Chapter 13: Where Are We?

*AETHERIUS*

"Where am I?" I asked. "Calm down, child. You were found in the river along with the girl and brought to the village," the healer told me. I grabbed the arm of the person attending to me and asked, "My sister, where is she? She's my sister, she was with me when I passed out, is she okay?" There was fear in my voice. "Yes, the girl is fine. Thanks to you taking all the damage, she only has a few minor injuries, nothing to be alarmed about," I heard, and my sense of danger faded, causing me to faint once again.

I woke up in bed once more, seemingly back where the shadow was. "Child, child, child, you almost died. If it weren't for me, both you and the girl would be dead," I heard the voice from afar. "What do you mean by that?" I asked the voice. "After you fell off the cliff, I enveloped you both in a bubble with my magic while you fell into the water from that height," I couldn't remember as I had fainted, "So, thank you? Apparently,","Yes, 'thank you' is the right word, kekeke," the voice said.

"Well, whatever. Wake up for now. It's not enough for the remnant I left in you to grow, so I saved you," the voice told me. "Wait, who are you? Why do you say I'm compatible? What kind of power did you give me to call it a remnant?" I asked the voice. "It's not time for me to tell you yet. For now, I'll try to heal your worst wounds, and I'll leave the rest to those who are tending to you, so wake up!" the voice shouted at me.

I took a breath as if I were suffocating. "Child, calm down. You're fine. We've treated the worst part. Just relax," I looked at the man attending to me, "What happened? How long have I been asleep?" I asked the healer. "You're in a village about two hours from where the landslide happened in the mountains. You've been asleep for two days. Your sister woke up for about 30 minutes, then went back to sleep. When they brought you, we were able to stabilize your worst injuries," the healer explained to me, "It's nighttime, and both you and your sister have been sleeping for two days. But calm down, she's fine and uninjured, just in shock from what happened," the healer reassured me.

"Thank you very much for saving us, me and my sister, and for taking care of us. I'll be grateful," I said, sitting up on the bed and bowing my head in gratitude. "My name is Aetherius Emwind, and the girl is my younger sister, Elowen Emwind," I introduced myself to the healer. "Nice to meet you, young Emwind. My name is Jeff, and I'm the doctor of this village. The two people who brought you and your sister here will come back tomorrow to see you. For now, go back to sleep, it's midnight," the doctor said to me, and I just nodded and lay back down.

I heard a voice in the distance calling me, "No, brother!" I woke up abruptly to see that the voice was Elowen's, "Brother, you finally woke up," Elowen hugged me, and a sharp pain in my arm hit me, but I ignored it, "Wen, are you okay? Does anything hurt?" I asked worriedly, and she just shook her head in denial, and I felt relieved, "The people in the village treated me well and gave me food," relieved to see Elowen happy meant that these people were not bad or at least didn't have bad intentions.

"Young Emwind, I'm glad you woke up," the man I saw before I fainted called out to me again, I turned to him, "Yes, thank you for saving us," looking at the thin man with brown hair and eyes who saved us, Elowen and I bowed in gratitude, "Don't worry, thank you for waking up. You worried us because you didn't wake up until last night," the man said.

"Oh, excuse my manners, my name is Gregor Medric," the man introduced himself, "Nice to meet you, I'm Aetherius, and she's Elowen," I replied to Gregor, "Well, I brought you a change of clothes, so put it on and come out to eat something," Gregor said, "Thank you," I said as he left the clothes beside me. When I was about to get up and put my foot on the floor, I felt the same pain in my leg as in my injured arm.

"Oh, right, I forgot. Let me help you. We managed to heal you mostly since the worst blow you had was to your head. Thanks to adrenaline, you were able to wake up that day. Your left leg and right arm are still not completely healed," Gregor quickly told me and helped me sit back on the bed, "Come on, let me help you with your shirt at least," Gregor said, "I would appreciate it if you did, haha," I said wearily and in pain. After helping me finish changing, I left the house and leaned on Gregor to exit.

Elowen was waiting for me outside, so I took her hand, and we headed to where we would be given something to eat, "Oh, look who we have here," another man said, about the same height as Gregor, with blue eyes and black hair, "Young Emwind," "Just Ther, please," I said to Gregor in the middle of his words, he just laughed, "Alright, Ther, this is Damian, he's the one who let me get you and the girl out of the water with his stone magic," Damian greeted me, "Thank you very much, sir, for saving my sister and me," Elowen and I bowed again, "Haha, it's okay. I'm glad you're both okay. Come and sit down to eat," Damian pointed to a table, and we headed to sit down.

"Hey Elowen, are you there?" says a girl behind her, followed by a woman who seemed to be her mother. "Hi Tiara," Elowen greets the girl. "Hello, young man. I'm glad you're okay. Your sister was worried that you wouldn't wake up again, according to her," I nod in acknowledgment as I swallow my food.

"Thank you for your concern, miss," I finally say. "Oh, right, let me introduce myself. I'm Lora, and I'm Tiara's mother. When they came to save you, I was looking after your sister until she woke up," she tells me with a smile. "Once again, thank you very much, Miss Lora, for taking care of my sister while I was asleep," I say with a smile.

"Mama, Mama, Elowen's brother has strange hair and eyes," says the girl, pointing at me, and I just laugh. "Nice to meet you, Tiara. I'm Ther. Thanks for being with my sister," I say to the girl who was hiding behind her mother.