Chung landed hard on his back, sliding some distance before coming to a full stop. Thankfully the impact was lessened by the soft sand beneath him. He stared up at the stone ceiling above him as he tried to fight back the urge to cry.
"Come on, son! Get up!" he could hear his father calling.
"I... I can't..."
"You can, Chung! I know you can!" Helputt's voice echoed. It spurred his body to move but in his mind had already given up.
"I... I can't beat them. I'm not strong enough. It's no use."
"Your majesty," Advisor Picklebottom's voice could be heard followed by barely audible whispers between the two.
Great, Chung thought, was he going to pull his father away, again? Chung sighed, rolling off his back and onto all fours as he tried to fight back his tears. He didn't want to be a paladin anymore. If it meant getting hurt like this and being shown how weak he was compared to the youngest squires, he'd rather do without it. The prince glanced over at his opponent: a fourteen-year-old boy dressed in his own custom-made Freiturnier that was one size too big. In his hand he carried a wooden practice destroyer with the ends heavily layered in worn straw and linen.
"No, no. Nonsense," Helputt said loudly, "He said he wanted to be a paladin then I'll do my best to make it happen. Best to start him off early, I say."
"But, your majesty, he's only ten! His strength hasn't even developed yet. You're being too forward with this-"
"Chung," Helputt voice echoed in the stone training ground, causing his son to flinch at the volume. "You want to be a paladin, right?"
"Y-yes," Chung squeaked, a mouse to a lion.
"You want to protect others like your old man, don't you?"
"Y...yes!" the prince pushed himself up on his feet, dusting the sand off his knees before attempting to pick up his practice destroyer. It was too heavy. How could he carry an actual cannon if he couldn't lift a fake one?
"And you want to best your old man one day, right?"
"Y..." The prince hesitated, "No?" He heard the heavy footfalls of the fully armed and armored White Colossus approach him as he struggled to hoist the practice weapon over his shoulder.
Helputt laughed, placing a large gauntleted hand on his son's shoulder. "I can't be the hero forever, you know. One day, you're going to have to take up that mantle. But that's far in the future, Chung. For now, you've gotta set an easy goal for yourself."
The king faced his son towards his opponent and, after motioning at the squire, gave his son a hard pat on the back. "So your goal for now is to beat this guy. You think you can do that?"
Chung hesitated before slowly shaking his head. "It hurts, father. I can barely lift my weapon and he hits me so hard. I'm not strong enough to beat him."
The king chuckled, "There's more to combat than strength, you know?"
"There's more?" the prince asked as a look of disdain filled his face. It was hard enough finding the strength to fight but he had to think about more things?
The king saw this and gave him a comforting smile. "Sure. It's about endurance, perseverance, tactical positioning and hundreds of other things that I have yet to teach you."
That only solidified the boy's fears and the grip on the practice cannon loosened, his eyes drooping from his father's use of big words.
Helputt continued, "But the most important thing, above all else, is heart."
"Heart?" Chung asked, tilting his head.
Helputt nodded. "It's the will to fight no matter the odds. And I know, it takes a lot of heart to do that. When every bit of your body hurts and you feel that there's nothing more you can do, you get back up anyway and keep fighting. You could be facing him, or you could be facing a big bone dragon-it doesn't matter who-but when you and your opponent are both on the ground, bleeding and bruised, what's most important is making damn sure that you're the last to get up. Understand?"
Chung nodded.
"I know fighting is scary. Hell I'm still afraid whenever I fight and this is your big man we're talking about."
"Scared? But nobody can beat you. Why would you be scared if you know you can win?" Chung interjected.
"I'm always afraid, son. But I don't let fear, pain, or hopelessness stop me from trying. And that takes heart."
Chung stood there absorbing what his father was saying before nodding to himself.
"Feel better?"
He nodded, again. Slowly at first then more fervently as he gradually grasped what the king was saying.
"That's the spirit, Chung. Ready to continue?" Helputt asked stepping back as his opponent wound up another swing.
