The Antagonist's Full Moon

32. Transparent

What happened to my hand?! dean asked curiously in his heart.

The man raised his hand above his head, his eyes trying to look up. Totally transparent, though not entirely clear. Dean could see a cloud over his head, though his gaze was blocked by the hands.

Me ... transparent?! But, why?

"Dean! I've collected the rapids. Is this enough?"

Liv called Dean with a pile of hay. Dean quickly lowered his hand, then walked over to Liv.

"Two more transports." Dean gave instructions.

Dean himself continued to make the tent out of cloth. The rope is tied between two adjacent trees, then the cloth is placed on top of the rope and balanced right left. Then, each end of the fabric is given a small hole for four short string threads. The four ends of the rope are fixed with pegs into the ground.

Be Dean's emergency bivouac tent. The last touch is to add a haystack and lots of green foliage to the top of the fabric tent to make it waterproof when exposed to rain.

Before Frode, Dean did not need to pile up leaves like this, because Frode bewitched them to keep their tent fabrics waterproof all night. Now, when Frode is not around, Dean is grateful when the school once learned to make a bivouac.

Many times, Dean used the tooth instead of the injured left hand, to hold and pull something. Now, his jaw is a little stiff after the tent is finished.

Liv added the last pile of leaves. He also collected wood and dried twigs of various sizes, which he could find all around. The elf girl watched Dean move her lower jaw. "Why is that?"

"Slightly creepy," Dean said. Liv laughs.

A cold wind blew, a sign that it would soon rain. Dean invites Liv to get inside the tent. Right his feet were under the shade of the bivouac, the rain fell on the ground. Dean checked the roof of the tent. Piles of leaves are able to dispel rainwater to penetrate down.

The haystack Liv brought was still left. Dean formed two seats from the remains of the straw. Afterwards, Dean sat down slowly, grimacing withstanding the pain on his left shoulder.

Liv took out a red stone the size of a palm from inside the bag. The red color was so lit up like fire. Dean knew exactly what it was. "You bought a fire magic stone?"

"Yes, yesterday I had the opportunity to leave Uncle Frode before we went into the forest. It could be a bonfire substitute."

"It's expensive, right?" ask Dean to make sure. Transferring magic energy into such a large stone required a high level of skill. The selling price is definitely expensive.

Liv nodded. "Yes, but it doesn't matter. There's still money left. Melian's sister has given me a bag of coins full of money to use. Importantly, as long as Uncle Frode isn't around and my strength is still weak, we won't get cold."

Liv grasped the red magic stone and swiped it against one of the dried twigs. As the twig lit up red, Liv immersed it into another pile of dry wood in the middle of the tent. The fire started without any effort. Warm air immediately enveloped the tent. Liv put the magic stone back in the bag.

Dean opened the tunic he was wearing. The blood from his wound seemed to have dried up. The bandage that Liv wrapped using the cloth of her dress earlier had been full of red spots. Dean took off the bandage. It looks like the traces of a row of teeth that began to dry.

"Your wounds ... ." Liv looked at Dean's wounds anxiously.

"It's dried. I just need to change the bandages" Dean said.

Quickly, Liv took out the remaining tear of her dress fabric that was still in the bag. First, the girl cleaned Dean's wounds with water, then she covered them with a new cloth.

The wind again blows and enters through the sidelines of the tent. Dean shivered from the cold for not wearing clothes. Liv laughed a little when she saw him.

"Don't laugh! Quickly finish changing the bandages!" exclaim Dean ketus.

"Yes, yes! You keep getting angry!"

Finished changing the bandage, Dean returned to the shirt. When he wanted to put his coat back on, Dean was glued to his transparent hand.

"Tch!" Dean clucking. The transparency in his hand had apparently spread to both of his arms. His limbs were still visible, but more translucent.

"Dean, your hands!" Liv realized this and was hysterical.

"I don't know either. From earlier like this."

"You're going to disappear ...?"

Dean sighed. She was crying again, she said in her heart.

"I'm still fine right now. No cry. I'm not dead now."

"Don't say that! Never have! I'm scared!" shouted Liv. Her tears had flooded her cheeks. There was something stuck in my heart, when Dean saw Liv like that.

"I told you not to cry." Dean wiped the girl's tears. "When you cry, I'm hard."

"Difficult ...?"

"My feelings are bad!"

"I mean--"

"That's it!"

Dean rushes, then pulls Liv's hand, until the girl falls into his arms. As fast as lightning, Dean hugged Liv from behind. How surprised the girl was. His heart raced.

"Dean ...!"

"Silent. I'm chilly. You have to take responsibility, because of you, my shirt got ripped from being bitten by a bear!"

Liv looked down. "Sorry ... ." Liv turned around, then hugged Dean back and asked, "Still cold, no?"

Being asked like that while being hugged, not only was Dean not getting cold anymore. His face immediately blushed red. Her body is warming. The man threw his face in the other direction.

"Why shut up? Still cold, isn't it?" ask Liv again.

Dean shook his head, not daring to look directly at him. "It's warm enough" he replied weakly. Liv frowned, not understanding why the man was looking the other way.

***

The next day, Dean opened his eyes from his sleep. His right arm was cramped as if he had been crushed by something. Once fully conscious, Dean finds Liv sleeping, making Dean's arm a pillow.

Last night ... did he and I sleep cuddling? Nothing happened, right?!

Dean remembers what happened last night. After changing the bandage, he and Liv sat hugging while eating the existing bread supply. Then, they chatted with each other and finally fell asleep.

The man stared at the ceiling of the tent, exhaling a sigh of relief. I don't know what it would be like if something happened between him and his creation. Although to reassure himself, the man held onto his chest. Her heart rate is still tight, every time she sees Liv's face. He tried to believe that this rapid heartbeat was not a sign of anything.

Brushing aside his erratic feelings, Dean snapped at the girl. The black fog that suddenly reacted and protected his head from the pitakan made Liv wake up.

"Don't sleep on my arm, it hurts!"

"Tch, you can wake me up softer!" Liv immediately got up and got angry.

Dean laughed, not caring. "Let's get ready. We still have to go to Themaris. The cave we are going to is in the western area of the city. As much as possible before nightfall, we should arrive and stay there."

After packing the goods, Dean and Liv moved southwest, towards the city of Themaris. The city was a hereditary territory of the Liv family. Surely, just like the other cities, the border wall into Themaris was guarded by soldiers.

The problem is, from the edge of the Nitville forest to the city of Themaris will take more than one day on foot.

***