Lee Seng looked at Calis as if he didn't know who he was. Calis lowered his trident, something he hadn't seen someone do in the last couple of months.
"It's you, isn't it, Lee Seng?" Calis asked, again. "I-I regained my memories and I came to help, but it looks like… something's already happened. W-where's Keng?" Lee Seng froze. Diminished Sun flared for a moment, before disappearing.
"You won't find anyone here." Lee Seng turned away, readjusting his cloak. Calis watched Lee Seng start to walk away. He curled his lips and followed after.
"Where is he? Why do you look like that? What happened to Capitol City? Why is it a desert now?" Calis asked. He had spent so much time trying to piece together what happened and his mind was going crazy now.
"Don't follow me." Lee Seng told Calis. "Capitol City's gone to shit since then. I don't know where anyone is and I'm not going to bother looking. I got better things to do than answer questions that are irrelevant right now."
"Irrelevant? Keng always said you were a worrywart even if you didn't show it. What happened that made you like this?" Calis grabbed Lee Seng's arm and turned him. He accidentally pulled the cloak away, revealing Lee Seng's form. A Fox Spirit with no tails. For a moment, Calis could sense something dormant within Lee Seng. "What happened to your—"
"Give me that!" Lee Seng grabbed the cloak and put it back on. He turned away, not moving. He took in a breath and steadied himself. "This… isn't your problem anymore. It's mine. I need to end things. Go back to your home. You don't have to associate yourself with me anymore… There's no saving me from what already happened." Lee Seng continued in a random direction. Calis sighed and followed after him.
'Did I feel that right?' Calis wondered. 'Is Keng really with Lee Seng right now?' Lee Seng trudged on, ignoring the fact Calis was there. He picked up speed and made his way towards the ruined pine forest.
Eventually, Lee Seng returned back to his base. A hole in the side of a hill. It looked clearly dug up and there was little here. A couple jugs of water and burnt dried goods. Lee Seng stepped inside and moved to the back, planting a seat next to the wall and hanging his head low.
"Is this… where you've been living all this time?" Calis asked, looking around.
"I told you to go away." Lee Seng repeated. "I don't know where anyone is. I don't care where anyone is right now… R-right now, I need to be alone." He turned slightly away, trying to hide something. Calis planted a seat parallel to Lee Seng and stared at him. "What're you doing? Why aren't you leaving? D-don't make me force you to leave!"
"You don't sound confident in even doing that." Calis immediately called out. Lee Seng's jaw tightened. "Something happened and that's why you're alone, right? That's why you don't know where anyone is and you're cooped up in this… hole?"
"What do you want to hear, Calis?" Lee Seng's voice sounded hurt. He buried his head in his arms and legs. "I don't have any information for you… I don't have anything good… Just leave me alone."
"Something happened to the lab that caused everything to be like this?" Calis guessed. Lee Seng didn't answer and Calis only scooted closer towards Lee Seng. "Are you eating okay? I see you have some water. I can top them off for you." He scooted closer but Lee Seng never budged from his spot.
Calis watched Lee Seng's body shake. He could hear tiny fragments of hiccups like Lee Seng was trying to mask himself. Calis eventually was sitting directly across from Lee Seng. He sighed and reached out, only to stop himself. It wouldn't be right to spook Keng's brother.
"C'mon, Lee Seng. Let me clean you up at least. I'll leave after I know you're not dirty. I'll head over to the lab and snoop around for clues on what might've happened." Calis said.
"Don't." Lee Seng finally looked up. He quickly wiped away his tears, smudging his face further. "It's dangerous. You should go back home. This isn't your problem."
"I just want to—"
"I don't want your help! You couldn't even help me even if you wanted to! Keng's not here! My friends are missing! I can't find the Numbers and to top it all off, my Dad died to that horrible monster!" Lee Seng shouted. He instantly felt a flare of pain erupt from his stomach. He groaned as he bent over, clutching it.