"Yes!" Chung said excitedly. He turned to face his opponent at the latter half of his horizontal strike. His excitement drained quickly from his face as he realized what was going on. "Wait. No-"
Chung's eyes flew open as he gasped. His body reeled from the sudden surge of pain that twisted his body to the left as the electrical sensation shot up and down his spine. He didn't know where he was. It was dark save for the soft glow of El in the stone walls surrounding him. Sweat matted his forehead as he tried to get his bearings when suddenly another surge of electricity forced every muscle in his being to tighten, again, contorting him more as he let out a pained cry.
"Good, you're awake," a female's voice said flatly. It was Eve's. Still on his back, he searched around wildly for the source in the darkness but couldn't locate her. Each turn of his head brought a wave of pain and his body refused to move. All the while flashes of red accompanied by sharp yellows and blacks assaulted his mind.
"Over here," Eve said. That didn't help at all. His hearing had somewhat returned but his senses were also being overlapped by Eve's and her calling for him only made it seem like she was right next to him.
Headlights caught his attention and he turned his head to the source: Remy hovered to his right. Amidst the assault of colors, Remy sent him a flashing yellow beacon in his head, coaxing him to follow.
Chung rolled to his right but his arm gave as the feeling of bone pressing against muscle sent a surge of pain through the rest of his body. He rolled on his back and grinding could be felt on his shoulder as his collarbone also shifted out of place. His entire upper right side had been fragmented, it seemed.
"Are you okay?" Eve called.
"What do you think?" Chung said through clenched teeth. He heaved, trying to ignore the pain as he rolled to his left instead. Thankfully that side was, for the most part, unbroken.
"Reports indicate your right arm was shattered in the fall along with your shoulder and part of your collarbone. Had I not reinforced your spine your neck would've been dislocated, resulting in death," Eve reported.
"You know, you sound like you're just fine. How about you come to me, instead?"
There was a pause followed by the sound of struggling. His mind was assaulted with searing hot oranges and spots of nauseating yellows. "I can't," Eve replied flatly.
Chung grunted as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. He tested his legs in the dark and found them both to be functioning for the most part. Looking around, he spotted his cannon off to the side, lodged under some bridge rubble. Checking his holsters, his revolvers looked to be undamaged. He made a mental note to inspect them fully before putting them to use.
As he stood, his entire right side hung loosely, its weight pulling at the rest of his body and sending a spike of pain with each wobbly step he took. Remy waited for him to find his footing before lighting his path down the mess of debris he had been lying on.
Stumbling to more solid ground, Chung found himself amidst hundreds of stalagmites as tall as an average man. Each pointed upward at the chasm ceiling far in the distance and functioning as a natural spiked floor. Had he not landed on the debris, Chung figured he would've been impaled by these formations.
"Well. Lead the way, Remy," Chung said as he carefully hopped off the bridge onto a narrow opening between the rock formations.
The drone whistled an acknowledgement and flew through the maze of rocks that followed the remains of the collapsed stone bridge. Chung had to watch his step the entire walk as any slight misstep could cause him to fall on one of the smaller spikes. The prince found himself at the tail end of the collapsed structure where the white drone hovered. As he reached the Nasod, the little white drone turned to a particular wall of thin stalagmites and shined its headlights in that direction. It tilted its head upwards a few times indicating the destination was just over this wall.
White hair on the cold stone floor caught his eye through the walls and as he peeked in he found a pair of golden eyes staring up at him.
"Eve!" Chung called out as he gripped the impeding stalagmite with his left hand. With a hard tug, he snapped the spike in half and he repeated these for the adjacent two. After clearing a path, he stepped through but stopped immediately as Remy shined the headlights on its mistress.
The Nasod Queen was laying on the ground, with a large earthy spike driven right through her lower abdomen and another smaller one through her left shoulder. Red liquid flowed from each and her black drone Moby circled over her, looking to be doing all it can to staunch the bleeding.
"Holy El... are you alright?" Chung asked. He took the large spike that pierced her lower abdomen, breaking it in half with a hard push before kneeling down to help her out. He paused, expecting her to tell him not to touch her but the slight turn of her head away from him and faint green color in his mind was enough to let him know she would allow it.
