A bright light had been shining. It disturbed Dantes' sleep. He flinched and moved his hand to block the light while his eyes adjusted. Soon after, Rane had done the same. They were still leaning against each other like they had been last night. It was dawn, and the sun had nearly blinded both of them. Once they had collected themselves, they got up. The fire had burnt out overnight. Rane let out a big stretch along with a deep yawn.
Dante had decided to copy Rane and also let out a stretch and a fake yawn. She noticed and gave him a judgmental look. She stood up and let out another stretch.
They both took a second to admire the sunrise. Neither of them had seen one before. The surface was always obstructed by buildings and other artificial structures. It was truly wonderful, the golden aura that flowed from the sun. It was warm and gentle. It was a new experience for Dante. The sky had seemingly absorbed the sun's glow as it had become golden like it. The gentle glow faded to a darker orange and to red and purple. The clouds had also taken on some of the sun as they were emitting a wonderful light. The two had felt they had seen the most wonderful thing in the world. They had drunk some of the water they had found the day prior. It was extremely cold and refreshing, a wonderful way to wake up properly.
They decided they would head north. If they were still in Ihmatus, then going north would bring them to the coast, and they could follow the coast down to Porden, a major city.
Rane asks Dante," Can I use the top of your straightjacket to carry all of the water?".
He reluctantly agrees.
She pulls out her hunting knife and begins to carefully cut the top of the straitjacket. She then ties it in a way to make it hold the canisters and uses the sleeve to carry it like a backpack. The boy offers to hold it for her, but she refuses; he is unsure why. He was told he is physically stronger than humans after all.
They continue north for hours, making small talk now and then.
"Where are you from?" She asks him.
The boy points up at the sky, "A space station up there, called The Prophet of Stars."
The girl has a confused look on her face, "There is no such place, there are only 2 space stations up there belonging to each country, neither of them is called that.".
Rane looks at him skeptically, though she can tell he isn't lying to her. What is going on here? She wonders.
Dialogue between them after this was few and far between. They didn't talk about anything of importance either.
They began to smell something strange. The boy didn't know what it was; the girl, however, knew it was salt. She told him they should start heading east, but not long after, the sun began to set. They had completely forgotten about firewood. It would be extremely cold, especially for the boy, now that his upper body was exposed. Rane put down the makeshift backpack and began to quickly search for anything that could burn.
They had collected a few sticks, but it was certainly not enough to last the night. They didn't create a mound of ash and dirt to hide behind tonight. They simply lit the pile of sticks in little amounts. It lasted them around 4 hours before all the heat from the fire had gone. They were getting very cold very fast.
"I have an idea, but it's a bad one," she says, "I'll use my power".
Dante does not know why this idea is a bad one; after all, she can create fire from nothing. She once again murmurs something under her breath, and a flame appears in her palm. The boy noticed that now, she uses her left hand, which he thought was strange, given that she was right-handed. This lasts a while; the flame is not particularly strong, but it's enough to keep them from freezing. They huddle around her palm to try to get as warm as possible. This carries on for some time until Rane winces in pain. Her palm was slowly starting to burn. The more she used her flames, the more intense the burning became. It was now almost dawn, and despiteDantes's persistence, Rane had kept using her power all this time. She stopped as soon as the sun had come up.
She was burned up to the elbow and was now crying from pain. She grabbed her arm at the bicep and squeezed as hard as she could, but it did not help. She stood up and began to walk east. Dante had followed her after he picked up the bag of water canisters.
They had walked and walked for a long time, and Rane's pain had begun to soften as they walked. And as they walked across the wastelands, they saw a small hint of green in the distance. They felt a flood of relief wash over them, and it seemed to have washed away most of Rane's pain as well. They quickened their pace, eager to get there faster. Not long after, they had arrived at the grassy plain. Rane had fallen onto the grass and began rolling around out of joy. Dante stood and watched her enjoy herself. He was unsure of what to do, so he simply did nothing. He waited for a while until Rane had finished. However, she didn't get up. The boy had noticed that she had collapsed from exhaustion. The boy went to pick her up off the ground. As he did, he felt the grass brush against him and stopped. It was so soft. He had begun to feel it for a while out of curiosity before he finally picked Rane up. He carried her with two arms across the sea of grass. He carried on walking in the direction they were going previously, as he didn't know where to go from here.
He walked for what seemed like forever, before long, the sun had begun to set. Dante had been carrying the girl this whole time without any rest and was not particularly tired. After all, he was designed this way. As it was about to be dark, he saw the roof of a house. He had never seen this style of construction besides in history books, so he knew it was old. It had a straw roof and was made almost entirely of wood. Dante thought that perhaps there was a museum of sorts, and it was one of the displays.
As he hurried forward towards this building, he noticed there were many of them. All slightly different. He now knew it was not an exhibit. As he got close, he could see people walking into their houses. He had arrived at this strange location.
"Can somebody help me, please?" he went around saying timidly, not loud enough for someone to hear him.
Until he came across a younger boy and asked if he could ask someone to help. He showed him the arm of Rane. The boy ran quickly to his home, and his father came out moments later with the boy. The boy had pointed out the two, and they approached hurriedly.
"Come into my home, I can help you there", the father had said.
You enter his home, lay Rane down on the floor, and the man begins to wrap her arm in bandages.
"Son, go to the Pastor and ask for some Holy Water," he said sternly and clearly.
His son left the house in a hurry and came back not long after; it was a small village after all. The father then poured the Holy Water over Rane's arm, and a blue mist had started to come from the burns. Dante stands there, confused. Moments later, the father removes the bandages, and to the boy's surprise, the burns are all gone.
"T-thank you very m-much", Dante says.
The father nods.
He picks up Rane and places her on some straw in another room.
"She's not the lightest, you must be quite strong," he says.
Dante nods.
"Sir, where are we?" Dante asks.
"Ind, young boy"
...