Bond

"How's the leg?"

…

"It's fine."

"You know, it was only an accident. I would ne~ver want to hurt you like that on purpose~. You understand, right?"

Go rot in a ditch.

"Accidents happen."

"Hey, how about I make it up to you~! Let's go for a walk."

The faceless girl wrapped her arm around my neck tightly and dragged me down the dirt road. My leg was still sore from that "accident," so I had a bit of a limp.

"Can I ask you a question?" I looked at her.

"Sure." She grinned.

"Why do you hate me so much."

Her snarky grin grew wider from my question.

"You'd better pick up the pace before I cut that leg off and drag you with a rope. Wouldn't wanna keep the others waiting."

"Is that a threat?"

"Something you wanna say about it?"

I remained silent.

…

The sound of birds chirping, or at least what I thought were birds, woke me up from that memory. The sun beamed through the window with an orange tint mixed with a warm glow. My guess, it was probably around 6:45 in the morning.

Time to get up I guess…

Shower…dress…brush teeth…eat…

…

Wait, I'm not in my old world anymore. So, what do I do now?

I suddenly felt a tug on my sleeve. It was from Xylvia sleeping on the other side of the awkwardly small bed that we agreed to share after being unable to find a compromise.

"Lay down…too cold…need warm…come back…"

Xylvia was still half asleep as she pulled my sleeve towards her with barely any effort. Half her face was buried into the pillow. Her hair was a complete mess, tangled and sticking up and onto the blankets and pillow. A small line of drool was leaving from her mouth and onto the sheets.

I instinctively laid back down on the bed and turned to my side to face her. I'm not sure why I did this, but I couldn't stop staring at her. She was a mesmerizing sight for me, almost like an angel in human form without its wings (and with a pair of cat ears and a tail).

"Hrrrrrrrrr…~"

Is she…purring? Or is this just what she sounds like snoring? Either way, it sounds so cute. While it was an oddball move on my part, I started reaching my hand out to her head and stroked her hair all around. She felt warm; the strands of hair stuck a little to my hand before they sank back down after losing contact with my hand, only to stick back to me when I came back.

She nuzzled her head a little closer towards me. I suddenly stopped my hand for a little bit, but then kept going after she stopped moving. I can't imagine her wanting me to do this while she was awake, so I made sure not to wake her up. I was too scared, and yet I didn't want to stop.

She must think that this is happening in her dream. I wonder if it's a dream she's enjoying. Or maybe she was having a nightmare without me realizing, and I coincidentally saved her from it by stroking her head a little.

That's just my own wishful thinking though. She might even be hating this and I don't even realize it…

"…"

That thought alone made me stop my hand. I let that thought sink in a little, then pulled my hand away from her.

"…I'm sorry." I whispered under my breath to her before turning back towards my side and falling back to sleep.

If I could guess the time that I woke up the second time, I'd say it's around 11:30 in the morning. I can't remember the last time I slept in, but it definitely was a welcoming change for my body.

Xylvia was the one who woke me up, shaking me abruptly while calling my name until I sat up and had my eyes all the way open. I felt much more refreshed than ever, though I wish Xylvia would stop yelling in my face. I really don't wanna wake up with a headache.

"Come on! If we can get there quick enough, we can catch the discounted lunches!" Xylvia exclaimed.

"Could you not yell at my face right when I wake up," I groaned. "You'll give me an aneurism."

"I have no idea what that is, but get up before I push you off the bed! I'm starving!"

As demanded by the spoiled little cat-princess, I unwillingly got out of the bed and let myself be dragged straight to the hotel lobby. This hotel had one of the oddest means of transportation that I've ever seen. I was half asleep last night, so I couldn't fully remember how we got to our room in the first place until Xylvia showed me again.

Basically, you're given a piece of paper in the shape of a rectangle with some characters scribbled onto it, which I guess translated into a number. Then you place the paper written side first onto a glass mirror that was placed on every wall in the lobby, along with a bunch of posters scattered all over them. When a green aura appeared around the mirror, you then are supposed to jump straight through the mirror, breaking through the glass and into your room. At first it looked like we had shattered through the mirror, but the shards would actually re-attach themselves back together on the mirror.

"So this is what morning sickness feels like." I groaned to myself, holding my stomach with my arms.

"Hurry up!" Xylvia complained, dragging me to the lobby table.

The receptionist was a tall, lizard lady. She had scales around her neck and face, with sharp teeth and grassy green eyes. Her hair was a spiky forrest green and she had to have stood at about 200 centimeters. Much higher than me.

"I can only guess what you're here for Xylvia." The lady said.

Her tongue was long and dripping with slimy strings of saliva every time she opened her mouth.

"Discount…" Xylvia whimpered innocently.

"*Sigh* I have no idea how you manage to get here on time every single time, but yep we still have it going. 75% off lunch from Section 4 to 5."

"Yesss!"

