CHAPTER 49: MUCH NEEDED REST

I jolt awake as I look around to see that we are still on the same floor as before. My head was on something soft before I jolted up which was odd.

Turning around I notice that Velia is sitting there and that the spot I was laying my head originally was on her lap.

I can only wonder how long I was asleep since there’s no real indicator for time in here. I’ll also feel bad if she let me lay on her lap this whole time instead of of getting some proper rest herself.

It was definitely some much needed rest so I can’t complain in that regard but I do still feel a bit of the pain throughout my body. It’s expected that it wouldn’t all heal right away like it did back in the dungeon.

I’m definitely quite curious if my power can heal my a lot faster than the natural healing over time but it’ll take some time to learn. That’ll definitely cut down on the rest time for me if I can figure out how to use my power to heal my wounds.

Velia opens her eyes and looks up at me. "About time you’re awake stupid Roku." Velia says while wiping her eyes.

Maybe she was worried about me when I fell back onto the ground which makes sense. Originally I didn’t expect her to care much for me since we haven’t been together that long but I guess fighting through hell together can make a difference.

"How long was I out?" I ask curiously.

"Luckily it’s only been a couple of hours." Velia responds while slowly standing up.

Well that’s definitely a lot better than the last time I blacked out. I’ll definitely take a couple of hours over a couple of days so that’s a win in my book.

Taking a few glances around I notice that everything is pretty tame in here now, almost as if Lazarus was never here to begin with. The tornadoes made of fire were gone and the landscape has taken on more of a calmer look.

It still looked like shit but it was at least a lot more peaceful to be on this floor for the time being.

Velia walks up to me and seems to be examining me. "You’ll definitely still need to recover before we proceed." Velia says while observing me.

"I kind of figured that much. Maybe this will be a good chance for us to get to know each other better then." I suggest.

I’ll have to get to know Lilly a bit better when I’m done here too of course but at least this will save me time. Learning about Velia now means I won’t need to do it all later.

I mean, I really am curious about who she really is and where she came from because she doesn’t look like someone from our world. Her appearance is definitely quite odd in a lot of ways but I don’t think it looks bad or anything.

She ponders for a moment before speaking. "Sure, I don’t see why we couldn’t do that." Velia agrees to my suggestion without any issue.

We find somewhere to sit before this conversation can start since it would feel weird just standing around doing this. It wasn’t hard to find ourselves some makeshift chairs since there was a lot around us.

Rocks were always good enough chairs, regardless of where you are.

"So why don’t you tell me about yourself first and then I’ll go." Velia says while crossing her arms.

"Yeah, sure." I respond.

(Some stuff about my past.)

I didn’t always have this power that you’ve seen since we met, it was something that took a long time to awaken. Unlike the others who awakened at the beginning of the collapse I was left talentless, unable to use anything.

For 12 grueling years I was left with nothing to use in the battle against monsters. So I became a junker to survive since it was the only way of making any sort of money in the new world.

Most talentless people died off early or ended up getting killed by hunters who couldn’t stand the fact. I was amongst the lucky ones who did enough as a junker to avoid such a fate.

For years I didn’t know if I even cared about living or not since I didn’t have anyone or anything left. My sister died right in front of me as others ran away in fear, I couldn’t do a thing to save her.

That’s something that still haunts me to this day about the beginning of the collapse, the only family I had left was taken from me. There was no way for me to save her from the monsters who tore through my home.

"Your sister, was she older than you or younger?" Velia asks curiously.

"Older. I was 7 and she was 14." I answer while staring at the ground.

(Continuing)

Eventually after a long time of digging through scraps I ended up finding a cyborg from the beginning of the collapse. Ghost, the girl you saw with us before.

Something about her sparked something within me to leave the junkyard, to do something better. I fought monsters for the first time because of her, even if I almost died... It told me that I might have a purpose in this world after all.

That maybe I was meant to do something here instead of just digging through scraps all my life. I was right after I entered a dungeon something awakened inside of me.

(I stop talk about it after that.)

"I won’t ask about your past before the collapse too much right now but that is a lot." Velia says with a bit of a surprised tone.

"Tell me about it, I didn’t say everything that happened but there has definitely been a lot." I reply while looking back up at her.

"I guess it’s my turn to tell you about me." Velia says before letting out a sigh.