With a small splash, he placed the cloth back into the water and looked into my eyes with admiration gleaming in their scarlet depths. “Valarendrik.” He said while pointing to his chest, then he pointed to me with a look of curiosity. I didn’t respond and just stared at him blankly. “Valarendrik.” He repeated his previous actions.

...Vala-what?

...Well, by the way he’s pointing to himself, it’s safe to assume that peculiar and particularly lengthy word is his name... But how the fuck am I ever going to remember that bizarre-sounding thing?

I awkwardly cleared my throat, realizing that he was trying to exchange introductions. “Lucilia.” I pointed to myself as I softly spoke.

His face lit up with a wide smile. “Lucilia.” He repeated.

That joyous smile was like a contagious disease, and I couldn’t help but smile back. He continued to clean more grime from me, gliding the cool cloth over the length of my arms. He even took the time to wash my hands, attentively wiping the dirt from my palms and each finger. His snarled hair draped to the floor beside us, and I noticed a literal stick entangled within its ebony veil.

His large body shuffled in front of me, and he wrapped his large clawed hand around my calf. Carefully, he cleaned around the many cuts on my legs, then moved hesitantly up my outer thighs while slightly leaning over me. It almost would have been romantic in a weird way. If only he were a human with a haircut, and I wasn’t an injured and disheveled mess inside of a cave, trapped in a horrifyingly dark world.

He cleaned my right foot, then looked at my left one, then to the water, then back at my foot, and then up to me. “Stay.” He said again, then awkwardly walked backward out of the cave with the bowl. He was only gone briefly, then he came back with new clean water. He crouched down before my foot again and firmly grabbed ahold of my ankle.

My eyes widened in fright, as I watched his claws lengthen dramatically to razor-sharp points. “Okay.” He reassured with an apologetic look, right before using those terrifying finger-daggers to dig out one of the pebbles lodged in my flesh.

“Holy fucking son of a bitch!”

I cried out in agonizing pain and flung myself forwards, grasping at my leg. “Fuck.. cunt.. bitch.. bastard.. dammit.. slubberdegullion!” I screamed every curse word that came to mind, as he gently shushed while continuing to remove the small bloody stones. Each one clinked to the floor, while tears streamed down my cheeks. I had to bite my knuckles to keep from screaming anymore, and he had to tighten his grip on my ankle to keep me from pulling away.

This has to be done... This has to be motherfucking done, dammit! I mentally chanted to myself in complete anguish. Fucking fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck... Oh and did I mention, fuck?

“Okay, Lucilia, okay.” He gently cooed.

It seemed to go on forever. My breathing was rapid, and I was crumpled up against the wall with my eyes squeezed tightly closed by the end of it. Relief filled my very soul when I finally heard him say “good.” But that relief was short-lived because soon I was hissing from the pain of him washing it out.

Once that was finally over, he got up and walked to the chest. I trembled as I watched him open it and pull out two black cloths. He used his claws to rip one of them into thick ribbons, then glided back over to me. My foot throbbed as he used the material to bandage it up, tying it tightly on top. “Good.” He said while nodding at my foot in accomplishment.

“Th-thank you.” I weakly stuttered with tears still trailing down my face.

“You’re welcome.” He answered again while holding out the other cloth and unfolding it so I could see that it was a shirt. His hand lightly tugged on my dress, then he shrugged and placed the shirt down beside me. It was then that I noticed that my dress hadn’t fully dried yet... And that my nipples were completely visible through the thin wet material... Well fuck, that’s embarrassing.

With a smile, he left the cave yet again, taking the bowl with him. I hesitantly grabbed the shirt and held it up before me. It was huge, definitely his, and made from a soft cotton-like material with thin leather straps creating a strange design over the short sleeves and across the chest.

My eyes warily peeked out into the blackness of the doorway... He could easily be watching me from out there... Do I really want to do this? An internal battle raged in my mind for a quick moment, then I ultimately decided that it would be best to wear something dry. I didn’t want to be lost, injured, and sick.

Swift as lightning, I abruptly ripped my dress off over my head like it was on fire, then frantically scrambled to get the shirt on. Unfortunately, between being injured and my hastiness, I somehow fucked it up and became tangled in the damn thing. I accidentally flopped onto my side, with my head trapped in what I was now realizing was a sleeve.

“Come on, you stupid shirt!” I grumbled with a hint of panic in my voice, while pathetically squirming around like a disgruntled eel.

“Lucilia?” His deep accented voice suddenly froze me in place. Which was probably not a good thing, since he was definitely getting a decent view of my scandalous little lacy peach panties, midriff, and some good side boob too... Shit.

“I’m fine. I-I can do it.” I stammered, as he very gently helped me wrangle the shirt on correctly.

My disheveled head popped up through the neck hole, causing my flower crown to listlessly fall off beside me. I quickly shimmied the bottom down over my thighs, thankful that it was large enough to be like a baggy knee-length dress. My eyes blinked up at him, and I was well aware that my cheeks were bright red with mortification.

He clearly noticed too, because he was staring at them with great intensity. He tilted his head side to side while the bones on his forehead creepily twitched. His eerie gaze then moved to my eyes. It was as if he was completely mesmerized by them, unable to look away. I just silently sat there and stared back at him, unsure of what to do... Okay, this is really awkward...

He stayed crouched before me like that for what felt like a really long time. With my newfound sense of security, the adrenaline in my system had all but dissipated, and exhaustion was swiftly taking over. I softly yawned, piquing his interest.

“Oh, sleep!” He suddenly exclaimed while perking his head up, startling me a bit.

“Yes, sleep.” I replied while looking around for anything that he might possibly use as a bed... Maybe he hangs upside down from the cave ceiling like a vampire?... Then again, maybe he is a vampire...

The thought of sleeping in this harrowing place constricted my chest with unease, but staying up wasn’t really an option. Being overly exhausted wouldn’t do me any good in a place like this. And besides, I felt safe enough staying here with Vala-whatever-his-name-was. He didn’t seem to be malicious at all, and could easily protect me with those swords of his.

He looked around as if unsure of himself, then tentatively leaned forward and folded me into his arms. I softly squeaked in surprise as he pulled me up, then rolled over and stiffly laid down, slightly reclining against the wall in an uncomfortable-looking position. My cheek rested against his bare chest, as I awkwardly laid on top of him.

Okay... Well, I guess I’m using him as a bed then?

A black shadowy mist began swirling over me, covering my body like a warm feathery blanket. I warily widened my eyes and nervously gripped his jacket. What in the hell? My heart rate quickened and I froze in fear while trying to take deep calming breaths.

I just need to relax. This may be insanely creepy, but he probably wouldn’t have cleaned my wounds and bandaged my foot if he planned to kill me or suck out my soul, or whatever he does...

“Sleep?” He slightly shrugged with a look of uncertainty.

Since I really didn’t have any other options, I wigged my legs against the smooth leather of his pants to get a bit more comfortable, then forcefully closed my eyes and tried to relax. Although my head was on his chest, I noticed that I couldn’t hear or feel his heartbeat. It was sort of bizarre.

His arms stayed wrapped tenderly around me, as the shadowy mist lulled my senses closer to sleep. The withered ambery glow of the lantern was very dim and unimpressive, but it still brought me some comfort as I quietly sniffled, longing to go home. The fear and pain that I was in made it rather difficult to drift off into slumber. But eventually, I did, with tears softly trickling down my cheeks, all snuggled up in the big strong arms of my dark otherworldly rescuer.