Chapter 135: Play With Ren
Ren felt like he was being ripped to pieces.
The aftereffects of the drug hit him hard, burning him again and again. The medicine from this underground world was super strong, but the problems it caused afterward were super scary too. He had taken too much, and now every single bone in his body felt like it was coming apart.
It hurt so much. Ren felt like he was covered in cuts and scrapes, like someone was pulling the skin right off him. Sometimes, he felt like he was breaking into tiny bits, with every part of him - hands, feet, stomach, and even inside - falling apart little by little. He started thinking maybe only his heart was left, feeling like it was being squeezed super hard.
"I need water, Kestrel," Ren said, feeling super thirsty. His throat felt like it was on fire, like he was tied up and put over a hot fire.
Then, someone held him, helping him sit up.
Everything was super dark. Ren was on something soft and heard water drops somewhere.
He felt something wet and gooey give him a drink. He was so thirsty, he drank without thinking. But then the water was taken away, only to come back a moment later, giving him another drink.
Feeling a bit better, Ren opened his eyes and saw he was around these tendril things. One of these tendrils was getting water and letting him drink.
"Wait." Ren knew what was happening now. He had just drunk water from one of Kestrel’s tendrils... That felt super weird.
Kestrel seemed confused. When Ren had touched the tendrils, they felt how much he wanted water.
But now, even though he was still thirsty, he turned away from the tendril giving him water.
This made the tendrils even more confused. One grabbed Ren’s face, making him look at it, while another one tried to give him more water.
But with the water coming in so fast, Ren choked a little and started coughing.
One tendril got curious about Ren’s tongue. It grabbed the soft, wet thing and played with it for a bit. Ren’s tongue was interesting to the tendril, being all slippery and moving around a lot. Whenever the tendril caught it, the tip would shake a little.
The tendrils seemed curious, exploring every part of Ren’s mouth. Even though human teeth were hard, Ren didn’t try to bite them. When he was uncomfortable, he just used his tongue to gently push them away. This made the tendrils even more curious and playful.
When Ren’s mouth was filled, he would make muffled sounds. The tendrils seemed to find this very amusing. They started to see Ren not just as a toy but something really fascinating.
After a while, the tendrils pulled back, leaving a sticky feeling behind.
Breathing heavily, Ren lay in the dark, trying to calm down.
When the tendrils came back to give him water, Ren drank it carefully, making sure he didn’t do anything that might make the tendrils playful again.
The tendrils seemed to be thinking, "He’s really something special. Maybe he’s not just a toy after all."
In the darkness, Ren’s cheeks turned red. His head felt all jumbled up, and the sharp pain he had felt earlier now seemed a bit less. He was glad they were in the dark, where no one could see his embarrassed face.
He really hoped that when Kestrel remembered everything, she wouldn’t remember how he acted just now.
Even though things were bad right now, with Kestrel forgetting things and him hurt, Ren was still happy. Because he had found Kestrel and they were together. With Kestrel by his side, things felt a bit better. His heart wasn’t so scared anymore. Even though they were in a scary place, with no idea how to get out, Ren felt safer.
In the quiet, dark place, the sound of water dripping could be heard, and the tendrils were close by.
Ren felt very tired. Every time he was near Kestrel, he would feel even more tired and weak. He had gotten used to resting a lot around him, especially when he was hurt.
But he didn’t want to sleep now. The last time he had slept, he had lost Kestrel to this dark world.
Everything was so dark, and Kestrel couldn’t remember anything about him. Ren was scared that if he fell asleep, he might lose everything this time.
Suddenly, Kestrel felt a warm hand holding onto one of her tendrils.
Ren stretched out his hand, feeling around in the dark until he found one of Kestrel’s tendrils. He held onto it tightly, almost like he was scared to lose his grip. As he did this, he seemed so tired that he closed his eyes, looking vulnerable and weary.
The tendril he was holding seemed to respond, becoming stiff for a second as if it was shy.
"He’s kind of cute," it seemed to convey.
"I really like this guy."
"Me too."
"I just want to see him smile. It’d be nice."
"I feel the same. If he smiled at me, I’d do anything for him."
"Somehow, I want to see him cry, though."
"I feel that too. I want to punish him and see him begging and crying."
"Come on, guys! Are you reading some weird human stories or something?"
Kestrel was confused as well. This person hadn’t really done much, but every time she saw him, she felt happy.
Ren looked so tired, resting against Kestrel’s tendrils. His breathing seemed difficult. Kestrel could feel his body getting warmer, a lot hotter than when she had first found him.
"Is he going to be okay?" She wondered, feeling something strange inside her.
It was like her heart squeezed, a feeling she couldn’t put into words. She had never felt so emotional before.