"Only my reproductive and digestive mechanisms have been destroyed. The pelvic frame is damaged but I should be able to walk with some support. No damage to vital organs have been sustained," Eve let out a pained grunt as Chung took her right hand and pulled her up and off the impaling stalagmites. The colors intensified in his head and for a moment, he, too, could feel what she was feeling from the colors alone. Eve stumbled forward, letting herself use the prince's shoulder for support. Just standing seemed to take a lot out of her as each step was accompanied by a gasp of air.
"The real threat... would be bleeding out. Repairs would have been impossible in the position I was in," she said as she slowly let herself back down, leaning on a stalagmite while her drones immediately began repairing her. "Just... give me a moment to stop the bleeding then... we can try and find a way out of here." Each time she spoke was accompanied with a pained gasp. Each pained gasp was followed up with the same flurry of colors indicating pain. Except each flurry was noticeably weaker than the last. Either the pain was fading or the Nasod was.
"You sure you're okay?" Chung asked. To be honest, Eve looked like she needed a bit more than a moment. Her injuries weren't exactly easy to look at considering he could easily see through her with the hole in her stomach. But then again, she was a machine.
Eve nodded, "We're useless where we are now. We need to... find a way back up somehow... As soon as I've finished, we... should get moving."
"I don't think there's much we can do even if we did find a way out," Chung muttered quietly, "I'm going to go back and grab my cannon. By the way, have you heard from Noah and Lyra?"
Eve shook her head. "While you were unconscious... I've had Remy scour the depths of this chasm. I couldn't find the two humans amidst the few Red Knights..."
"You've found some Red Knights?!" Chung exclaimed, "Where?"
Eve motioned with her head the general direction. "Five bodies over towards the north east. Another two to the west... They're dead. The fall killed them."
Chung cursed under his breath. "And no Lyra or Noah?"
"None."
"How long have I been out for?"
"An hour and fifty-seven minutes. I've been unconscious for... An hour and forty... They must have left... before then. Remy spotted a large passage... towards the north... So it's likely they... went there."
"Okay. Got it. I'll go grab my cannon. You wait here. I'll be right back."
The Nasod said nothing in return and merely leaned back against the stalagmite while Chung retraced his steps back to his weapon. Seven Red Knights dead at the bottom of the chasm, Chung thought, plus the one body at the tunnels meant there were at least twenty other Red Knights to be found. But where were they?
Chung found his cannon and began digging out the rubble with his one good hand. After clearing out enough to grab the handle, he pulled the rest of his destroyer out of the ruins. He slung it over his left shoulder and made his way back to Eve.
He thought about his condition and about Eve's. The state that they were both in offered little in terms of combat ability. He just had to hope they would find a way out of here without running into any trouble. He thought of Elsword, Ara, and Lowe. He remembered that Elsword was on the other side of the chasm when the bridge broke. Lowe had been lying face down in the dirt and Ara had been taken away. He thought of Ara. Why she suddenly left Lowe for dead just to attack that demon was beyond Chung. But then again, this was Ara. That girl has been a mystery since he met her and always acted on her own accord. Maybe it was a mistake bringing her to such a time-sensitive mission.
Suddenly he remembered the mission. He was unconscious then but what about everyone else? Had the explosives been set off? Were the rest of the Velder army still waiting for the signal? The demons already knew the humans had been digging but they should be aware of something definitely happening now that the infiltration team had been discovered.
"You ready?" Chung asked as he stood over Eve. He extended a hand to help her up and she looked at it for a moment before taking it. The moment was barely noticeable but her hesitation and her colors revealed she wasn't exactly keen on relying on Chung for help.
"The feeling's mutual," Chung said as she wobbled to her feet. Still weak from the loss of blood, the Nasod held on to his left shoulder as they slowly began winding their way through the stalagmite maze northward.
Chung's heavy boots and Eve's light, though somewhat staggered, heels echoed in the stony surroundings as they weaved left and right through the stalagmites. Eve's drones lit the way, helping to avoid the uneven terrain. Neither the prince nor the queen said a word to each other as they walked.
Of course moments like these weren't anything new for the two as they seldom spoke to each other unless they had to. This was, however, one of the few moments where they were actually alone. Sure he had spent two weeks under her care in the medical bay but they seldom were in direct contact with each other, much less in physical contact. Back on the Black Crow, Eve would only come in to check on his healing progress every now and then before leaving to go do something else.
