Chapter 289: A Rivalry Necessary for Survival

Sarah held out her hands.

"One at a time please. I’m not used to using these powers yet."

Jacob looked over everyone.

"Maria, you need to go first. Your bleeding may have stopped but you have the most grievous wounds out of all of us."

No one argued with his reasoning. Maria walked over to Sarah and guided her hand on to her cheek. After a few moments of concentrating, Sarah felt a tug on her soul and allowed some energy to drain through her fingers. The sensation was very similar to her Zalo power, except for the fact that she needed to concentrate the power on a specific part of her body rather than her entire body. In little time at all, maria’s wounds slowly repaired themselves. Her jaw reappeared as if it had grown itself from the other parts of her head and the cuts on her skin closed themselves leaving no sign they were there in the first place.

Maria’s condition was now so perfect it was hard to tell she had been in a fight in the first place. Sarah panted heavily and held her head.

"I think I overdid it a little. I’ll get the hang of it. I’m sorry."

Jacob patted her back.

"It’s really okay. Please do Lidia next if you can. She is also very injured."

Even though she couldn’t see, Sarah’s eyes widened as she listened to Jacob speak.

"Just how injured is everyone? What happened when I was out? Did Squabee transform and help everyone?"

A small, awkward silence hung in the air.

"Squabee did her best, but it seems like even with her luck helping, we hardly managed to survive the battle unscathed. There was a rogue leviathan that wondered into this place and immediately attacked Slimo with his back turned. We hardly had any time to process what happened before we began throwing fists at one another."

Sarah lowered her head as she held on to Lidia’s stomach.

"I see. I’m very sorry."

Once again, she sent her power forward, straining her arms as time passed. Lidia’s healing took much longer than Sarah had expected. By the end of it, she was drenched in sweat, hardly able to lift her arms. She panted heavily on the ground as she tried to raise her hands once more.

"W-Who’s next?"

"Let’s take a short break for a moment. I don’t want you to push yourself any more than you need to."

Jacob’s stomach started rumbling. He blushed and turned away from the group.

"We need sustenance as soon as possible. It’s been way too long since the last time we’ve had some."

Slimo coughed as Squabee held him up against the cracked walls of the structure.

"It was raining. There should be large puddles of water everywhere for drinks. Most wood will be wet to start a fire so try to look for things that were under leaves. If you want to look for food..."

He paused.

"Don’t do anything drastic. I would go with you if I could."

"Well that sounds great and all Slimo but I’m in the same boat as you."

"I’ll go."

Maria stepped forward and grasped her spear in her hands. Jacob stopped her.

"Hold on a moment. It would be too dangerous for you. Lidia would need to go with you and both of you need rest before leaving."

"Who says we need to fight anything? If this jungle is harboring an entire ecosystem of creatures, there has to be a food cycle. That means there should be some plants that we can consume somewhere."

"Are you trying to say you’re going to look for giant vegetables?"

"Uh, what else would I mean?"

"Have you seen this place? I doubt you’ll be able to find any with how little light there is."

"There shouldn’t be this much brush growing around us with such little light. If the trees, vines, and moss can all grow, I’m almost sure other things can as well."

Jacob sighed.

"You make a good point."

"Besides, Mom and I can travel much quieter in a group of two compared to walking with you all. Our scents will be less strong as well."

Sarah suddenly spoke up.

"Let them go, Jacob. If they bring back to the proper food and materials, I’ll be able to make everyone something."

"But... your vision."

"I’ve been cooking so long I could do it blind, hands tied, and missing both legs. Almost nothing could stop years upon years of experience."

Jacob nodded at Maria and Lidia, prompting them to turn around and run out of the structure. As they disappeared off into the distance, Jacob turned back to Sarah and lifted his stump into Sarah’s hands while asking her a question.

"Hey, Sarah. Did you happen to be dreaming about anything when you were out?"

Sarah moved her hands around Jacob’s wound before pouring all her energy through her fingers. A warm sensation lit up Jacob’s entire lower body. It not only felt like his leg was being healed, but the strain in his sore muscles was disappearing as well. However, Sarah didn’t answer his question.

After three minutes, Jacob’s leg had been reattached and felt good as new. Jacob moved it around and tried jumping to make sure everything was working properly.

"Wow. You’re absolutely incredible, Sarah. Thank you."

Sarah bowed her head lightly.

