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The sound of metal sliding into leather and footsteps appeared right behind me. I hadn’t heard them coming. I started and spun around, then hated myself for it. Why did I startle so easily, it was ridiculous.

My gaze flicked to the weapon first, then I barely managed to hold back a sigh of relief as I saw he was putting the sword back, not taking it out. Perhaps he didn’t want to attack yet.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” the man called.

I barely suppressed the urge to snort. Many people had told me that and many of them had ended up hurting me. This wasn’t happening again. I wouldn’t let it. I had to do better.

“How did you ever become a Siya, you’re useless.”

The man was young, only a few years older than me. Like the others, he had lighter skin, but his hair was dark and his eyes blue. For a single, frightening instant, I though the was a Kezbe, then rationality kicked in and I realized his accent sounded completely wrong for it.

He stayed at a respectful distance, well away from me, his posture carefully neutral and his hands away from his weapons. He was doing everything not to look like a threat, which told me he saw me as one. Good. I wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.

“But this man is right. There’s not an exit, as far as we’ve been able to tell. The temperature is dropping, and we’re all getting ready to head back to a much drier part of the cave where we can keep warm. If you want to join us, you may, but I understand if you’d rather not.”

I raised my eyebrows. So it was getting colder? I had long since learned not to comment on things like that, not to comment on noises or blurry figures or the feeling of someone touching me that wasn’t there. More often than not, it was just me.

“You have a ridiculous imagination.”

I watched the man, slowly getting interested in something more than surviving the next five minutes. He was giving me an option. He wasn’t urging me in either direction. How would he react if I agreed? How would he react if I didn’t? Was he trying to lure me into a trap?

No, it really was getting colder and it was wet down here. Before long, it would be too much to endure.

Was there really somewhere to go or were they just trying to trap me somewhere in the open?

I glanced up and caught a faint look at a glimpse of light up there. No, there really was something.

Besides, I used to think I knew when someone was lying. Now I wasn’t sure. So many people had lied to me. I had no idea anymore.

Once again, I finished on the conclusion that there were two ways to die. Either they were going to kill me or I would freeze to death. One would be a lot faster than the other and I wasn’t going to die slowly again. I’d had enough of that.

“If you’re really alright with it,” I asked, cautiously. I pulled my loose coat closer around me. It had been early spring where I came from but this was far colder. At least I wasn’t unprotected. I’d survive. I always had, somehow. Who knew why.

The man nodded, then glanced back at the other man that was kneeling. I followed his gaze.

I hadn’t taken a good look at anyone yet, beyond assessing which one was most dangerous. That had been easy. The tall man with the scarred face. Though, the others weren’t far behind, except the smaller man who was still sitting. He looked weak, perhaps ill.

There was noticable resemblance between him and the kneeling man. Brothers, probably.

I squinted in the faint light, my trust in my perception wavering again. Was the smaller one missing a part of his left leg? It looked like it.

I’d met plenty of people who missed limbs, or fingers, or eyes, or were in some other way disabled. I’d never thought I’d become one of them. Who thought about things like that? I’d always thought I’d just die outright.

There was another skittering sound to our right and I instantly stiffened, considering where I would go if something attacked.

A tall man stood on the ledge above us.

“You’re… glowing,” he said, flatly.

I didn’t quite smile but I came close. Finally someone who recognized the absurdity of the situation. Now I knew I hadn’t been imagining the glow, at least. That was progress.

He came down from the ledge.

The glowing man looked confused, then extremely embarrassed.

“Oh, no!”

The glow faded completely, leaving us in even deeper dimness.

“Is– is that any better?”

This time I did smile. It was so bizarre I couldn’t help it.

“If glowing seems like a good idea to you, go ahead,” I said, barely able to temper the sarcasm in my voice.

The newcomer turned a glare at me and I stiffened, trying to assess whether he was armed.

“Are you ill? You’d better not be. You need to cover your coughs, you know. I don’t want to get sick too.”

I instantly clicked from ‘invisible’ to ‘bravado’. Being apologetic now was going to get me walked over.

“I’m not sick anymore, but that’s not going away soon,” I said, the sarcasm obvious in my voice now. “I’ll try not to inconvenience you in future.”

I glanced back at everyone to make sure someone wasn’t going to attack me as soon as I turned my back and slipped into the shadows, slowly climbing up the incline toward the light, but not directly.

I quietened my steps so I wouldn’t make too much noise and walked slowly, partially so I wouldn’t bring on another coughing fit and partially so I could make sure everyone got inside before me. Just in case.

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Man, writing him is exhausting. Like, dude, not everyone is going to kill you. It’s okay. Just breathe. These posts are so long because he overthinks everything for four paragraphs XD