Now that they were alone, both in pain and with Eve hanging off his shoulder as they stumbled through the forest of stone, Chung felt inclined to say something. He didn't know what, but listening to the both of them huffing and puffing in the quiet cold air was beginning to unsettle him. There were thousands of spiders. Did Noah really kill every single one? It was hard to believe that her spell, despite its strength, could clear an entire cave of this size of the spiders.
"How're you holding up?" He asked out of the blue.
"Bleeding has ceased... Operating far below suboptimal levels, however... Functionality with dimensional weapons will be minimal... Engaging targets is highly discouraged."
"I mean how are you feeling?" Chung said with a sigh.
"How... I feel has little relevance to my current fighting ability so I've chosen to omit."
"You're no fun to talk to, you know that?"
"I don't see the point... in entertaining you given the situation we're in."
"I was just curious about how you were feeling. You seem to be in a lot of pain so I was just asking out of concern," Chung muttered. Murky grey swirled in his head. She was confused. Of course she would be, he thought.
"But what's more important now is our fighting capability. I assumed that was what you wished to know given our current situation. How one feels or one's need for entertainment should be at the bottom of our priority given how much danger we may possibly be in."
"You know," Chung said as he stared off into the wide tunnel before them, "This is probably why you won't get Elsword's attention."
Amidst the storm of grey, a torrent of warm pinks coupled with hot blues and prickly greens filled his head. At the eye of this storm, a splash of red, small but seething, emerged.
"I don't understand... how Elsword is related at all to our discussion," Eve said flatly.
"Don't worry about it. You're right. He's not related to anything," the prince responded.
They were silent again after that. Conversation all but a failure, the prince decided it wasn't worth the effort trying to talk to the machine. The entire time, Eve enquired further in his head with a mix of colors. Chung ignored her inquiries, opting not to engage in any further dialogue on the subject.
The path they walked on narrowed and gradually rose upward as the tunnel expanded into a large cylindrical chamber. Before them, water flowed gently on either side of the path from a distant water source further up the tunnel. Further up both streams, Chung spotted isolated pools of strange liquid that emitting a strange blue light.
"If that's what I think it is," Chung said, motioning to the pools of glowing liquid, "Things might start looking up for us." The prince gradually picked up his pace as Eve was pulled along while she hung on to his shoulder.
"What is it?" she asked as she was left standing on the raised pathway while Chung veered off to the right of the path. He descended into the shallow stream, icy waters bled through his boots as he waded through the gentle current towards the isolated pool of water.
He stepped up on the stony platform, shaking the water from his boots before peering into the glowing liquid within the natural rock pool. Pulling off his left gauntlet with his teeth, he dipped his hand into the liquid, cupping a handful of the mysterious fluid.
It retained its bluish glow for a moment before slowly fading into nothing but normal clear water. As the light faded, the blisters of combat that covered his palm faded with it. The prince smiled. Fortune was favoring them for once. He turned back to Eve to find the Nasod clinging on to Moby as she clumsily tried to find her footing down the steep hill. Chung sighed and set his cannon down before stepping back into the freezing stream to help her. She stumbled as a rock gave under her weight, and she fell forward, forcing Chung to rush across the water. He caught her over his left shoulder as she coughed from having the wind knocked out of her.
Pain danced in his head and Eve's haggard breath was only intensified as she struggled to get back on her feet.
"If you waited I could've helped you down," Chung said as he gently let her on her feet.
"If you waited for me in the first place... I wouldn't have..."
"Yeah, yeah. I just wanted to make sure. Didn't want to drag you down here for nothing," he said, helping her across the water on to the platform.
"What is it?" Eve asked, peering into the blue pool.
"It's healing water. Produced by the Water El Stone and blessed by the Water Priestess. If you sit in here, it should be able to heal you-"
Eve shot him a glance.
"What? It works. My blisters are all gone and-"
"I'm a Nasod. Ignoring the fact that I'd... be getting water into my circuitry with my wounds, will it even heal me?"
"I... uh... that's a good question," the prince tapped his chin in thought, "Why not dip your arm in? The damaged one?"
