The Arcane Archer

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that it was very cold and that I felt like I was moving somewhere. When I actually opened my eyes, I saw I was in a wagon being pulled by two horses and three other people in the back with me.

One of the people upon seeing me spoke up and said, "Hey you. You"re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border right?"

Upon hearing this I started screaming.

Upon doing so, I bolted up from where I was and realized that it was all just a dream. Looking around, I noticed I was back at the entrance of my cave.

Sitting a couple of feet away was someone wearing a cloak and hiding their face. When they noticed me looking in their direction, the person got up and headed towards me while holding a knife

They got closer and closer until they were finally close enough to touch me.

The person then knelt down and slowly moved the knife downwards.

"P-please don"t kill me."

They stopped moving the knife and looked me in the face. Under their hood, I still couldn"t tell what they looked like as they had a mask on as well.

The person just shook their head and then continued moving the knife until it went to my hands and cut off a rope I didn"t even know was there.

"Oh.... my bad, thought you were going to kill me."

The person once again shook their head as if they were disappointed in me for thinking that.

With my hands now free, I attempted to get up from where I was but the person used their free hand to push me back down. They then reached into a small satchel on their side and pulled out a small thing of bread and handed it to be.

Once it was in my hand, they made a gesture indicating that I was supposed to eat it. I looked at it for a second before shoving it in my mouth and chewing it.

While it was very bland, it ignited the hunger in me after who knows how many days I was asleep.

As soon as I finished the piece they gave me, I looked back up and asked if they had any more.
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They just shook their head and went back to the side of the cave and sat down.

I contemplated just pulling out a bunch of food from my inventory to eat but because this was my first time meeting someone here, I didn"t want to risk doing something that shouldn"t normally be possible.

Getting up, I went to the other side of the cave where the person was sitting and looked for my bow that I left behind previously. It was easily found as it propped up against the wall with my quiver next to it with a smaller amount of arrows then I left it.

I put them both on and started making my way out of the cave. Before I left entirely, I stood at the very entrance and said, "I"m going to hunt for some food. If you"re still here when I"m back then we can eat it together." And then left.

I searched and hunted for a bit less then a hour and caught 3 rabbits in total. Each of them offered 1 Xp and System points each so I didn"t level up.

I made my way back to the cave and noticed as soon as I got close that a little bit of smoke was exiting through the entrance.

Making my way into the cave, I lifted up the three rabbits for the person to see and then started working on skinning them and removing the blood so that we could eat them.

As soon as I started working on the first rabbit and making some progress, the person came up and took my knife while rapidly shaking their head.

They pushed me away from the rabbit and quickly skinned it. While doing so they showed me how to do it properly and my dismantling skill even leveled up just from watching.

Once all 3 were done, we put them on sticks over the fire and started to cook them. During the time they were cooking, I just started between the fire and the person.

Eventually to escape the awkwardness I was in, I spoke up.

"Sooo... may I ask who you are?"

No reply.

"No? May I then ask if you were the one who saved me?"

They looked up and nodded before looking back at the fire and waiting for their food to finish cooking.

Once again there was a awkward silence.

"Do you uhh... Do you know how to speak or are you mute?"

The person looked up at me.

In a very quiet voice I was barely able to bear over the fire, I heard a small, "Yes"

Though it was just a small start, I was glad to have heard them say something.

We continued watching the fire in silence until the meat was fully cooked and when it was we took it off the sticks and chowed down into it.

Or, at least I did.

The person just sat there staring at their food and not moving a muscle. It continued on like this for a solid five minutes (Which I continued to eat during), until they finally moved and moved a hand up to their face.

They grabbed the mask and slowly moved it slightly away from their face but still kept it close. The person then moved the food closer to their mouth and ate some while continuing to make sure the mask was blocking my view of their face.

After a small amount of the food was done, they put the mask back in place and handed me the rest of their food.

I took it and just held it in my hand while continuing to stare at them.

"Why don"t you want me to see your face?"

They looked up at me and just stared me in the face.

"....cause.... I.... hurt...." they spoke in a very quiet voice

Again silence took hold of the conversation and made it awkward.

After a bit of time, instead of me continuing the conversation, they kick-started it instead. They reached up to their mask and grabbed it while slowly moving away. Underneath the mask was a heavily burnt face of a girl that showed that it continued way down on her left side.

She left the mask off before putting it back on and then continuing to stare into the fire. Neither of us said anything for the rest of the day.

Eventually it became dark and as I started going into my tent, she continued to just sit there staring into the fire.

"Goodnight Miss... Uhh... You know what, as you didn"t give me your name, I"ll call you Ms. Feuer (A/N: German word for fire.). I would like to thank you for somehow finding me and saving me. I would like to somehow repay it in some way or form if possible but for now it is time to sleep. Good night Ms. Feuer."

And then I went to bed.

The night pa.s.sed slowly as I had trouble finding sleep but eventually it came to me. Once it did, the night quickly pa.s.sed and when I woke up I walked out of the tent and saw that she left. Outside of my tent on top of a rock was a small book with a small vial of ink and a quill to write.

Picking up the book, I turned to the first page and found a little message.

"I was out in the woods when I head a loud screaming and found your cave. Continuing inside, I eventually came to find you constantly burning and healing at the same time. Though in normal situations I would"ve taken everything you own, I know the pain of being burned alive. I waited for the fire to die down and eventually it did so I dragged you back to your little camp and made sure to tie you up in case you would attempt to fight me.

When you woke up, I saw the fear in your eyes of me which convinced me even more that you needed help. I stayed with you for a bit and taught you some things. Though or time together may have been short and you didn"t really know me, I"m sorry to say that I couldn"t respond much to your questions as the fire has permanently deformed so that I can"t speak much. I leave this small journal for you as a reminder of what you learned in hopes that the next time we meet you won"t be burning alive again.

?????????, ??????? ?????.

PS, I liked the name you gave me."

and that"s where it ended.

Though I found it a little weird that she left it for me, I still thought of it as something nice. Also minding the fact where she said she was going to take everything I owned, she actually turned out to have a nice heart.