“Galloping horses? Hubert do you hear thi—”

“Huu---, Hubert---------!!!!!!!!!”

“Ehh, What is it now?!"

Yet, at the same time, that Levis was trying to ask Hubert about the noise in the distance, the loud shouting of his name, woke him up, from whatever he was distracted, as he immediately turned his head toward the north road, of the village.

“Levis, can you run?”

“Yes.”

“Stay close, though hide on the outskirts of the village, I will see who it is that called me.”

With the nod of his head, Huber could confirm, that the boy had understood him, as once he turned his head, he began to run at a steady speed, with a serious face that was almost uncharacteristic of him.

But as he approached the village, he made an open hand signal for the boy to stop, that to his surprise was keeping up with him, despite his somewhat sorry state.

Regardless, he resumed his running in between the houses at high speed, as he put his hand on the short sword at his waist, ready to be drawn at any time.

“What?”

Yet, as he arrived in the central part of the village, what greeted him was a bewildering scene, three horses were down on the ground, frothing from their mouths as they seemed on the verge of death.

However an even bigger startling scene was that of the guard and the scout holding an unconscious Adrian, that was for once without the chest plate armor, as bandages were wrapping him up, mostly on his left side.

“What the hell happened!!!”

“Hubert!? Come help!”

Though, he did not need to be told what to do, as he was at their side before any one of them could take a clear look at him.

“To the hall, fast!”

“What happened?”

“I do not know, and I do not have the time to explain. I will take the horse and go to the camp immediately!”

“What “go to the camp”? Take him with you, he needs—!”

“He can not take the trip. His injuries need to close up, if he takes another trip, he will die of blood loss before we even arrive at the camp.”

“Then what are we—?”

“He survived the trip till here, he will survive till nightfall. I will drug the horse, and arrive to the captain at the fastest, stay and keep him stable.”

However, as they were carrying him inside the hall, Hubert was having a hard time not throwing out questions, as he was stupefied and bewildered at how their situation had gone like this.

Ultimately, the other guard did not answer any of his questions, as of the moment they had placed Adrian on the sleeping mat, he sprinted outside, to the horse that was still standing on its feet, as he took out a small bag, and dropped a white powder in the nearest bucket of water, after which he had the horse gulping it down, while he was already on its back, as he began to guide the horse out of the village, and en route towards the camp.

Yet, if one was to inspect the horse, one would find its pupils dilated and the capillaries widen, as its heartbeat was vastly increased, as its speed, could be taken as an appraisal, for its strange enhancement, from the drugged used on it.

“He---!? Is he the guard that had gone with, Adrian? Where is he running?”

[Let us go and see, if you want to know what is going on.]

Nonetheless, as the guard was dashing out of the village, Levis that was not too far away could see him very well, as he was surprised at his sudden appearance and the hastiness with which, he was running. Yet, he did not lose time, as began doing the complete opposite of Hubert’s words, as he enter the village and closed into the center of it, to the big Hall, where the voices of Hubert and the light cloth man, were coming as they were arguing.

“How did this happen?”

“I-I don’t know—!”

However, as Levis peaked from a window to look at them, he could see the somewhat panicked and angry Hubert, while the other man seemed to have a downcast and gloomy face as he seemed to be in distress over something.

“How the fuck you do not know!”

“I do not! We arrived yesterday night, near the Stronghold of the bandits, we have waited till this morning to enter. We entered and checked, almost all the halls and rooms of the hold—, however, when we reached the stone door---, he told us to wait for him, however after some minutes the-the hold begin to shake, while pieces were beginning to fall, so we enter to find him, only to run to the end of the hall, where we discovered the room—, I don’t know what it was, but the stench was horrible, I have never smelled something like that. But-but Adrian was there, down, bleeding, as he was mumbling something. We stopped the bleeding fast and got out of the hold, we treated him the best we could, but it was not enough, so we decided to kill the horses, to arrive here the fastest way, so we drugged them. We came here as fast as we could, but the wou—, his wounds were constantly opening, and the horses were almost done—, it was good to see your horse still being here, this way he can reach the camp for the captain, to come and help him.”

“I see—.”

