238 Colours Of Water

It sounded a little offbeat, but Lycster did not think too much of it. After all, his sister had not fully recovered just yet. It was normal for this to happen. Vy also stirred awake soon after. She opened her eyes to see her brother's smiling face. 

She held out her hand to touch his cheek as she smiled weekly. Vy wanted to speak but her parched throat forbade her from doing so. She ended up coughing violently. Lycster immediately went to find her some water. 

He soon returned with a glass of water and quickly fed it to her. After taking a couple of sips, Vy took in a couple of deep breaths before she attempted to speak again. 

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she pats Lycster on the head. 

Lycster put down the glass of water and gave his sister a tight hug. Vy grimaced in pain as he pressed down on the wounds she had on her back. 

"I was so worried that I would lose you," Lycster mumbled as he laid his head on her shoulder. 

Vy placed her hand around him and smiled, "But I'm alright, thanks to you and Aether." 

Vy could sense that Aether was not in the hut. Due to her injuries, her senses were not as strong as they used to be. She could not tell where he went, but she was certain that he had not gone far. 

"Where are we?" Vy asked. 

"We're in Kori Village, it's in this huge crater. There are hot spring pools here too for you to soak in that can help speed up the healing of your wounds!" Lycster explained excitedly. 

"Oh? Is that so?"

It was good to know that they've stumbled upon a village out in the Bleak Lands. Furthermore, healing hot spring pools? Lady Luck must be shining on them!

"Shall we go to the hot spring pools now?" Vy asked. 

She placed her feet down on the cold floor as she tried to stand up. But as soon as she placed pressure on her feet, Vy lost her balance and crumbled onto the ground. Lycster tried to help her up but she stopped him. 

"No worries, I can stand up on my own," she said. 

Vy carefully held onto the side of the bed and helped herself up. When she was finally able to stand on her own, she could feel her head spinning. But after remaining still for a while, she was alright once more. 

She took a step forward and another. Vy knows she can't do it on her own right now, she was not going to pretend like she was better. 

"Lycster," she called out to her brother. 

Lycster immediately ran up to her and placed his sister's arm over his own shoulder for support. 

"Where do you wanna go?" Lycster asked. 

"To the hot spring pool. Do you know where it is?"

Lycster nodded, "I do, I checked with Shin."

"That's nice, I'll need to thank him when I see him," she replied. 

Together, they made their way through the village until they arrived at the hot spring pool. They were surprised to find that they had the entire place to themselves. There were four hot spring pools next to each other. Each of them had different coloured water. 

Lycster explained that each pool had different properties. Shin, the frost elf, told Lycster that the pool that was in a pastel shade of green was the healing pool. He gave careful instructions not to let Vy soak in the pool that was in a shade of red. 

"What's the red pool for?" Vy asked out of curiosity as she slowly entered the green pool. 

The warmth of the water embraced her like a warm hug as she soaked her body into the water. 

"He didn't say," Lycster replied. 

The boy sat by the pool and accompanied his sister while she soaked in the water. 

"Don't you want to soak in here too?" Vy asked. 

Lycster shook his head, "Shin said it's only for you." 

Vy leaned her head back as she took in a deep breath and tried to relax. Her body was tense and stiff from the cold weather and from lying down for so long. The heat of the water helped her muscles to relax and loosen. 

Vy's eyelids grew heavy as she let out a yawn. She thought the hot spring would make her feel more awake, but it seemed to be having the opposite effect. Vy turned over and laid her head on her folded arms. Before long, she fell asleep in the hot spring pool, holding onto her brother's arm

What she did not know was that Lycster had also fallen asleep next to her. The fatigue, and a certain aromatic fragrance, was the culprit. There was silence in the hot spring pools. Only the occasional bubbling of water could be heard. 

From a distance away, a creature emerged from the shadow it was hiding in. The creature had eight legs, two of which were pincers. Its body was semi-translucent like glacier ice with a tinge of blue. Their tails were coiled up, facing upwards with a poisoned tip at the end. 

This creature did not speak in the common tongue, they spoke with their own unique system of clicks and crackles in their voice. It was not alone either, as more started to appear from the sides until they had effectively surrounded the hot spring pools. These creatures were Glacier Scorpions. 

They had heard through the grapevine that a certain shapeshifter was transporting precious cargo through the Bleak Lands. The moles might have failed, but they will not. 

"Are you sure she's unconscious?" one of the creatures clicked to its companion. 

"Yes, but we searched their hut. There's no sign of the chest either." the companion replied. 

"Looks like we would need to question them for answers," the first one replied, "Shin!" 

From a distance, the frost elf came running towards the creature. 

"Yes?" he asked in a shaky voice. 

"Lock the boy up. We'll take care of the woman," the creature said to him as it scurried closer to Vy and Lycster.

Shin followed closely behind and saw the young boy slumped over and sound asleep. 

-I'm sorry.- he said to himself as he squatted down to pick the boy up. 

Just as he was about to pick Lycster up, Shin realised that the woman had been holding onto his brother's arm. Moving Lycster had stirred the woman awake. Shin froze in position. Vy opened her eyes. She was still groggy and could not see clearly. 

"Lycster? Are you going somewhere?" Vy asked in a soft voice as she looked up.