to camp was perhaps outside of her current abilities. That was until she thought of crafting something to help her carry the buckets without the aid of hands. She had found a decent sized and sturdy stick and hung two buckets on either end with the rope she had sacrificed from her tent, which she would put back at the end of the night. This way, even without hands, Corinna could be helpful to the rest of the group. And when they located this sector's Land of the Lost, Corinna could make more of these carrying devices.
"Are you sure you want to do all of the carrying, Corinna?" Calanthe asked as they trudged through the winding labyrinth of trees, her voice high-pitched in politeness and caution to not offend.
Corinna nodded, then pointed her stubbed hand at herself and the buckets. She afterwards motioned to Calanthe and Dex and pretended to shadow box.
Calanthe laughed softly. "You carry the water, and we'll protect you from any monsters. Hopefully, it won't come to that, though."
The two imps flexed their non-existent muscles and growled their teeth.
Corinna giggled; no sound escaped, but there was still a broad smile on her lips and the uncontrollable jerking of her shoulders.
As they all continued to trek further, the trees grew more sparse and shorter, no longer towering giants of radioactive green but dulled and almost the average human height.
Eventually, they reached the divide between the forest and the Raining Marshes, a distinct line where there were trees and bushes on one side and on the other muddy marshlands where it perpetually rained. Though the group were kitted out in their waterproofs and umbrellas, there was still much hesitation in breaching the rain. Finally, one of the imps cautiously reached a hand out, letting the rain fall on its palm.
"I don't think we need to go to the other side," said Calanthe. "We can just stay here and put the buckets down. There's no need for us to get drenched-"
But it was too late as the two imps charged into the downpour, giggling, screaming, and spinning around in the rain, mouths open to catch all of the drops.
"Children, please." Calanthe raised her voice slightly, though she struggled to portray any semblance of strictness or authority. "You might catch a cold, and your clothes will-"
Corinna and Dex also rushed into the rain, joining the imps in spinning and laughing, occasionally falling over from the muddy and wet grass, whilst Calanthe looked on in disappointment and mild disgust.
"Come on, Calanthe!" Dex called out, his voice almost drowned out by the downpour. "Join us!"
Calanthe shook her head, stepping away from the rain. "I spent all morning on this new hairdo. I am not going to ruin it!"
After much objection and hesitation, Calanthe eventually gave into peer pressure after seeing how much fun the others had. She donned her mask and transformed into the minotaur, towering above the others in her hulking muscular form, then stepped over to the other side. "It's so cold," she whimpered, shivering as the rain gently pelted down. She looked to Corinna, displaying her unhappiness at the situation, but Corinna's innocent and gleeful smile melted Calanthe's grumpiness away, and they both laughed, splashing one another.
Whilst they waited for the buckets to fill up with water slowly, Corinna wandered around the Raining Marshes, though not straying too far away from the others. With every step further away from the forest, deeper into the perpetually raining biome, the ground was softer, her feet almost sinking into the mud. If they weren't in the Eternal Abyss, this place would undoubtedly be flooded entirely; however, the Abyss kept the grass and the ground from breaking and deteriorating from the constant water damage.
As Corinna trekked further, she noticed several pools of water, likely where there used to be ditches and low levels of earth that were now filled up from the rain.
She glanced back at the others, wondering if she should keep adventuring from her insatiable curiosity. Calanthe had long ago escaped the rain and sat on the other side of the border where it was dry, resting against a tree as she occasionally checked the water level in the buckets impatiently. Meanwhile, Dex kept the two imps occupied with games before telling them to get out of the rain when one of them started to sniffle from the cold.
I'm not too far away, Corinna thought, then found her fear silly. Long ago, she would venture out into the Abyss with no mask all by herself, no protection, and sometimes no weapon. But now, every step she took that led further away from everyone else was frightening.
Stop being so afraid. You're not that far away from them if you need help.
And then that vulnerable feeling emerged even more present than ever. She was not entirely powerless. She had a mask that would allow her to fight or run away should the occasion arise, yet that prospect scared her far more than any time before when she was on the constant lookout for danger.
