My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 198: Getting Stale

Sonja waited until she could no longer hear Zornok or any other heroes. With a heavy sigh of relief, she pushed against Raven to let him know to start moving. 'I swear to god if he farts just now I'll make him wish he had died!' She groaned as continued to shove him through the narrow passage.

Raven still had no idea what was going on, but he had heard the conversation Zornok had. 'Something drastic happened while I was out. She'll have some explaining to do once we get out of here.' He was no fool and knew that Sonja had no reason to sneak out of her own home unless they had somehow lost the war. Which was hard for him to imagine at this point, but he could not deny that it was likely what had happened.

His arms and back began to feel sore from being hunched over for so long as he dragged his way through the passage. The sounds of Sonja panting as she shuffled along behind him, seemed to be extremely loud to his ears. 'My hearing was good before, but why does it seem even better now?' Little by little, he was beginning to notice the changes that had overcome his body.

The darkness of the tunnel seemed non-existent to his eyes, every bump in the stone was clear to his touch. He could smell even the faintest stench of staleness to the air. These were all things that he could not have perceived before. After a few more metres he suddenly realised what must have happened.

"You turned me?!" Raven asked in shock.

"There was no other way!" Sonja did not even attempt to deny it. She knew that Raven never wanted to be immortal. He was happy with getting to live a bit longer before dying of old age. She had gone against one of his only wishes for his own life out of selfishness. She prepared herself for the tongue lashing that was certain to come.

"That's great!" Raven laughed shocking the usually stoic queen.

"What?"

"Well, I had quite a bit of time to consider things while I was away. To be honest, after I calmed down, I realised that eternity wouldn't be so bad as long as I had you." There was a tinge of embarrassment to his voice as he continued to shuffle onwards.

Sonja had come to a halt as she digested these words. 'He, wants to spend eternity with me?' Sonja was shaken to the core. This was something that she had never believed to ever be possible. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to hold this man and kiss him deeply. His confession had left her flustered. So much so that she would occasionally feel weak in her arms and end up banging her head on the wall.

The situation between them had become a little awkward. Raven had no clue how to expand on what he had just told her while Sonja could not keep her thoughts straight. With the situation like this, time passed slower for the couple than it usually would have. Until, eventually, the exit of the tunnel came into view for Raven.

"We're almost there." Raven huffed as he tried to hurry himself up. The cramped conditions would not allow him to, making him feel frustrated. 

"Hurry up then!" Sonja was feeling a bit hot under the collar after his confession, combined with the lack of airflow she was beginning to feel a bit faint. 'We'll need to head to the emergency outpost first. Gather some supplies and rest a little. After a few days, we can look for Sophia's group.'

Their situation looked optimistic right now, which was more than she could have asked for. If they failed to find Sophia's group, then she knew where a couple of other gates were located on this world. They would have to try and find their own way back to Ulafor Island if all else failed. It was a daunting task that lay ahead of them, but it was one they would have to complete if they wanted a chance at a life together.

Raven let out a soft grunt followed by a moan as he fell headfirst out of the passage. He landed in the dirt next to a small pond. Water was trickling down the rocky mountain that the passage was connected to. Sonja's face came into view as she poked her head out, laughing at his stupidity. She reached out and grabbed the rocky surface to pull her lower body out. Allowing her to land gracefully on her feet.

She endearingly looked at him before smacking her lips her a few times. The air tasted extremely odd. She raised a questioning eyebrow while she tried to figure out the source. As the seconds passed the air tasted more rank. Eventually, she could not take it anymore and immediately cupped her hands to get a drink from the clear pool. With any luck, it would rinse the taste out of her mouth.

Raven was sweating bullets while he imitated her actions. Making it seem like he was suffering from the same thing she was. 'Oh, god. I hope she doesn't realise it!' When he had fallen out of the passage, he had let one go in his surprise. Luckily, his landing had covered the short sound that escaped from his rear end. Leaving Sonja to believe it was an aftertaste of the stale air that plagued them during their crawl.

"Ugh, if there's ever a next time I'm definitely making sure the tunnels get proper ventilation! I never knew that the air in there tasted so foul! If I didn't know better, I'd honestly believe an animal had crawled in there and died." Sonja spat as she talked, still trying to remove the taste that was overwhelming her.

"Well, hopefully, there'll never be a next time. We could just get our hands on a ship. Then you'd have all the fresh air you need!"

Sonja went slightly pale at the thought of trying to get to sleep in the middle of a storm again. Sure she would like to make memories like that again. Just, preferably without the feeling that she would be sent to a watery grave! She looked towards the north where the hidden outpost should be. Only for a dark look to cross her face