Jacob, Doc, and Maria walked through the forest, searching everywhere for any herbs that Doc deemed to be useful.

"Try to look under shaded areas. There is a specific flower that I’m looking for."

Jacob looking everywhere he could, but there wasn’t a single flower to be seen. Small panic crept into the back of all their minds. Jacob eventually started sprinting as fast as he could to look in every place he thought they had missed. Minutes turned into hours as the group frantically searched through every place they could.

Eventually, Doc finally managed to find something.

"I found something over here!"

Maria sprinted over to him as fast as she could. Doc threw all the ingredients in a bucket and handed it to her.

"I need you to listen very carefully. Mash every single ingredient in this bucket together until it is finely grounded. After that, I need you to mix it with water and let it sit in the sun for exactly five minutes. Do you understand?"

"I understand!"

Without wasting any time, Maria sprinted back the way they came at incredible speeds, leaving Jacob and Doc to themselves. Doc wiped his brow before looking at Jacob.

"Do you really not remember anything that happened?"

Jacob looked at his feet in disappointment.

"I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you I do, but everything is so blurry."

"Your body was in terrible shape when we woke up. It looked like something had bitten multiple chunks from your flesh, similar to what you did to us. Do you remember fighting anything like that?"

What Doc was describing sounded incredibly familiar. He almost believed that he fought something exactly what he was describing.

"Now that you mention it, I think I vaguely remember doing that. But then something else happened. I think there was another beast that I fought."

Doc thought to himself.

"Did the beasts power have to do with regeneration? When we tried stopping you, your legs seemed to magically repair themselves no matter how many times I broke them."

Something else clicked in Jacob’s mind. He remembered the aftermath of what happened. His body being soaked in blood, the pain he was experiencing from his wounds, his will to push forward to the forest, and more importantly, he remembered the strong feeling he felt looking down at the monster he killed: hunger.

Jacob fell to the ground and clutched his head.

"Jacob, are you okay?"

"Stay back for a moment!"

Jacob’s brain started to throb, but it eventually faded, leaving him panting heavily on the ground.

"I’m sorry. I think I remember something."

"What is it?"

"I just remember being hungry. Hungrier than I’ve ever felt before. I think I ate something after I defeated the beasts, but I don’t remember what it was. Thankfully, it wasn’t one of you guys."

"Hungry? It would be normal to feel hungry after a fight, but so hungry to eat your friends? There must be something more to it."

"I wish I could tell you, Doc. I’m very sorry."

Doc rubbed his forehead.

"It’s okay. Let’s hurry back towards the others and check on their health."

"Right."

Both of them ran back towards Lidia and Slimo as fast as they could. When they arrived back, Maria already had two large bowls of remedy ready for her mom and Slimo. She held Lidia’s head up as she poured the liquid slowly into her mouth. Lidia seemed to drink greedily from the solution while Slimo took his time consuming it on his own.

Doc walked over to Lidia first and put the back of his against her forehead. Relief seemed to wash over his face.

"We made it just in time. She’s still hot, but it seems to be getting better. Excellent job, Maria. Who knew that you would make such an amazing assistant!"

Maria simply nodded.

"I just followed your instructions."

"That’s exactly why you would be great!"

Jacob slowly walked over to Slimo and bowed his head.

"I’m so extremely sorry for everything Slimo. I’ll do my best to make sure it never happens again!!"

Slimo tapped his head lightly.

"Knock it off. I don’t care that went senile on me. I can be really annoying sometimes, I get it. But what I do care about is how you hurt Lidia and everyone else. Just make sure you are protecting them at any cost next time. Got it?"

Jacob shook his head as hard as he could.

"Yes, sir. I’m deeply sorry."

"Geez, it’s okay. Just calm down and drink some water."

Jacob looked around for the nearest bucket and drank from it slowly. Doc walked over to Slimo.

"How are you doing, Slimo? You took almost three times the bites as Lidia did, yet you seem to be in much better shape."

"I’m doing good. I definitely needed this remedy to help me fight it, but I’m mostly immune to poisons thanks to how many I’ve tried on myself."

Doc looked at him confused.

"You poison yourself?"

"You all don’t? How else do you make poison arrows or weapons and make sure they are potent enough?"

"Uhh... we don’t."

"Oh. Well, maybe that can be something I teach you all another day."

Doc looked at him concerned.

’What is he, an apothecary? What can this man not do?’

Jacob walked up to Lidia and sat next to her as she rested.

"Hey, Miss Lidia. I’m sorry about what happened."

Lidia looked at him and smiled.

"It’s okay. As long as you don’t attack my daughter you will live to see another day."

"Is there anything you need? More water? Some special food, perhaps?"

"Hm... I remember overhearing from Maria that you can sing. Can you please give us all a performance as your apology?"

Jacob blushed severely.

"Miss Lidia, I don’t know how to sing! I don’t even know any songs!"

Lidia scoffed. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Well, it seems I’ll never forgive you then. You can forget about marrying my daughter."

Jacob immediately stood up and started singing with all his heart... or at least he tried to. What came out of his mouth sounded something more akin to livestock being seared with an iron to mark it. Everyone looked at him with awe. Slimo couldn’t help but spit out his remedy he was drinking with laughter while Maria simply smiled brightly at him.

Not too long after his awful performance, Maria walked up to him and kissed him gently on his lips.

"Maybe you should just stick to fighting things."

Jacob grabbed her hands and smiled at her.

"Was I really that bad?"

Slimo kept laughing and pointing at him.

"Yes!! HAHAHA!"

Doc was the only one who clapped for him when he finished.

"I believe your talents lay elsewhere, Jacob. But if it’s your dream to become a singer, by all means, do not give up!"

Jacob and Maria sat back down next to Lidia as she drifted into a deep sleep. Jacob looked over in Maria’s green eyes while resting his hand on Lidia’s shoulder.

"Let’s wait for mom to get better before we discuss what to do next."

Maria grinned.

"You’re lucky she’s asleep. She probably would have freaked out if she heard you call her that... in a good way of course!"

"You’re probably right. In a weird way, she’s like the mom I never got to have. I’m very grateful that she is our friend."

Without either of them realizing it, a faint smile appeared on Lidia’s face.