Step. Step. Step.
"Aaah." My lips opened in a contorted scream, and each breath hurt me like jagged glass splinters cutting across the lining of my lungs. Footsteps receded in my ears, receded and distant as if I was underwater.
My limbs felt like they were torn apart and stitched back wrongly or in a hurry. Every nerve in my body was crying out in agony, every muscle fiber in my body was tightening in constant agony which I felt would never cease.
I opened my eyes by force, but the world was a swirl of blackness and faint light. My sight spun, and I was not able to see anything but I felt the sensation of being carried. Somebody bore me on their back, their pace jolting me with every stride. Each movement caused shockwaves of pain radiating through my broken body.
"Don't move so much", a voice commanded, piercing the darkness. It was tense and guarded as if the speaker were fighting to keep his own panic at bay. "You're injured there's a great big gaping hole in your abdomen, and all your bones are broken. We've given you a health recovery potion and have bandaged you a bit. Just, try to sleep for now and put up with the pain. We'll be at a safe place soon."
The voice belonged to the man who was holding me. I attempted to open my eyes once more, so eager to see who he was, but the pain was too intense. I caught only a glimpse of ginger-colored hair before pain overwhelmed me. I felt my body was torn from the inside out, my bones shattered, and my limbs contorted into impossible shapes. My chest ached where the enormous, gaping wound throbbed with each beat of my heart, a raw, open mouth of pain.
"AGHHHH!!!"
I screamed, the noise ripping through my throat like a saw blade. My body contorted back and forth, my shattered limbs flailing wildly. Tears streamed down my face, burning and relentless, as I struggled to pull in air that would not come. "It hurts… it hurts… IT HURTS SO MUCH!!!" I managed to gasp out between screams, my voice shattering under the burden of my pain.
'I'm dying. I'm dying.' The idea hung at the edge of my consciousness, but the agony was such that even death was an unattainable, distant mercy. My ribs were broken, and my lungs laboring to draw breath. My arms and legs dangled loosely, twisted, and bent, each motion causing fresh spasms of agony through my broken bones. I wasn't even able to think straight for even a fraction of a second.
"Stop it! Stop it!" the ginger-haired man cried, his voice strained. He staggered under my rolling weight, his feet scrambling. "I know you're hurt, but if you keep rolling like that, we both get hurt!" He adjusted his grip, his breathing in short, harsh gasps. "And for goodness' sake, stop yelling so loudly! You'll attract another monstrosity over if you keep yelling like that!"
But his words meant nothing to me. The pain was everything, a boundless ocean that engulfed everything else. My hands grasped his shoulders, my nails biting into his shirt as a fresh wave of pain washed over me. "Please… please… stop it…" I whined my voice little more than a whisper. "I can't… I can't bear it any longer…"
Twitch.
"Agh....woah! Agh!" the gingerhead shouted as he staggered and fell. For a second, we both teetered on the brink of crashing to the floor. My heart was pounding, and a second wave of terror washed over me, but the agony was so overwhelming that even terror was distant.
When we hit the ground and were on the verge of toppling over, a firm, forceful hand descended on us, holding the ginger-haired man and me up and clasping us firmly. The hold was tight, almost reassuring, but to no use in lessening the pain that was ravaging my body.
Gasp. Gasp. Gasp.
"Aghhhhh." I labored my breath in uneven, jagged jerks, every one of which was a strain to resist the suffocating pressure of my wounds. The scream had evolved into a whimper now, yet tears continued unabated down my face, intertwining with sweat and blood splattered all over my body. "Hurts… hurts…. " I struggled to speak with a grunt, every word racking me with the effort of speech. "Stop it… stop it… stop it… "
I could sense the two men, the ginger-haired man and his companion- hesitating for an instant as if they were working out where they were. The agony was so bad that I hardly noticed they were present, my existence shrinking into a blur of agony and despair.
"Thanks, mister!" the gingerhead exclaimed, his voice relieved. He readjusted my weight on his back, his breathing labored with the effort.
There was a moment of silence before he continued, his voice slightly more serious. "Umm… what do we do now? He doesn't appear to be doing too well. If he just keeps screaming, it's going to attract the abyss monsters."
A deeper and more authoritative voice answered, "It does seem so." The words were serene but were mixed with an undertone of urgency.
Step. Step. Step.
The steps resumed, but now tense with tension. I could feel the companion of the ginger-haired man's step quicken, his strides now hurried. My body was still sore, but I was exhausted and no longer able to scream.
My gasps were spasmodic and shallow, and my eyes began to blur again.
"Lucian," the deeper voice interrupted, echoing through the mist.
It was nearer, next to me.
"Sleep well. We can't have you screaming and broadcasting our position every other second."
I had barely processed his words before I was hit with a hard, deliberate chop to the side of my neck. The world whirled for an instant, and then I was out.