Night Rescue V

"Who's there!?" Kies jumped back up again and looked in the direction of where he heard the voice. Even though he couldn't see anything, something was definitely there. He could faintly feel its presence as it stood in front of the house.

"Hm? You don't remember me?" the voice asked him.

"No, I don't." Kies didn't recognize the voice at all. He was pretty sure that this was their first time meeting... or maybe not. The presence felt familiar despite him not remembering who it was. Was it someone who he knew before but forgotten about when he lost some of his memory?

"Well, that's heartbreaking for me, but then again, it's not very surprising. I was just one of the many that you saw that day," the voice said.

"What are you talking about?" What did he mean by one of the many that he met that day?

"Maybe this will help you jog your memory a little." The voice began to murmur something in a strange language. Upon hearing it, Kies immediately realized what it was that he was talking to.

"You're a wind spirit."

"Indeed I am. I was one of the hundreds sent to protect you that day, and I could see that you have grown considerably stronger since then," the spirit told Kies.

"You're not the only one that has said that." Almost everyone he met has told him that he has gotten stronger, but he didn't feel that way himself. His magic has gotten more powerful, but he was still just as weak as before. He lacked experience. No matter how powerful his magic was, if he didn't know how to use it properly, he was no stronger than he was before. He said his thoughts aloud to the spirit, "Even though my magic has gotten stronger, I'm still weak."

"You doubt your own abilities?"

"Yes, I do." If he didn't doubt himself then there was something wrong with him. Other than Jasyeu who wasn't even able to fight him at her full strength at the time, Kies had never won against another mage. That fact alone proved that his skills were definitely lacking and that he was doing something wrong.

"Hm... I won't ask you why you doubt yourself, but if you wish to get stronger, first think about what you're fighting for. That aside, it's dangerous here so why did you come back?" the spirit said in a puzzled voice.

"I'm back here because I need to do something."

"I see. Well then, take care." The spirit's presence began to move away from Kies. As it did so, the winds blew in the direction of where it was leaving towards. The wind spirit's last words before it disappeared off to the night to Kies were, "You're far from strong enough as of right now, but I will be watching your progress. Maybe one day, you will be able to replace Tonahl as my master."

Despite how calm and monotone the wind spirit sounded, it had a fierce aura and it created a massive burst of wind as it left, causing all the buildings in the area to shake violently. A couple of doors fell down and an old building close by also collapsed over.

Kies thought about what the wind spirit said. To get stronger, he needed to know what he was fighting for. What was he fighting for? He didn't know. He didn't hold a grudge against the humans for killing his kind since he didn't know much about his kind at all, and therefore didn't really understand why was avenging them. The demons dragged him into this war that he never wanted to be a part of in the first place.

Then why did he want to get stronger? If he had no reason to fight, then there was no point in him trying to get stronger. So that was what the wind spirit meant when it said that if he wanted to get stronger, he needed to know what he was fighting for. And that was the question that he had no answer to.

Kies sat back down on the ground next to the house. All this thinking was giving him a headache, well not a literal one, but it was definitely hurting his head in some way.

Kies decided not to think about it for the time being, and spent the rest of the night waiting for the other two to come back. Since there was no one else around, Kies decided to take off the cloth that was covering his face and put it around his neck. It took a while, but the two came back sometime very late in the night with a third person in their arms, which Kies assumed was Messa. She also had a cloak and hood on which hid her face. From the way that she was walking, Kies saw that she was injured.

"Open the door," Ammine told Kies. He jumped up from the ground and opened the door for Ammine and Falte so that they could help Messa in. They sat Messa down on the stool and Ammine ran out to scavenge the nearby buildings while Falte stayed with Messa and tended to her wounds.

After a quick search, Ammine came back with a small bag of what looked like medicine and other useful things for treating an injured person. Kies had no idea how she managed to find something like that in a place like this, but didn't question it and moved to the side as she ran back into the house, waking up Jasyeu with her loud footsteps.

The small demon got up from the mattress and ran up to Ammine to give her a hug but was turned down. Ammine said something to Jasyeu in a hurried voice which Kies assumed was something along the lines of, "Now is not the time." Jasyeu moved away from Ammine to give her space in the tiny house so that she could help treat Messa.

Ammine rummaged through the small bag and took out whatever looked useful and gave it to Falte who had no idea what to do with the items. "Sorry, but how do I use these?" he asked Ammine while examining a vial containing some sort of strange liquid that she had given him.

"No idea, aren't you the medical expert in the village?" she asked him in response.

"Yes, but that only applies to herbs and the like. How do you expect me to know what this is if I have never seen it before? There aren't even labels on this thing. It could be poison for all we know." Falte put the vial aside and took the bag from Ammine. "Ah, just let me look through it. It's faster that way." He picked out a few things that he recognized and began treating Messa.

Kies couldn't see the demon clearly in the dark, but she had a lot of cuts and bruises all over her arms and legs. He also noticed that her horns were missing along with her wings. At first, Kies thought that Falte had cast his disguise spell on her, but then he saw that there were stubs on her head where her horns were. They had been taken from her, and though he couldn't see it, the same thing likely happened to her wings as well.

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