Stranded - Chapter 5

After the dreadful ordeal and the kids swarming me, I was absolutely out of breath. Billy grabbed the neck of my jinbei and dragged me away like a sack of wheat. The villagers all laughed and called me with the A-rush-ka alias again.

“Hey, Billy.”

“Hmm?”

“What are they calling me?”

“Arushka, kid. It means ‘frail one’. ‘Arush’ for frail or weak, ‘ka’ is for addressin’ another person.”

“I see. And where are you dragging me to?”

“To the river, kid. Ye need a good scrubbin’ again, else no one is gonna sit next to ya in dinner, except me!”

I looked up to the sky. Time seemed to have passed faster than I thought. All the touring and the showering, and then the hellish plowing have taken a huge amount of time. The sky was darkening, and besides the branches of the gigantic tree, I could see… two moons?

“Here we are, kid. Surely ya can crawl into the river yerself, right?”

“Yeah…”

Billy dropped the neck of my jinbei, and as my vision came tumbling down, I could feel the cold splash of the water on my head. He dropped me right at the shore of the river. He then stood nearby, hands akimbo. I stumbled, trying to stand up and as I used my hands to lift myself off the ground, I felt a sharp pain on my palms. The skin there has been torn off from excessive force, and it was bleeding.

Billy peeked at my palms.

“That’s some nasty shit, kid. Ya need a hand?”

I shook my head.

“Dang it…”

I muttered as I gingerly tried to get out of my clothes. As I was struggling to close my fists onto the helm of the shirt, a slender hand held onto my wrist. The hand belonged to Sasha, who then gently pulled my arm towards her. She then held and inspected my palm for a moment, then as she held my hand, Sasha raised her other hand. She murmured something softly, and a soothing green light emitted from the hand she was raising. As the light illuminated her beautiful face, I could feel my heartbeats hastening for a bit.

“Woah…”

As I was busy admiring it, the light softly caressed my wounded palms, only for it to suddenly fizzle out, like a lightbulb that got switched off. The wounds still remain the same. Sasha frowned and sighed. She then took out a bar of some strange substance and started to rub it on my wounded palms. It was stinging.

“Argh…”

I winced and flinched for a bit. She then took out a roll of something resembling bandages and wrapped them around my hands. The pain has been subsided, at least for a bit. Sasha held my palms as if to check on it, and I closed my fingers on her hands. As she looked at me, I shook her hands lightly and nodded my head, hoping that she understood my gratitude.

“Surprised by what ya just saw?”

Billy’s loud voice made both of us flinch and pull back our hands.

“Oh yeah, did she just use…?”

“Magic, yes. But unfortunately as always, it doesn’t work on us aliens for some reason. Was hopin’ it would work on ya. We can’t use it too. Tried my best for years and couldn’t just nail it.”

Billy scratched his beard roughly. Interesting, that explains the reason why her (assumably) healing magic expired like that upon casting on me. Sasha chanted something again, and this time, her hand glowed with a soft blue light. The sky has gotten dark as Sasha’s light emerged. Alongside the river bank, multiple similar blue light can be seen too, the silhouettes of the villagers accompanying the light. Soon, a cacophony of splashing sounds and laughter can be heard, as the smaller silhouettes of the children came rushing towards the river for the night shower.

I finished taking off my clothes and dip myself into the river too. The water is comfortingly warm, combined with the soft, pleasant breeze of the atmosphere made for a divine experience. The soft, soothing light of the illuminating spell, the comfortable breeze, the laughter of the children and the gentle moonlight of the twin moons. This place is truly nothing short of paradise.

—-

A while later, when I was done showering and was putting on the fresh new clothes from Sasha, the blue light from the illuminating spells turned into soft golden. The golden lights then touched the river, and after a brief pause, the whole river was bursting with the colour of vibrant gold.

“They are purifying the river, kid. For the next people comin’ to take a shower. Those who have finished would then repeat the same process with the spells, rotating until everyone is done.”

Billy explained as the golden light illuminated our surroundings. Soon after, the light fades as the spellcasters then shift into the illuminating spell again, for the next villagers to come. A loud woman’s voice rang out towards our group’s direction, and Sasha flinched. She then nodded her head, and gave me my old clothes that she was holding, before she headed off towards the direction of the voice with the soap and the towel.

“C’mon kid, let’s go. Ye are still a hundred years early to peek at your crush showerin’!”

“Huh? The heck do you mean-”

“Oh please, kid. I have seen my fair share of love affairs and all the people smoochin’ for just a fuckin’ touch!”

“Ridiculous…”

I muttered as Billy roared with laughter, but I couldn’t resist glancing back at Sasha’s direction. She was still there chatting with some villagers, and for a brief moment, our eyes met. Then I was dragged away by Billy for dinner preparation.