Starry Resonance Ch. 01

Nora was caressing his hair, her hand moving between the soft locks. The sensation created a joyful numbness that spread all around his head. His right hand was still in hers with her thumb sliding over where his wound had been. Then her sniffing registered.

Yvain lifted himself up and the hand that had been on his hair moved to rest on his shoulder. He saw that the rims of her eyes had grown red.

"Forgive me, I didn't know you were still in the Protos rank," Nora said, a bit choked up.

Protos rank? That was the first time Yvain had heard the word, but he quickly discarded it. Massive relief flooded him with the knowledge that he hadn't been betrayed after all. His full concentration was on how exceptionally vulnerable the woman in front of him looked.

It was Nora's turn to blush under Yvain's dazed gaze. She quickly released his right hand and was about to wipe her eyes when Yvain kissed her.

It was all on instinct. Seeing Nora in such a state filled him with a need to comfort her. But when their lips touched, he stood still. This was where experience came in and, having no interest in the act before, he didn't have any.

The shock to his system that came from the touch didn't allow him to bring up any images of couples he had seen in the past doing the same thing either. He did know that performance was important though, so he tried to at least move his tongue across her closed mouth, making sure her lips were as soft as they felt on his own.

Nora, as if a switch had been flipped, smashed her mouth against his. Yvain felt her tongue push back until they were inside his mouth; both appendages sliding against each other, desperate to get a better taste. A metallic flavor brought him back to the reality of their situation but ignored it when the hand that had been on his shoulder pulled his hair back.

With a low growl, Yvain copied Nora's own move and pushed his tongue into her. The metallic taste became stronger, but he didn't care. He kept finding different ways to push Nora's tongue around, subsequently making her try and push herself harder against him.

Nora finally moaned into Yvain's mouth when her other hand wrapped around his cock and felt how hard it was. He could swear something was going to come out there and then. Even with the gloves she was wearing, it was something completely new to have someone touch him like that. And the sounds she kept making were like liquefied euphoria being directly injected into his brain. It sent a shock down his spine that ended in his hand pressing down hard on her thigh and making her yelp in pain.

Like a bucket of cold water, he remembered the way his hand had been holding on after the green medicine fell on his wound.

Pulling back, a string of saliva extending between them, he saw Nora's apologetic expression.

"I should have been able to handle your grip, but the fight left me weakened," she said while panting.

Felling less reserved, Yvain put his hand on Nora's thigh and softly applied some pressure on it. She jumped but remained quiet and he quickly removed his hand.

"Can your medicine heal it?" he asked.

Nora shook her head. "It can heal whatever it can touch, but you broke bone. There's no way to get the liquid in." A look of self-blame appeared on Yvain, but Nora quickly took his face in her hands.

"This is nothing. It's my fault for not realizing that you couldn't handle this medicine yet." Yvain was about to disagree with her, but before he could give voice to the words Nora raised the green bottle up to his eyes.

"Here, I still have cuts all over me. Can you help me?" Nora asked.

Seeing her bright smile, Yvain could only sigh and nod while taking the medicine from her.

Nora's smile became wide enough to show teeth and she motioned for him to open his legs. He did as told in slight bewilderment and was gifted with a view of her butt as she pushed herself up with her good leg and, keeping the sword balanced on her lap, laid her back against his chest, finding a comfortable spot with her butt in contact with his crotch.

"Just pour a drop on the wounds you can reach with the bottle," she said. "For those you can't, soak your finger a bit and rub over it."

Yvain half heard her, as most of his concentration was being held hostage by the pressure her ass was putting on his length. His free hand grabbed on to her waist with almost a mind of its own, but he quickly corrected himself and instead uncorked the bottle. Once open, Nora set a gentle hand on his own.

"Don't let it get into any other wounds you might still have," she said.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Yvain said with a nervous laugh. After the pain the concoction made him go through he'd much prefer to just let any wound heal on its own. Would it hurt more or longer the worse it was? He shuddered at the thought. Trying to take his mind off of the idea he quickly got to work.

Every drop closed Nora's wounds immediately. But unlike him, she didn't show any signs of pain. With calm breath she contently laid back against him as he treated her.

The bulk of the wounds on her were mere scratches. Yvain was able to easily use one run of the medicine to take care of several. He winced at every deep wound he was forced to slide his medicine-coated fingers across though. Such as they were, he couldn't understand how she hadn't bled out yet. For all of Nora's calmness, whoever she was fighting had fully intended to kill her and had been close to achieving that goal.

In other words, they were all in deep trouble if whoever was out there found them. It was obvious that Nora was stronger than him. He didn't stand a chance against whatever threat they now faced. He knew he shouldn't had let Selt leave.

"Tell me what the plan is," Yvain said. "You mentioned you weren't sure you could win on your own, but now you're in even less of a condition to fight and I don't think me, or my companion will be of much help."

"I can still hop and use my hands you know" Nora said in jest, but Yvain wasn't able to respond in kind. Understanding as much, she changed to a more somber tone.

"Do you know about the monster races?" Nora asked.

