by Ennki Hakari
Adventures in Babysitting
Ariane and Chiyome inspected the remains of the hideout belonging to Hanzo, the Jinshin clan’s founder. It was exactly where the Dragon Lord Villiers Fim told them it would be, but all that remained of the shrine were moss-covered stone walls. The wooden roof had rotted away long ago.
A soul-wrenching scream came from the direction of the hot spring, where the two women had left Arc. They looked around in surprise.
“What was that?!”
“Whoa!”
Ariane and Chiyome, both blessed with impeccable hearing, exchanged a look and nodded. Ariane drew her sword and took off at a run toward the outdoor bath.
“Arc, are you oka—”
When she got there, however, Ariane was surprised to see a strange man lying on the ground beside the water.
“Hey, who are you?!”
She’d expected to find a familiar skeleton, either bare to the bone or wearing gleaming silver armor. Instead, she found a muscular, unshaven man with brown skin and long black hair. Ponta licked the strange man’s cheek furtively.
“Kyi! Kyiiii!”
Ariane’s knowledge that spirit creatures rarely took to humans, and that Ponta had stayed behind with Arc, left one possibility as to this suspicious man’s identity.
“Arc, is…is that you?”
Chiyome approached the man and looked him over, checking for injuries. “It’s got to be him. Seems like the hot spring had an effect after all.”
Arc, no longer a pile of bones, was now covered in powerful muscles. Although his new skin was warm to the touch, he shivered, his face pale.
Ariane moved up beside Chiyome to take a look at Arc herself. “What’s going on? If the spring brought back his flesh, then why did he collapse?”
Seeing Arc—a guy who’d returned to his easygoing demeanor moments after facing a Dragon Lord—lying naked in the open air was unsettling.
The man stopped moving, his groans going silent.
“A-Arc…?” Ariane’s lips trembled, her voice tense.
Chiyome put her fingers to his neck to check for a pulse. She pulled open his eyelids and examined his pupils. She lowered a catlike ear to his mouth and listened to his breathing.
“He’s okay, Ariane. He just passed out.”
Some of the tension left Ariane’s shoulders. “Don’t scare me like that, you jerk!” She shot Arc a steely glare, then turned back to Chiyome. “I wonder if the hot spring caused this. We both dipped our hands into it, but I didn’t feel anything. What’s going on here?”
Chiyome only shrugged. “I have no idea. Neither of us is cursed, so maybe that’s why it didn’t affect us.”
Ariane frowned. “We should’ve asked Villiers Fim about the spring’s effects when we had the chance.”
“Well, we can’t just leave Arc like this. We should take him somewhere he can rest.”
Ariane agreed and hefted Arc onto her back.
Dark elves were strong—so strong, in fact, that Ariane had no problem carrying the nearly two-meter-tall man, her feet stable beneath her as she walked. Her amethyst skin flushed, however, when she became aware of a certain body part dangling against her lower back.
“Why won’t you wake up? I’m going to be real upset if you just passed out from heat exhaustion.”
“Kyii?” Ponta hovered close to Ariane’s feet, looking at Arc with a great deal of concern.
Chiyome led the way back to the shrine. “How about laying him down here, on the counter in the old kitchen?”
There was a hearth-shaped indentation on the kitchen counter, and a flat, polished stone next to it that looked like it was used for preparing food. Chiyome swept away fallen leaves and debris before Ariane set Arc down on top of the stone. Ponta leaped onto the counter and mewed, licking Arc’s cheek again. That seemed to elicit a reaction from Arc; his eyebrow twitched, and his face tensed up.
The sight provided some small comfort to the women watching over him.
“Well, at least there aren’t any obvious injuries.”
Ariane gave Arc’s still-naked body another look, although she only made it halfway through before her face flushed a deep crimson. She turned away.
Chiyome covered Arc with one of the pelts they’d been using as sleeping bags. “I’d hate for him to catch a cold, exposed to the elements like that.”
Ariane nodding emphatically. “Y-yeah, you’re right!” She looked back at Arc, her face concerned. “Wait, what’s this?”