Xylvia did a little celebration fist pump to herself with a little smirk on her face. Either she's incredibly cheap or low on cash.

Could be both honestly.

"This place has amazing food," Xylvia began rambling as our food was placed on the table. "Trust me. And the discount is gonna make it taste even better! Meat and Twins, Tendered Crusts, and Potatoes!"

I've started noticing something. Some words Xylvia said like "lunch" and "discount" were the same as the words used in my world, but also some words were entirely different to what I'm used to them being called.

"So here's what I'm thinking," I started after a few bites into my sandwich. "We can start with the few caves that are about ten kilometers west based on the map on the wall, find some minerals for some quick currency and save up for a base that we can travel in. How exactly do we get around by the way? Wheels? Horses? Do engines exist here?"

It'll take me awhile before I can get a grasp on how this world functions. Transportation is definitely a good start now that I know how currency works. I'll have to bust out some books eventually as well for some language learning. Maybe I could try being fluent in all the languages, except for Mythinian of course.

"I'm not really sure what any of those are, but I'm 100% sure that this food is amazing!" Xylvia said munching away ignorantly.

"Shouldn't we try to focus on how we'll be getting around," I asked her. "I mean, if we're gonna be adventurers we should try to at least find a faster way of getting around instead of walking. Wait…we don't walk to get to places…right?"

"I'm walking in heaven right now with this food…" Xylvia said, transcending through reality and ignoring me completely.

"*Sigh…* Fine. If you're not gonna take this seriously, then I'm gonna go ask someone else."

I got up from my seat and started to walk away, but then-

*Thump!*

I felt something hit my backside. It didn't hurt, but I swung around to see a piece of bread on the floor. Xylvia had her arm stretched out along with a pretty upset look on her face.

"What was that for," I asked her with a crossed eyebrow. "You're not answering my questions, so how else am I gonna figure all this stuff out?"

"Can't you at least sit down and enjoy yourself for a second?" Xylvia asked me.

"I'm trying to! What better time to start learning this world than now right?"

"Yeah but…you can't wait just a little bit?"

"Why would I want to wait? I want to learn now, so it's not like I'm straining myself."

"Well…y-yeah. I guess you…have a…point."

The more Xylvia began to realize the situation she put herself into, the farther she sank down in her seat with an embarrassed look on her face.

———

"I'm sorry," she said after I sat back down with her. "I should've used my head a little more."

"It's not like I'm gonna go do something reckless right away," I said. "I just want to know some of these things just in case. Though I guess I am a little too eager, but why wouldn't I be? It's a new world to me, so of course I'm gonna want to explore around and ask a lot of questions and stuff."

"Yeah, I know… I guess I'm just a little scared is all."

"Scared of what?"

"Well, I've always wanted a friend. I've met up with a lot of people and asked them if they ever wanted to be my travel partner, but they always said no with a nervous look on their face. I tried being more honest with them and say that I wanted some help in finding the source of this Corruption, but that made the 'no's' come even faster. Now that I have you though, I'm starting to realize why they're all so scared. And now I'm scared, but not of death like they are."

"I'm scared of losing you."

"Losing me?" I tilted my head.

Xylvia kept her head down.

"I've lost a lot of people when I was young. I've forgotten about that fear ever since Gleam took me in and watched over me, but a

now it's creeping back to me. Like how a boogeyman stalks a child at night."

That's creepy. Wait…there aren't boogeymen in this world…right?

"I've travelled through many continents in this world trying to find somewhere that I can fit in, but I never found that place. Everywhere I went, people that I met and talked to would either leave me or die. I kept blaming myself. I got scared, scared of myself because I thought I was the reason that everyone was dying. Maybe I was…unlucky, or some kind of curse to others. I ended up staying here with Gleam, constantly struggling with my own thoughts. I could never make a decision. At least, until you appeared."

I'd be conflicted as well if I thought I was cursed.

"Hey, you're not a curse," I assured her. "If anything, I'd call you a miracle."

"What makes you say that?" Xylvia asked me, her eyes a little red and wet.

"I think I have an idea as to how my life would've ended up if I was on my own. I was up last night thinking about this. How if I had been out here alone, it would've been pretty difficult to find my way around. And I probably would've been a little sad being all alone like that."

"But I can't promise that I won't cause you trouble."

"Hey, don't go suddenly guilt tripping yourself. You're the one who asked me if you could tag along. Besides, I'll most likely be the one who's causing all the problems. I apologize in advance."

Xylvia took a moment to collect herself once again before she began to speak up.

"Ok, let's talk about some of the basics," Xylvia said to me. "However, you have to promise me something. Promise me that you'll never do something reckless without letting me know first."

That was a pretty reasonable request. Honestly, I'd probably would've done that anyways since I wouldn't even know what's considered reckless here to begin with.

"Sure thing Xyl," I said to her. "I'll be sure to let you know first before I decide to be stupid."