As I came home I looked at the metal plate that sort of resembled the door to my house. My house wasn't really a house though. It was nothing more than a collection of scraps I found in and around town that were assembled in such a way to resemble something I could call home.

With a sigh, I opened the door and a metal screech announced my return. I jumped when a voice suddenly called my name.

"Lucian!" A man said with a cheerful voice, sitting in the only chair in my house. "How are you?"

I had to catch my breath for a bit. "Jack, you scared me there. Could you stop doing that?"

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you. But at least you look like you are doing, ok."

"Why are you here Jack?" I started with a small hint of irritation in my voice. "You know I won't start living at your house. I told you that multiple times."

I started to walk back out the door as the room was cramped enough as it was with just one person in there. Now Jack was holding my house hostage. Jack stood up though and walked out with me.

"Come on Lucian, I will keep asking you as I hate seeing you live the way you do."

His voice was soft and I could feel he really meant what he said. It touched me to think there was still someone who cared about my well-being.

A sudden fear, or should I say anxiety, struck me as I remembered how everybody I cared for in the past left me, betrayed me, or died on me.

"Jack, I know why you ask. But you should just leave things be, ok? There is a reason I don't want to take your offer. So please leave me alone." My hands were shaking and my voice trembled.

Jack put a hand on my shoulder and for some reason, it calmed me down a bit.

"I think I know why you don't want to live with me. And I won't stop asking you. But to be honest, that wasn't even why I am here."

I raised my head and turned towards him with a questioning look.

"What do you mean? You always come to ask me again and again. What is different now?"

"Well, Do you remember the 2 Ignisari that came in about 2 weeks ago?"

"You mean the boy and girl?"

"Yes, those 2."

Jack caught my attention. 2 weeks ago a group of guards that were out on patrol saw a flash of light followed by an explosion. It was near the forest edge on the road to and from Silverdew Valley. When they returned they had 2 Ignisari with them on stretchers. 1 had a pierced abdomen and was on the brink of death. The other was completely out of energy with some wounds and advanced exhaustion. He too would also not have long to live.

It's not that I was really connected to those two but Jack did get me curious to know how they were doing.

"Did they survive?"

Jack smiled, "Yes they did. I released them this morning."

A small shock was visible on my face. I couldn't believe it. Jack the 'I won't let anyone die on my watch', released 2 patients who were on the brink of death, so soon.

"Are you crazy? How could you..." I got cut off by Jack mid-sentence as his smile got bigger.

"You know they are Ignisari, right?"

I looked at him questioningly. "Yeeahhh, what about it?"

"Well, Ignisari are a race that has pretty unique regenerative abilities. And thus, they are already top fit and I could release them."

I do remember people talking about the Ignisari and their wounds healing quickly but isn't this just too fast?

"But even with that ability, this is way too fast!" I said with a skeptical tone.

"And you are correct," Jack answered with a cocky grin. "But didn't you use your healing powers as well?"

Seems I totally forgot that I was there when they brought them in. Jack stood there trying to save them and asked me to heal some of the wounds as best I could.

"But how did my healing help them? I didn't do much. Better yet, my healing doesn't really work on wounds that deep."

Jack just looked at me with a serious stare.

"Your healing closed some important blood vessels and that caused some of the bleeding to stop earlier, giving us enough time to close the bigger wounds."

I just stood there, not knowing how to respond to that.

"But..., How..., I mean...," there wasn't a sentence I could come up with to erase me from this heroic story.

"I told them to go to the guard's house today. If you go there now you might be able to meet them." Jack walked back to my home inspecting it.

"No, I..I... , that is probably not a good idea." My head hung low on my shoulders as I looked nervously down to the ground. "W-Why would they be waiting for someone like me to tell them I saved them?"

I was basically self-sabotaging at this point, but all of that was better than getting friendly with people.

With a sudden pat on the back, Jack walked past me as he was about to leave.

"Lucian." He said with a serious tone. "Go or don't go, that's all up to you. But I want you to be more than what you are now. Why live like this when there is a whole world to explore."

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

He turned towards me with a warm smile like a father who was proud of his son.

"Listen,

I don't want to tell you what to do and what not. But I do feel like you should have more faith in yourself and the happiness you spread with your powers. People don't deserve you. But you deserve better. Go explore the world. Meet new people in different cities. There is so much more than this." He said with an ever-increasing hopefulness in his voice.

He's right. I know he is. But how do you expect me to trust when that trust is such an easily broken thing? Heck, even letting you get this close is scaring me to death.

Then, Jack stretched and yawned. "Sorry to get so sappy."

"Oh by btw, before I get going. I remembered something I heard not long ago and wanted to warn you about. There are rumors of bad people being sighted near the town. Could you promise me you will be careful?"

Suddenly a shout came from the road near the river. I couldn't make out what was said but recognized the voice belonging to Matthew. He was a 9-year-old living with his mother near my home. I knew them well and often helped them with their little garden and played with the siblings.

"Matthew, what is it? Calm down." I said while he was closing in and almost out of breath.

"Lucian! You need to come quickly. *cough* it's my sister *cough* she fell down the river bank. She hurt her knee and there is a lot of blood."

Looking at Jack he signaled to go help the kid.

"Don't look at me, you have a patient to save."

I smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, Jack. And I will be careful, I promise. I will probably see you tomorrow." I waved as I started running after Matthew, who was showing me the way to his sister.

Jack waved back as he started walking to his next destination.

