Chapter 111: Back In A Certain Cave

POV Eliza

I walked north from the road, away from Tyros. I wasn't sure exactly where I wanted to go, but I'd get an idea. I just had to find a way to pass the time until the heroes left Tyros.

Fortunately, it was dry at the moment, even if the ground was still muddy from the melting snow. It was only a few degrees above zero at the moment, so the nights were getting cold. I therefore decided to keep going until I found a cave that offered me at least some shelter. Or a small forest.

As I had only left Tyros an hour before sunset, it got dark quickly. But unfortunately I didn't find a cave that night, so I didn't go to rest. The only options I had to keep warm were to keep walking and the occasional cup of hot tea. Unfortunately, I didn't know any fire magic, so I couldn't make a campfire to heat water. The wood I found was too damp for that, so I couldn't light it even with flint and steel.

So I had no choice but to move on carefully through the night. At least I could use the main road, as no one else was out at night. At sunrise I headed east into the hills again. Unfortunately, I didn't find a suitable cave that day either and by the next sunset I was awake for the second full day in a row. I also didn't pass any villages, which I found strange. I had moved away from the road, but there should still be settlements. However, I didn't find any.

This coincidentally resulted in my sleep resistance improving. I wasn't sure whether I should be happy about this. The skill reduced the time it took to recover while sleeping. But at lower levels you had to make up the time, so the skill was rather useless at the moment. I preferred to have a good place to sleep.

Nevertheless, I reached a point that evening where I was struggling with fatigue. Unfortunately, there was no full moon in the sky to calm me down. But that didn't change the fact that I needed a cave if I didn't want to sleep out in the cold. After another hour, I found myself in a ravine that looked vaguely familiar. It was full of rocks and I kept stumbling because I was so tired. As if by chance, I suddenly found myself next to a cave entrance. Happy about my find, I hurried into the cave. Inside, I was greeted by a strong feeling of familiarity, as if I had been here before.

Confused, I stumbled deeper into the cave and found a cavern with a lake, a small island and a weathered Luna shrine. Relieved, I approached the statue in the center and when I got there, I leaned my back against it and instantly fell asleep.

POV Luna

Ever since Eliza had learned the ritual that allowed her to get in contact with me, I had been looking forward to our next conversation. Unfortunately, she had only managed it once so far because the ritual was difficult. Then I felt her aura grow stronger. She seemed to be approaching one of my shrines, but when she made contact with my statue, I heard nothing. What had happened?

Now that I had a direct connection with her, I could look at her status. I hadn't done this before because I didn't want to deprive her of the pleasure of telling me about it from her, but today was different. Half an hour after contacting her, I still hadn't heard her voice, so I checked her status. Maybe something had happened to her, but I immediately calmed down again. She had the status effect sleeping. She must have found a statue of me and fallen asleep. She also had the Sleep Resistance skill. I smiled at the thought of what she must have gone through. She must have been very, very hard-working. Impressive.

While I was at it, I took a look at the rest of her status. Her second class had already brought her closer in level to her first class. She must have been training hard in the dungeon. What else did I discover? Oho, regeneration at advanced, as well as self transformation. She had invested a lot. The only thing missing was the expert rank, but that was still a long way off. Should I tell her that I'd been able to teach or improve her certain skills? Maybe not yet, because then she might lose motivation or make less of an effort. Although it was a shame that she hadn't increased Appraisal yet. The skill was very useful and I could act as an instructor for it.

I waited until Eliza woke up again, which took a few more hours. In the meantime, I watched over her. When she woke up, I greeted her directly.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” <Luna>

“Huh, Luna? Why are you here?” <Eliza>

“Have you forgotten already? You visited a shrine of mine and fell asleep next to my statue.” <Luna>

“What? Why ... oh I see I'm starting to remember. I wandered for two days and nights and then found this cave completely exhausted.” <Eliza>

“What happened that you didn't sleep for two days?” <Luna>

She told me about the mission and how she was attacked by them during the boss fight. How she was able to fend off her opponents and ultimately defeat them. That the heroes had seen the group when they entered the cave and that she feared that Javier had recognized her because of his reaction. That she could now transform into one of the men. How she had then hastily left the dungeon and then Tyros and walked towards Lightburgh, but hadn't wanted to spend the night outside because of the weather. And that she had finally ended up in this cave by chance, which looked familiar to her, before falling asleep.

“And then I fell asleep here because I was so tired. I'm so glad that I found this cave again, of all places. It seems to be the same one I ended up in years ago when I was on the run.” <Eliza>

“A very lucky coincidence, but perhaps not. Now that you are my acolyte, you are drawn to my aura and sense its proximity. If you had been more alert, you would have come here specifically if you had been close enough to the cave entrance.” <Luna>

“Now I can feel your closeness, but I'm also touching your statue. I'm glad I ended up here again. It means I can talk to you again.” <Eliza>

“I'm always happy to talk to you.” <Luna>

“Thank you, even though I'm just a simple human.” <Eliza>

“You're neither simple nor human, you should never forget that. You're my most important person on all of Narran right now.” <Luna>

“I know the first one, but it's always good to hear the second. I'll do my best to survive to the end and complete the task. After that, I want to live as long and peaceful a life as possible.” <Eliza>

“I've given you the best conditions, but it's ultimately up to you. At least your life expectancy as an elf is much longer than as a human.” <Luna>

“Really? How high?” <Eliza>

“As I said, it depends on you, but 500 or 1000 years is not uncommon.” <Luna>

“HOW SO?” <Eliza>