Chapter 318: A Caring Wife
"So where is this place that allowed you to contact the outside wor—" while speaking, Vritra suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the floor, surprising the others present in the room.
Yennefer, who had been closely observing Vritra, instantly tried to catch him but her speed was way slower, so she failed to catch him in time.
THUD
He fell, but thankfully his head didn’t hit the ground as Mark cushioned it with his hand just in time.
"Ben!! BEN!!" Yennefer seemed quite shaken as she knelt beside Vritra and tried to wake him up, but when she touched his skin she was shocked to feel how hot his body was.
"H- He is sick, why is his body so hot?" she spoke, this high of a temperature was certainly not normal.
Mark frowned as well. Chopper touched Vritra’s forehead and cheek before checking his pulse: "Oh my god, his heartbeat is so fast, this—this is not normal at all.
Even the people who had seen that abomination before, at most saw hallucinations and they did get sick but not to this extent. What happened exactly?"
"We have to bring him to our house first, do you have any medicines here?" Yennefer hugged Vritra’s body tightly, the fear of losing him piercing into her heart.
"Yeah we do, let me help you first." Mark said, as he and Yennefer soon brought Vritra back home. They laid him on the bed.
"Here, these were the medicines you asked for." Lisa said as she passed several medicinal fluids to Yennefer.
"Thanks." Yennefer said, sitting at the corner of the bed, close to Vritra.
She touched his forehead and his body temperature was so high that it almost felt like her skin might start burning, and his heart was beating so loudly that she could clearly hear it.
"What’s wrong with him all of a sudden?" Lisa questioned. Mark had just told her to bring several medicines, and she looked worriedly at Vritra.
"Can you bring me a spoon and a few bowls?" Yennefer said, before adding: "Ah, and we need to bring his temperature down, so..."
"I will get some cold water, and check if I could get some ice as well." Mark said as he rushed out of the room.
Although generating ice is nearly impossible in the town, the climate there is quite random—it would start snowing then the next day it would be a hot day.
Both Mark and Lisa got to work. Chopper sighed and said: "The people here had suffered from all sorts of illnesses but I have never seen one like this, anything out of the ordinary happened?"
"No, he saw that thing yesterday from the window, he seemed quite exhausted after that. And today, he said... an insect bit his hand, maybe it is because of that." Yennefer answered, as she massaged his head.
"Oh, yeah that might be it. Sigh, let’s see if his condition gets better for now. Tell me if you need anything else." Chopper said before making his way out of the house.
Soon, Lisa brought the utensils. Placing them on the bed she asked: "Do you need my help?"
"No thank you, I will call you if I need anything." Yennefer gave a nod, as she picked up the medicine and spoon, then began to feed him carefully.
***
In an endless dark space, a white insect’s body kept pulsing and rotating. It was the same insect that had torn Vritra’s flesh the previous day.
Its body kept enlarging at an alarming rate, the spikes on its body becoming larger and larger, becoming hundreds of meters in size within a few seconds.
Upon reaching a certain size, the white insect finally stopped growing.
It stopped rotating as well and fixed its two beady eyes to the front, looking into the darkness as two figures soon appeared.
One was an enormous dragon which was smaller in size than the insect, even less than half its size, but despite the difference it showed no fear and let out a deafening roar.
Some distance away from the dragon was a creature much larger than the dragon but still smaller than the insect.
It was surrounded by purple energy and had a really strong presence.
After a few moments of silence, the two of them shot towards the white insect, releasing all of their energies and shaking the space around.
Instantly, a terrifying battle took place.
Despite being the weakest, the dragon was the most persistent, and no matter how much damage it received it would continue to charge forward, striking the insect relentlessly.
The enormous demon fought with all its might as well, but even with their combined efforts they could barely deal any damage to the spikes.
They couldn’t even reach its body.
The battle continued to go on and on, yet as time passed the condition of the two entities got worse while the insect was almost without any injuries.
