Headed by a Snake

Imperia sat up and rubbed her head, brushing off the mud and leaves and... just... filth that was covering her.

Without the thin layer of warmth, the sharp cold bit into her skin...

Someone had deliberately protected her while she was unconscious.

But... who?

...Or what?

A loud crack shocked Imperia into a state of hyper-awareness. Then she heard it again... clinking away with near-even repetition.

Slinking away, she quietly lowered her body into the marshwater...

It was cold.

She circulated her mana to keep warm... and to keep any strange swamp creatures from thinking she was easy prey.

Swimming silently around the reeds, Imperia spotted a human girl in the distance. She was clumsily smashing a rock against another rock like a savage.

What was she doing? If she was trying to make a fire, that... was not that way to go about it.

...Was it the human child who had rescued her?

Imperia smirked to herself. The favor was appreciated... She would at least repay it with an Elementary-Rank fire spell. Though her high affinity for water magic made it difficult to cast other spells, she had no issue lighting dry wood.

...Very dry wood, anyroad.

The human girl stood up.

Her brown hair was a mess... her face smudged by dirt, her linen clothes torn with one sleeve notably absent. Her hands were wrapped-- presumably by the cloth from the missing sleeve... and dried blood had soaked through around her fingertips.

In her hands, however... was a spear. She was sharpening the flint tip.

Imperia furrowed her brows as she noticed a stone hatchet at the girl's feet.

Did she... make that? It was a rough, barbaric tool... but not something she'd have expected a child to craft on their own.

She could scarcely believe it. While humans physically age faster than elves, the girl was barely a teenager-- if that. When Imperia was her age, she was suffering her mother's tutors... warm and safe, indoors.

...If Imperia was in the human girl's shoes-- not that she was wearing any, she'd have been useless.

Was... she just weak? Or was this child forced to mature so quickly, in order to survive?

The child scrambled up a series of round boulders and eyed the fish hiding in reeds. She readied her weapon... and without hesitation, tossed it into the mud.

"You hungry?" The girl asked while looking towards where Imperia was hidden.

"How did you know where I was?"Imperia grimaced as she stood up, sweeping algae off of her skin.

"I didn't," The girl faced her and smiled, "I just spoke aloud on the chance you woke up."

Her eyes were sharp and unfriendly... like an elf's. Or rather... Imperia thought they looked much like her own.

When the child withdrew her spear, there was a fat grey fish on its end, even bigger than her head, "I have a campfire a little bit away from here. You were too heavy to move last night, but--"

"Excuse me," Imperia glared. "Are you calling me fat?"

"Look," The girl rolled her eyes, "I'm twelve. You're an adult. I tried to move you-- but I don't exactly have a lot of strength."

Heat creeped into Imperia's cheeks. Asking a twelve year old girl to carry her anywhere was... unfair.

She relaxed her stance and sighed. It was pointless to be so hostile to her savior... much less, a harmless human child, "Where are we?"

The child's face fell... "I was kinda hoping you would know."

She gestured around her, "The waters carried me to right about where I found you. My village should be... within a sun or two-- I hope."

Imperia nodded slowly... "I... I came from there, Thorne Village, right? Then you're... Willow?"

"Y-yeah, that's right!" Willow's eyes brightened, "Is... is my brother doing okay? He's... kinda a crybaby."

Imperia giggled to herself, "He's worried about you. I'm a little jealous, to be honest."

A human girl... alone and in the middle of the swamps... there was no need for Imperia to be guarded around. Because of that, a truth came out of her mouth that she didn't realize until she said it.

"We can share him if you want," Willow smirked. "I'm sure Sprig'll be overjoyed to have another sister to pester."

"Sister, huh?" Imperia pursed her lips.

That... was something Imperia never thought about... to have a sister that she didn't need to compete with... someone to rely on... someone she could be reliable for without worry of being backstabbed.

No one was around to watch her.

...No one would judge her for doing whatever she wanted.