Ariane had assumed that the hot spring had lifted Arc’s curse, and returned his original body, but the man in front of her wasn’t human. Sure, he had black hair, beautiful brown skin, and a strong, handsome face covered with stubble. But his ears looked incredibly similar to elven ears.
Moreover, when Chiyome examined Arc, she’d discovered that he had crimson pupils—a color she’d never seen in a human or an elf—suggesting that he might be another species entirely.
“Do you think Arc might be an elf?” Ariane asked. “Humans don’t have ears like these.”
Chiyome looked down at Arc. “He’s definitely not human. Between his magical abilities and sheer physical strength, he strikes me as having both elf and dark elf characteristics. Do you know any elves with black hair and red eyes?”
Ariane shook her head. “Elves have bright green hair and green eyes, while dark elves have amethyst skin and white hair. It’s one or the other.”
“Hmm. And mountain people have different eye colors, depending on our parents. We’ll just have to wait and ask Arc directly.”
Ariane looked deep into Chiyome’s azure eyes, picking up on her unspoken question: what should they do next? She looked back down at the motionless Arc and sighed, turning to leave. “I guess we should start preparing the camp. There’s nothing else we can do until Arc wakes up.”
Chiyome nodded, then frowned. “Ariane, look!”
Ariane turned back. The flesh that had covered Arc’s body began to vanish, returning to bone. “The spring’s power must be fading!”
The two women looked at each other, but neither had any answers. They had no choice but to watch, helpless, as the transformation unfolded.
In a matter of moments, Arc’s muscular body was gone, leaving only the familiar skeleton in its place.
“Is…is he alive?” Ariane reached out an uneasy hand, brushing the cold, hard surface of Arc’s skull with her fingertips. All warmth had vanished.
Arc remained absolutely still, like a discarded corpse.
Ariane’s voice wavered. “What should we do, Chiyome? He’s not breathing. After all he’s done for me, after he so patiently helped with all my requests… I never had a chance to return the favor!”
A tear ran down Ariane’s purple cheek and dropped onto Arc’s face.
“Calm down, Ariane. We don’t even know for sure that Arc is dead. He never breathed when he was alive, remember?”
Ariane wiped her eyes. “I don’t know about that. He used to sigh from time to time, you know. He even ate food.”
Chiyome turned to face Ariane. “Maybe we should ask someone who knows more about things of this nature.”
Ariane immediately thought of a certain Dragon Lord they’d met earlier. “Villiers Fim?”
Dragon Lords lived much longer than even the elves. With that came great wisdom, accumulated over long years.
“Villiers Fim almost certainly knows the spring’s effects. I’m going to ask.” Ariane looked through the ruins of the ceiling at the Lord Crown towering above them. She called out in a loud, strained voice. “Do you know anything about this, Villiers Fim?”
The Dragon Lord had been napping at the Lord Crown’s base until Ariane’s shouting woke him. He begrudgingly made his way to the mountaintop and bent his neck to look down at Arc, lying motionless in the roofless ruin.
Hmm… Villiers Fim narrowed his large, reptilian eyes. As far as I can tell, nothing is wrong with his soul. However, his spirit is deeply troubled, and incredibly we
ak. With some rest, he should be fine. You must wait for him to awaken…and try not to worry in the meantime.
Ariane put her hands to her chest with a deep sigh of relief. “Do you know when he might wake up?”
Villiers Fim shook his head, his long neck twisting from side to side. That, I do not know. The time it takes for one’s disturbed spirit to settle depends greatly on individual disposition. Judging by what I see now, I would guess four to five days, perhaps. He looked back down at Arc. Something is very peculiar about this man. I had no idea that a skeleton lurked underneath all that armor.
“Arc collapsed shortly after the spring gave him his human body back. Do you think it may have poisoned him somehow?”
Villiers Fim’s large pupils shrank as he looked at Ariane, almost as if he saw straight through her thinly-veiled accusation. Hmph. It was you who asked me for permission to use the spring’s power, no? I don’t recall anyone asking me what its effects were. Large, reptilian fangs poked out of Villiers Fim’s mouth as he smiled. However, regularly bathing in the spring would almost certainly do him some good, no?
