Chapter 46

Occasionally, there were large patches of light floating in the darkness, shapes and colors indescribable and unclear. Sometimes pure black, sometimes blurry images crossed through the darkness.

Was he still conscious? Unsure. It had been a long time since he had opened his eyes clearly or engaged in new thoughts. He couldn't feel the existence of other parts of his body; he tried to move his fingers, but there was no response. He felt very cold, with something soft restricting his movements.

What was wrapping around him... Titus couldn't remember at all. He couldn't open his eyes, and his thoughts were very slow; everything seemed to lack coherence.

He could hear a loud roaring. Was it the sound of rain? Or just noise from his unclear consciousness?

"Titus... Titus..."

A faint, urgent voice. Cloudy? Was it Cloudy... His consciousness brightened slightly, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open his eyes or make a sound.

The familiar voice eventually faded into the noisy rain, and he drifted in and out... The harder he tried to wake up, the weaker his body felt. Sometimes even breathing was difficult; it felt like his nose was blocked by small stones, and any effort to breathe caused a throbbing pain in his head.

Was he close to death? Thoughts in his mind were like bubbles rising unsteadily from muddy water, heavy; they lingered on the surface for a moment before bursting with a "pop." At this moment, he realized he was sick, perhaps near death... His instinctive breathing quickened.

His lips felt like dry, torn leaves; he struggled to move his facial muscles, twitching several times before he could part his lips: "Cloudy..."

Was Cloudy still here? Could she hear him speaking? He could hear some strange noises, like people talking. But they were mixed with the rain; Titus couldn't distinguish them.

"I'm here, I'm here!!" There seemed to be such a voice... Then he felt a heavy weight pressing down on him, holding him tightly.

If this continued, he would surely lose consciousness completely. Titus continued to move his lips with difficulty; his remaining consciousness told him that the heavy weight on him must be Cloudy: "...medicine."

"Cloudy... I..."

"Need, help from the settlement..."

He could hear it; after struggling to speak, his brain seemed slightly clearer, and he could hear Cloudy's voice. "You'll be fine, leave it to me."

Her voice trembled, reminding Titus of the previous rainy season when, despite all preparations in the settlement, there were still deaths... Everyone was very sad at that time, especially the mothers of the tribe.

Would he make Cloudy that sad too? But he still wanted to sit by the fire with Cloudy, watch her cook, and show her the forest after the rainy season: "Clou...
"dy... I don't feel well..."

Finally, he opened his eyes a little. But everything was still blurry, he couldn't even see Cloudy lying on him clearly.

"What do you need to do to get better... Matriarch is... what to do?" Cloudy's voice was intermittent, as if coming from underwater.

What to do about Matriarch? I don't know, or did I forget?

"I don't remember... most people, they're dead." This statement wasn't to scare Cloudy, it was just the truth. In all the rainy seasons Titus had been through, whenever news of someone falling ill came, they usually didn't make it. The most vulnerable during the rainy season were newborns, followed by the elderly tribe members.

Titus wanted to see Cloudy clearly to say a few more words to her, but consciousness faded again. Before losing consciousness completely, Titus thought this would be the last time he spoke to Cloudy.

But it seemed like not much time had passed before he felt warm all over, almost uncomfortably hot.

"...” Titus opened his eyes, gazing blankly at the wooden roof, the firelight casting a warm red glow over everything.

His vision was no longer blurry, and the sounds in his ears were no longer chaotic. But his whole body ached as if it had been hit by stones. His throat was very dry, lips cracked and stuck together from lack of water, trying to open his mouth would tear the skin.

"Whimper..." he could only make a muffled whimpering sound with his mouth closed, his voice low, twisting on the bed. Moving was very inconvenient because his whole body was wrapped in animal skins and leaves. What had happened to him? He only remembered losing consciousness due to discomfort not long ago.

It hurt, even a slight movement of his arm joints would cause intense pain from the inside out: "Ah... Cloudy..." he kept twisting, trying to sit up, but because he was wrapped too tightly, the whole animal skin ball just tilted slightly to the side with Titus's effort, shifting his gaze from the roof to the right. This perfect angle allowed Titus to see Cloudy's sleeping face.