"I know of them, but that's about it," Yvain said. While he always had a favorable curiosity toward them growing up, it was only a special case. Everyone else followed the ideas of carnage, savagery, and wickedness that were painted for them, bar Draconian's Tavern. Not much information could be gathered on them inside the country which was one of the reasons they were all so intent on leaving.

"That's good enough," she said, "what I'm fighting is a man from the dragon race." Yvain's hand stopped spreading the medicine. A cold thought washed over him with the mention of the word 'dragon'. Would he have to fight that beast again? She called her opponent a man, but the destruction that blanketed the forest would make some sense if it was instead a beast. But then, who was this woman? She fought a dragon and survived? She was weakened and covered wounds yet still alive. How strong was she, truly? And could he become that strong?

His hand, which had stopped on her belly, shook with Nora's laughter. "No, you won't actually have to fight a dragon," she said. "That form was lost to their race long ago."

Yvain released a breath he didn't know he had been holding, his shoulders sagging a bit.

"That obvious?" he asked.

Nora turned her head to plant a loving kiss on his cheek. "You wear your emotions on your hands," she said.

"Not usually," Yvain said quietly, not too sure emotions could even appear on hands.

"What about the destruction surrounding the forest? Did you guys do that?" he asked, starting up his ministrations on Nora's body again.

With a pensive expression, Nora guided Yvain's hand toward a wound on a blind spot and asked, "How much do you know about starlight?"

"It's the power given to us by the gods in the night ether. With it, we can use abilities that will allow us to surpass our limits," he said.

"That's the gist of it," Nora said. "I'm sure this all seems impossible when in the Protos rank, but the destruction around us becomes the norm once you reach a high enough level of strength," she said.

Yvain looked at his surroundings. What he and Nelimir were shown back in Cosmos could be considered parlor tricks compared to this. They definitely got the unimaginable power part right though. He couldn't envision himself being able to cause such decimation. In reality he didn't even want to though. All he wanted was to challenge those stronger than him.

"I've been meaning to ask you what Protos means," he asked.

Nora didn't answer immediately. Yvain, almost done healing her wounds, just focused on his work. With a skeptical voice, she finally spoke, "Do you know how strength is ranked among starlight users?"

"Not really. I didn't even know ranks existed," he said.

Nora stopped Yvain's hands. She slowly dislodged herself from his arms and went back to sitting face to face, this time without their knees touching. Yvain felt a bit depressed at her body heat leaving him, but he could tell there had been a shift in mood. Since only small cuts were left on her, he closed the bottle and handed it over in silence. As with its sudden appearance, the bottle in her hand instantly disappeared.

"Who taught you about starlight?" Nora asked. She was completely serious this time around, her voice business-like. Yvain didn't like it, but he followed suit.

"My guild mates and I used the information handed to us at the creation of our guild to learn it," he said. "We're basically self-taught."

"Then why don't you know about its ranks?" Nora asked.

Yvain gave her a shrug. "That information was never given to us." Why did it matter anyway? He and his master were already able to use starlight.

"Don't give me that dismissive attitude," Nora said with mild annoyance, "If you don't know about ranks then you shouldn't be able to use starlight."

"What else do you want me to say? If I say I can use it, then I can use it," Yvain said.

"Alright, show it to me." Yvain found the way she looked at him now funny. It reminded him of his time training under his master.

"I can't," he said.

"So you can't use starlight." Nora sighed.

"I never said that," Yvain shook his head. "We have an enemy to fight, right? I can only use it once a day. You're incapacitated, so I can't afford to waste it."

Nora rubbed her temples as if her head suddenly caught on fire. "But then, how can you still use starlight!? If you're here you obviously passed the dungeon's trial. Did you not use any starlight in it? That would be impossible--even more so if you fought a dragon!"

Yvain, feeling like she wasn't really expecting an answer, just looked on curiously as she bit her glove, looking at nothing. He couldn't help himself from smiling. Is this how Selt felt whenever he went off on the kid? Yvain didn't know how to feel about that idea.

Nora's gaze focused back on him, and with a defeated look, spoke, "What are you smiling at? If what you're saying is true, then we're going to die."

"Finally, something we can agree on," a male voice came from Yvain's back. His head snapped around to find a man that was taller than Selt but smaller than both Yvain and Nora. How hadn't he noticed someone approaching them when he was so close?

He was wearing a suit of armor that was now in pieces, yet its past majesty remained. With features that put him around the same age as Nora, he had a dark full-grown beard accompanied by slicked back hair that ended in a ponytail. A longsword with some blood on it hung from his hand. He had the look of a knight of repute in Empryon, but three things separated him from humans completely. Two black horns spiraling out of the sides of his head, taking a soft turn down and inwards to finally end at sharp points aiming out; tail as long as his legs, wine-colored and covered in scales, extending from his back; and finally, the same inhuman eyes Yvain had already seen several times before, but colored a smoky purple.

Under many circumstances Yvain would have found himself taken aback by this new creature in front of him, but only immense exasperation and frustration arrived due to how much Nora had truly affected his senses, making him even miss the second set of footsteps.

