318 Lucky

She opened her eyes, there was only darkness all around her. The deep voice continued to repeat its words. Vy turned all around, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. 

But no matter where she looked, she could not find it. 

Just then, a pair of ruby red eyes appeared before her. The air grew cold. Vy tried to move but she could not. She was frozen in place. She could hardly move her feet! When she looked down at her feet, it had turned into a block of dark coloured ice. 

The effects of it were spreading upwards towards her lower torso. 

"You need our power," the voice whispered again. 

The red glowing eyes continued to glare at Vy as she struggled. The creature slowly revealed its form to her. She could see it's pointed ears, long snout and shadow covered paws. 

On its back, were nine individual fur-covered tails. The creature gave her a sense of strange familiarity. 

"Why do I need your power?" Vy asked the creature. 

The creature laughed deeply. 

"Soon, it will be our power," the creature declared. 

Vy's body continued to turn into ice. She could barely move her upper body. The intense bone-chilling ice froze her limbs, causing a sharp distinct pain to spread through her entire body. 

But there was no one to call out for help. 

She was all alone. 

Just as the ice was about to reach her heart, a certain flame set her body on fire. There was no pain, only a comforting warmth that swiftly enveloped her entire body. Vy held out her hand, surprised to find a dark coloured serpent coiled in her palm. 

-You're not alone.- another voice rang in her mind. 

The voice was familiar, reassuring. 

-You're never alone.- the voice reminded her. 

As she looked down at the serpent in her palm, she was certain that the voice was coming from it. 

When Vy opened her eyes once more, a strong acrid smell hit her nose shaking her awake. She took in a deep breath as she sat straight up. She was back in the Jungle. She could barely make out her surroundings as it was now night time. 

Before she could say anything, she could feel the dryness in her throat. She started going into a coughing fit as she was hit with a dizzy spell. 

"Take it easy. Take it easy," Vy repeated to herself as she tried to refocus her mind. 

Vy recalled what had happened just as the dizzy spell faded away. She swallowed her saliva hard in an attempt to soothe her dry throat. It worked, but it would not last long. 

Vy looked up at the sky, it was a full moon tonight. 

"Lucky me," she whispered to herself. 

With the moonlight shining down upon her, she could just barely make out what her surroundings were. She had set off the trap that guarded this abandoned campsite. 

Under the cover of darkness, she could only make up a shelter and a bed to lie in. In that moment, that was all she needed. Vy lifted herself off the ground and into the bed. 

At the very least, she had a bed to sleep in for the night. Surprisingly, sleep came to her easily after the nightmarish episode she had. The rays of sunlight woke her up as soon as they touched her skin. 

Vy winced as the glaring light hurt her eyes. Though the sleep she had was uncomfortable, it gave her the much-needed rest. However, the vivid illusions she had seen after blacking out remained in her mind. 

What was that fox-like creature with the tails? What about the serpent in her palm?

But that was too many questions for an early morning. Just as she was about to stand up and stretch out her arms, she was immediately made aware of the scrapes and wounds she suffered from the explosion. 

She had not removed the pieces of shrapnel that were lodged in her arms. Despite the pulsing pain on her arms, she made her way around the abandoned campsite, hoping to find some useful items. 

Much to her delight, she was able to find what she needed. Biting down on a bundle of cloth, she carefully picked out the shrapnel. Piece by piece. Just the first one was enough to cause Vy to curse through her muffled mouth. 

Fresh blood oozed from the wound, making it difficult to see the rest. But with precision and patience, she eventually got all of them out. Vy quickly placed pressure on the open wounds, before dousing them with a splash of liquor she had found. 

After that, she pats them dry and sews up the larger wounds. Once that was done, she wrapped it up with strips of cloth she had found and tightened it down with a knot. 

"There, all better," she said to herself with a smile. 

Vy carefully stood back up and tried to move her left arm, where most of the shrapnel was. Though it felt sore, she was still able to move it relatively well. 

"I better not overdo this," she warned herself before stepping out of the tent she was in. 

Under sunlight, the campsite looked far more abandoned than she had thought. There were no skeletons or carcasses lying around the campsite. That indicated that the camp was not abandoned because of an attack.

As she looked through the other tents, she noticed that some of the items were strewn on the ground. However, most of everything was well kept and neatly placed. Vy looked through some of the chests. Some contained pieces of clothing, one of them contained a journal. 

Flipping through the pages of the journal, Vy was happy to find that she was able to read it. It was written by a young child, so the writing was mostly illegible. However, it had a lot of drawings. 

The child drew the faces of others who were in the campsite. One of the pictures also showed a large number of explosives being stored somewhere in the campsite. Using the image as a reference, Vy went out to search the campsite for it. 

She was not hopeful as the campsite could have been abandoned for a long time. Who was to say any of it was left? According to the image drawn, there was a central larger tent, that was where the supplies were kept. 

She headed in there immediately only to find it completely empty apart from a few empty boxes. She looked around, hoping to find something, anything. Just as she was about to walk to one end of the tent, she tripped on something. 

Vy looked down at her feet. She noticed a small latch jutting out of the ground. She used her feet to wipe away the dirt and leaves that covered the ground. 

A hatch revealed itself. 

Vy grinned as she knelt down next to it and pulled open the hatch. That was when she noticed a rustle old lock. As much as she wanted to curse and give up, she was not going to. 

Vy swiftly picked up a rock that was near her and bashed the lock with it. Though her arm hurt, she gritted her teeth through it. 

Wham!

Bang!

Clunk!

The lock came off! 

Vy dropped the rock and quickly opened the hatch. Her eyes lit up as she reviewed the content hidden within.