The Pain of Living

The duo entered the thick forest heading away from the Tree of Might. The forest was overflowing with wildlife. The space between many trees was dominated with flowers, bushes and dead leaves, forcing the two of them to trudge through the thick vegetation. There was occationally a semblance of some kind of path, small areas where vegetation hadn't quite taken over, but these were misleading and in reality either ended abruptly or led no where. The forest canopy blocked out the light of much of the sun as well.

Oriana had reluctantly followed Revy into the forest and let him lead the way. She had figured out that she had apparently died and been brought to this new world but she had no idea why. She been dwelling on only one thing since they had entered the forest though. Food. When Revy had mentioned food and shelter, she had remember just how hungry she was. She could feel dull pain in her stomach and was getting light headed. She wanted to eat something, anything. She considered eating some of the berries they occationally saw but she had no idea if they were poisonous or not. Her stomach growled again, this time loud enough for Revy to hear even above the sound of the forest creatures.

Revy sighed heavily, stretching his arms above his head and clasping his fingers together. They had been walking for quite some time. Everytime it seemed like they had stumbled onto a path, it had been a dissapointment. Revy lowered his arms as he heard Oriana's stomach growling. He could feel himself getting hungry as well, but did his best to ignore the gnawing feeling of hunger. However, he knew they'd have to find some form of food soon. " Maybe we should pause, and see what we can scavenge up. There must be something edible in this place."  He kneels down, looking for something. again, the image of a playing card flashes in his head, slightly longer, but still not enough to see what the card was. What are you trying to tell me? He shakes his head, and stands again. " I can ponder my thoughts later. Let's see about getting you something edible first."

Oriana didn't like Revy but she couldn't deny that she was hungry. Her dress was almost dry now but it stuck to her skin uncomfortablely and started to itch. Her head started spinning as she look at Revy try to gather plants. Her eyes seemed to glass over like she was in some sort of trance. "Eat him..." A voice seemed to whisper to her. "Who cares about this guy...? Just kill him now!" Oriana slowly began walking up behind Revy. She was inches away from him before snapped back to her senses she abruptly pulled away and backed into a tree. She squated down and pretended to search for plants. "Not again! I don't want to kill anyone again..." She almost started crying in fear of her own actions. She focused her attention on the plants in front of her, having no idea what was even ediable.

Using what rudimentary knowledge he had of edible wild plants, Revy shifts about the immediate area. As he searches, he silently chides himself. I shouldn't be so nonchalant about our situation. i think my attitude is ticking Oriana off.  He finds some Plantains growing and proceeds to dig them out. " Perfect. May be a bit bitter, but it'll do to tide us over."  He had noticed Oriana coming closer, and her sudden retreat. Carrying several Plantains in his hands, he calls out to Oriana. " Hey, i found something that should tide you over for a while." He carefully makes his way over, keeping some distance in case she decided to attack. Naive i may be, but i'm not a total idiot. You dont like me, Oriana. even a blind man could see that.

Oriana was spacing out when Revy spoke. She turned around and looked the food in his hand. She took it nervously and immediately started eating it. She couldn't look him in the eye after she had been about to kill him so she looked away with a huff and pretended to be mad. She started fidgeting and tried to look around the forest to find some sort of hint of where to go but she saw nothing but the seemingly unending forest. She didn't even know what way they had come from.

Revy munches on a Plantain, as he leans against a tree. North, South, East, and West. All I see is a sea of trees. Which way did we come from, and which way were we going? And what do we do if we run into someone? Revy turns his attention to Oriana sitting on her own, looking mad as can be. It'd be nice if she would speak, even a little bit. I wouldnt care if it was mostly insults and whatnot, it'd break this uneasy silence.  Revy finishes the Plantain in his hand, and casts his eyes about, trying to determine where to go next. Cant always rely on luck to pull through, after all.

Oriana tried to clear her head as she ate the plantatians but no matter how much she tried to pretend, it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy her. She wanted more. The sound of crunching twigs and leaves could suddenly be heard. The bushes shook and a firce looking wolf jumped out. It looked very hungry with drool dripping from its jaws. It looked at the duo threateningly. Oriana instinctively reached for the knife she always carried only to remember that she no longer had it. She started to back away but tripped on a branch and fell on her back, leaving her helpless.