"H-hey, what's wrong?!? Are you hurt?" Calis moved onto his knees, moving closer and hovering over Lee Seng as he tried to peel Lee Seng's arm away. Heat radiated from Lee Seng, forcing Ritsuka to move away. Lee Seng's labored breaths grew and any sort of sweat that formed, immediately disappeared.
"You're burning up!" Calis said worriedly. "You need to cool down!" He produced water and poured it onto Lee Seng, only to watch steam rise. Lee Seng hissed in pain, swinging his arm at Calis, who intentionally grabbed it. He held in his grunts as he forced Lee Seng out of his corner and pinned him down.
Lee Seng was radiating with so much heat, Calis thought he would pass out. His skin was beginning to rapidly dry. Water poured from Calis's body, spilling onto Lee Seng. Heat and water fought against each other, producing steam. Calis continued to produce water until Lee Seng's body began to balance out.
Lee Seng stopped fighting after a while. He finally calmed down and stopped moving. Calis hovered over him, making sure water didn't spill into Lee Seng's nostrils. At this distance, Calis could feel it. Keng was definitely inside of Lee Seng's chest.
'What happened to you?' Calis wondered. 'Why are you in there and why is Lee Seng like this? How long has he been producing heat like this?'
"Lee…!" Keng's quiet voice called to Lee Seng. He shot up and realized he was in the cave he had dug up. He looked around and saw no one. He glanced down and noticed he was in different clothes.
"When did…?" Lee Seng's voice was parched. He grabbed the jug of water to his side and uncapped it. The water looked clean. Too clean. It didn't matter to him. He chugged more than he could handle, coughing some out and letting some water spill onto his body. The fog had disappeared.
Lee Seng set the jug of water aside and stood up. He had slept on some sort of mat that wasn't there before. He noticed another mat and remnants of a fire. He moved to exit and noticed a large set of dry grass swaying at the entrance, acting like a canopy to block out the sun and give privacy.
Lee Seng pushed the dry grass aside and listened to the noises of someone cutting wood. He rounded the corner and noticed a shirtless Calis cutting wood. Calis grunted as he hit the log, splitting it. He had created quite the pile that would last a while. He wiped his brow and looked at the cloudy sky. It wasn't too hot today. Something Lee Seng couldn't really remember having.
Lee Seng trudged forward, only to alert Calis as he slipped and caught himself. The two made eye contact and stared at each other in silence for a while until Calis dropped the ax and quickly moved over to help Lee Seng.
"Are you okay?" Calis asked.
"I-I'm fine…" Lee Seng nodded.
"You shouldn't be walking around. Your body's still weak. Go sit inside." Calis led Lee Seng back into the man-made cave. Lee Seng couldn't help but remember fragments of what happened. "You've been asleep for quite some time. I was starting to worry you went into a coma or something. I'm glad you woke up though. I was beginning to get antsy. Sit here."
Calis carefully lowered Lee Seng onto the mat and let out a sigh of relief. He turned and moved to sit on the other mat.
"How long… have I been asleep?" Lee Seng asked.
"About two weeks." Calis answered. He produced some water and wiped his body down with it. "Your body temperature was extremely hot so I had to literally submerge you in water for a while… thus the dug out hole there." Calis motioned to Lee Seng's left.
"Extremely hot…" Lee Seng clutched his head. "My brain feels foggy. I don't… I don't remember much about what happened between you and I…"
"You were sick from what I could guess. Sick for a long time. Probably why your body was shaking so much. You were acting upon pure instinct at that point when I met you. Shocked, you even talked to me." Calis smiled. Lee Seng glanced down at his hands. He tried to trace back further than two weeks, but couldn't remember much.
"I can't remember much anyways…" Lee Seng sighed.
"Hm?" Calis looked up. Lee Seng looked sad. He clutched his chest and closed his eyes. Lee Seng sucked in another breath and opened his eyes. "It looks like your mind is clearer… Maybe you can tell me what happened now."
Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only