Where am I? Why? How? Won't the blood stop? Aoi? Gell? I don't understand, why?
It's hard to see, it smells bad... someone, please, save us.
"Wake up, Hayato!" exclaimed Gell. His voice echoed in my head; I regained my senses little by little.
And as soon as I did, I could see a wolf biting his arm.
"Shit! Hold on, Gell!"
I took an arrow from the quiver with trembling hands, I shot a couple of arrows and my accuracy was a disaster. I had to concentrate, I had to help Gell, but I was sure my shot was going to miss.
Because of that, I gathered my courage and held the arrow with both arms, stabbing the wolf with it so it would release its grip.
"Are you okay?" I questioned. To which Gell pointed at Aoi with his gaze.
Without hesitation, I positioned myself in front of Aoi and kicked the beast that had lunged at her. My leg ended up hurting; not only its skin, but also the bones and flesh were as hard as a rock.
"Stay on guard, if you or Gell fall, we're lost."
Aoi seemed to be scared; however, she held her dagger tightly, even though her hands were trembling.
Gell lunged to protect her from another onslaught by the beasts.
Which led to the wolf sinking its teeth into his shoulder.
"Aoi, get close to a tree so they don't ambush you," I explained while examining the situation. "I need you to be our guide."
Aoi nodded, got into position, and concentrated as much as she could.
Thanks to her, I was able to react in time as I approached Gell, repelling every beast that tried to get close.
"Gell! Go with Aoi, I'll buy time for you to escape."
I unsheathed my dagger and immediately buried it in the neck of one of the wolves. I didn't manage to penetrate deeply, but thanks to the nervous spasm I was able to throw the beast somewhat far away.
"You won't be able to do it alone!" protested Gell. "We have to cooperate."
I observed out of the corner of my eye. Aoi didn't seem to be in good condition, not to mention that Gell was even worse.
"No, I'll take charge. Are you going to let Aoi die in this place?" I declared while centering my sight on the quintet of beasts.
I could hear Gell's footsteps slowly fading away, as if they were hesitant.
I could hear him advancing and stopping every so often to look back.
"Well, how do I do this so I don't die?"
A knife, a bow, a dozen arrows... it's not like I had much in my favor.
But I felt something, an almost instinctive spark that reacted as soon as I saw my friends badly wounded.
One, two, three seconds. I tried to gather concentration, take deep breaths and let go of the doubts.
But this wasn't practice, it was real combat. A claw tear shredded my left shoulder; followed by another beast trying to tear my neck off with a bite.
I reacted, kicked the beast, and managed to get to my feet despite the pain.
I felt a strange strength coursing through my body, but it was slowly running out.
I recognized the effect; I was dying, and that was the only way my mind found to save me.
Playing with the reserves, until there is nothing left.
I held the weapon tightly. I could feel the blood flowing up to my head and my eyes were burning.
I didn't hesitate, I let out a cry of pain into the air in an attempt to fill myself with courage and threw myself directly against one of the beasts.
The strength accompanied by fear and madness led me to act as if I were possessed. I struggled with the beast, opening my wounds even more and getting dirty as I was rolled on the ground.
But I didn't release my grip, I continued stabbing its skull until it stopped moving.
The rest of the beasts retreated, changing their strategy. They noticed I was injured; now it was just a battle of attrition.
At most I have a minute left, will I be able to escape if I try?
"There he is! There's still time," exclaimed a blurry voice.
I managed to hear heavy footsteps approaching me, the sensation of soft hands checking my pulse and breathing.
That and a melodious voice.
"Well done," commented that voice.
I woke up seeing a wooden ceiling. I recognized the place, I was in my room.
I tried to move, but a sharp pain left me paralyzed on the spot.
After a couple of minutes I tried to move again, but the creaking sound of a door opening stopped me.
"Whoa, slow down, slow down. You don't want to move with those injuries."
I didn't recognize that voice, I couldn't see much beyond.
I saw everything in black, I only managed to see a silhouette and it was very difficult for me to recognize if that voice was real or just an illusion.
As the figure dissolved, my vision darkened and the memories of that combat invaded me. I had courage, yes.
But at the same time I was too careless. If it wasn't because I held out long enough... my death would be guaranteed.
Suddenly, I fell out of bed, hitting my head when the door was slammed shut.
I could hear light footsteps slowly approaching, accompanied by an annoying murmur.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. That door is heavier than I thought, and here I wanted to close it gently."
I managed to get up with difficulty; my whole body felt stiff from the scare.
After a couple of deep breaths and a lot of effort focusing my sight, I managed to vaguely contemplate the figure of the guy.
He was a young-looking man, although with accentuated wrinkles around his eyes, bright sockets accompanied by ash-white hair.
"Can you see now? The priest said it would take you a couple of days to recover from the shock."
I tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. My throat was extremely dry and at most a groan could be heard.
The man inspected me with his gaze, then took a wooden cup resting on my nightstand and held it out in front.
"This should help you," he declared while focusing his attention on the cup.
A torrent of water appeared out of nowhere. I could feel how the humidity in the room seemed to disappear, my whole skin was warning me about it.
Then, the man filled the cup and the water stopped.
"Drink, don't hold back," he said while extending the cup to me.
Somewhat doubtful, I drank the contents of the cup with some help.
Just after taking the first sip, I could tell that it wasn't just any water; it felt clean, fresh, without any impurities.
In the end, I ended up drinking it all in two gulps at most, feeling my throat recovering little by little.
After confirming that I was okay, the man narrowed his eyes and knocked a couple of times on the door.
"You can come in. He's awake now," he informed.
The door opened slowly, two people appeared before it.
One was familiar; just by seeing that messy long hair or those scars I could recognize him immediately: The leader of the guard, Yamato Endou.
By his side was an unknown girl with jet-black hair and a tunic similar to the ash-haired man's.
"Are you ready to go, Sir Merlin? We have a lot to do," questioned the girl.
To which Merlin gave a smile and stayed quiet.
"Let him be, Rin. He'll leave as soon as he's satisfied. You can't force this man to follow a pace other than his own."
Merlin sighed.
"Don't make me look bad in front of the kid. At least Fumi respected me. Aren't you a bit too sharp, Yamato?"
Uncle ignored him, focusing his gaze on me.
"I allowed you to be an adventurer, but I recall you promised to be cautious. Throwing your life away to save your friends? You're not a hero, son... you are way too similar to those two."
Merlin interrupted.
"Careful, you almost went and said what you think. We're adults, remember?"
Uncle sighed.
"I'm worried, Merlin. At this rate he could end up like them in the future."
I tried to interrupt, but my voice still hadn't returned.
"You don't know that," Merlin declared.
My uncle seemed about to say something, but then our eyes met and I could notice a profound sadness reflected in his eyes.
Contemplating that, Merlin finally dropped that fake smile, showing deep displeasure.
"Yamato, never forget, that all this is your fault," he commented with disdain as he left.