“How do we know we won’t just repeat this whole ordeal if Arc gets back into the spring?”
Villiers Fim ignored Ariane’s accusatory tone, letting out a raspy laugh. He collapsed because the curse had never before been lifted from his body. He will be able to tell you more when he wakes, but from here on out, returning to his living form will not affect him spiritually as it did this time. However, if his soul is harmed, he truly will become a corpse. The Dragon Lord’s voice was barely above a growl as he gave this final warning.
Chiyome, who’d watched the conversation unfold, swallowed hard.
Villiers Fim raised his long neck and looked away, his face twisted and tense, his wings draping the abandoned shrine below in shadow. His body simply returned to its previous form. The next time he enters the hot spring, he won’t suffer such trauma. He returned his gaze to Ariane. Now, I would appreciate it if you fulfill your end of our bargain. If you need anything, I will be soaking until your friend awakens.
Without another word, the Dragon Lord lifted his massive body and lumbered off toward the hot spring.
Ariane kept her head bowed as Villiers Fim walked away.
“Kyiiii!” Ponta ran to Ariane, cocking its head to the side in an attempt to cheer her up.
“If what the Dragon Lord says is true, we’ll spend at least a few days here.”
“We’re running low on supplies,” Chiyome said. “We’ll have to forage for food.”
Ariane pulled one of the nearby rucksacks over. “All right. After we make sure that Arc’s okay, we’ll take turns foraging.”
“Villiers Fim said that Arc would need to use the hot spring regularly to bring his body back,” Chiyome added. “Should we try the spring’s powers on Arc again before he wakes up?”
Ariane nodded, conviction in her eyes. “I think his body changed back once the spring water evaporated. If we pour the water over him where he’s lying now, I think it’ll have the same effect.”
The two women brought their skins to the spring and filled them while Villiers Fim looked on, uninterested. They returned to the shrine, and Ariane poured a little water onto Arc’s hand.
Even though she expected it, Ariane was still surprised when, slowly but surely, skin formed around Arc’s fingertip. The flesh extended down to his palm, revealing more brown skin.
“Do you think this is okay?” Ariane asked.
“Looks like it.”
Ponta ran over and lapped at Arc’s damp finger, which quickly turned back to bone.
“Kyii?” Ponta looked quizzically at the skeletal finger.
Chiyome reached down and rubbed Ponta’s damp nose.
“Now we just need to take Arc’s pulse. We’ll pour water onto his arm and—huh?!” As Ariane tilted the leather waterskin, Ponta’s cotton tail swished and tickled her arm, causing her to accidentally douse Arc’s face.
For a moment, the room was silent, as Ariane and Chiyome gaped at Arc’s wet human head and dry skeleton body. Under normal circumstances, it would have been an odd sight, but it actually calmed them both.
However, Arc’s eyes remained shut.
Ariane, her heart filled with a mix of comfort and worry, sighed heavily.
“Well, he’s breathing at least. Why don’t you see if the shrine has any supplies we can use? I’ll go search for something to eat.”
“Got it.”
The two set off to complete their respective duties, leaving Ponta to watch over Arc.
***
Thanks to the Dragon Lord, there were no large predators anywhere on the mountain, which meant there was no shortage of prey.
The animals barely took notice of Ariane as she entered the forest, continuing to munch grass as if she didn’t exist.
Ariane tried using magic to shoot stones at rabbits and other small creatures, but they were just too miniscule for her to hit. All she managed was to send plumes of dirt into the air, scattering the animals.
“We’d be eating already if I could just get my hands on something large. I’m no good at hunting these tiny things. I guess I’ll just collect plants.” Ariane muttered to herself as she trudged through the trees, looking for anything she recognized from her monster-hunting expeditions in the Great Canada Forest.
In these woods, untrodden by either humans or elves, fruit and herbs were abundant. In no time, Ariane stuffed her hemp bag full of two or three days’ worth of supplies.
“This should hold us over.”
Ariane sighed in satisfaction and headed back to the peak.
