Aksa's eyes opened wide before he jolted upright, sitting up as he gasped for air. He started turning his head around, trying to find out where he was.
Aksa let out a sigh of relief as he found himself surrounded by the walls of the room he slept in with Kael, lying on his bed.
Aksa closed his eyes as he rested his head on the pillow again before trying to remember how he got there.
The last thing that he remembers is him talking with Kael after the fight with the modified mutant, but everything else was a blur.
He raised his hand as if trying to reach the sky as he opened his eyes again, but he was surprised to see his hand tightly grabbing something.
Once he turned it around, he saw that he was still holding the essence crystal in his hand--or at least what remained of it.
The crystal that was shimmering with a dark crimson color in his memories was now completely see-through, and its size had shrunk significantly from how he remembered it, as if the essence within it was completely sucked out of it.
Aksa looked at it with confusion in his eyes for a few moments, trying to understand what could've happened to it.
After a few minutes of pondering, Aksa couldn't think of any possible reason, so he just put it aside as he sat up.
Before standing up from the bed, Aksa noticed that his upper body was completely naked, with bandages wrapped around his chest and stomach.
For a moment, Aksa panicked as he didn't know why he was bandaged that much, so he quickly put on his tunic and headed outside.
Once he was outside, he was confused by the silence that filled the place, with no trace of anyone around, so he decided to head to the town square.
Once he was there, he saw Kael and Iriel standing next to the corpse of the modified mutant that was still lying motionless in the middle of the town, talking about something.
As he headed towards them, Kael noticed him coming, and a frown appeared on his face before he asked, "Kid? What are you doing here?"
Iriel then turned to face him before adding, "Aksa? Why did you leave your bed? You still need to rest."
"What are you talking about?" Aksa asked as he looked at them in puzzlement.
"You broke most of your ribcage while trying to get the crystal out of the mutant, and there was a big wound in your back when I checked," Iriel explained, "You fell unconscious right after the fight, don't you remember?"
Aksa shook his head with a frowning look on his face as he didn't remember any of that, but he at least understood why he was bandaged that much.
"Anyway, you really should go back to rest," Iriel added.
"Why? I don't feel any pain at all," Aksa replied.
"Huh? Did you suddenly lose your mind?" Iriel looked at him as if he was crazy.
"No, I'm serious," AKsa explained, "I don't feel any pain."
Iriel frowned as she started getting frustrated with Aksa refusing to rest, so she tried to press against his ribcage with her hand to teach him a lesson, but he didn't even flinch.
"Uhhh, what are you doing?" Aksa asked as he looked at her in puzzlement.
Iriel stared back at him in shock since she didn't expect him to not have any reaction, so she punched him lightly on his chest, but he still looked fine.
"Are you trying to keep a straight face so I tell you that you are fine?" Iriel asked as she looked at Aksa while squinting her eyes in suspicion.
"No, I told. I really don't feel any pain," Aksa replied as he shrugged. "I actually feel better than ever."
Iriel still doubted his words, so she opened her hand and placed her fingers on his chest before muttering, "Glav [Check]."
The areas on Aksa's chest where Iriel's fingers were touching started glowing in a bright green, which startled him, but he remained still and waited for her to finish.
After a few moments, her eyes opened wide in shock as she removed her hand and mumbled, "How is this even possible?"
"Iriel? Is there something wrong?" Aksa asked.
"No, it's... It's the opposite. Your ribcage is perfectly healed, and the wound in your back has disappeared like it was never there." Iriel explained with a confused look on her face, "But, how? When I checked last time, your ribcage was almost completely shattered."
Amidst her confusion, Kael suddenly spoke as he looked at Aksa's hand, "Kid, where is the crystal you took out of the mutant's neck? Your hand refused to let go of it even after you fell unconscious."
"I left it in the room, why?" AKsa answered, "It looked smaller and completely transparent when I woke up anyway, so I just left it there since I thought you drained it of all the essence that was inside it."
Kael and Iriel looked at each other in shock before Kael started laughing. "I tried to purify it while it was in your hand, but it started burning your skin when I did, so I just thought I'd wait till you woke up, but it looks like that won't be necessary."
"What do you mean?" Aksa asked as he checked his hand, but it looked fine.
"I think your body consumed all the essence inside the crystal to heal itself," Kael added, "That would explain why your health started getting better so fast after we left the forest."
"Huh? But--didn't you say that I don't have any essence flowing inside my body?" Aksa replied. Iriel looked even more confused when she heard what he said, as if something like that wasn't even possible.
"That's precisely the reason why I think that's it," Kael replied, "Your body is so desperate for it since there is none naturally flowing inside it, so it keeps sucking as much of it as possible, and instead of it flowing with your blood, your body somehow feeds on it"
"Wouldn't that just cause the rot to develop inside his body?" Iriel asked.
"No, because the reason there isn't any essence flowing inside his veins is that it keeps leaking outside", Kael explained, "Meaning that any excess that his body doesn't use quickly leaks out."
"However, what that doesn't explain is your extreme speed of learning," Kael added, "I taught you the bow two days ago, and yet, you already can use it like someone who had practiced it for years."
Aksa noticed that Kael was searching for answers in his face, so he put his hands in front of him and said, "I really don't understand it either. Do you think they would allow a slave to learn any sort of weapon?"
"I believe you, don't worry," Kael sighed, "I just think it's a bit weird."
"Anyway, where did everyone go?" Aksa tried to change the subject, so he uttered as he looked around.
"They left for the capital, since, well... there is no one left alive here other than us," Iriel answered.
"Oh... Then, why did you stay, Iriel?" Aksa asked.
Before she could get a word in, Kael answered, "She insisted on sticking behind even though I told her she could go, saying that you saved her life and this is the least she could do."
Aksa looked at Iriel, who was red in the face, with surprise in his eyes. Through her blushing cheeks, she managed to speak before he could say anything, "W-well, it's true! You did save my life back then, and I can't just leave when your condition was that bad."
She looked at Aksa from the corner of her eye, waiting for his reaction. However, she didn't expect him to chuckle. Then, with a warm smile covering his face, he looked at her and said, "Thank you, Iriel."
"*Ahem*, Well then..." Iriel cleared her throat as she looked away, "I guess I'll also head to the capital now. There is a carriage waiting for me at the gate."
As she said that, A thought struck in Aksa's mind before he said, "Oh, why don't we go there together then? We're leaving for the capital today anyway."
"That isn't a bad idea, actually," Kael remarked.
"Are you sure?" Iriel asked, clearly hesitant.
"Who knows what happens on the road. Maybe we can help each other along the way," Aksa added.
"If you are fine with me accompanying you, then I don't mind it," Iriel replied.
Kael then went to grab Feye before she led them to the northern gate, where a guard was leaning against it frame, waiting for her.
"Did you finish what you had to do, Lady Iriel?" The guard said as she approached him. Then, a frown appeared on his face as he noticed Kael and Aksa standing behind, so he asked, "Who are those two, Lady Irirel?"
Iriel quickly introduced them before explaining, "They are gonna accompany us on this trip."
A look of frustration filled the guard as he introduced himself as Torren, which made Kael feel that there was something weird about him, so he waited for the guard to head back to the front of the carriage before whispering, "You two ride the carriage. I'll just ride Feye alongside it."
"Huh? Why?" Aksa looked at him in confusion.
"I have a bad feeling about this guy," Kael replied as he kept his eyes on the guard, who was getting the horses ready.
Aksa and Iriel looked at each other in puzzlement, but they quickly nodded and hopped inside the carriage, trusting the judgment of Kael.
Quickly after, their journey started.