"I'd rather not," Eve said, completely against the idea of getting in the pool, "Why don't... you use it instead? I could use the time to... repair myself in the meantime."
"You sure?" Chung asked, "It could speed up the recovery process."
"I"d rather not... risk it," Eve said, slowly moving to sit down with her back against the rocky cauldron. With a wordless command and a wave of her hand, the drones began repairing the holes on her stomach and shoulder.
"If you insist," Chung said with a shrug. He began pulling off sections of his armor, taking extra care in removing the plates on his right shoulder. Despite the dim light, everything on the right side of his torso was colored a sickly purple. "This is the first time seeing the healing waters in person," he said as he pulled off his leggings and boots leaving him in nothing but his underwear. "I'm not sure how the process works but I just know that as long as it's still glowing, the water will heal all injuries or sickness."
Eve watched him as he stripped in front of her. Grey swirled in his mind. To be honest he was a bit disappointed that had been her only reaction. Eve read this and the grey intensified. He ignored the question.
"It's rude to stare, you know," Chung said as he climbed into the natural tub.
"So I've heard. I never really understood why," she said, looking away, staring straight ahead this time as the prince took off his underwear and slid into the water. Despite the icy surroundings, the water was lukewarm to the touch. As he sank into the pool with his back towards the Nasod, he felt the pain in the right side of his body slowly fade into numbness. He let out a content sigh with the constant rattle of his bones gone as his arm floated in the pool.
"There's a lot of things you don't understand about us humans," Chung said, leaning back and shutting his eyes. His head hung over the edge lazily, resting on something soft under him. It shifted under him but didn't move away.
"There's a lot of things you don't understand about us Nasods," Eve responded, voice coming from directly under him. He turned his head slightly and he felt Eve turn hers to look up.
He sighed, leaning his head forward, off hers. "I know the Nasods are manipulative. They're strictly goal oriented and are heartless when it comes to dealing with matters of genocide."
Eve was quiet for a moment and Chung felt that she had no rebuttal. It was true, after all.
"I know the same goes for you humans," she responded after Chung had given up waiting.
Chung shook his head. "We're compassionate. We care about others. We take care of our allies and fight for a greater good-generally speaking, of course."
"Is that so?" Eve asked.
"And you think otherwise?"
"I do," Eve began, "I think the Nasods are the more compassionate ones. I think they're the ones that care more about their allies and I believe their actions, though questionable to... some individuals, ultimately benefit the greater good."
"Name one example," Chung challenged, looking over his shoulder lazily. He felt a jab of pain in his collarbone area and his shoulder as bones realigned themselves under his skin.
"Would you have preferred it that King Nasod run rampant and build an army that could destroy Elrios?"
"A Nasod wanted to destroy the world. That doesn't sound like it benefits the greater good at all," Chung interjected.
"He was corrupted, Chung. You saw the corrupted core, yourself. And you insisted on convincing him to cease and desist. That would be like you trying to negotiate peace with a demon general."
"How was it corrupted in the first place?"
"That was a mystery to me until recently. After you left and we answered the call to arms in Bethma and Altera in your absence, we came across a strange Nasod controlling spore. Raven can attest to the spore's abilities if you don't believe me as he was almost killed by his own arm. Had Aisha not have been there I would've fell victim to the spores influence as well."
"Okay, so it was corrupted but you still killed him as well as all your loyal subjects without even so much as a second thought."
"I have thought it through. I can process thousands of scenarios in the time it takes you to think of one. The king was a lost cause, Raven was dying and reasoning was fruitless. I did what I felt was best for my people and for Elrios. I wanted a race built for peace not one built for war so I needed a clean slate."
"But killing off a whole race for their own ideals... It's what Nasods do. That's something I can't forgive your kind for doing. That's what separates the humans from the Nasods."
"Are the two really that different?" Eve asked.
"Of course."
Eve sighed. "Do you know why Nasods are a dying race?"
"It was from a great war that happened two thousand years ago, yes. Aisha taught me about it. A while back."
"Do you know how it started?"
"The El within Elrios was fading, right? And it ultimately became a resource war."
"What do humans need El for?"
Chung shrugged, "A lot of things. Everything from household cooking to warfare to terraforming. El was and still is a staple part of everyday life for us."
