▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 11║▌║▌║█│▌

I woke up in a bed. It felt like the softest bed I have ever slept in. I shut my eyes closed trying to get my aching head to stop spinning. My breathing was heavy, and my body was aching so much I couldn’t move. I couldn’t lift my body up from the bed, and I just sat there staring at the ceiling for a bit. I could see a slight yellow glow clinging to the ceiling. Am I back at the huge tree in the middle of the forest? I started to try and move again in the bed, and I managed to move my arms and legs a little bit. When I did, I felt my left-hand touch something cold next to me. Shocked, I jerked my hand back to my body. I turned my head toward the cold object I touched, and it was a body that was laid next to me. I immediately felt sick, thinking that it was a dead body because it was so cold. I got really spooked when the body moved. The arm that I touched went up to the body’s head, rubbing the forehead. I heard a woman’s voice call out asking, “Uhhh, where am I?”

I recognized the voice almost immediately as Sasha’s. I called out to the voice to confirm it asking, “Sasha is that you?”

She turned her head, and I could notice her long, silk black hair even in the dark. Her red eyes looked at me and steadily got wider as she looked at me. I wondered why they would at first, but then I realized we were in the same bed together. I could feel my face getting redder in the dark. Sasha responded to my question saying, “Who do you think I am? Why are we in the same bed?”

“I don’t know. I just woke up a second ago. Can you move your body at all? Mine is aching all over.”

Sasha looked back up at the ceiling and sighed. She told me, “Unfortunately I can’t. My body is aching all over too. How did we survive that?”

I looked back up at the soothing yellow glow as well and told her, “I have no idea. I went unconscious and the griffin was charging us. Maybe he decided to let us go?”

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“If all conflicts could be resolved that easily.”

I lifted my head up as far as I could, and I saw Garen standing at the door. He walked in and sat at the foot of the bed. He looked at us and gave a guilty smile as he said, “Sorry about the sleeping arrangements. Everyone else already had a room they wanted to be in, and we thought you guys wouldn’t mind that much since you were both unconscious.”

Sasha, not wanting to have any small talk, asked Garen, “What happened to us when we were unconscious Garen?”

Garen looked down with a shameful aura around him and told us, “We don’t really know. The fairies heard the noise and saw the battle, and they quickly reported it to Gala who told us about it. We all rushed to get there, and when we did, we saw you guys laying there unconscious with John and Giselle kneeling over you. A pile of ash was lying about five feet away from you. We assumed that John saved your lives.”

“So, you found him.” I said in a relieved tone.

Sasha asked Garen, “What are John’s powers to be able to defeat that thing in one shot?”

Garen shrugged and said, “We don’t really know. He didn’t show us or talk about it afterwards. Him and the girl were quiet about the whole situation, even about how they wandered off away from the group. We will keep them surrounded for the rest of the journey to make sure they don’t go off alone anywhere. Well, you two should get some more rest. We have to leave early tomorrow morning.”

“Leave tomorrow morning? I don’t think I’ll be able to move for at least another week.” I retorted. My body felt horrible.

Garen laughed as he said, “Well that’s to be expected. Gala used some pretty powerful magic to heal you. It drains your body of all energy, and you’ll probably still feel a little sore from your injuries but nothing too bad. She said she wanted to see you two before we left tomorrow. I expect it’s to ask about the incident you two had. What type of monster did you guys fight anyway? We could never tell by the pile of ash that was once it’s body.”

“It was a griffin.” I said gravely. Just remembering it gave me the chills. The screech it made was the scariest part. God, the blood curdling screech it had! I can’t believe I’m not dead from that experience. Well, just add that to the list of things I owe John for now. I thought the griffin was so strong, but from what Garen saying it’s like it wasn’t even a fight between them. Was that the power of a god?

When I said that it was a griffin, Garen’s eyes went dead and distant. “A griffin?” He said, almost to himself, “He was a long way away from his home territory. What was he doing this far west? Could it be that he was after John, but then why would he come alone? Surely, he would have brought someone else to help him? Well, it’s better to worry about that tomorrow. It’s really late. You two get some sleep now.”

“Wait!” Sasha shouted at Garen, but it was too late. Garen had already left and shut the door behind him to go to his room. It was just the two of us left in the room staring at the dim yellow glow on the ceiling unable to move. Sasha ordered me in an annoyed voice, “Stay on your side of the bed. If you touch me then I will make you have to have another healing session.”

She went back to sleep, and I couldn’t go back to sleep after that threat. It was a long night.

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