Yet, as Hubert’s face become dim, he looked down, prompting Levis to peek as well, as he took in the sight, of the deathly pale Adrian, laying down, wrapt in bandages, covering his whole left side chest, and shoulder, as he seemed to give the impression of being in his last moments, while he seemed to have a hard time breathing.

“Levis!? Come inside.”

However, as he was not putting any effort into remaining out of view, Hubert immediately spotted him looking through the window, and he called him to move inside the structure.

Nonetheless, as he walked into the hall, he was finely aware of the slight tension existing inside, as the two men were giving its life.

“Hey, kid, you been good?”

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“Ah, yes. What is going on here? Why is Adrian wounded?”

“Just a minor wound. No need to worry, the captain will come here, and we will go back to the camp in no time.”

However, the lousy attempt to lie and cover the truth, was all in vain as Levis did not only hear all his dialog with Hubert, but his poor attempt was not at all convincing.

[He is lying to me like this? Does he think I am a kid?]

[Hmph, well you are, But it is better to say he is trying to lie to himself, and not you.]

“Well, now that you have brought him till here, We need to change his bandages again, and clean the wounds, till the captain arrives. I have disinfected medicine and some bandages with me, you take, all that you still have on your horses, and Levis, bring some firewood if you can, we need to make a fire again, and boil some water, I will go take the water.”

Though Hubert moved immediately in giving instructions, as he realize he could not depend much on the scout, or to think that the boy could be of any help.

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

Levis, moved as fast as he could, even as his body was still slightly aching, yet, as he was carrying one piece of wood with his left hand, the tip of his right index was recovering at an alarming speed, as the bone could not be seen anymore, and the skin was following the muscle tissue in regrowth, while his nail was pushing even faster.

[This is really strange.]

[---.]

[Why are you not commenting on something?]

[Do I need to comment on everything you say?]

[No, but—.]

[What?]

[Is Adrian, alright?]

[Did he seem alright to you?]

[No. But can you help him? I still have to thank him.]

[Help him, you say. Are you sure, that you want to help him?]

[Yes.]

[If you are certain then go to the graveyard.]

[Why.]

[Do you want to save him or not?]

[I do!]

Although Levis did not understand what was going on with Urger, he could feel the undertone of flatness and coldness that was coming from him, making him wonder if he was angered by something.

Yet, he did not lose time, as he brought some more logs for the fire, after which he moved down to the graveyard, but while passing the scout, he nodded at him, while he was getting the items for the journey from the dead horses, yet he did not respond, as he seemed to be far more preoccupied with his relative easy task than to notice the boy near him.

Nonetheless, it did not take long before he was in front of the graveyard and of the graves, as he was more and more perplexed about how he would help Hubert by being here.

[Now what?]

[Now you pay me.]

[Pay you—!? How? Eh---? Why can I not move?]

However, as the situation was getting stranger, Levis found himself unable to move at all, as though he had become a still rock on the ground.

[Kid, you have started to have the wrong misconception that I am some sort of free-making-wishing “god”. And forgot the simple principle of equalization.]

[What are you trying to say?]

[In short, if you are not going to do it with your own hands, and ask someone else, then you must be ready to pay the price that will be asked for the trade. So if you want to save that boy, you have to pay, upfront that is, this time around.]

[I don’t underst—, what, wait, what are you doing!!?]

[Pipe it down, you brat!]

Yet, as he begin to struggle at the sudden activity, that was happening over his grandfather's grave, he was made to stay quiet as even his own thoughts seemed unable to form, becoming nothing more than a silent and unmoving watcher, as the earth of the grave was pulled to the sides, revealing once more the wretched state of the old man's body.

However, at the scene of his grandfather's chest and tunic being ripped apart, as the organs of the upper part of the body became visible, and the heart and only the heart, that came out of the chest was plunged out, as though an invisible hand was ripping it from the body, tearing the arteries and veins of the organ, as it began to levitate up to Levis's eye level, only to be stunned, at the large rectangular wooden door, made of a bunch on long planks, which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, giving a dreadful feeling as it stood there silent as it tough it had been there all the time.