"What do Nasods need El for?"
Chung thought about it. "Now that I think about it... what do you need El for. Your kind isn't exactly magical. I can't imagine it's anything as important as-"
"Life."
They were both silent. The injuries on Chung began to fade as Eve's drones slowly began reconstructing the synthetic skin over the large hole in her lower abdomen.
"Nasods depend on El as our source of life energy. We still do. I was there when the El began to fade. I was there when our once symbiotic relationship with the humans began to disassemble. We were very close allies then. We traded our technology and in return the humans gave us El. So close were we to the humans that the synthetic generation-my generation-was created to mirror our closest allies in likeness. That all changed when the El began to fade. And as our reserves ran dry and our families slowly ceased to function, we tried to negotiate-no... we begged your kind for more El that you humans used for your selfish leisures. But the humans refused. War was inevitable.
"Why would humans refuse you El?" Chung asked.
"Who knows. Us Nasods could find no fathomable reason other than the human's flaw of greed. It was a source we needed to survive and they were the hand that fed us. Of course, desperate times called for desperate measures. What happened afterwards you should know by your history books. The war between man and machine began. Over the course of several decades millions of lives, both human and Nasod, were lost. Even after the El returned, the war had gone on for so long that both sides had forgotten why they were fighting to begin with; They just knew that they hated each other.
"But you were alive for all this?" Chung asked.
Eve nodded, "I remembered why. Most of the synthetic models remembered why. Our council tried to negotiate terms for a ceasefire but the humans weren't too open to the idea that they were the reason the war started to begin with. They branded us as liars. Manipulative machines whose goal was to simply eradicate humans. All forms of negotiations failed and the war continued."
"Until we won the war," Chung said with a sad sigh.
"We let you win," Eve said. "The projected casualties of the war, had it continued the way it did, dwarfed our current population several hundred fold. As 'heartless' as you may see our kind, it was an almost unanimous decision to cease production of war assets. Our military units self destructed and our most important leaders were put into preservation pods to wait for a time when the humans have forgotten our existence in hopes that we can begin our relationship anew."
"Almost unanimous?"
"A few were against it. My father was among those but-"
"You had a father?"
Eve nodded, "Well. Not in the way your kind is familiar with. He was my creator so in a sense, yes he's my father and I admired him like one would admire their parent."
"What was his name?"
"Adrian."
"Where is he now?"
"I'm not sure. But when I was awoken from my slumber a millennia ago, it was my father who tasked me with rebuilding our race."
"So he was a Nasod, too?"
"No. He was a human. A Debrian to be exact."
"Wait, how did he survive that long to begin with?"
"The same way I have: through the preservation pods. Though I'm not sure where he went after tasking me with the revival protocol."
Chung couldn't believe it. Eve was created by a human?
"You admired him? But I thought you hated humans. You always talked down to us."
Eve adjusted behind him and despite not looking at her he could sense she was facing him directly.
"I dislike humans for what they've done to our kind. I dislike their selfish unpredictable nature and ignorant attitude they hold towards those they disagree with. You say it is the Nasods who are strictly goal oriented and heartless when it came to genocide but it was your kind that choked out our existence for your own self gain. Your kind denied the Nasods the right to live. That to me is more heartless than my personal choice of preventing the resurgence of the Nasod War by destroying my own kind."
Chung didn't know what to say to that. Her explanation certainly brought more light to her perspective. Yet he still didn't like the idea of resorting to genocide as a solution. As he thought this, a flurry of colors hit him. Yellows and reds. Greens and whites. This was frustration. Frustration and a sense of helplessness. She was asking him what she should have done. No-she was daring him to tell her what she should have done. In truth, he didn't know. He backed down from it. What's done was done.
"I dislike humans," Eve continued. She adjusted behind him again and he sensed she was leaning against the stone again. "There's no doubt about it, but I don't dislike all of them."
"Elsword, for one," Chung stated, tilting his head back lazily, it rested on top of Eve's again.
"My father, for one," Eve corrected, pushing up lightly against his head as she spoke, "My feelings for Elsword are... different."
"But it's not dislike, is it?"
"It's not. But I don't know what it is. It's different from the admiration I feel for my father and the neutrality I feel for the rest of the El Search Party."
