A Guide to Kingdom Building - Chapter 172

The rocks were still warm and even some glowing red.  Whatever blasted these layers upon layers of solid stone and ground was more likely of a magical variety, a powerful one at that. But who could’ve done this kind of explosion on such a grand scale? Orphella thought as she descended down the crumbly path.

She had a lot of possible suspects that could blast away layers upon layers of stones. It could be an angry wyrm awakened from their constant use of magic. The ascending fire blast could indicate the monster’s willingness to emerge to the surface. If that was the case, they’re in big trouble! But fortunately, that wasn’t the case. After extensively looking around and checking for signs of a rampaging fire-breathing serpent, she unable to find claw marks anywhere.

She took a deep breath of relief and continued her way down. She paused by scorched ledge and tried to check for her progress. She looked above and saw she was getting deeper into the chasm. Seeing her progress, she continued her way down, when all over the sudden, the rock she was about to step on, crumbled.

Orphella lost her footing and slipped. She tumbled down the path of hot rocks, her skin touching hot rocks and occasionally burning her. She was half-way in plummeting to her death but was able to hold on to a rock grossly sticking out of the path. The jagged rock below that ledge would have mean a swift, yet terribly bloody death.

Her hands slowly burned at the heat of the stone ledge, but she was not letting go—she refused to let the pain get to her. She pulled herself right back up as the smell of burning skin filled the air. Orphella gritted her teeth in pain as her hands pressed hard against the scorching rock, but she was not about to call it quits. She had a promise to keep, and she made it damn sure she’ll keep it.

Screaming from the pain, Orphella pushed her way up and was able to save herself from her certain demise. She stood at the top of the ledge and took a deep breath of relief. However, her little celebration from warding off death was short lived. Her hands got her back to reality, the pulsating pain proved to be unbearable for her.

She looked at her hands and saw the damage the stones caused. Her hands were scorched, the rocks burned most of her skin off and some of the flesh. The pungent odor of burnt flesh was all that she could smell.

Taking a deep breath, she gritted her teeth and forcefully tried to move her hands around, but the pain was too much for her to bear. The damage has already been done, and now the injury had left her incapable of using her hands.

Orphella went away from the side of the ledge and attempted to tear pieces of clothing from her arm and turned it into a glove of some sort, just to protect both her hands and continue on with her journey.  But even that was too difficult for her to do. The pain was too much for her to bear that even lifting her hands up her shoulder caused her excruciating pain.

She stood there silently, her eyes staring at her burned hands. She looked up and saw how far she already came and then she looked below and saw how relatively far she was from reaching solid ground. Her vision began to blur, and tears came pouring from her eyes. Orphella stood there frustrated of her injuries and was too afraid to continue on her journey. Without her hands, she was as good as dead when she reaches the bottom. Who knows what type of monsters would welcome her there? Without her hands, she wouldn’t be able to fight back properly and even with a powerful weapon like the Papillon with her, it was good as nothing—

“Good as nothing?! Excuse me?!” An energetic yet soft woman’s voice shouted out of nowhere. She looked around panicking. She knew she was alone on her descent but now, she seemed to be hearing things.

“At this point, I can’t really tell if you’re playing dumb or just plain dumb!” The voice sighed. “It’s me, Papillon! Can’t you recognize my innocent voice?!” Her weapon asked.

She tried taking out the weapon off her and dropped it on the ground.

“Ouch! Why did you drop me?!” The bow floated in front of her and hit her head gently against its body. “I REAAALLLLY hate being dropped.” Papillon said sassily.

Orphella looked at the bow with awe and fascination. It wasn’t the first time she thought she heard it spoke. But prior to her descending to the chasm, she thought she heard it spoke to her about a secret compartment inside the bow where a drug was secretly located and used instructed her to use it for Adaloun.

“No answer?! Seriously?!” The bow’s glowing gem pulsated as it spoke. “You’re hopeless.”

“W-wait?! You can speak?!” She burst. “W…what’s going on?! Why can I speak to you in my…”

“Voice…good dear, sister! We are linked telepathically!” The bow answered condescendingly. “Besides, I could speak freely and out loud…ahem.”

“I thought those things I heard were just…you know…out of my head.” She gritted her teeth as the pain pulsated once again. “Argh, I hate this! It’s too painful!” She looked at her hands as blood and other liquids flowed out from her wounds.

“You know what?” Papillon said. “Let me fix that for you, sister! Hold me tight this time, alright?” The bow landed into her hands and the weapon’s warmth soothed the pain in her hands. The warmth gently moved her skin and muscles around.

She felt the tingling sensation as her hands began to heal. She saw how the huge burns on her hands began to slough off and new muscle and sinew began to grow on it. Papillon was healing her in a way she never thought existed. The she felt the pain ceasing incredibly as her skin regrew from her hands.

“Done.” Papillon said. “Not much of a challenge!”

“T-thank you.” Orphella replied telepathically.

“Don’t mention it, sister.” Orphella felt the bow smiled. “You know what, I want a favor from you.”

“What is it?” Orphella asked. “Is there something you need me to do?”

“Just a teeny weeny bit!” Papillon cheerfully answered. “Carry me and don’t drop me down again, alright? I hate it when that happens! Oh…one more thing, carry on in your journey down there and be assured I will protect you…just don’t EVER drop me again.” She added.

Orphella sighed. “I apologize if I did. But do you have to repeat that request over and over again?” She asked as Papillon seemed to not get over the fact that she had been dropped.

“I am trying to cross a point here! Plus, I want to make sure you hit the mark! See what I did there?” Papillon laughed at her own pun. “Ahem…ahem…Anyway, sister, let’s go! You only have a short time to spare! Giddiyup!” She said.

Orphella raised her eyebrow but nodded to Papillon’s command. She continued on with her journey until she made it safely to the bottom, where she now had to scout the area.