Revy flinched as the wolf bound out of the bushes. He recovered soon enough and moved to place himself between the beast and Oriana. Scared as he was, Revy tried to assess the situation as logically as possible. " Easy now, We aren't here to cause you harm." Revy knew, without a weapon, that a fight would be difficult. Once again, Revy could see the playing card in his head. unlike before, it didnt vanish, but was still too blurry to make out what it was. Here we are, with a wild wolf before us possibly about to attack, and i'm thinking of bloody cards?! " Weapon, Weapon, there's gotta be something i can use as a weapon."

The wolf lunged for Oriana but she rolled out of the way just before he landed. One of his claws grazed her shoulder a bit and draw blood. Oriana quickly got to her feet and regained her balance. Upon closer inspection, the wolf actually looked rather starved and weak. It was obviously acting so aggresively because it was hungry. Oriana couldn't really blame it, she knew exactly how it felt. She looked around for some sort of weapon but she didn't have time as the wolf was getting ready to lunge again.

Revy moves quickly, throwing his weight into a full body tackle at the wolf. colliding with the beast, Revy rolls and readjusts into a low stance. He had some fighting experience, but this wasnt a simple brawl. " Come on, puppy, let's see if you can dance." Revy could see the card in his head grow clearer as he taunted the wolf towards him. I can feel something different. As if I could use this somehow. Revy jolts out of his thoughts as the wolf lunges towards him. Revy dodges out the way, though a claw on the rear paw catches his shirt, tearing it.  Revy faces down the wolf as his mind finally grasps the identity of the playing card. As the wolf lunges once more at Revy, He quickly recites the series of words that appeared in his mind. " Repel, Jack of Clubs!" A Large Card suddenly appears, blocking the wolf's lunge and forcing it back. "Did...I just do that?

Blood began to seep from Oriana cut and its acidic properties started burning a hole in the sleeve of her dress. Oriana didn't even notice this as she seemed to be lost in a sort of trance. Time seemed to slow down.

Without thinking, she fearlessly lunged at the wolf, tackled it onto its back and bit into its neck. Her teeth effortlessly tore through the flesh, found the vein and bit into it. The wolf howled in immense pain as the vital artery was severed. Oriana didn't stop. She bit into one of his forelegs and tore a huge chunk of the meat off which she swallowed ravenously. Blood was spraying everywhere at this point, dying the wolf, Oriana and the surrounding plant life in a vermillion color. The metalic stench of it was almost sickening. Oriana's saliva seeped into his body and began dissolving it flesh from the inside, only quickening the wolf's painful death. Oriana hungerly licked the blood from from her lips and hands while the wolf squirmed. Her pupils had narrowed into cat-like slits as if to match her animalistic behavior. The wolf's cries died down and stopped after only a few more seconds with the girl on top of it still laughing dementedly. She seemed to forget about Revy's existence as she began eating the dead wolf raw, starting with the forearm she had already taken a bite out of.

Revy had barely processed the card appearing out of nowhere, before Oriana had tackled the wolf. Revy could only watch in shock as Oriana began to tear apart the wolf with what seemed to be fanged teeth. Revy moved back as blood flew everywhere, watching the horrifying spectacle. Bloody Mary, is that what she almost did to me?! She's ripping into that wolf like a demon possessed.  Revy kept his distance as the wolf passed away, and Oriana began eating the beast with a wild look in her eyes. It was then that he noticed the cut on her shoulder, and how the blood seemed to erode the clothing it came in contact with. "Is this what the being meant by wanting us to suffer? Did it do this to her?"  Revy shook his head, trying to force the sight before him out of his mind.  " This is insane! What in bloody hell is going on?!"  He shouts, his voice echoing throughout the surrounding forest. He slumps against a nearby tree, unsure of what to do. His mind and body screamed at him to run away, but his soul told him not to abandon the girl before him. " I don't know what to do."  He could feel something materializing in his hand. Looking down, he say he had somehow created cards in his hand. "This world is messed up. summoning cards, a little girl with fangs, is this some twisted fairytale?" he throws the cards away, watching them fly and stick into a tree, before turning his eyes back to Oriana. " Come back to the quiet girl I set out with. Please, Oriana.

Oriana ate ravanously, enjoying the raw meat's texture and flavor. Blood was smeared all over her face and clothes but she obviously didn't care. She was too engrossed in the thrill of eating. The crunching of flesh drowned out of background noise of the forest and the blood's smell was overwelming enough to make someone gag.

