My stomach dropped and my heart screamed inside me. My already bruised body was too lifeless; there was too much pain to make any noise. I tumbled down the cliff while my body crashed with jutting roots, sharp rocks, and twisted branches.
Every ruthless blow or impact seemed like just enough to slow my descent and keep me barely alive. But I had also severed probably not one but several of my bones. I could feel every tendon stretching to lengths beyond their design limitations, and the shock of the blow to my head put my senses in a blur.
I felt a daze and shock lock me inside my pain. Seconds passed, and then… I felt a sliver of awareness return to me, all accompanied by pain. Giddy on my own blood as the ground beneath me appeared soaked with it, I trembled too heavily; I couldn't even move my fingers, but somehow — I tried. Slowly, I fought to raise my neck, and when I did, my entire body convulsed. That pain flooded the wood hard enough for my consciousness to start shattering.
"I c-can't… take this… anymore!" I squeezed out in a whisper.
"P-please… someone… help… me… I'm… begging…!"
The sound of my own whizz splintered through my voice, a slurping of viscous sweetness that left a sharp tingle in my mouth.
There was shuffling—something, someone dragging their feet closer to me.
His bare feet scraped the dirt below, and in that instant, a twofold possibility began to shape inside my head. The first one, that someone was coming to my rescue. The second: a monster was going to kill me.
The figure drew closer. I couldn't move.
Then, it spoke in the scariest, coldest man's voice I've ever heard.
"You don't want to die?"
It was a man.
Relief and panic collided. I tried to speak. I went to speak — And blood burst out of it once more, leaving me bereft of speech.
My whole body trembled.
PLEASE… S-SAVE ME… I DON'T WANT TO DIE…
He stepped closer.
"I'll help you," he said. "Approximately the same…However, you will be assisting me.
I have never ever in my life HEARD those words.you would think God rescued me from hell. A devil could have gotten in my face and demanded my damn soul, because of how willing to sell myself into slavery I was just to survive.
His hand was cold, but he completely covered my neck as he reached behind me and grabbed the collar of my costume. It was cold, colder than the kind of cold that came from a mountaintop — this one felt like it could scorch its way through your skin with its chill.
Every bone in my body shrieked the moment he picked me up. I was so tired I could hardly even scream. I clenched my jaws instead, taking quick deep breaths through my nostrils.
He said nothing as he pulled me through the dirt. He didn't stop, even as I keened like a dying animal.
Minutes passed.
Perhaps he just grew tired of hearing me in pain— Or perhaps he felt sorry. Either way, he finally said:
Just bear with it a little while longer.
That was all.
Then he kept dragging me. He limped along with each uneven step but did not pause.
Finally, we came into one of the caves that had been cut into this side of the cliff I fell from. In that dim, sultry cave— But I heard.
Burning paper, softly; crackling.
He pulled me toward it.
I felt the burning heat spread over my exhausted body with every step I took towards the flame. It didn´t hurt — it felt like something I hadn´t realized the desperate need for.
Warmth.
He set me down—quietly by the fire. Without a word, he wandered back into the night.
The fire flickered beside me. Shadows swayed into the stone walls. The warm helped to relieve the cold bite of my extremities.
And then— Everything faded.
Darkness took me.
An unspecifiable amount of time later
Slowly, my consciousness returned.
I awoke from what felt like a deep fever dream. I blinked up at the stone ceiling and then closed my eyes.
'Where… am I? What happened to me?'
I was a nightmare that I lived. As if nothing could possibly be true
I tried to sit up when a voice called out from somewhere beside me.
"You're awake?"
The voice was rough. Grim. It sounded like dark-death-violent-tales-villains voice.
My eyes shot open the second I heard it.
It was a pain that shot through my whole system with such profound intensity that all the muscles in my entire body were screaming at me simultaneously.
'It still hurts. But… it's nothing like before.'
The pain had dulled, numbed. Still there—but manageable.
Then came the voice again:
"Don't move too much. You'll just hurt yourself."
I turned my head toward him.
Across the fire from him, on what appeared to be pillars of stones unbalanced on one-another as if a makeshift throne. Richard braced his chin on the back of a closed palm, gazing at me.
