Zarath dug into the bag, pulling out a few pieces of the dried meat they had. Handing her a piece.
"Eat we need our strength, and we only have so many of these jerky pieces left." Zarath bit into his piece of jerky, nudging Sha'lara with his elbow to get her to eat.
After a few reluctant nudges from Zarath, Sha'lara began to eat slowly, her breathing slowly but better than she was when walking or helping Zarath walk.
"Alright I told you my back story the other day so spill it why did you join the Wardens." Sha'lara popped the question out of the blue, but she was right, everyone that joined the Wardens had a reason.
Zarath slowly let out a sigh, rubbing his broken leg slightly. He knew he couldn't just give some bullshit answer, not after Sha'lara told him about her mother and being a member of a royal family.
"I know you don't like my people all that much, but do you know what a Grak'Shrak is." Zarath leaned back using his hands to prop himself up as he gave Sha'lara a sideways glance.
"You mean those stupid priest or priestess that run your guy's temples?" Sha'lara was confused by the question but could tell Zarath was clearly going somewhere with this.
Zarath let out another deep sigh.
"Grak'Shrak means death stalker, we are called this because of our white fur, it's a rare trait among our people." Zarath looked up at the rocky ceiling.
"I mean the Felinar have some strange names in the common tongue, but I didn't think."
"It's because we died." Zarath caught her off, Sha'lara was shocked, the look on her face said it all complete confusion.
"But you are clearly alive I mean like do you mean like you died metaphorically because white fur is like a ghost thing." Sha'lara was still confused as she asked the question.
"No, I mean it's because I died, I was stillborn, not even breathing after my mother gave birth to me" Zarath said it with no hesitation didn't even blink at mention he was actual dead.
"So, what are you like an undead or something like that." Sha'lara was trying to process this the best she could.
"No, though I was dead, my parents took me to the temple and begged my clan's guardian god for my life, Fenraya the guardian spirit of the dead and the mistress of dreams. Fenraya granted my parents wish and returned my soul to my body, my fur was brown like my mother's but because I was literally touched by a god my fur turned white." Zarath laid back on the ground holding a hand up towards the ceiling.
"Grak'Shrak are members of out people who have died and been brought back to life by one of the gods or like me were adopted by a god, Fenraya not only brought me back to life but technically I am also the son of a god now and have access to the world beyond the veil." Zarath waited for Sha'lara to process everything.
"Wait, is that why it's always such a pain to wake you up because you're dreaming." Sha'lara was still clearly trying to figure out if Zarath was just messing with her or telling the truth.
"Yeah, kind of among my people I am known as a dreamer, though the official story is that I was just very sick as a pup, but the truth was I was learning how to move in the realm of dreams." Zarath slowly sat up.
"To be a hundred precent honest with you if me and Tharon hadn't every found that blighted wyvern, I would have just stayed at home, never would have gone to the temple and became a paladin of Fenraya, never would have even thought about joining the Wardens. I would have happily become a warrior of my people and just been happy exploring the world beyond the Veil in my dreams." Zarath had never told anyone this, only his parents and obviously his adoptive mother, the goddess Fenraya knew the truth.
"So, if basically you're some sort of spiritually enlightened being that can speak with the gods and that's why you have white fur…because you've died before." Sha'lara was rubbing the sides of her head after hearing all this.
"Yes and no, I can speak to a god only the one I have a connection with, but I also have never tried to speak to another god but yes it's because I have died once before and the gods saw fit to bring me back." Zarath looked down at his injured leg, something had felt odd to him, since he woke up the pain wasn't as severe as it had been, not since having had the dream in which he spoke to that strange being that claimed to be the creator of the blight.
Slowly he began to apply pressure as he stood up. He winced slightly but slowly managed to stand while leaning more to his other side. Zarath took a few experimental steps.
"Zarath are you… you shouldn't be walking on that leg." Sha'lara quicky got up despite her usual annoyed tone towards Zarath he was still a member of her squad and a fellow Warden.
"Sha'lara I am fine you need not worry about me as much yourself. I know you've been lying to me about how bad your hurt so just stop." Zarath stumbled a little, walking while leaning made it harder to keep his balance.
"From now on I will walk on my own you need to focus on yourself." Zarath leaned down to grab his bow almost falling as he did, Sha'lara catching him and helping him stand back up again.
"How long have you known?" Sha'lara was more annoyed that Zarath knew then shocked she thought that she had been hiding it pretty well.
"Sha'lara, we both fell gods now how far and woke up broken and bleeding hell both of us probably have internal injuries, it's amazing how either of us are still standing let alone how we managed to climb that cliff." Zarath was partially right but he also wasn't telling her the whole truth.
"Alright fine, but I don't need you to pity me." Sha'lara gave Zarath a slight push, which made him stumble, she reached out grabbing him to steady him.
"Sorry didn't mean to push that hard." Sha'lara was slightly relieved to not have to help him walk any more.
"Alright let's focus on getting the hell out of these dam tunnels and back to Frontier, no offense to Dagan but I'm kind of sick of all the rocks and dirt." Zarath chuckled at his own bad joke, both him and Sha'lara wincing after laughing.
"Ok no more bad jokes for a while." Sha'lara groaned grabbing her sides as they began to walk again, moving further into the tunnels not sure where they were going at all. All they knew is that staying down in the tunnels would be a death sentence but also not aware of the dwarves and danger above them or ahead of them as they had no idea where they were in the tunnels.