***
Chiyome, finished with her search of the shrine, stood in the kitchen using water-based spirit magic to entertain Ponta as it continued to watch over Arc. The fox wagged its tail excitedly as it chased a fluttering butterfly made entirely of water.
“I’m back. Did you find anything useful, Chiyome?”
Ariane’s rucksack hit the ground with a thud as she let it drop from her shoulder. The water butterfly disappeared in an instant.
Chiyome reached into her sash and pulled out a diamond-shaped jewel that glimmered like a rainbow.
“I found one of the Jinshin clan’s mystical treasures in a hidden chamber deep within the shrine.”
“Wow, that’s a pretty gem. Is it magical?” Ariane scrutinized the glittering jewel. Its prismatic glow flickered slightly, as if it were running low on magical energy.
Chiyome nodded. “Figures that an elf would recognize a magical item. This is a pledge spirit crystal. Hanzo left them behind. If you summon the spirit that resides within, and make a pledge to it, you can unlock powerful ninja techniques.”
Ariane understood. The mountain people were known for their physical strength, but compared to the elves, they were weak when it came to magic. However, pledge spirit crystals gave them the ability to use spirit magic.
“So, it’s pretty similar to the magic elves use. I have to be honest, though… I’ve never heard of a pledge spirit crystal before.”
“It’s a well-kept secret among the Jinshin clan. Besides, only ten pledge spirit crystals exist. We don’t even know how they were made, or where they come from.”
Chiyome slid the pledge spirit crystal back into her sash, near her heart.
Ariane suddenly heard a stomach growling loudly. Her hands flew to her belly, to make sure it wasn’t hers. She perked up her ears to listen, eyes fixed on Ponta. The spirit creature was the source of the noise.
“Well, I guess we should get dinner ready. I’m famished!”
“Kyi! Kyiiiii!”
Ariane pulled provisions out of her pack.
Ponta wagged its tail fervently at the mention of dinner, eliciting smiles from the two women.
***
The next morning, Ariane and Chiyome discussed how to care for Arc until he woke up. “The Dragon Lord said it should take about four or five days,” Chiyome said. “I wonder if we need to give him wat
er, though, to make sure he doesn’t get dehydrated or anything.”
Ariane glanced at the skeleton laid out on the kitchen counter. She cocked her head to the side as she thought it over. “Hmm. Even if he’s in no shape to eat, he probably still needs water to stay alive. Arc’s always eating, but do you think it’s possible for him to…to starve to death if he doesn’t get enough food?”
Chiyome crossed her arms. She didn’t have any answers. “I don’t know, but we can’t just leave him like this. We should treat him like any other sick person, and do what we can to promote speedy recovery.”
“I agree. Let’s start with water, to make sure he doesn’t get weaker than he already is.” Ariane hesitated. “How…how do we make him drink while he’s still unconscious?”
“We’ll just pour from the waterskin straight into his mouth.”
Ariane followed Chiyome’s suggestion. She brought her waterskin to Arc’s mouth and tilted it, allowing a small trickle of water to pour past his jaw and into the empty cavity below, slowly filling the base of his skull.
“Well, he’s definitely not drinking it.” She looked over to see whether Chiyome had any other ideas.
“How about pouring water from the spring on him first?”
“Oh! That could work.”
Ariane collected more hot spring water, returned to the shrine, and splashed it across Arc’s face. Once he was covered in flesh again, she brought her skin to his lips and poured in some water, hoping he wouldn’t choke. The liquid trickled down Arc’s throat, agonizingly slow.
Unable to just stand by and watch, Chiyome butted in. “You know, Ariane, it’s going to take forever to help him drink enough like that. It’d be a lot faster if you did it mouth-to-mouth.”
“Wha…?” Ariane jerked her hand up in surprise and poured the remaining water all over Arc’s face.
“Gyaugh?! Glurg!” Arc coughed reflexively.
“A-are you okay, Arc?” Ariane turned Arc’s head to the side as he coughed up water.
Once Arc’s throat was clear, his eyebrows furrowed, as if he were having a nightmare. Ariane was glad that she hadn’t accidentally drowned him while he was unconscious.