She curtised as a proper Princess was supposed to, "My name is Imperia."

Willow's eyes widened for a moment... "Wow. That's... a really pretty name."

"Willow is so much prettier," Imperia answered honestly.

It was an Elven name... not a disgusting human one, given by a mother that wanted to groom her to integrate with humans.

The whole situation gave Imperia a strange sense of euphoria. She was being honest to one of her sisters. It was... a new feeling...

She didn't hate it.

Willow... the girl would be useful! And she probably knew her way around the swamps better than Imperia did.

Together, they could meet back up with their group. It didn't have to be one-sided help, either. Imperia was an adult-- that meant that she was far more capable of protecting the two of them than the other way around.

"Guess we're even then, big sis," Willow shrugged. "Well, I don't plan on waiting around to be rescued, are you?"

"Yeah, probably not," Imperia laughed.

She thought about her other traveling companions...

The Maedar wasn't going to go out of his way to save her... and King... he was too preoccupied with hunting the Swamp Monster to care otherwise.

And then... she thought of that insufferable human.

...That idiot-Captain Krysaos didn't think she could make friends-- but in less than five minutes of putting her mind to it, Imperia had already picked up a sister!

Nothing was different. If she wanted to get what she wanted-- out of the swamp and back to her ship, she had to rely on her own two hands (and a willing subordinate) to do it.

"Come on," Willow waved her speared fish as she began to walk away. "I won't be able to finish this thing by myself."

...

⟬ Gather first ally (1/1). ⟭

⟬ Quest complete. ⟭

⟬ Rewarding experience... ⟭

⟬ Congratulations, host has reached Level 13. ⟭

Willow felt her chest grow hot... the heat warming her entire body. Just a little bit of her fatigue drained away.

It felt nice... leveling up.

Level 13...

Willow glanced over at her new companion, sitting by the fire. She seemed hungry, but she nibbled at her portion of fire-roasted catfish like a squirrel.

⟬ Imperia, Level 22 Elven Cleric. ⟭

At first glance, Imperia didn't seem like a reliable adult... not reliable like her dad, anyroad. She was pretty... and Willow loved the way she braided her hair... but the elf didn't look much older than she was.

Elves grew up slower than humans, though... so Willow figured she probably was.

Imperia was a godsend... a proper adult helping her-- and hopefully making the swamp a lot less scary.

...Of course, Willow wasn't useless. They were going to have to work together to survive.

She closed her eyes and accessed her System interface in her mind...

« System, I wanna spend my points to upgrade something. »

⟬ You have enough points to choose one of X talents. Display list? Y/N? ⟭

Willow would have probably given up a long time ago, without her System...

...Also, without the points she put in ⌈Water Breathing,⌋ she'd have definitely been dead.

Her System gave her hope and, more importantly, direction.

It guided her to make some simple stone tools... and a campfire. Then, those few points she put in to boost her dexterity helped her catch something to eat.

And even though she would have tried to rescue Imperia anyroad, it was nice of the System to give her enough experience points to reach Level 13.

It had been about two moons since the emerald scales started to grow on her chest.

...Two moons since she started hearing the System's voice in her mind... giving her weird dreams, sometimes-random quests, and the occasional talent point for all the dumb things she had to do.

...Two moons.

It had been two moons since Dad went missing, too.

If she kept leveling at the same speed, she'd reach Imperia's level in less than a year.

But first... she had to survive that long.

Staying in Thorne Bay wasn't going to work... especially after what they did to her-- and probably to Dad, before that.

Being Level 13-- even if Willow had a Level 22 helping her out, she had no chance surviving against the thing she saw in that cave... As long as the Swamp Monster was still around, the villagers definitely wouldn't give her a warm welcome if she went back.

She didn't want to go back. With Dad gone, she and Sprig didn't have any real reason to stay.

Maybe the two of them could stow away on a ship? Or maybe she could ask Imperia for help? She looked like the adventuring type...