Treading Water

Gilgamesh wanders through the ravine from the den in the moor where Sakana and Nimbus were keeping him. While he enjoyed the open air of the surrounding fields, he had a sudden inkling to see his permanent treehouse. His memory was beginning to fade of it, and that much wasn’t a surprise. They had only just moved when Modesty had suggested taking Siduri to the Hallows for treatment. Hell, the treehouse had barely been finished being built when they had taken off for Auster.

The boys had told him no stairs though. Standing on the ground beneath the wide tree that hosts their home, he looks upward, head fully tilted backward. From his position there, the stairs didn’t seem all that bad. There were really that many of them so Gilgamesh figured why not? He wouldn’t know if he was able to do it until he tried, and try he did.

The first few steps around the trunk weren’t bad. Nothing more than his walk up the ravine had been. But once he makes it about halfway up, he begins to feel it. His lungs strain, his head begins to swirl and feel woozy. He grits his teeth together, push through the building pain as he continues on to the top. Surely he would get a talking to from the boys by the time he made it back to the moor, but for now, he would at least make it to the treehouse. Having to stop more than once, it takes far longer than it should to get there.

Once he does manage to get past the stairs and onto the deck, he can feel his muscles tremble, his bones shaking. There is a loud wheeze to his breath as he tries to catch it. Lungs are all out of sorts and if he’s not careful with the rib situation, he very well could puncture one. Taking a few cautious steps, he barely makes it to the door and through it before he’s collapsing on a nearby fur. Legs splayed out on all sides, chin thumping against the wooden floor as he shuts his eyes for a moment.

Working through the pain, Gilgamesh is silent for awhile. He’s not sure if anyone else is even in here. Knowing Modesty and Jael both they wouldn’t be just lounging around, no. They were working women that preferred to keep moving, keep their mind going, but maybe just this one time… One of them could be here to help make sure he was at least still alive.

The Raid King, Gilgamesh