Yet, that was only the beginning, as once the door opened, the darkness beyond that door was enough to freeze him completely, as he was unsure of the vague impression that he was having while observing it, if he was either falling into that darkness or if the darkness was devouring the world.

Nevertheless, once he recovered his focus, the scene that he could finely witness, was that of the hearth slowly floating towards the dark, as after passing the door, it was slowly enveloped by the darkness as though it was water.

But as the heart could no longer be seen, the door suddenly moved fast to shut, yet at the moment it closed itself, there was no sound that he was aspecting, as there was no door whatsoever, despite not blinking once it had disappeared without being able to even understand, what it was, or what had occurred.

[You can move.]

[Ah-ahhh—-, what have you done? Why have you taken grandpa’s heart!?]

[Your payment.]

[My payment!? And the door?]

[Just a place to store it.]

[Why?]

[It is far too early to explain to you, well, in truth you have not reached the qualifications to know about this, ask me when you have done some real progress.]

[Youuuu!!!]

[Now, now, I think you want to save that boy right? It is best to move, and do not be like this, I am going to show, and teach you, something good and useful this time, alright?.]

Even as Urger was trying to placate the now angered Levis, the subtle notion of a more hard and dark undertone, still existed in his voice, making the boy fear him for the first time since he had known him, as he was truly an unknown existence, that appeared as though he was a god, playing with him solely for his own enjoinment.

Eventually, as Levis began to walk out of the cemetery, he looked once more at the grave and the body, that was covered by the ground again, as an additional wound was engraved on the old and cold corpse of his grandfather.

Though, it did not take him much time to be in front of the hall, where Hubert was already boiling the water, and while the scout was looking thru the goods to see if he had not missed anything.

“Levis? You did good, however, can you bring some other logs for the fire.”

“In a moment.”

Even though Hubert or the scout did not question him over where he had been, he did as he was asked as he did not want to appear too suspicious, if he were to just go to Andrian all of a sudden.

Only after several minutes, of going forward and backward, as he brought enough wood, for Hubert to be satisfied with.

“I will go and see to Adrian for a while. Is that alright?”

“Ah, yes you can go, call if anything changes, I will stay here for the water to boil, prepare the medicine and the bandages.”

Levis did not say anything else, as he immediately enter the hall, as he closed the door behind him, and looked at the now half-dead Adrian, that had seemed almost too strong two days ago, making the contrast extremely strange.

[Now what?]

[Ehh?? You are giving me the cold shoulder? Ahaha, if you think this is a bad trade, you should have asked some other old monster, and see how they would have toyed you to death or make unreasonable demands, that is if you could actually find and meet someone to help you, so stop this facade, you are far to inexperience to throw a believable tantrum in my presence. Put your hand on his forehead.]

Even as he was showing his full disgruntlement and irritation at Urger's actions, Levis could only force down his emotions, as he was aware that helping Adrian was the true priority at the moment, as he placed his right hand over his forehead, while taking a good look at him once more, as he was still unaware of how grave his injuries were.

[Now close your eyes, stop your whole consciousness and focus on your mind, while you bring it here, I will assist you by inhibiting your senses, to help you, with your internal visualization.]

[What are you trying to do?]

[You will see in a moment.]

While not knowing, what Urger was about to make him do, there was a bit of hesitation and apprehension on his part, although he stilled his courage and executed all steps one by one, as he focus on his mind alone, as all the consciousness was gathering in his head, yet all of a sudden his senses of touch, smell, hearing and the weird sight that he was having with his eyes closed, were all gone as darkness seemed to surround him.

“Hey, kid!”

“Eh?”

And yet, in the same darkness, the figure of a man suddenly materialized in front of him, unexpectedly.

The man was tall and rather skinny, with dishevelled black hair and some white in between, with a somewhat bronzed skin, as though that of a farmer who had persisted for a prolonged time of his life under the merciless sun. As for the clothes, they appeared flimsy and cheap, as he gave the overall impression of a vagabond, or a fellow who had no home, a destitute man with no future for himself.

“Ha-ha, the first time you see me, right? I bet you are awe-struck at my out-of-this-world appearance.”

“Youuu!!?”

“Ehhh, what are you doing???”