Chapter 5

"ugh... haah... where am i?" aslan groaned as he sat up. he had awoken in a shabby little hut. the walls and roof were riddled with holes, the floor was just dirt, and he lay on a woven mat that was old and frayed. a tattered quilt made from patched-up cloths covered his body.

moments later, the door creaked open and a boy around thirteen years old stepped inside. his messy black hair matched the vibrant jade green of his eyes. upon seeing aslan awake, he spun around and shouted:

"sis! sis! the guy we found last night is awake!"

"who are you?" aslan asked.

"i should be asking you that!" the boy retorted.

"calm down, ishak," said a girl who appeared behind him. she looked about fifteen years old—clearly the "sister" ishak had called out to. her hair and eye color matched his.

"we saw you fall from the cliff last night while we were out gathering herbs. luckily, you landed in the river, so we brought you here," the girl explained.

"really? thank you," said aslan.

"you're welcome. oh, right—my name's amanda, and this is my brother, ishak. what's your name?"

"my name is... galang," aslan replied, hiding his real identity.

an awkward silence followed for a moment.

"haha, alright then. we're going to collect some more herbs. you can stay here until you're fully recovered. let's go, ishak," said amanda as she left the hut.

"they're... kind of odd," aslan muttered. "they let a complete stranger stay in their house without a second thought. aren't they worried i might steal something valuable?"

he looked around.

"though... i guess there isn't much to steal. the royal stables are in better condition than this hut," he said, then stood and stepped outside.

to the east, he could see a small village nearby. to the west, a towering mountain loomed in the distance. that was likely the cliff he had jumped from.

"this doesn't make sense. after falling from that height, i shouldn't even be awake for several days."

meanwhile, amanda was deep in thought.

"what's wrong, sis?" asked ishak, noticing her troubled expression.

"we saw him fall from that cliff with our own eyes. surviving such a fall is already a miracle... but he looks completely fine. doesn't that seem strange to you?"

"maybe he's a tors energy user?" ishak guessed.

amanda fell silent. the possibility hadn't occurred to her until now—and the thought made her nervous.

"what should we do? what if he's dangerous?" amanda said, clearly worried.

"but... he doesn't seem like a bad guy," ishak replied innocently, looking up at his sister.

"you're right. he doesn't seem like a bad person... i hope."

back to aslan—he had begun training his body again. since he still couldn't use tors energy, all he could do now was focus on physical training.

this place was strange. normally, tors energy released by living beings would flow into the environment. but here, the earth absorbed all stray energy—except what was stored internally or directly used by the body. that meant aslan couldn't absorb energy from nature—only what his own body generated.

"this place... it must be within ardan's borders," aslan said to himself.

based on the map he had seen earlier, he knew he needed to travel east to return to his village. but to do that, he would have to circle around the central empire, through kingdom arganta. the journey would span thousands of kilometers—possibly taking years if he took time to train along the way.

"i'll stay here for now. i'll train my body until it's strong enough to make the long journey," aslan decided.

time passed. he had now stayed with amanda and ishak for several days. each morning and evening, aslan trained. during the day, he helped gather herbs to lighten their burden.

in just a few days, they had grown quite close. amanda and ishak, who were once cautious around him, had begun to warm up. amanda smiled at him more often, and ishak frequently played with him.

aslan felt comforted by amanda's gentle nature. it seemed like feelings were quietly growing between them. he also enjoyed spending time with ishak—the boy's cheerfulness reminded him of his own younger self.

here, aslan felt the warmth of a family—something he had never experienced in the palace. the smile that had long disappeared from his face had returned.

a bit of background: amanda and ishak were orphans. their parents had died when ishak was still very young, and amanda had taken on the role of a parent ever since.

---

one evening, aslan was out training as usual. ishak came running over.

"big bro galang, why do you train every day?" ishak asked.

aslan paused. he honestly didn't know what drove him to keep training. he wasn't even sure what he would gain by becoming strong. deep down, he no longer held hope of returning to his birth village. he didn't even know its name. and besides, he was happy here.

he looked at ishak for a moment—then, without thinking too much, gave the most honest answer he could.

"i train... so i can be strong enough to protect the family i care about."

"whoa! then i wanna get strong too—so i can protect sis amanda!" ishak said eagerly.

aslan smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. he thought about teaching him how to gather tors energy, but amanda's voice calling out made him reconsider. besides, aslan still didn't know how to use it himself. he decided he would teach ishak once he was ready.

"hey! come home already!"

"we're coming!" aslan shouted back as he lifted ishak onto his shoulders and headed for the hut.

"you two are always goofing around. don't you see how dark the sky's gotten?" amanda scolded, frowning.

aslan, unsure how to respond, just scratched his head with a sheepish grin.

"sigh... you two. alright, come in—i've made dinner."

aslan followed amanda into the hut.

"for now, this is the place i'll call home."

to be continued...