Chapter 4: Recovering at last

His legs continued to tingle with the strange and sudden sensation that had come upon him. All of a sudden, Darion was relieved to see that he was healing at last and could stand again after all those years of pushing himself around in the wheelchair. He turned slowly while shaking and flexing his legs to confirm that he was capable of walking, and that was when his eyes fell on the woman who was frozen in shock and disbelief at the door-his mother in law.

"What… what exactly…" The Mistress tried to find the right words to convey her shock and disbelief. 

"I can… I believe I can walk again!" Darion exclaimed with his surprise evident in his voice.

"You!…" Mistress Patricia exclaimed suddenly like she was just realizing the seriousness and implication of it all. "You're an impostor!" She yelled. 

Darion, at first, didn't quite understand what the woman meant, but then it hit him all of a sudden as he realized how the whole thing must have been seen from her point of view. "No this isn't…"

"You're a liar!" She screamed this time with her eyes blazing with fury. "For years, you've lied to all of us so you could leech off my daughter!"

The little hope and excitement that was building up within Darion immediately began to sink sadly. "No, ma'am, this isn't how it seems; I was just…"

"You're just what?" She cut him off again before he could finish his defense. "Get the hell out of this place you creep! I can't believe we accommodated you and let you stay for so long! Just get out now!"

Darion wished that there was a way he could appeal to the woman's more calm side so he could explain himself but it seemed Mistress Patricia wasn't ready to back down at all. "I haven't been lying to you, ma'am." Darion pleaded. "I really have been paralyzed all this while from the waist downwards. I don't know how it happened but I realized just a while ago that I can walk again."

"A miracle huh?" She scoffed. "Why don't you just miracle yourself out of our home?!" She yelled the last words and advanced on him threateningly, making him take a step back uncertainly. "My daughter is right to divorce you! Just get your things and leave now!"

Darion sighed in disbelief as he made his way out of the room with the woman shouting taunt after taunt behind him. Mistress Patricia's anger was roused, and she wouldn't stop until she got what she wanted, which at the moment was to see the impostor and scammer out of her house and out of her daughter's life.

Even as she oversaw Darion's departure, she couldn't stop thinking about the way she had seen him there at the center of the room radiating and exuding that aura. Part of her wanted to believe that this meant something but then the rest of her dismissed this as a trick of the light. Perhaps she wasn't thinking straight due to the shock that came from seeing him on his feet.

Darion walked out of the house with his traveling suitcase in his hand, a bag that was just big enough to contain the little belongings he had. He still couldn't believe it but he was walking for the very first time in three years ever since the ambush. He had literally nowhere to head to and even though he still had the crumpled cheque in his pocket, he wasn't keen on cashing out just yet.

He wandered the streets in silence and with his heart heavy and full of thoughts about his life for the last three years. He really wished that he could open up to Devra and tell her everything, including how he was the hero who saved her years ago, but at this point, he knew she wouldn't believe anything coming out of him. Of course, the necklace would be there to back him up but ever since he lost the necklaces in the heat of battle that day, ever since he was ambushed and left crippled only to be found injured by the Hays, he could not tell where the second necklace had gone to and the shame and guilt that followed was unbearable given the fact that those necklaces were family heirlooms...

Ever since the ambush, he had been going through a secretive military rehabilitation program as he was determined to leave the military given the state he was in. He didn't want to let anyone in on his past and, for three years, had been paying for his rehabilitation program from Devra's pockets.

"Help! Somebody... Help me!" The voice out of nowhere broke his thoughts, thereby pulling him out of his daydream and into reality. He immediately became aware of his surroundings. He was presently walking past a dark and secluded alleyway, and the plea for help was coming in that direction. Darion steeled his heart and then began to approach uncertainly.

The sight that met his eyes caused his jaws to tighten and his muscles to clench in anticipation. Three huge men were molesting a girl who was defenseless and desperate for help. The biggest of the men stood there with his hands wrapped tightly around the struggling girl. The sight ignited rage within Darion and he slowly put his suitcase away before stepping into the light.

"Let her go." He commanded with his voice laced with detest, a testament to his disgust.

The thugs turned to him, momentarily surprised, before their surprise gave way to amusement. "Look what we've got here boys, fresh meat." The biggest thug, probably the gang leader sneered. His followers laughed at his remark but Darion wasn't scared.

"Leave now or else you'll regret ever coming here tonight," Darion stated calmly.

The thugs roared out in laughter and even the girl he'd come to rescue stared at him in disbelief. "What? Are you insane? Leave now or they'll kill you!" She shouted at him as she was scared he'd die trying to help her.

"Too late for that. You ain't going anywhere!" The gang leader spat out and then signaled his men to attack. 

Darion summoned his martial arts skills and military training at once, but something was wrong as his reflex wasn't even good enough to dodge a blade thrust to his abdomen. Just as quickly as it had begun, Darion crumpled to the flow in a pool of his blood….