***
When Mark brought some ice and cold water, Yennefer put a wet cloth over Vritra’s forehead.
"Tell me if there is anything else you need, I live in the house next door." Mark said, then he left the two alone.
’Please wake up...’ Yennefer thought in desperation.
She hesitated for a moment then started removing his clothes.
She didn’t feel strange; after all they had already seen each other’s body very closely once before. Then she started to clean his body with a clean cloth.
Vritra was sweating a lot, and the temperature just wouldn’t go down.
She carefully and gently used the cloth to wipe his smooth skin, not letting her mind wander off. After she was done, she kept changing the cold wet cloth over his forehead and fed him some water.
"Vritra, can you hear me? Please get better, I don’t want to lose you. I still don’t know my exact feelings for you, but ever since meeting you again, my emotions haven’t been under my control.
Vritra..." Yennefer whispered in a sad tone as she sat with Vritra’s head resting over her lap.
After a moment she leaned down and pressed her lips against his, feeling his burning lips, then she hugged him tightly.
Hours passed by as Yennefer stayed by his side, taking care of him with every bit of her strength. Mark and Lisa would come to check up on Vritra a few times but there was no change.
"I didn’t expect her to be such a caring wife, based on her earlier attitude, but he sure is lucky to have her." Lisa muttered as she walked out of the house.
The sky had already started to turn dark and now they needed to return to their houses.
"Yeah, she looked quite exhausted herself. I hope nothing happens to Ben." Mark sighed, he could tell that Yennefer would be very sad by his death.
The two went their separate ways as a loud siren rang out, indicating that it was time for everyone to lock their houses properly.
Yennefer was feeding Vritra some soup so that he wouldn’t feel hungry. After the food she cleaned his mouth and fed him medicines.
Then she checked the house and locked the door, before returning to Vritra’s side and lying beside him, hugging him closer, not caring that she might also catch his illness.
"Please get well before the morning, I am missing you even though I am so close to you." Yennefer said.
She didn’t know why, but such words kept coming out of her mouth unlike her usual silent and stone-like attitude.
She cleaned the wet cloth again. Mark had just delivered more ice, so she continued to change it.
The empress continued to take care of him until exhaustion finally caught up to her, and before she knew it, she fell asleep while hugging Vritra even tighter than the night before.
His body heat didn’t bother her one bit.
***
Early in the morning, Yennefer woke up and, feeling the burning sensation coming from Vritra’s body, she sat up and touched his cheek.
’His condition just keeps getting worse, what should I do? These medicines aren’t working, his temperature isn’t going down.’
Yennefer felt her heart sink. If things continued like this then he really might die.
Seeing the bright sky, Yennefer hastily walked out of the house and went to meet with Mark. Then she asked him for more ice so Vritra could take a cold bath.
Thankfully, no other incident had taken place. Chopper and Duffus were busy trying to find the members of Bone Blood Cult that were still on the run.
Most people were just minding their daily life; they seemed to have accepted the town completely.
After returning, Mark filled the bathtub with ice and water then helped Yennefer bring Vritra to the bathroom.
"Let him soak there for a while and see if his body temperature goes down."
Mark said, before adding: "I am just outside, so I will return when you need my help."
"Okay, thank you." Yennefer nodded, before gently using the cold water to wash Vritra’s neck, shoulder and face. She sat close to him and waited.
Her belly rumbled in hunger but it was like she had lost all other sensations.
***
Inside the dark space, the battle between the two sides continued to rage on. After a fight that lasted for dozens of hours, the insect finally devoured the other two entities and then it started to mutate.
With a jolt, Vritra opened his eyes as he felt the cold water against his skin. He looked around and found himself in the bathroom.
"Vritra, you are finally awake!!" Yennefer sprang to her feet and shouted in joy as she hugged him, getting wet in the process herself.
"Uh... Who are you?" Vritra questioned.
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Thanks for reading...