Brilliance in a sleep

"It'll be a shame to let the last elf of Mire Woods die, won't it?"

The creature jumped from the tree and landed in between Finrod's unconscious body and the demon that ran forward in a mad frenzy.

"Pouka!" The creature cried and from behind her, a low black smoky thing drifted between trees, it snaked by them rhythmically at great speed and it leaped in front of its caller.

The demon was close to hitting it aside with its abdomen when it leaped and struck its hind legs on the demon's chest, sending it flying till it struck a tree.

It growled, focusing its vicious red eyes on the demon who now sat at the foot of a tree stunned.

The creature was a beast of four legs. It was massive, and it was about half of Finrod's height. Its body was entirely covered by fur of black and beautiful wisp-like patterns of fiery red, it was like a burning cloud whenever it ran. Its eyes were red brimming with energy and viciousness.

It roared and ran at the demon.

The demon who stood understood the danger it was in, the beast was strong and closely level coupled with its master. This was a losing battle for it and it knew it, it turned to the other direction by the tree and took a step to run when a sharp pain seared through its nerves.

It turned and looked down and saw that the creature had chewed off its ankle. Its affected leg fell to a knee.

The beast spat out the bloodied chunk and bit its back. Its large teeth went through its skin like it was butter and it tore a large chunk away pushing its upper body to the ground.

It bled and a pool of red formed around it, after two minutes, a notification came up in the creature's mind and its master.

[You've defeated a Lesser Demon-lvl 15. You and your companion have obtained equally shared experience points]

[You have leveled up]

The creature smiled seemingly proud of themself. On their shoulder hovered a bug as large as two fingers, black with a bright red head and riddled with multiple thin legs.

"You have got a priest level of luck to have slept for three days unbothered and not attacked. I was starting to get bored, I would have left had you not responded to my call, and I would report that no elves were in the forest either. Hey, hey. Can you hear me?"

The being lightly smacked Finrod's face repeatedly but he didn't respond.

"Is he dead?"

"Don't die on me, I didn't know a demon would actually come at you. I just wanted to scare you. You've survived so far, wake up, don't you want to avenge your people?" They said, slapping his head.

The fellow looked at their beast for suggestions, and it just shook its head in response.

"Tch… not helpful."

The being sighed.

"He's hurt so bad, the system would take days to heal him to regain consciousness and he will probably die of hunger before that happens."

They sighed again, "I have to take care of you."

The fellow picked Finrod by his right arm, it felt that the arm was a little too free and concluded that it was dislocated.

They switched to the other hand and lifted him on their back placing them on the black beast.

The fellow had Finrod lay sideways and tied his hands to the beast's fur to keep them together and prevent them from falling apart.

"It's just the two of us, don't be grumpy. We are not taking him home either, just the lake." The beast rubbed its nose against its master's leg in acknowledgement.

The tamer smiled, rubbed on its head and hopped on it behind Finrod.

"Go!" The tamer ordered and the beast bounced into action running as fast as gale wind turning and avoiding trees.

They passed by a rift and the tamer acknowledged it.

"It's the same one"

After running or perhaps flying as spectators would describe, they finally stopped at an open lake.

The suns of Melos shone their dimmed brilliance on Finrod's face once more.

Large trees lined behind, a few large grey rocks sat around one another and the lake was bustling with activity.

The lake was blue and beautiful and the atmosphere was free of the red mist.

The tamer took Finrod down lightly and rested him on one of the grey rocks.

They took a thing, it looked like a little spherical bottle with a cover of leaves atop it.

The tamer opened it and once they did, the flying bug by their shoulder zoomed at it by the edge wanting to eat some of the content.

"Stop, this is not for you. Don't let me withhold the next one, now behave yourself."

The insect understood their orders and sadly buzzed to their shoulder.

"Now there." The tamer placed their index and middle finger into the bottle. Removing it, a slimy green cream stuck to their fingers and the fellow rubbed it on Finrod's forehead.

They proceeded to rub it on his swollen dislocated arm, his good left arm, his beat-up chest and his legs.

A dim green little warm glow then embraced him till it died off.

"Now food." the tamer turned to the lake.

"Go get some boy!" The bug buzzed loudly in excitement and zoomed at the water, diving into it.

After a few seconds, it came out with a large fish held on its short yet sharp proboscis. It brought it to the land and dropped it on the ground.

The fish shook, beating down its tailfin when the tamer stabbed it with their fingers and placed it on a rock.

Finrod's savior went back into the trees and after ten minutes, they came back with some dry wood in their hands.

The tamer gathered them on the ground and the bug, knowing what to do lasered it setting them aflame into a warm fire.

The fellow then cooked the fish over the fire and after letting it get warm, they fed Finrod, they forced him.

After some struggle, they finally got him to eat about half of it and decided against giving him the rest.

A day went by.