Corinna sucked in a low breath and glanced down at her arms, where her hands used to be.
I can still do things; I'm not helpless.
Plenty of bilateral amputees has gotten through the days without hands. I am fortunate enough that mine will grow back down here in the Abyss...
When...
When will they grow back?
I want my hands back.
I want them.
I need them-
Corinna shook her head, snapping out of those thoughts before they further spiralled. She hoped that her hands would eventually return to her before the end of her prison sentence, perhaps at least one fully. But in the meantime, she had to continue working and aiding the group, not be deadweight. Though she did not have her arms, she still had another of her greatest assets- her mind.
She once again glanced back at the others. Dex and the imps had sat next to Calanthe, waiting for the buckets to be filled. Corinna was glad that they were not coddling her as others did; Calanthe and Dex allowed her more freedom instead of insisting on doing everything for her like Calixte, Rin, and Kai. However, Calanthe and Dex still possessed that look of pity and sympathy as if Corinna was some fragile creature in want of protection and constant supervision. Though Dex and Calanthe sat talking to each other, their eyes were always fixated on Corinna, watching her like parents would at their children at a playground. But even then, parents would grant their child some independence and look away occasionally.
No... they might just be watching in case there are monsters, Corinna thought. They would be watching this cautiously with anyone, not just me.
Regardless of Dex and Calanthe's motives, Corinna disliked overt protection and surveillance. She forced a smile and waved an arm at them. They waved back, forced smiles on their faces too, or Corinna assumed they were forced.
She turned her attention to the small pools of water. It would be far quicker to scoop the buckets instead of waiting for the rain to collect in them. Though the pools of water would have mixed with the earth, they would be filtering them regardless to make it safe to drink. Corinna stepped closer to inspect the closest pool, only to find it shallow and barely an inch in depth. However, one further away was the size large enough to be possibly classified as a lake, promising to be deeper.
After glancing back at the others from nerves and habit, Corinna walked over and peered into the dark water. Although, unlike the previous one, Corinna could not determine its depth so easily due to how dark the water was; she could hardly see her reflection in it, her image warped into something sombre and almost malignant.
Corinna retrieved a clump of earth that broke off quickly between her stubbed arms; then, she tossed it into the black water lake. There was a small plop as the clump of earth sank into the water, breaking into small chunks, almost melting away. Of course, it would have been more efficient to test it with something more solid than muddy earth so that she could potentially hear it reach the bottom. With no more information, Corinna decided to try it herself. She stepped closer and reached a foot out, dipping it gently into the water. It seemed that even the edges were deep, Corinna discovered, glad that she did not step into it and-
A hand reached out from the water, grabbing her foot.
Corinna screamed, no sound escaping, and she kicked it off of her, falling back onto the wet grass.
The withered hand rose further up; its skin peeled and flaking off, thin as if it was a mere skeleton wrapped in skin. Then appearing out of the darkness of the water was a face, also rotting and melting away, sunken cheeks and vacant eyes. More of these hands emerged from the depths, more hallowed and gaunt faces, their hands desperately reaching out to the sky above.
Corinna wanted to scream, to cry out, but no sound left her lips, giving noise to her pleas for help. She cowered on the ground as more of the creatures in the lake submerged, stirred from the disturbance, their hands clawing at the air, before falling back down into darkness.
"Corinna!" Dex shouted, rushing over to the woman's side, Calanthe and the two imps not far behind.
Corinna pointed a trembling arm at the lake, desperately wanting to explain to everyone.
Dex cautiously peered closer, then shook his head. "Water nymphs..." he mumbled as the last of the creatures disappeared into the darkness of the water. He then gazed up a the sky. "There must be a portal above it."
"Are you alright, Corinna?" Calanthe asked, her arms wrapped around Corinna in safety and comfort. "It's okay; they can't hurt you. They can't get out of the water."
