Emilia POV:

As she started to come back and become aware, two emotions raced through her mind. Fear came first, the worry about what happened to her daughter as she was unconscious. Did the snake get her, and if so, why was she still alive? Then rage swept over her using the sadness from the fear as fuel to compel to move because if she was alive, then Emily could be too, and every second here is another in danger with that, she sprung to her feet. Only noticing Jack after colliding with him as he was peering down at her.

Jack POV:

"What the fuck” is all I could say as the mad woman's head hit my nose, and I could feel the blood start to squirt. Looking up in the clear sky with no cloud in sight is what looked like a 5' 6 woman with one eye peering down towards me and another being covered by her long blond hair festering with anger waiting to boil over, and that came flames engulfed her hand. She said one word, and thank you. I knew what she meant, "Emily."

I crawled back and spoke as clearly as I could, "I saw you get attacked and came to help your daughter right here," pointing to right behind me; as the woman looked up and saw her child, she grabbed and hugged her as tight as humanly possible. I crawled back a bit more than getting to my feet, seeing that the mother stopped paying attention to me.

After the moment passed, I had to say, "I'm Jack. We need to get somewhere safe since you're the locals, is there anywhere out here we can go?" The woman eyes me down, slightly clutching and nudging Emily behind her. "Look, I know I look like a mad man, but I'm not. I don't know where I am and need a place to gather my thoughts. Can you help with that?"

Emily spoke up, "Mom, it's ok, he helped you. I saw it all. He even got a special skill from eating monsters; that's why he's all bloody.

The mom's face perked up when she heard 'eat monsters", then she spoke, "What's the skill and effect? I can see your kinda pussy getting scared from this" As she raised her hands and fire came from it. I did jump slightly; seeing the fire's result made me skittish around the magic flame, but I want to know why isn't it burning her now? She didn't let up her direct eye contact with me. I came up with something" Devour, I can eat monsters I've slain to regenerate health and stamina."

Keep It Simple Stupid. I know QI and firebending exist, so why would a skill like this not. Hopping, my bluff worked. She spits another question my way "Why are you naked?"

I told the truth or parts that mattered. "I don't remember anything to be exactly, and I was abandoned out here. I killed a monster and skinned it. I know you got a lot of questions, but I think we need to find somewhere safe first."

The woman spoke, "There's a city a day worth from here to the north. If Emily says your good, then I trust you; I'm Emilia by the way" "Jack," I responded.

She looked towards the stars and traced a line with her hand. Within a few seconds, she knew which direction to go, and with Emily in her arms, she started jogging. No other choice, I followed the woman, it took over an hour to get to the river, and my god, I was starving.

"We'll make camp here and wait until morning; the hounds shouldn't have our scent this far out. We need to wash up and get this blood off." I could only nod along as she assigned a task to do; I didn't mind letting her take charge. She's a native to this world; they had to have taught survival skills regularly just in case of shit like this. I just placed my hope in her, somewhat childish, but I needed less responsibility. Just enough to relax my mind at the latest.

After starting the campfire, Emilia and Emily walked over to the river, expecting them to start washing up. I turned around. I could hear Emily say the water was cold, then Emilia yelled my name. "Jack, get over here! You don't need to get naked, boy. I'm gonna {Purify} us all at once" Still confused; I just listened; I walked to the shoreline where both Emilia and Emily stood. I watched Emilia as she started chanting with her eyes closed, and what sounded like nursery rhyme leave her mouth.

"Cleanse our filthy bodies and soiled minds, amiss the rot and disease, we leave wither and die but leave us be and in time we will thrive."

As the words left her mouth, all the filth covering my body started to peel from my body. Then the same effect happened to clothes. I felt rinsed but not washed. 'Hey Emilia, can you teach me how to do that?"

"I'll see, but right now, let's get to safety first, get some water and wash your face. The spell doesn't wash your body. This is the best we'll all get until we get to Algasta.

"Algasta?" I questioned.

"The only Family we have left is there, safety too" She kept it short while talking, trailing off looking at Emily then to the river. I felt awkward; I knew the dad must have died trying to help them escape. The way she looked into the faraway distance made me think she remembered a recently painful memory. I turned and sat next to the campfire; Emily and her mom just sat near the shore. First, Emily fell asleep, using her mother's lap as a pillow. It was a very silent night as I slowly nodded off, watching the dancing flames.

Awakened by Emilia rocking me back and forth. "I'm up I'm up. My turn to take watch," Opening my eyes, I was slightly blinded by the bright light radiating from the sun above. Emilia's head provided shade and some relief to my eyes. Standing up, making sure my loincloth stayed on, I looked around, noticing Emilia's deep red eyes and disheveled appearance. I could tell she was tired and silently riding that edge of breaking and pushing on. "It's time to get up, Jack."

"Why didn't you wake me up? Emilia" was the first thing that came from my mouth as I got up and started a conversation with Emilia. I wanted her to know that I wasn't a deadbeat and wanted to help. With a shorthanded blunt reply, she said, "kids need to sleep, and that's what you did" again, she said something like that, and I was getting annoyed by it. "I'm not a kid, Emilia, and if it weren't for me, you and YOUR kid would have been snake food!". Her face became severe quickly, then moved into one of worry.

"Jack, do you know what you looked like last night even after you saved my girl and me? The question was strange and out of place in my mind, not knowing how to respond. I straightened my back and answered, "No" silence was there for mere seconds, and then she spoke, "Like a scared kid and not just any kind, but one that just gained access to the {System}, fighting for your life and experiencing what requires you to live is taxing, and I could see it in your eyes, Jack." "You went through the ritual of maturity, and as you said, you're not a kid, and I apologize."

I felt like an asshole, all she was doing was looking out for me, and here I am getting offended for being called a kid. It wasn't until I got a good look at her from the morning rays that I saw she had no wrinkles insight and a body built to boot. I could only guess her age to be early 30's, but even then, she exuded this aura that told me she was much wiser than she looked.

"It's all good, sorry about what I said before." an awkward silence overtook us until Emily spoke up. "Ma, when are we heading out? I want to see Uncle Jeremiah".

"In a minute, honey'. With that, she looked back to me, and I just spoke, "I'm ready, I'll follow your lead" We started our journey with Emilia carrying Emily and me behind her; the trip was short compared to the unguided mess I did yesterday. With every tree we had to pass, her speed increased noticeably. I could tell each time she did, so it wore her. Even with Emily's added weight, she didn't ask for a breather but just kept marching.

In the distance, I saw a town or the outline of one. Emilia's pace slowed, then entirely stopped. I could tell she was out of breath and needed a second wind. "Why did we stop, the towns right there?" without saying anything, just pointed to me but specifically my loincloth. "You can't come into town dressed like that" Then I Remembered my attire or more like the lack thereof. "Emily and I will go in first to give us some time to meet our family. He should have something spare". I'm not going to lie; I was scared of them just leaving me out here, I didn't have anything in this world, and the one lifeline I had was leaving me for who knows how long. With grace, only a mother would have; she placed both her hands on my cheek and looked me right in the eyes. "I won't leave you out here, Jack, We both owe you our lives, and we'll pay it back tenfold. Remember that" I could feel the tension in my body release, and I guess she could to. Only then did she remove her hand. "Just stay safe." It was the last thing she said as I saw her run towards the town with Emily in tow, the little girl waving goodbye as she faded from my view and mine hers.