The Forbidden Jungle

Serene giggled. "Well, I guess you can say that. Nothing physical, just... we're a couple."

"What was always supposed to be, but was robbed from us by circumstances until now." Asphagel huffed. "This world has its problems, but at least it gave us the time to be together without distraction at long last. No wars, no despots, no games of manipulation and murder. We can be together, though I do wish some of the friends I made where I came from could be here with us."

"And those would be?" Sya began to ask, but a loud noise caused all heads to turn to Laeptus.

The mechanical giant sparked and crackled as he sat down in one of the chairs. Steam blew out of the many cracks that formed along his hull, and his red eyes dimmed. "Systems compromised. Hull integrity reaching critical state. Emergency eject required."

Plumes of steam billowed from the chest region. There was the sound of gears and cranks whirling, and Laeptus's chest plate shifted and opened up. Something rolled out, a small flesh colored being no larger than an apple. Its skin was torn, as much of it had fused within the cockpit of the exosuit, and its head was covered with pale blue hair. Small wings like those of a bee were on its back, and it fumbled across the table, until it came to a stop.

"Oh my god!" Serene gasped. She ran over to the thing that had come out of Laeptus, and picked it up. She cradled it in her hands. "You... You were piloting that thing? You... You're Laeptus, right? The real him?"

Asphagel's eyes widened. "You're kidding me..."

The small being struggled to stand in Serene's hands. Its knees buckled, and its voice was weak, yet high pitched and feminine, yet it sounded more like a boy than a girl. "Y-yes..." He said. His eyes were also pale blue, and squinted, as if having never seen the light of day and blinded. " I am... Laeptus... Or rather... My name is Lae."

The tiny Lae erupted into a coughing fit. Each cough made his body shake. "I've been better... Just been so long since... I've been out like this."

Shifting Lae into one hand, Serene whistled for the boy from before to come back with what herbs remained. She took them in her free hand, and began to run them across Lae's body. "You were in that thing for so long, your skin fused with it? How long were you in there for? At least these herbs will ease the pain and help your skin regrow..."

"A very long time... ouch!" He winced as her nails ran down his spine. "Everything hurts, my skin hasn't touched anything since... Ouch!"

"Since the day your kind went extinct." Asphagel finished the statement for him. His wings beat gently. "You're a Fae... a pixie. I never seen one of your kind, but I've heard enough."

"You are correct, Laeptus." Lae winced, and held his breath until Serene finished scrubbing his body with the herbs. "I haven't left that body since that day, to avoid drawing attention and for my own safety, but now... Now I'm just... tired..."

The tiny pixie curled up and fell to his side in Serene's hand. his breathing was almost unhearable, like that of a baby trying to sleep.

"What did you do to him?" Sya asked, but Serene held up her free hand.

"I did nothing. Without his special suit, he's probably exhausted himself doing just this." She looked over at Maria. "If you have bandages, that would be appreciated. Just be gentle. I'm sure his bones would snap under any pressure." She gently put him down onto the table...

"Thank you. That should suffice." Serene nodded. "That should stop the bleeding." She took the bandages from Maria, and gently wrapped them around Lae's waste and limbs. It was a careful process, as the diminutive figure was so fragile, she feared one wrong move would break one of his bones.

Eventually, she wrapped him, and gently cradled him in her hand and carried him to the back room. "He needs rest. I'll put him with our other patient and give them medicine."

She opened the door and closed it. Once the door closed, Asphagel rubbed his forehead.

"This day just keeps getting stranger and stranger..."

"A human, male, who was found in some machine wreckage." Asphagel explained. "He was betrayed and left for dead by someone he looked up to, and were it not for me and Serene, he would be dead. He came from a land to the west, on the edge of the desert and a different forest. He calls his people the Holy Knights, yet from what he has told me, they are no more holy than the despot who ruined my own life, or the tyrant that rules those lands."

"He is doing better." Serene walked back to where Maria and Asphagel were. "He was in great pain from his burns, but now he is resting, he and Lae."

"Normally we don't get visitors here on the edge of the desert... except from other worlds." Serene mused. "And even then... by the time we're able to get to where they often land... it's too late."

"When things come here from other worlds, there's... something that seems to have a timer on where someone drops in this area." Asphagel explained. "We've tried to rescue people that end up here before, but often, all we find is a shriveled husk of a body with a stab wound in the back or chest or head, and nothing else. As if something has drained them of their life energy. You're very lucky you fell in that forest, since I guess whatever it is that's causing this wants no part of that forest."

Asphagel's already soft expression hardened. "What is she like? Knowing this place, she could wind up anywhere on this continent, not just in the forest... But I will help you find her."

"I see..." Asphagel muttered. "I haven't seen anyone with that kind of description, unfortunately. Perhaps I-"

"Heartbeat irregular." Sya finally spoke up. Her blind stare was on the small girl. "Can hear it pulsing at an unnatural rate."

"She's right." Serene tapped the desk. "I know you care a lot for your friend, but... lying to us or withholding information won't help us out. I at least assume you are doing one of those things. As a Whisper Demon, I'm rather attune to knowing the intricacies of human mannerisms. What else is there about her that you don't wish to share? Considering this place, it might be the only way we can definitely track her."

Asphagel felt his stomach churn a bit. If the girl really was trying to withhold something, he could hardly blame her. Why delve everything with complete strangers, after all. And yet, of course Laeptus's science project would be able to pick up on anything out of the ordinary, and of course Serene would still be able to tell at a moment's glance when the whole truth was laid out before her.

"If she doesn't want to say it, she doesn't have to. We can work with just what she's willing to induldge." He told Sya and Serene. "Don't pressure the girl, please."

"Dangerous... so not quite human?" Sya asked.

"Perhaps, which in that case... your hesitation to tell us is understandable" Asphagel sat down in a chair.

"But it won't make tracking her down any easier." Serene repeated. "Anything unique about her physically you-"

"Or piece of hair, or belonging of her?" Sya cut in. "Perhaps... I can smell her and track her... that way?"

The blind Sya's face followed Maria's arm down to her hand, and then upon the dangling hair, still warm with the tiniest bit of body heat and scent. She grabbed the hair, and brought it to her face, and sniffed it.

"Do you really think..."

"Knowing she is Laeptus's creation, I'd be shocked if she couldn't." Asphagel cut Serene short.

After a few moments, Sya's tongue wrapped out of her mouth. It was long and veined with orange fluid, and forked like that of a serpent. It flickered around the hair and pulled it into her mouth. Serene looked away, while Asphagel simply shook his head.

"Scent has been stored away. This 'Dani', if she is within four thousand kilometers, I can track her down."

She walked over to a window, and her hands fumbled to open it. Once she did, she stuck her head out, and swerved it to the west.

"It is very faint, but carried across the winds... along with the scent of temperate forest. She is that way..."