By the end of the next day, Seoyeon thought she was going to go mad.  The only change in Chanyeol was that he appeared to be even more uncomfortable than the previous day, and she couldn’t tell if that meant he was getting better or if he was getting worse.  Other than trying to mop the sweat away from his face with his cloak (sometimes soaked in water, though Seoyeon was sparing with that since they both needed to remain hydrated), the only thing for her to do was change over the compress she’d put on the snake bite (thankfully, that did look a bit better, though it could just have been the light) and make more of the antidote and get Chanyeol to drink it.  She was as sparing as possible when she ate the food, because she didn’t know how long she was going to be there and she definitely didn’t know how to hunt (she barely even knew what was edible).

Seoyeon tried to entertain herself, but it was difficult.  Beyond flicking small stones around, the only real thing she could do was check on Chanyeol and watch the flames on her shoes not burn things.  She got up to stretch her legs every so often.  Once or twice, she ventured beyond the cave mouth.  The sky had clouded over and it rained most of the day, which left her wishing that the dimple in the cave floor was on a stone so that she could move it outside and use it to fill up their water supplies.

The next day was similar, only the weather was worse.  What had been just a rainy day the day before turned into an outright downpour, the rain so hard that it bounced almost a whole foot off the ground when it hit it.  Seoyeon was also beginning to wonder if her antidote was even working, since she had to change the compress on Chanyeol’s arm three times and the two punctures from the snakebite had started oozing blood and pus again even worse than before.  The only other change in his condition was that just after she’d finished eating the last of the bird for lunch, he’d seemed much more lucid for a few minutes, pulling the damp hem of his cloak away from where Seoyeon had put it on his forehead and attempting to sit up.  She’d used the opportunity to make him drink water and more of the antidote, but then he lay back down and returned to the state he’d been in before.  She wasn’t sure what to make of it, because Jongdae had told her that sometimes when people were on the verge of death they’d improve enough to look like they were getting better before getting even worse and then dying.  She hoped that wasn’t actually the case (especially since she’d broken the orb that was supposed to get her to the plane’s Guardian… somehow).  Without Chanyeol, she was basically dead too.

Seoyeon wasn’t sure at what point it officially became night, because the rainstorm turned into an actual fully fledged storm.  She was grateful they were in a cave rather than a shelter, since the thunder was terrifyingly loud and the mouth of the cave flashed frequently with lightning.  More than once, it illuminated an animal or monster of some kind passing in front of the cave, and she was surprised that none of them thought to take shelter in it — though for her sake, that was probably for the best.  To be on the safe side, she kept her shoes tucked under her dress as she daydreamed about being back at home.  She wondered what her mother would make of her current situation — or, for that matter, her father.

She was so lost in her own thoughts as she carefully wiped yet more sweat from Chanyeol’s forehead, and the rain was so loud, that it was quite some time before she realised that she had company.  Five bolts of lightning flashed in such quick succession that she looked up, and she almost got a heart attack.

Framed in the cave mouth, apparently looking around (from what she could make out from the flashes of lightning) was a huge monster.  It wasn’t quite as big as the dragon had been, but it was covered in scales, and spikes protruded all over its skin.  Another flash of lightning illuminated huge fangs, substantially longer than Seoyeon’s arm, as it turned back towards the cave mouth.  She held her breath, praying that it would decide the cave was no good and leave.

More thunder rumbled outside, but no lightning followed, and it was raining too hard for Seoyeon to be able to hear the monster moving.  Her shoes were tucked under her skirts, just barely glowing against the cave floor, so she couldn’t see very far.  She didn’t know whether it was better to be in the dark or to be able to see at that moment.

For what felt like hours, she sat very still, holding her breath and hoping that the creature had gone.  When nothing happened, she decided it must have done — it would have been in the cave for quite a while, otherwise, and if it was still there she was very surprised that it hadn’t already eaten her — and in an attempt to calm herself, she decided it would be a good idea to re