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Chapter 8 - The Other Side

Isel blinked and immediately jumped back at what he saw. His foot got caught on a tree root protruding from the ground as he fell to the ground. His bandaged hand struck a small rock on the ground as he tried to break his fall.

"Agh…"

What greeted Isel was a massive and extremely lush forest. The great sprawl of leaves and deep brown hue of the trees surrounded him and rose up to an insurmountable canopy, with dense vegetation and life scattered across the landscape. Indeed, Aeshval was quite the change of pace from the spiked desert.

His awe was interrupted before he had time to fully process his surroundings. The familiar fog that blanketed his memory and mind came once more. This time it was not there to conceal. This time it beckoned him to remember something. Remember what? The fog hadn't dissipated yet, but it teased and teetered along the edge.

He turned his head while he thought about it, but hadn't realized that doing so would give him the answer. As he turned to see what was behind him he was met with a beautiful lake extend indefinitely into the distance.

Looking over the endless lake, that's when the fog that pushed to the front of his mind cleared itself partially as he finally remembered. Dread spread across his face as he felt a sharp pain overtake his entire body. Sustenance! He needed to satiate himself. Not just food, but water too.

Isel involuntarily retched from the sheer shock of the pain, yet nothing came out of his mouth except strands of saliva. He was incredibly starved and dehydrated. He hurriedly scrambled to the edge of the lake, boorishly submerging his face into the mass of water in an attempt to nourish himself. The pain wracked his entire body, forcing tears out of his eyes and making him want to shout.

Drinking the water in the lake hardly had a helpful effect in the short term. His body recognized he was consuming something and this immediately made him feel even more famished. He had no other choice but to bear through the pain. He didn't know how long Leal had been inside of Comeidlan exactly, but for Isel to be feeling the pain he was in, it must have been at least a few weeks.

He hadn't noticed the arrival of Siphos and Charine in Aeshval while his head was submerged, and also because the shock started to make his vision fail. The most he caught a glimpse of every time he took his head out of the water to breathe was Charine undergoing the same regiment as him, and Siphos rushing off into the forest. Isel didn't have time to concern himself with either of them as he dunked his head in the water once again.

He groaned as he took his head out of the lake once more, and felt that if he drank any more he would regurgitate it all. He laid on his side and curled into a ball as the pain still continued to course through his body. He saw Charine lying flat on her back next to him on the edge of the lake covering her face with her arms, groaning occasionally.

Charine had mentioned before that Comeidlan was the most dangerous of all the lands that humanity had known about before when the two had first met, but now he fully understood why. It was partly because of the phenomena that occurred in the place of course; but the most glaring consequence of exploring the spiked desert was that it stripped you of nourishment. There was no such thing in the desert. There were no memories of it and no immediate drawbacks, but the price you paid for leaving was having that lack of sustenance take its toll on you. A truly horrible form of karma.

Just then he thought of Siphos. Isel saw him running away just a few minutes ago, and there was still no sign of him. After pleading so much to be escorted would he abandon the group immediately? No, surely he was missing something.

Huddled on the ground, Isel did his best to not lose consciousness. The pain was a lot to handle, but he feared what would happen if he succumbed to his desire to rest. Even though he knew that if someone came to attack him he would be practically unable to fight back. Perhaps he could fire a single shot from the gun if he was lucky enough.

Siphos came running back from the forest. He had discarded most of the armor and only wore the metal boots, gloves, and thick black cloth. In his hand he carried a familiar sack, it was the one Charine had made to carry the prints. He came to a halt between the two who were laying on the ground and removed its contents. His face was incredibly strained and covered in sweat.

"Come on! Eat, eat it quickly!"

Siphos took out small sections of cooked meat, along with plenty of plants, berries, and even some leaves.

"It's all edible, just eat anything you can!"

Charine didn't hesitate to reach for the contents of the sack, and Isel followed suit quickly after. They ate barbarically, not taking a moment to savor the food. Isel choked on the food multiple times, and constantly suppressed the urge to gag. He was far too hungry.

The pain vanished almost instantly, and he felt euphoric.The relief of the pain leaving him was the best thing he had felt in his life. Isel glazed over this detail and finally spoke while coughing.

"Thank you. Thank you, Siphos."

Charine picked herself up and stumbled against the base of a tree. She untied the black straps that crossed over what remained of the white layers of cloth under them, letting them all fall and leaving only the tightly tied black straps wrapping around her upper body horizontally. Isel did the same and crossed his legs as he sat up. Siphos spoke out with a worried tone once more.

"Are you alright? You looked horrible..."

His face showed a deep concern. He turned to look at Charine over at the trunk of the tree and sighed.

"How long were you guys even in there?"

Charine coughed out a response.

"A month. Thanks for the food."

She shook her head and let it down while taking deep breaths. She put he palm and her forehead, running her fingers through her dark hair.

"Sorry, Isel. We really should have been in a rush."

He attempted to stand as he replied.

"It's not your fault. Everyone was equally clueless about the situation, right?"

Charine kept her face hanging low.

"Yes, but still."

Isel turned to Siphos.

"Where did you get this food?"

"An elk fawn, but there was too much meat to carry over. Only cooked as much as I could bring."

"How did you kill It so quickly? Is the knife really that good for hunting?"

Siphos shook his head as he looked down.

"I-"

Charine cut him off.

"The knife can't harm anything, Isel. Don't forget."

"Oh, right."

Siphos nodded in agreement before continuing with a shrug.

"I just strangled it. I was able to sneak up on it."

Isel felt that he should have been somewhat remorseful as it was a young animal, but he couldn't produce the feeling. The meat of that fawn saved him from an insufferable pain, he'd have killed almost anything to stop it. He the remembered how quickly the pain dissipated. It was extremely abnormal, and he thought that he should've suffered some negative long term effect for being malnourished. Except he felt completely fine, as if nothing had happened.

"Charine?"

She finally brought her head back up and rested it back against the trunk.

"Yeah?"

"Can you explain anything about what happened with the food?"

She answered as if she expected him to ask.

"It's like you felt for yourself. In Comeidlan you're forced to forget about all forms of sustenance. Once you leave, you'll suffer a severe pain based on how long you've been in the place."

"But how come I'm not thinner? Weaker? I feel the same as I did before leaving."

"Isn't it obvious? All the pain isn't brought by any physical changes. Comeidlan keeps your body perfectly healthy. No matter how long you stay. It's all mental, and it goes away as soon as you eat and drink some small and arbitrary amount. As for why this happens, we still don't know. We've never gotten a single close to finding the truth behind any single thing that happens there, just ran into more and more mysteries."

"But if it's all mental, how does it make Comeidlan dangerous?"

"Mental harm can be just as dangerous as physical harm. You can go insane from just from the pain if you stay too long there. That's what happened to the first group of people who came back."

"I see…"

Isel attempted to wrap his head around the situation. If he had and Charine had both chosen to laze around inside the spiked desert, could they have gone insane upon entering Aeshval? He dispelled the thought. It didnt matter after all, he was still alive and sane.

"In any case, if he didn't bring us food, we'd have had to find a way to eat enough by ourselves while being assaulted by the pain…"

Charine nodded softly before facing Siphos. She hesitated before speaking.

"We're lucky to have you. Seems you didn't spend longer than a day in there. I owe you a lot more than just gratitude."

Siphos chuckled, shifting away from his previous concern.

"All you owe me is your company, remember?"

Charine sighed.

"I suppose I do."

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