A few minutes later I ran along the bend in the river and heard Matthew's sister cry.

When I finally saw her I dashed down the riverbank to her location. She was sitting on a stone next to the water holding her knee. It had a decent cut in it and she had some bruises on her arms, head, and legs.

"Hey there Sarah. I heard you fell down and got hurt." I said caringly, trying to calm her down a bit.

"Yeah, Matthew and I were playing there," she pointed to the top of the riverbank, "Then a group of evil people came running past us and the bad guy pushed me and I fell." As she finished she started crying again.

Evil people? Bad guys? Are those the people Jack was talking about?

I hugged Sarah lightly to comfort her and it seemed to be working. When she was calm enough I let her go and did a step back.

"Sarah," I said, trying to get her attention. "I will be casting a healing spell on you. In just a few moments the pain will disappear, ok?"

She nodded and I stretched my hands out with the palms facing her.

"Elunara's Luminous" I chanted

A light blue glow started to rise from the ground and it surrounded Sarah. As the glow became brighter, Sarah was completely entranced with it and forgot she had any pain in the first place. It all took just a few seconds but it felt like minutes to Sarah. Suddenly a bright flash of light filled her sight and the glow turned into small sparkles that faded quickly.

I reached out to Sarah to help her stand up as she was still amazed with what just happened. She looked at her knee and saw that the wound there was completely gone and the only thing that could remind you there was ever anything wrong, was the remaining blood dripping down her leg.

As she reached out to my hand and finally stood up she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Thank you, Luc. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She was jumping at first and then hugged me.

"You are very welcome Sarah. Now get back to your brother and go home and freshen up, ok?"

She nodded. "Ok! See you later Lus." And with that, she ran to her brother and with a final wave they ran back home.

Lus... never thought I would get a nickname from a 7 year old. Lucian was a bit of a difficult name to pronounce for her, so she shortened it to Lus.

I stretched out and breathed in the morning air when I noticed someone on the other side of the river.

hmm, I think I know those 2. I thought as I squinted my eyes to hopefully see them better.

"Yeah, those are the 2 Ignisari from 2 weeks ago."

So Jack really meant it when he said they were all healed up.

Just when I wanted to turn around to go back home the girl Ignisari turned towards the river and our gazes met each other. For some reason, I started smiling. Most likely because it seems my healing helped save her and, what I guessed was, her companion.

"HEY YOU THERE!" A shout suddenly came from under the bridge.

I quickly turned my head to see who it was.

"You're that healer boy we've been looking for all this time. What luck that we would find you here."

A group of 8 men came running down the riverbank and in a reflex, I just sprinted away from them in the other direction.

Why are these guys here? Shit, where do I go?

After sprinting for a few minutes they were still chasing me and I had to figure out where to go. I suddenly remembered what Jack said.

"I told them to go to the guard's house today. If you go there now you might be able to meet them."

Yes, that is where I need to go. Maybe the captain is there as well.

I tried to run a circle around these guys and get to the bridge as soon as possible. Sadly some of the guys saw through my idea and I had to dodge 2 of them to reach the bridge.

After crossing the bridge my legs were about to give up. My breath was heavy and I wasn't running straight anymore. I bumped into some people while trying to run through some alleyways but these scumbags stayed on my ass.

I reached the main street that led to the guard's house but as I tried to take a turn I stumbled and fell over. I was too exhausted to stand back up and people around me were surprised by what was happening. When the 8 men ran out of the alley, a woman asked what was going on. She was shoved away and she let out a yell. I turned around with my last bit of energy, breathing heavily, I lay there on the ground.

The woman tried to stand back up. "What do you think you are do.."

She was cut off when the leader of the group shoved her aside again and landed face-first on the ground

"Move it, woman! We are not here for you. We are here for that boy over there." He was pointing towards me as he came closer with every heavy footstep.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" A bouldering voice suddenly shouted from the left.

A group of guards quickly surrounded all the bandits and arrested them without much trouble. Suddenly a guy kneeled down next to me.

"Hey man, are you ok? Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I-I think so," I said completely out of energy.

The guy took me under his shoulder and helped me on my feet. While standing up and looking around I also saw the girl I saw on the other side of the river.

Wait, are these the 2... I knew they were here somewhere. How strange it is to be helped by them now. I chuckled a bit.

The guy being curious asked what was wrong

"You ok there?"

"Yeah, just had a weird thought, that's all"

I asked who the loud voice came from and he told me it was from the Captain who, by sheer coincidence, was about to go on patrol.

Seems my luck hasn't run out yet.

"Hey, can I ask what your name is?" I expected a rejection for some reason but the guy just turned his head slightly toward me and smiled.

"Sure, my name is Zeph and the girl over there is my sister Zephyria."

The girl turned towards me and waved with a lovely smile.

"Nice to meet you".

"Nice to meet you too, I am Lucian."

We reached the guard's house and the captain asked us to wait in a small room which, most likely, was a room they use to intimidate criminals and get answers.

Zeph put me down in one of the 2 chairs and asked a guard if there was any water anywhere. He disappeared around the corner and a minute later he came back with a flask of water.

"Drink up. You need it," he said. "If you need anything else let me know ok. I will ask the guards if they have it."

Why is he so nice to me? We have never met each other. Will he be stabbing me in the back eventually as well? Will he leave when he finds out how much of a nothing I am?

The way I was thinking was just self-destructing. I know that.

Better just go with it for now. At least this ensures my survival for the time being.