Neutrality. Add would be furious if he heard that. "Well how does it feel when you think of Elsword?"
A grey storm formed in his mind. At the center, pink sparks of lightning crackled from it. They were hot, passionate, even. So much so the cloud was vaporized until nothing but pink electricity filled his thoughts.
"I don't know," Eve replied flatly.
"Like you're light on your feet?"
"No."
"Like you have butterflies in your stomach?"
"No."
"Like you can conquer anything as long as they're with you?"
"No."
Chung let out a frustrated sigh, "Then what? I don't know."
"I suppose," Eve began as the electricity exploded into a torrent in his mind, "I suppose it feels like I wouldn't mind if he touched me."
Immediately Chung's mind went to the gutter as the thought of Elsword going to second base with her crossed his mind for the second time that day.
"Not like that," Eve interjected as the thought played out in his mind. She nudged his head with hers again causing Chung to lightly bob up and down over the edge of the pool, "Like this."
"Ah, but without the slapping... Wait, why aren't you slapping me, then?"
"My arm is damaged," Eve said matter-of-factly.
"So then you will, later?"
"If I feel it is justified, yes."
"Right, right," Chung mumbled. He remembered his own arm at the mention of Eve's and he moved it, anticipating a jolt of pain but felt only stiffness at the joints. A few minutes more and he should be fully healed.
"So what's the deal with Elsword, then? I mean what do you find attractive about him?"
"His facial features are easy to look at. It possesses a symmetry that is pleasant and attractive, accentuated by the way his hair naturally parts in a disheveled manner,"
"You could just say he's handsome," Chung said with a shake of his head.
"His attitude, although reckless and irrational, I find endearing provided that it isn't life-threatening. Despite him lacking the average intellect of a typical human, he often surprises me when it comes to interacting with him. In summary, his presence is fascinating to observe and I long to understand it."
The way she described all of this sounded so monotone it was hard to pick up whether or not the Nasod was genuinely interested in Elsword. Asking her these open ended questions was getting him nowhere and he had to dig a bit with more direct ones.
"How would you feel if he courted you?" Chung could have said dated but he felt that would've required some form of explanation.
"I wouldn't mind."
"Okay, would you like it if you were courting each other?"
This time Eve hesitated to answer. "I would."
Now he was getting somewhere.
"Would you like it to eventually turn into something more than simple courting?"
"I would."
"How far would you want to go with him?"
"As far as my feet could take me."
"Er... no. I mean courting-wise. Beyond the hand holding and the, erm, kissing and whatever else. What is the furthest you'd think you'd be willing to go?"
Almost immediately he was hit with a burst of color that he had never seen. It was like fireworks. The sensation wasn't new to him and the prince sensed that this wasn't the first time she's thought of something like this before. She didn't need to answer at that point. It was still fascinating to know that Eve was even willing to go that far for a human. Now that he thought about it, she did mention something about how her 'reproductive' mechanism had been destroyed.
"Why are we even discussing this?" Eve asked, the fireworks fading into a haze of bubbly white and pink.
"Curiosity," Chung stated simply, "To be honest, I expected my time under your care to be a nightmare. I wanted nothing to do with you. Or at least I thought I did. I can't deny that you, of all people, saved my life when I was sure you'd be the least concerned about my safety. This whole brain connection thing we got going also allowed me to see you under a new light. As much as I wanted to think otherwise, you aren't as emotionless as I thought. You even offered to listen to me back when... that thing happened with Aisha.
"The harder I tried to stick with my old understanding of Nasods, the less you fit the description of one. The whole history lesson you gave me earlier? I had no idea we were the root cause of your kind's suffering. It's hard for me to accept of course but if what you're saying is true then how I've acted towards Nasods—to you—goes against the guardian's code.
"What I'm trying to say is... I'm... sorry. Sorry for the way I have treated you all these years. Sorry for branding you as a heartless machine when clearly you're the opposite. Sorry for thinking of you as being less than human. Although I still strongly disagree with what you've done to your kind, I promise to at least treat you like a human."
Eve didn't answer for some time as she seemed to be taking his words into serious consideration. The Nasod sighed and adjusted in her seat under his head. "I forgive you," she said after a long while, "But I'm far superior to your race," Eve added.