"Is there anyone else that needs healed?"

Jacob scratched his head.

"Yeah, Slimo is the last one, but you never answered my question before."

Sarah’s face dropped slightly.

"What was your question?"

"Did you happen to be dreaming about anything after reading that plaque?"

Sarah mumbled to herself.

"Plaque... what plaque would you be talking about?"

Jacob raised an eyebrow.

"The plaque? You know, the thing that made you lose your sight in the first place?"

Sarah’s expression remained just as lost.

"A plaque? I don’t remember reading any sort of plaque. But I think I was dreaming about something when I was asleep."

"You don’t remember the plaque you read? Do you remember going inside those doors over there?"

Jacob point at the two massive doors with the stone guardians at each side. Sarah nodded her head.

"Of course I remember that! We made it to the bottom of the stairs where there were all these names on the walls. Your name wasn’t there though. I’m sorry."

"What else do you remember?"

"I remember blacking out and waking up in here."

"I was talking about the dream you had. I heard you mumbling things in your sleep."

"Oh. Did I? I probably did have a dream then."

It was useless. Trying to talk to someone with a shattered memory as someone with a perfect memory was very frustrating for Jacob. However, he tried asking one more question to hopefully get through to her.

"You really don’t remember anything? Not even a bandaged man?"

Suddenly, her expression changed. Her mouth twitched slightly and her eyes became distant. After three long uncomfortable moments, she shook her head.

"I don’t know anything about that. Can I please heal Slimo now?"

Jacob looked at her suspiciously before conceding. He knew that she knew something or that something was holding her back from saying it, but there was no point in pressing her on it now. He walked over to Sqaubee and helped drag Slimo into Sarah’s lap. Sarah pressed her hands against his lower back and began her healing process.

Squabee sat next to Sarah pouting to herself.

"I wish my power could help people like yours, Sarah."

"Your voice sounds sad, Sqaubee. What’s wrong?"

"I failed is what’s wrong. My power should have helped protect everyone from getting so injured and yet they were crushed so easily!"

Jacob and Slimo looked at each other with an expression asking, ’is she calling us weak right now?’

"Why would you be upset about that? The important thing is you did everything you could to help. You didn’t even need to transform. Think of what may have happened had you not transformed."

Sarah was right and that was another thing Jacob thought of dearly. If this was the outcome from an interaction with Squabee’s powers in play, there was no doubt that one or more of them could have lost their lives had she not helped. Squabee’s power was once again defying the odds of a careless, cruel world.

Sarah continued as she tried reaching out so Squabee to comfort her.

"I think you have a bad habit of getting strung on other possibilities when we should already be grateful for the ones you bless us with."

Squabee moved her back to help Sarah’s hand find and pat it.

"Well, it’s a little difficult to not get strung up on possibilities when my whole life revolves around them!"

Sarah laughed lightly and continued healing Slimo’s injuries until he was back to his old self. Upon regaining his ability to move, he began stretching every part of his body and flexing his muscles.

"This feels... great! I’ve never felt more energetic and rested before! It’s like my muscles are completely new!"

Jacob smiled and stood up with him. Slimo looked at Jacob with an earnest expression.

"Jacob, do you still have that ape’s power in you?"

Jacob nodded his head.

"It’s almost gone, but I can still feel its remnants."

"Good. Fight me.

"Fight you? Why would I-?"

Suddenly, Jacob caught a fist that was sent at his face. The impact from it caught him off guard and pushed him off the ground slightly.

"We can’t afford a single second of downtime anymore while we’re in this place. We must get stronger. We must survive!"

Jacob smiled and straightened himself while raising his hands.

"Do you have any idea what you’re asking?"

Slimo grinned back at him.

"You know, I’ve always viewed myself as stronger than you, even with that power of yours to help you out. How about we see who is really the strongest between us, hm?"

"How about we keep fighting for that title? This can mark the very first match of ours."

"We’ve already been fighting for it. You’ve defeated me twice already. I think my win is overdue, wouldn’t you say?"

Before he could say anything else, Slimo closed the distance on Jacob and sent a kick flying towards his side while smiling. Jacob easily predicted the attack threw his elbow down toward Slimo’s leg. However, this is what Slimo was waiting for. His kick’s movement changed its course and flew over his head, allowing the momentum to carry his other heel right into Jacob’s jaw, sending him flying out of the stone structure and out into the wet grass of the jungle.