He could have been the shadow of a face, beside the flicker that smouldered between.
I squinted to get a better look; all that met my eye was his unruly black hair and torn, tattered clothes draping from his skinny form.
Finally, I managed to speak:
"Who… are you? Where am I?"
There was a pause.
And the sound of stone shifting — like a repositioning.
Hesitated a moment longer, then snapped in a king-toned manner of demanding tribute, "Say thank you… for saving your life."
For a moment, I stood there frozen when I looked down at my body.
He didn't… He never touched me. It's like… nothing was broken.'
As if I had actually been healed…?]
He read my thoughts, and replied before I could speak.
"I healed you."
The hairs on my neck rose.
Just how the fxxk did know what I was thinking? I didn't say anything!'
He stood a moment, resting his hand on the stone armrest of his chair.
Magic… And he used it to heal me. And does he read minds?
In any case… I owe him a debt of gratitude.
But he resumed before I had a chance to say another word:
"You're lucky. Escaped the Watcher Dragon. Ran from a Thorned Beast. Lived… because of me."
I hesitated, then said—weakly:
"T-thank you… for killing the monster… thanks for …. everything."
It was at that moment when something near the fire drew my attention.
A black rivulet—like faint ashes collapsing from a cracked jar—pulled by the stones.
I didn't know what it was at first. I Squinted To See Closer…Blood.
It was blood.
'Is that… mine?'
I looked to my left, at the cave entrance he must have pulled me inside.
"Then, who does this blood belong to if mine is over there?"
I followed the stream to my eyes. From the direction of the man sitting on a stone throne it flowed.
He looked at my expression and added,
"It's mine."
His voice didn't waver. It was just an easy saying for him to divulge.
I stared at him, alarmed.
"Can't it be healed?"
For a moment he studied the fire.
…not even a Saint's Blade wound can be healed. Not even with magic. Not with potions. Not even with time."
"Bollocks… I could have helped, if I still had my artifacts… but they are all gone…"
'The Saint's Blade?' What kind of godly artefact is this in the world? A magical sword that could cleave the moon in two?
And as we talked, something else started dawning on me.
The pain was…receding in my body. Not just numbing—truly disappearing. Warmth and relief slowly trickled through my limbs in its absence.
I straightened up and even attempted to move my arm. It didn't hurt.
'It's true… I'm really healed. This magic… it's unbelievable.'
I was snapped out of my thought by a voice of the man.
"Now that you have recuperated it is time for you to uphold your end of the bargain.
'What is he talking about?' Then I remembered.
And then he dragged me inside the cave, mid-sentence…
He had saved me. And then I was in debt to him.
Out of even the tiniest shred of human empathy, for god's sake — I had to inquire:
"What do you want from me?"
He was quiet for a few seconds.
Then he answered.
"My request is simple. I know you came here to this world to be with your family.
'He… can tell that much about me?
"So I'll offer you help."
His tone was steady. Calm. Too calm.
I narrowed my eyes.
"How?"
You could live and work like this, clean for more techs coming never knew a world like the one you came from. "Here, only the strong rule. Power decides everything."
Well, I will allow you — a chance to mature. You're stronger than you've been led to believe by the ones that caused those scares on your back, even strong enough to find your blood family. Strong enough to return home."
'This sounds… suspicious.'
I watched him carefully.
"What would I do with that kind of power?
He replied readily, tilting his head.''
Remember the way you got away from the Thorned Beast.
"Monsters like that, in the world of stuff.
Even if you do track down your family…you actually think you can keep them safe?"
His words struck deep.
I said nothing.
' He says… If I even find them… No matter, woe to me otherwise.'
I lowered my gaze. And then, ever so slowly, with a shimmery blush to my face, I raised my head and managed to get out:
What exactly do you want in… compensation for me?
"My offer is simple. Become strong. Scale to the top tier of power I'll provide."
I blinked. What did he just say?
My throat tightened. The air around the fire suddenly felt heavy.
"Wait… what do you mean by that?"
He didn't flinch. Didn't hesitate.
"Finally … resurrect me."
'What?!'