Chung sighed, a smile crossing his face, "Right. As you say, Eve. But in all seriousness, this was why I was asking about your thoughts on Elsword. How would you like it if I assisted you in courting him? He is my best friend, after all. I know more about him than the others. Possibly even more than his big sister."
Warm greens. Spritely yellows. Dots of black and white. This was excitement for Eve.
"I'd appreciate your assistance. What are you capable of doing as my personal courting assistant?"
Chung laughed at the new job title he was given but didn't object to it. "Well, what do you want to know about him?"
"What does he think of me?" Eve asked, turning to face Chung.
"Ah... what he thinks of you..." Chung raised his right hand and tapped at his chin in thought. Chilly wind caressed his arm as it broke the surface of the water and it was then that he noticed his sense of touch on that arm had returned. He should be fully healed now.
He recalled the conversation he had with Elsword a few months ago. During that night of the first demon ambush Elsword said something to him regarding Eve. But what was it.
The sound of his own murky rendition of Elsword's words were played back through a projected speaker that Eve generated. "I think Eve's cute... okay?" Elsword said in the recording, "But she's not my... equal?"
"What?" Chung's recorded voice asked.
"You don't feel it? When she talks to you it's like... you're immediately below her. You're always looking up."
Eve cut the feed and nodded in thought as she moved to rest her chin on the edge of the pool. "So I should treat him as my equal."
Chung agreed, "That's a good way to start. Maybe then he'll stop calling you his queen in a mocking way."
"And then do I kiss him? It's customary for human couples to kiss, right?"
"Erm... maybe not right away. You'd want to at least get comfortable with the idea of physical contact with the person you're courting first. Why not try... holding his hand before doing that?"
Eve stared at her left hand and squeezed it. It appeared Moby and Remy had completed most of their repairs by now. "Holding hands... huh?"
Chung nodded. "It's actually still a bit of a leap but that often means something along the lines of mutual dependency of each other. At least that's what I read in one of Aisha's books. That's what humans typically look for in a relationship after all: mutual dependency."
"Mutual dependency... holding hands... Definition updated."
Chung chuckled. "Glad you're learning something," he said as he got up out of the tub of faded blue water. He shook the water off the best he could and began throwing on some clothes before the chill got the better of him. The breeze had picked up and it was then that the possibility of an exit being nearby crossed him. He tested his right arm, rolling his shoulder and swinging his arm in a wide arc. Nothing but smooth joint motion. "I'm about ready, how about you?" he asked the Nasod.
Looking down at her, he saw that the mending process was nearly complete. Her shoulder, underneath the torn fabric of her black Nasod garb, was closed although somewhat concave. The story was the same for the larger hole in her abdomen. Just to the lower right of her navel, a deep pit of pale synthetic skin could be seen with large creases over her skeletal frame. It was unnerving to look at but Eve looked overall much better than when she first sat down.
"Repairs are still ongoing but my overall functionality has been restored," she said, standing with little difficulty. "I will complete the repairs later. For now, we must continue."
"I hear that," Chung agreed.
"Also," Eve added, grabbing the prince's attention. He looked at her and was quickly met with a heavy slap to the face.
"Ouch! What the El was that for?" Chung said, rubbing his cheek.
"My arm was repaired," Eve replied, "Don't use me as your headrest."
A faint light caught both of their attention further up the passageway. Past the several other pools of healing water, far in the distance, faint white light from the moon could be seen through a large cave mouth.
Chung wondered why they hadn't seen it earlier. Surely he could've spotted something as easily as moonlight in a completely dark cave but the two of them had time to sit and chat without even noticing it.
Something from the outside passed over the distant opening as something big moved in view from the left, blocking the moonlight and casting the passage in darkness once again. Chung and Eve stopped along the path as this shadowy object disappeared to the right in a slow lumbering motion.
From where they stood it was difficult to estimate the size but the mouth of the cave in the distance was big enough to swallow a carriage. Whatever it was was huge and as moonlight was cast once more before them, they both realized the stalagmites they had thought to be surrounded by were instead hundreds of living, pulsating sacs of web.