Corinna continued to tremble, tears streaming down her face with her silent sobs. The rain continued to beat down on them. Dex suggested that they leave the Raining Marshes. They all waited in silence on the dry side for the buckets to fill, then headed back to camp. In the end, Corinna did not use her carrying device, the scare having depleted all of her strength. Instead, she guiltily watched Dex and Calanthe do all the hard work; even the imps carried a small sandcastle bucket of water each.
*
Meanwhile, the others were having little success in their mission. Though the atmosphere was not as sombre as their counterpart group, it was still quiet and strained. Lili ordered for silence and stealth in their search for the Land of the Lost as they were trekking near the food drop-off, passing into the territory of the large group that controlled it. It would be unwise to be caught trespassing, especially as they planned to in the future negotiate with them. Corinna had suggested that they just ask the alpha group the location of this sector's Land of the Lost, perhaps trading for it, but Lili didn't want to waste valuable resources for something that they could potentially find by themselves.
As Ivette had been imprisoned the longest in the Eternal Abyss, she travelled through many sectors and learned how to roughly estimate where its food drop-off and Land of the Lost usually were. She had marked her guess on the other side of the food drop-off, where the forest began to thin into hilly fields. It would be about an hour's walk from their camp, though slower at their creeping pace to not alert any nearby monsters or prisoners.
Kai and Sumit regretted their choice in teams, wondering if they could be part of the water collection party next time as it did not rule out talking and conversation. They imagined how much fun the other group had in the rain, then compared it to their silent slow walk through the forest. Any noise they made that was not in Lili's approval range was treated with hostility from the woman, glares back that could perhaps stop someone's heart from beating again, followed by one from Rin.
Sumit admitted that Oscar was right to stay at the camp where it would be more fun. Lili and Rin could have easily done this mission with just the two of them, but it was safer in numbers when they were so close to the drop-off. Initially, it was just going to be the two and Kai, but Sumit joined at the last moment. After the dealing with giant stag, Sumit was hesitant to go outside of the safety of the camp, but there was something more important he wanted that rivalled his fear. He glanced at Rin, who was walking in front of him, her bow loaded with an arrow at all times. The long sleeves of her coat were pulled up to allow her to use her bow undisturbed by the material, revealing a tattoo of black cursive writing on her forearm- or at least Sumit thought it was a tattoo at first, but then he noticed the writing moving and morphing into new words, the skin around the tattoo as white and smooth as paper. Or was it actually paper?
Sumit had learned within his months of memory that if you changed too quickly from your mask's form, you could transform back wrong, some of the features remaining. It had happened to Calanthe; miniature versions of the minotaur's horns poked out of her hair when she was human. So if part of Rin's arm was made of paper and part of her face that she covered with hair, though not as convincingly as she thinks, then did that mean she used to turn into a paper monster? Sumit found the idea hilarious, an origami monster. He had attempted to ask Rin about it in the past, but she ignored him. She did that a lot, ignoring him or finding an excuse to cut the conversation short. This was utterly different to how she had acted when he first awoke from the fire. Sumit's first memory was of Rin tending to his wounds. She would be by his side in the recovery tent, looking after him and Oscar as they were no more than charred bodies. But ever since Sumit and Oscar could walk, their skin clearer and no longer so marred, Rin had been distant. Where had all that kindness and attentiveness gone? Where was the woman who had nursed them back to health? She was gone. And instead, there was the Rin with a permanent frown on her face, unlaughing and stoic. Sumit was unsure if he had ever seen her smile, at least not when he was around.
That was why Sumit had volunteered to join the scouting party for the Land of the Lost, perhaps connecting with this woman who everyone had said was his best friend before he lost his memories. However, this particular mission required stealth and his attempts at conversation with Rin were shot down instantly by Lili. Perhaps he should retry back at camp to talk to her, but he aimed to be as friendly as he could on the mission to warm up that frosty exterior of hers. Whenever Rin looked somewhat in his direction, he would smile back at her, but she quickly looked away, her eyes never meeting his. It was likely creepy to smile so often at someone, Sumit thought and gave up on that strategy to not jeopardise his future friendship with her. At the very least, his mood was uplifted by Kai, who would occasionally mime out conversations with him as they were not allowed to have verbal conversations.