Chapter 12

The sights grew increasingly unearthly as Liam could no longer fathom the sensations he felt. A shiver ran down his spine at the increasingly eldritch experience. He floated in primordial goo as he was terrorized by what he experienced. "Hell would be kinder." he thought as his eyes darted around the incomprehensible. Leylin closed his eyes, terrified of the sight he would be greeted by. The sound of silence was disturbed by the gentle rustling of leaves. The soft wind gazed him as his blood froze in terror. Even with closed eyes, he so nightmarish abominations. He heard their stillness. He wished for a painless death. He braced himself to confront his tormentor.

Even while he knew that the mere sight of the master of this world would drive him to insanity.

He still gathered the courage for an eternity as he prepared to face a fate worse than death and opened his eyes slowly.

Even as tears framed his face, he was surprised to see wood. He realized he was no longer by the deluge. His back was covered in feathers and fur. He looked down at his splinted forearms and thighs. From the bandage, he could smell lilac, honey, and liquor. He could feel the cart rocked gently in the night. Leylin felt a sense of safety at the smell of the proprietary red bandage. He let the exhaustion take him as he fell asleep and forgot the nightmare.

The rays of the morning sun kissed Leylin's face. His eyes parted as he woke from a heavy slumber. The mind-numbing agony was no longer drowned by adrenaline. He rubbed the nightmare from his eyes to face his new reality. He remembered little of the nightmarish experience resulting from the toxic cocktail of Amorantia and pain. All that he placed was a terror radiating from the bones. He had a gut feeling that the experience was more than just a psychedelic trip. That there was something more, something he could not grasp.

From this experience, Leylin felt increasingly confident that this was not some comatose dream but reality. For some reason, he felt more in tune with this world. He felt less like Liam and more like Leylin for the first time.

Leylin kept aside his thoughts and looked around. He closed his eyes as he tried to feel the life energy. It still felt fiery but now controllable.

"Status," Leylin thought.

[Beep! scan complete]

[Name : Leylin Farlier Gender: Male Strength: 4.5(7.9) Agility: 1.6(6.2) Vitality: 4.5(6.2)]

[Status: Injured, False Ribs on left side broken, multitude of hairline fractures in C4, C5, C6...........left trapezius Injured. Concussion.Improved eyesight. Life energy in unknown mutated state…. Unable to determine….nominally determined to be not harmful to host. Unknown radiation absorbed. Unknown radiation absorbed.]

Interesting, Leylin thought, "My life energy has mutated life. So run diagnostics on life energy."

[Beep! Task Established...… running diagnostics to on Life energy.....Time required: Unknown]

He was pulled from his thoughts by an angry bird. Fawkes pecked at him as if trying to scold him for his recklessness. Leylin was confident that the ruckus that Fawkes made would inevitably have alerted Locke and Roran. His conjecture was proven right when the two barged into the cart.

"How long have I been asleep?" He asked without giving them a chance to speak. One look at Locke's face, and he knew the man wanted to chastise him for his recklessness. While Leylin was genuinely disappointed in himself for nearly dying for no reason but stupidity and underestimating his adversary. He was in no mood to be lectured.

"For 3 days and 3 nights, my lord," Roran answered promptly.

"Where are we now?" He continued questioning.

"We are with the Red Eagle trading caravan 2 days ride from Alto," Roran answered.

Just as Locke looked like he was going to go on a triad.

"Is the prisoner secure? Did you cut off his tongue? Where is he?" Leylin relentlessly questioned Locke.

"He is secure and alive. I took his tongue just like you commanded," Locke answered bitterly.

"Good," Leylin commented.

"Does the Caravan master know of my presence?" He asked.

"No, My lord, he is unaware of your presence, but he is aware that there is something of import in this cart", Roran answered.

"Roran, I want you to slow the caravan's progress," Leylin commanded.

"I should be fit by tomorrow, and then Roran, you and I will split up from the caravan and go back to battle sight," Leylin spoke.

He silenced Locke with a look and instructed. "Locke, I want you to guard the prisoner back to the red eagle's nest alive do you understand me."

"You both are dismissed. I want to rest. I know you both have many questions. I will answer them all when we come back to cuvelon." Leylin said solemnly.

Locke looked at Leylin bitterly as he left the caravan. He rubbed Fawkes' beautiful feathers as he muttered, "How troublesome."

Leylin took a moment as he mused, "I have been too reckless; I should have known that a 2nd-grade acolyte was too difficult. I overestimated myself and nearly died. I was deluding myself with dreams of grandeur. Like an Rpg player that wants to kill the demon king but dies before he can leave started town."

He relaxed and practised his knight meditation allowing his burning life energy to caress his body. His body felt like it was burning in a phoenix's fire. A soothing pain spread across his body as he felt the life energy rapidly heal him.

"No wonder grand knights have such great regeneration," Leylin pondered. After meditating for over an hour, he felt famished. However, even though knights can survive without food, it could still weaken them.

And living on potions is not a good idea for anyone.

He called for Roran, "Roran, get me some chicken broth, bread and spiced sugar water."

Once he finished eating, he changed his potion regimen and optimized it for his current injuries. Then, he spent the rest of the day meditating and intermittently resting.

Leylin was up early the following morning. Naturally, the first thing he did once he was up was to check his status.

[Beep! scan complete]

[Name : Leylin Farlier Gender: Male Strength: 6(7.9) Agility: 4(6.2) Vitality: 5(6.2)]

[Status: Slightly injured.Improved eyesight. Life energy in unknown mutated state…. Unable to determine….nominally determined to be not harmful to host. Unknown radiation absorbed. Unknown radiation absorbed.]

He called for Roran and asked him to saddle the horse, and they left in the cover of darkness before first light.