She was sleeping deeply, her face dirty. Because there was nothing extra in the house to cover her, she just curled up and slept heavily on the bed. Her skin, not covered by clothes, was full of wounds, some shallow, some deep, most of them had been treated simply, while the smaller wounds were left exposed to the air.

Titus stared at Cloudy for a while, his sluggish brain working through the intense pain... What happened? Why did Cloudy look so bad? How long had he passed out for? He twisted his neck, trying to pull his ears out from the animal skin wrapping so he could hear the outside sounds better. The rain was still falling, but not heavily...

He coughed a few times, maybe because he made too much noise, Cloudy, who was peacefully asleep, moved a bit and slowly opened her eyes.

Two pairs of eyes filled with blood
Silk's eyes met each other.

"..." Cloudy's eyes widened as she realized she wasn't dreaming, tears welled up in her eyes. She rushed over and embraced Titus, too overwhelmed to speak, only able to let out strange cries.

Titus, with a sore throat and hands wrapped in animal hide, couldn't speak or reach out to hold Cloudy.

"You... you're awake!!" Cloudy cried, reaching out to touch Titus's face, alternating between touching his forehead and ears. "You feel warm to touch! Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere else? Do you?"

Titus blinked. "Water."

As soon as he said that, Cloudy scrambled out of bed, fetched water from outside, moistened her hand with it, and gently rubbed it on his lips. Once his lips softened, she brought the bowl to his mouth. "Hungry? Do you want to eat something?"

Titus, still a bit dazed, felt his throat ease after drinking water. "How long did I sleep?"

"6 sunsets," Cloudy held the bowl, eagerly watching Titus. "I went to the settlement and brought back medicine from the Matriarch."

"Oh..." Titus continued to drink water absentmindedly, only realizing what Cloudy had said after a few sips. "You... you went to the settlement?!"

Overwhelmed with excitement, he started coughing again and choked on the water. What was happening? What had happened? Too surprised to notice his pain, he forced himself to sit up. The leaves and animal hide covering him began to slip off, frightening Cloudy. She rushed to hold him down. "You can't sit up! These need to cover you to keep you warm."

Titus struggled helplessly. Strangely, he didn't even have enough strength to resist Cloudy. "Cloudy, why did you go to the settlement? It's dangerous!!"

But it was too late. She tried to calm him down, rewrapping the slipping animal hide around him. "I'll go get you some food, you need to lie down properly now."

He didn't want to lie down; he wanted to know what had happened. "Rainy season, going to the settlement is impossible... It's turned into lakes outside!"

"Yes, but I did..." What was it called, a raft? Cloudy thought for a moment. "I used many wooden sticks to cross over, it was exhausting, I almost died."

At the mention of "almost died," Titus became restless again. "You have many wounds on your body, I'm worried. I forgot what happened! I just remember feeling cold and uncomfortable."

To ease Titus's worries, Cloudy simplified the story of the past few days, mentioning only her trip to the settlement and successfully obtaining medicine from the Matriarch, omitting the dangers encountered on the way. Those things were no longer important.
"Most importantly, you're feeling better!" Cloudy couldn't help but hug Titus again. "You have no idea how worried I was... The Matriarch said that Titus is a hunter, in better shape than everyone else. So there shouldn't be any issues."

Titus still felt uneasy. He really wanted to know what happened after Cloudy met the Matriarch. "What did they do to you? Was it dangerous?"

"At first, they wanted to kick me out," Cloudy scratched her head, remembering when she sneaked into the Matriarch's house, where there were many people and sleeping newborns. Their reaction to Cloudy was as if a one-meter cockroach suddenly appeared in the house, shouting to throw her out, almost hitting her inexplicably while she was struggling to breathe.

"But I said, Titus needs help, especially since he fell ill. They immediately started figuring out what to do," Cloudy shook Titus happily. "The people in the settlement thought you were dead, so they were all thrilled to hear you're alive. The Matriarch even thinks I saved you."

Thinking that after saying this, Titus would calm down, but he still looked suspicious. "Cloudy, there are many things you haven't told me."

Indeed, there were many difficult things she hadn't mentioned, and she didn't want to tell Titus about being beaten up, feeling embarrassed...

Cloudy reached out and touched Titus's nose. A few days ago, his nose was icy cold, but now it was warm. Feeling this warmth, any suffering from a few days ago seemed insignificant. "Let's talk about everything once you're completely better. For now, I'll make you something to eat."