"Did you manage to cop a feel?" Selt was standing next to the horned man. The kid was smiling from ear to ear, most likely taking in every detail of Yvain's expressions with glee.

Yvain was about to give a harsh retort, but a fist gently punched his back.

A stoic Nora pushed her sword into his hands. "I can't stand. It's up to you to kill him," she said as a matter of fact. Her arm was trembling, her whole body was. It puzzled him. Up to this point she had been fully composed. She also didn't seem like someone to balk from a fight. And whatever he didn't know about starlight, he was at least certain that death was par for the course, like in any battle regardless of strength. Her eyes remained unwavering though. She only looked at Yvain with determination.

Whatever the case, he wasn't planning on either of them dying. He nodded and grabbed the weapon, quickly facing his opponent.

"Take care of your companion," the horned man said to Selt and strolled toward Nora without even a glance at the other two.

Yvain stood in his way, unsheathing the sword and handing the scabbard to Nora. It wasn't a weapon he had used before, but his master had forced him to learn how to handle all the weapons in her collection so he could find what he was most comfortable with. He might not excel in its use, but he could still be somewhat competent with it by amassed experience.

The horned man didn't stop though; neither did he look at Yvain. With his gaze focused solely on Nora he treated him like air.

Yvain didn't pay mind to the implied insult; it was something he could use to his advantage. But before he could make a move, a ball of dirt hit his face.

Thinking that Selt wouldn't actually do something, he was caught completely off guard. He spat out some of the dirt that fell into his mouth and glared at the kid who was running toward him.

"Your opponent is me, idiot," Selt said. His arms were raised in a clumsy manner ready to punch out. Yvain didn't attack of course. While keeping an eye on the approaching enemy he dodged Selt's fists with no effort.

"Can you tell me what you've been up to all this time? I thought you were doing some actual recon, not getting chummy with the enemy." Yvain said.

Still doing his best to land a strike, Selt spoke, "Just because he doesn't have a pair of tits doesn't mean he's the enemy."

Yvain looked back at Nora. She was ignoring the two of them scuffle and only glared at the horned man approaching her.

Images of the little time the two had spent together rushed through Yvain's memories in an attempt to see if any discrepancies could give validity to Selt's words. None appeared.

Nonetheless, as much of a fool he knew he was for thinking it, he would protect her with his life regardless of the circumstances. Not for a need to protect an innocent life as he had done with the child, but because he simply had a need to do so.

He would still help Nelimir realize his dream, make no mistake. Yet regardless of said duty, what he wanted the most right now was Nora. And to prove it, he was about to kill a man from a world he and his friend had been eager to learn of.

Yvain grabbed Selt by the neck, "I think it's time you made yourself useful."

"H-hey man it's just a joke. What could I have done against that monster any-WAYS." Yvain pushed hard against the ground and almost instantly covered the short distance between him and the horned man. Selt, still in his hand, had his body bent horizontally with the clash against the rush of wind, helpless to stop himself from being used as a makeshift shield.

The horned man showed no surprise and reacted exactly as Yvain wanted him to. No one would ever imagine that the unassuming thin Selt would actually be an un-killable monster. The horned man's plan was simple, to kill both of them at the same time. But as he was getting ready to attack, blood shot out of his mouth and the wounds that had been accumulating over time finally took their toll. At that moment his body staggered for a split second, holding him back from landing a killing blow on Selt, and leaving himself wide open to Yvain's attack.

Nora's gasp covered the glade when the blade embedded itself almost halfway into the horned man's neck. He could only stare wide-eyed as blood poured out of his open throat.

Yvain could understand his adversary's disbelief, as he went through the same experience when Selt first came into his life. What he failed to see was that the fight was not over. The horned man's expression quickly shifted into fury and indignation.

"Decapitate him!" Nora screamed, but it was too late. The man grabbed the blade with his bare hands before Yvain could completely cut through. Starlight immediately poured out of his body and the image of a dragon much different to the one Yvain fought appeared behind him, its size just as immense.

A roar that pierced Yvain's mind, sending him into unconsciousness, burst out of the beast's throat.

-------------------

When Yvain next woke up, he was lying on Nora's lap. He quickly sat up, searched for Selt, and found him still out of it not too far away from them. Right next to the kid laid the head of the man that had been trying to kill them, completely cut off from its body.

"I finished the job as he was roaring," Nora said.

A disbelieving look appeared on Yvain and she answered the obvious question with a shake of her good leg.

"I hopped," she said.

Yvain wanted to question the validity of the statement, but with how tired he was only a chuckle escaped him, with Nora following suit. He was surprised at how easy the fight had been. But if Nora was this weakened then the man was probably in a similar state. And unlike the man, Yvain had Selt as a secret weapon.

Suddenly the forest shook. Some of the trees surrounding the couple disintegrated at a speed visible to the eye. Higher up a dark crack was becoming longer and wider in the sky.

"We need to leave," Nora said.

"What's going?" Yvain asked, standing up to go wake Selt.

"The dungeon is collapsing."