She remembered being told she was a kind of ruler or deity in this underground world. She’d only woken up in this darkness not too long ago, which made her think she might be young. She didn’t have many memories, but she knew her name was Kestrel. Someone used to call her that a lot.
Taja had explained to her that it was normal for deities to have names. That way, the creatures living here could pray or talk to them.
Kestrel wasn’t sure about Taja. Even though Taja had been around since Kestrel had woken up and claimed to be related, Kestrel didn’t really trust her. But for some reason, she liked this guy, Ren.
She hadn’t really cared for anything before, but she didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
"Come on, wake up. Stay with me," Kestrel said, gently poking Ren with a tendril.
Ren moved his fingers a little and whispered her name.
"Don’t worry, I’ll be careful," Kestrel reassured him.
She moved closer, trying to see how he was doing. She realized she was being kinder to him than she’d ever been to anyone else.
"I feel really cold, Kestrel," Ren whispered, even though his skin was hot to the touch. He wrapped himself tighter, shivering from the cold he said he felt.
"Did I go too far earlier? Maybe he’s just more sensitive than I thought. Or did I mess up when I tried connecting with his psychic landscape?" Kestrel wondered, preparing to dive back into that vast psychic sea.
She jumped in, feeling the water all around. The ocean felt strangely familiar, like she’d been there loads of times before, even though she couldn’t remember.
Kestrel swam down to the ocean floor, to a garden area she had accidentally messed up before. She asked her tendrils to start fixing what they had broken.
The tendrils began fixing the damaged corals, replanting seaweed, and gathering up lost seashells. After a while, they started to get playful, chasing crabs, making patterns in the sand, and playing with the sea anemones.
This place felt like their playground. They knew every part of it, and every fun thing they could do. And they felt bad for messing things up in the first place.
Kestrel and her tendrils both felt sorry for what they had done.
While exploring, Kestrel found an injured orca hiding between the corals. When it saw her, it looked unsure for a moment, then it slowly came closer, nudging her gently.
Kestrel petted the orca, and it made a soft, sad sound. As she touched it, she felt like she had done this before. It was like she knew how to make the orca comfortable, how to get it to trust her.
When Ren woke up, he saw a campfire had been started, lighting up a bit of the dark underground space.
Tendrils were everywhere on the ground. Ren was nestled in the middle of a bunch of them, close to the warm fire.
He felt warm and cozy, and the weird effects from earlier had faded. His mind felt calm, not messy and broken like before.
He felt taken care of. There was still some pain, but it wasn’t the super painful kind from before. But he felt super tired, like he had just gotten over being really sick.
Ren scanned the area with his eyes until he found Kestrel sitting nearby, her chin resting on her hands, observing him intently. It seemed as if she’d been watching him for ages.
"You were out for almost a day. When are you going to be alright?" Kestrel’s face didn’t change, but there was a hint of impatience in her voice.
The moment he woke up, the tendrils on the ground got lively. They began to move energetically, making squishy sounds as they touched the ground. They seemed eager to play with Ren, kind of like how kids get excited when their favorite toy is fixed.
"I need food. I’m really hungry," Ren quickly said.
"Can we play with him just a bit before that?"
"We’ve been waiting for so long," the tendrils mumbled, sounding a bit grumpy.
"I’m super hungry, and I might not last much longer if I don’t eat," Ren said, looking straight at Kestrel. He tried to calm the restless tendrils around him, using a gentle voice.
He seemed weak and very pale, like he could faint any second if he didn’t get food.
The tendrils stopped moving.
Even though Ren was a tough fighter, he was also sensitive at understanding people. He figured out that Kestrel had a soft spot for him, which could be his key to staying safe here.
"Eating again? So much trouble," Kestrel mumbled. But soon, a tendril came back with a live mouse.
Ren quickly said, "I can’t eat that."
"Don’t humans like meat?" Kestrel looked confused as she looked at the mouse. She told a tendril to let it go.
Then, another tendril brought some dark-red mushrooms.
"I can’t eat them; they’re toxic."
Kestrel told the tendril to throw them away.
Soon, a wriggly insect was shown to him.
Losing her patience a bit, Kestrel said, "It’s full of good stuff for you. You should eat it."
Ren’s face turned white. "I can’t. Really."
Getting even more frustrated, one of the tendrils tried to force Ren’s mouth open to make him eat the insect.
Ren struggled and yelled, "Kestrel, please, don’t."
Hearing her name from Ren’s lips, soft and comforting, caught Kestrel’s attention.
She realized she liked hearing him call her name. She told the tendril to get rid of the bug.
"What do you want to eat, then? You’re so picky," Kestrel sounded exasperated.
This might’ve been the first time she ever felt like sighing in her entire new existence.
