Threads of the Soul

Despite her sudden urge to begin leaping into the air and performing a slightly embarrassing dance, Astra did her best to keep her composure for two reasons.

One, even if the beaked stranger had more numbers than them and a strange ability to shrug off being stabbed in the chest a few dozen times, she was still the leader of this hunting group. She couldn't degrade herself like that, have her people look down on her. Although she wasn't exactly happy about her reputation as a scary death stare lady.

But, it's not like she wasn't used to having such a reputation either. The 'ice queen' or the 'school witch'. Was it really her fault if she had a, supposedly, angry looking resting face that made her seem as if she was ready to skin someone alive for talking to her impolitely? No, of course not. Her new set of scars, which was apparently set on growing, was not exactly helping with that image either.

Yes, it seemed she was destined to always fill the role of the witch girl, plotting the untimely demise of those around her with various potions and brews.

It was strange how many people would find themselves blurting out secrets or eagerly agreeing with her, especially now, when all she did was stare at them. Most of the time she wasn't even doing it on purpose and was just lost in her thoughts.

But the second, and by far the most important reason, she didn't leap from her seat was not because of reputation or even the knife still sticking out of her gut. It was simply because she didn't want to frighten the puppy and send it away when she had finally found something she could touch.

Any sane person knows that when a cute animal crawls into your lap, it is the universal law that you cannot move until the animal is finished. Disturbing a cute animal, especially one that has crawled into your lap, is the worst possible crime.

And so Astra obeyed the universal law, letting the adorable snow white ball of fluff clamber into her lap and roll into a ball, all whilst her blackened fingers danced through its cloud-like white fur. With every gentle caress down its back or scratch behind the ear, she could feel the turbulent energy within her body churn and surge towards her fingers. Yet, instead of leaping from her skin, the energy was quickly calmed as soon as it reached her fingertips.

Something about this adorable puppy's chilling nature was calming the storm inside her, and for that she was grateful.

So, instead of pushing it away, she simply relaxed and enjoyed the sensation as the one armed man got to work mixing up his little drink. Her mind drifted back to memories of making young, foolhardy boys pee their pants in fear as she ran her hand down the dogs back.

***

Of course, how could Seth know what thoughts and feelings were going through the mind of the electrifying girl. All he could see was her narrowed glare and the disturbing, almost sadistic smirk creeping its way onto her face as she stroked the pooch like an old spy-thriller super villain.

Yet, despite the glowing eyes that were staring right through him and the smile that looked like she was ready to turn the puppy into a coat, along with 99 others just like it, he had a feeling that the little snowball was in safe hands. In fact, the only one that he was worried about was the man who had defended the puppy.

God knows what she would do to him if he tried to take her new lap dog away from her. Maybe healing him was a mistake. It would be tragic to claw yourself back from the brink of death only to be killed trying to get your puppy back.

"How is that supposed to help with my issue anyways? It looks like it's just tea."

Glancing up from his potionomics, Seth looked into those startling blue pupils surrounded by the ocean of brown. Screwing the cap tight on the bottle, he placed it next to the woman with the death glare. The puppy might have been alright touching her, but clearly there was a reason why she had given him such a warning and he was not the type to go poking the bear. Well… Except for the bear that he poked so hard through the mouth that it died. But that doesn't count.

Speaking of the puppy, constantly glancing between her chilling gaze and the adorable ball of winter wonder that was eagerly licking her fingers was giving Seth some serious emotional whiplash. He didn't know whether to feel intimidated or melt inside from cuteness. Whether to laugh or to cry. Perhaps that is where that phrase came from… No, that would be ridiculous.

Clearing his throat, Seth took a step back and simply averted his gaze from the entire scene to help get his mind on track. Avoiding eye contact completely, he was good at that. He focused instead on the bottle of golden water, which was gaining beads of condensation on the outside from the puppy's frosty aura. Maybe it really would taste like iced tea this time.

"You know what a health potion is, right?"

"Like from table top games?"

"No, more like- Well… Actually, yes. That works too. That is essentially a health potion. Although I'm still trying to get the mixture right."

"Hmm… If you did get the mixture right, whatever that ends up looking like, do you think you could make it renewable or are we on a limited supply?"

"I uh… I'm not too sure on that one. This is mostly just made up of water I took off some special grass I stumbled across. I took some cuttings but whether we can plant that or not, or if it will even have the same effect afterwards, is anyone's guess. Honestly we are stepping into a whole new realm of medicine and I'm not even good at the realm we are currently in."

"I understand. For now we will go off the assumption it is a limited supply. Try not to use any more of it unless necessary. We can't afford people making stupid, avoidable mistakes because they think there is a safety net.

In the meantime, we'll have to keep an eye out for other plants, or even creatures, with medicinal properties."

"Maybe some edible plants too, although I don't know how we will separate them from the poisonous ones without testing them in some way. It's not like people are stupid enough to eat a random, strange plant they find growing in the street."

Although it wasn't a very good joke, Seth still found it a little strange that he was the only one chuckling. So when he finally made eye contact again, only to be met with Astra's blank stare that held hints of annoyance, he couldn't help but sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh god… They didn't."

"..."

"How many?"

"5. One died, Another had a serious acid trip, Two had different cases of food poisoning and the last one turned purple."

"Well, I'm living proof that drinking that stuff won't kill you, churn your guts, make you loopy or turn you the same colour as an annoying dinosaur. This ghostly complexion is all natural.

Plus, for the record, I only drank it after I confirmed its effects."

'Sort of…'

He made sure to add the last part in his mind, she didn't need to know that part or that drinking it undiluted was like chugging liquid cocaine. Not that he had ever done normal cocaine, but he assumed that was an apt comparison.

Narrowing her eyes, Astra glared at him for a tortuous few seconds before finally relenting and focusing on the plastic water bottle. Lifting it from the ground, she shook it a few times and watched how the liquid swirled in the container before settling. Almost as if she was waiting to see if something was swimming inside of it or if a cartoon skull and crossbones was going to form and tell her it was poisonous.

Yet when neither happened, or when she had gained whatever actual insights she had been looking for, she decided to finally take care of the metaphorical thorn in her side. Otherwise known as the literal dagger in her side.

Unscrewing the bottle's cap, she gripped the handle of the Hemogoblin's knife tight. She took a few long, measured breaths before suddenly ripping the dagger from her flesh, sending fresh splatters of blood across the ground and even marring the puppy's pristine white fur with a few crimson spots.

Stifling a cry of pain, she quickly dunked half of the bottle's contents over her gaping wound, gulping down the rest of it, before slapping her hand over it and applying pressure. It only took a few seconds before the tension in her muscles relaxed and a sense of relief flowed through her tired body.

It felt as if she had slept an entire day in the span of a few blissful seconds. Lifting her hand, she took a curious look at the state of her condition only to find tendrils of flesh wiggling as the wound knitted itself back together.

In the span of a minute, the stab wound was fully gone. The only marker of its existence was the pale skin of a fresh scar and the blood surrounding it.

"It seems even magic has its limits. Good work though. You could save a lot of lives with that."

"I know. But I've not got much left, so I'll need to see about replanting the grass or finding more before we try any mass production."

Seth gave her a curt smile, standing up and turning on his heels, leaving her to her puppy time until the rest of the group was ready to depart. He, on the other hand, had a new task to complete. What better way to fill up his soul stat than eating up all the leftovers from this battle?

Yet it seemed, once again, the universe was desperate to kick him in the nuts and ruin his plans. For when he turned to look for the pile of Hemogoblin corpses, all he saw was a single short corpse in a field stained with blood.

'Oh come on… That is just not fair.'