Oriana suddenly stopped her feasting and clutched her head in pain. "No! Stop!" She yelled in protest. She squeezed her and squirmed for a few seconds before falling limp and panting. After recovering, Oriana looked at the scene with horror. She saw the blood on her hands and the dead wolf beneath her. Her dress was matted down with blood and various holes had burned through where her drool had fallen. The wound on her arm had scabbed over but there was a huge hole where the blood had dissolved the cloth. "No...no...no! Not again!" Oriana crawled backward off the corpse with a terrified expression. She backed into a tree and started shaking in disbelief while hugging her knees. Her breathing was fast and panicked and she was in danger of hyperventilating but she fainted from shock before she could.

Revy's mind was in turmoil. He wanted to run away, but he knew there wasn't anywhere he could go. When Oriana had crawled away from the wolf, he could tell she was scared. That settled the turbulent feelings in his head. Regardless of what she did, she's still a little girl. It doesnt matter if she hates me or not, I cant just abandon her in this twisted forest. Revy shook his head to clear his doubt and approached Oriana. He knelt down next to her to check on her, and noticed she had fainted. With a sigh, Revy plopped down on the side of the tree next to her. " For better or worse, we're stuck with each other, Oriana."  Revy sighed again, brought a knee up to his chest to rest an arm on, and started to familiarize himself with the strange power he had acquired. Summoning cards was one thing, but he felt he could do more then that. While she rests, I may as well learn the trigger to summon them. for now, I'll settle for that.

Oriana was unconscious for a few hours at the least. The exact time couldn't be said but the sun was beginning to set when she came to and it didn't take a genius to know that being in a forest at night was dangerous. Oriana woke up with and looked around in confusion for a moment and then all of the memories suddenly rushed back to her. From waking up in Eden to killing the wolf. She started shaking a bit but no as bad as before. She seemed to be much calmer. The blood had dried on her skin and dress and was horriblely uncomfortable. She adjusted herself and leaned forward with her chin on her knee. An scared expression covered her blood stained face as she seemed to stare at nothing.

" Finally awake there, Lass?"  Revy sat nearby, twisting a card between his fingers. he had figured out the triggers to summon the cards over the hours he spent watching over Oriana, and was now just idly practicing his aim with them. several trees had cards sticking from them, and even a few medium sized branches were piled up nearby. While Oriana had rested, and when he wasn't learning more about his strange power,  Revy had spent time gathering food and branches. With everything gathered, he had spent the remaining hour or so just idly throwing cards. He sighed as he turned to Oriana. " Well then, what do you want to do? Do you want me to start a fire to provide some warmth for the night, or do you want to try and press on through the forest?" He motioned to a small pit he had dug, lined with sticks to form a pyramid that would burn for a while.

"Let's just stay here." Oriana replies indifferently without even turning her head. She continued to stare at the space between two trees. As she stared, her eyes suddenly caught sight of something. It was a what looked like a ball of light but as it got closer, she could see that it was actually a golden butterfly. "What the..." Oriana's raised her head with curiousity. The insect flew above Oriana and Revy. It was soon joined by several dozen butterflies of the same color. The butteflies circled the duo a few times before taking off in single file through the trees as if guiding them, creating an unbroken trail of light for them to follow. Oriana was mesmerized. Without thinking, she got up and followed them. Her body was sore from sitting for so long but she paid no heed to it.

After less than a minute, the trees broke way into a very small clearing. In the center was a small pond illuminated by hundreds of butterflies flying all around it that gave almost a heavenly feel. There was only about four feet of clearance from the forest edge to the pond. [I]Water! We were so close to it but didn't even notice![i] Oriana remembered how thirsty she was. She hadn't drunken anything since she had arrived in this horrible place. No, that wasn't true, she had drunken something...but Oriana pushed that thought out of her head. She kneeled over the edge of the water, cupped her hands and drank some of the cool liquid.

Revy chuckled. Seeing the butterfly had invoked a warm feeling inside him, and he smiled. He grew a tad weary when more butterflies showed up, and even more so when they formed a line. I'd rather not test our luck by following them. However, as he turned to face away, He saw Oriana get up and follow the trail of butterflies. " Bloody hell, guess i'll put some faith in Lady Luck for now."  He followed Oriana, using the light trail to maintain sight on her. Soon, the treeline gave way to a small clearing.  Revy looked upon the clearing and the small pond in the center in awe. " Water was this close, and i had no idea. heh, hahaha. I guess I was wrong to be worried about a bunch of butterflies."   Revy continues to laugh to himself as he walks his way over to the pond.