CH921

As the sun rose, marking the start of the day, a small scream came from Thera’s tent while Ben was deciding what to have for breakfast, him already having enough of a guess as to why that he didn’t feel the need to check and was confirmed in his suspicions when his girlfriend carried Abel out by the scruff of her neck, looking far more awake than she would most mornings.

“So, Abel’s here?”

“Yeah, she showed up last night.”

“And any particular reason I woke up with her face an inch from mine?”

“I was waiting to say hi,” she added helpfully, leaving Thera to put her down and rub her eyes.

“It’s nice seeing you too, Abel. Next time, do me a small favour and just wait outside for me to wake up, pretty please?”

Having the first thing she’d seen that morning be two empty eye sockets and a slightly too wide grin had left her feeling like she was on the edge of a heart attack no matter how harmless the intent might have been, her pulse still racing and only slowing as she sat down, taking a plate from Ben while the rest of their camp slowly began to get up as well, packing away what gear they had and eating from their rations.

With one hungry set of eyes on him. Even if he’d made sure to give her a plate as well, it was clear it wasn’t what Abel had wanted and he cast a small look at Thera, his girlfriend not remotely fazed by that point, only giving a small nod while she ate to let him know she’d heal him after as he cut himself and filled a cup, reaching out for the other girl’s card before letting her drain it.

“Well?” she asked, curiosity unable to be contained about how she’d grown while he’d looked it all over.

“Ten more to everything than what you’d gotten from me last time with the exception of your weeping, getting twenty more. Even considering how I’ve changed since then, to me that would imply that either your weeping enhancement or your new job bonuses are interacting with your meat strengthening to improve what you’ll get and god, I am so jealous.”

She’d entirely stopped listening after finding out that she’d gotten a total of forty points to her weeping, instantly holding her cup out for me.

“No, you just get the one. I did make arrangements with the gods on your behalf though, so they’ll start sending you some bodies that have been, shall we say, inoculated with divinity. You’ll be pretty well fed until the end of the war, that’s for sure.”

“Really!”

“Really, really, so stop trying to eat me.”

“Okay, okay, I can do that,” she told him, sounding full of resolve even as drool rolled down her lip. “Can you at least try to stop smelling so tasty so it’s not so tempting?”

“Believe me, if I could, I would. For now though, sit tight, I need to go wake the stragglers.”

While most where up, it seemed there were a few still struggling with it and as the one in charge, he took on the role of changing that, going from tent to tent to awaken each one that was left and watching as they groggily got up and began packing like the rest, eating what they could until finally, the entire crowd was ready to go.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Alright everyone, a bit of good news came to us during the night,” Ben called out, getting their attention and directing it to the girl beside him. “This is Abel, a third tier who’d also been sent to look for Foast and she’d already scouted ahead so we’ll have a new direction to follow and even better, we’ll be able to get through it a lot quicker in general too now by combining her efforts with Thera’s. If you both don’t mind, want to set up?”