Just like many times before I woke up, sore and aching all over. I blinked several times, squinting against the light that hurt my eyes. Oh, I can see. It is nice to know that the Divine Touched title actually works. I lifted my arm to check my face.

“Aww. Well, it works partially.”

The reason for my complaining wasn’t scarring since I didn’t have any besides the one I received a long time ago. It was because my joints cracked, making a lot of noise, and felt stiff as iron. I groaned and tried to stretch, feeling the tension in my muscles like a tightly wound spring. I took a deep breath and forced myself to sit up, taking in my surroundings. I was in a small room that was taking in light from a small window. My hair fell in front of my face. It was way longer than I remembered. I checked my chin filled with hope that my beard was also coming yet I only felt thin and soft hairs. I sighed as I blew to get my hair off my face.

“Gökbörü.”

I called both out loud and mentally. Moments later, a familiar presence answered, exiting out of a shadow and running to me in full sprint.

“Gah!”

I groaned as he jumped on top of me, slamming his head into my stomach.

“Slow down, you fleabag.”

I grabbed and raised him to my face level. He immediately poked his tongue, trying to lick my face. I could smell his breath and it didn’t smell good. Despite my protest, he kept trying to squeeze out my grip to lick my face.

“God, no! What have you eaten when I sleeping? You smell worse than we cleared Chimera Garden!”

Gökbörü's ears perked up as if proud of his achievement, his tail wagging furiously. I managed to hold him at bay, his wet nose brushing against my cheek.

“Alright, alright, let me get up, you rascal.”

I gently placed him down, and he darted around the room with boundless energy. My muscles protested as I swung my legs off the side of the bed and stood up. I wondered if the aches all around my body had something to do with my soul being older than my body. Perhaps they affected each other. Then again, Lily never said anything similar to it so maybe it was just me being me.

“Your Majesty? You are awake!”

One of the Amazons, a priestess according to her clothing entered the room I was in. I clicked my tongue silently. Maybe I should have complained more to Aliera about this.

“Hi. Where are the others?”

I smiled as I asked with a soft voice. Thankfully, my voice didn’t crack as it often did when I first woke up. I waited for an answer as she looked at my face frozen.

“Do you not know where they are?”

After a minute or so silence I again spoke up. She straightened her posture.

“Ah, I am sorry, your majesty. I know where they are. I was just… Um….”

I watched her stutter.

“It is okay. Can you show me where they are?”

Her eyes lit up with excitement as soon as she heard that. Okay, if every priestess is like her gaining their loyalty won’t be hard. Of course, I have to make sure to keep their overenthusiasm under control but I could think that some other time.

“It will be my honor. I will escort you to Head Priestess!”

Okay. Let’s see what Thalia is doing. I followed the young priestess out of the room, trying to shake off the lingering grogginess. Gökbörü trotted beside me, his energy a stark contrast to my sluggish movements. As we exited the building I was in and navigated through the Whifur, I noticed that most of the buildings that had been destroyed in the demon invasion were rebuilt.

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“How long have I been unconscious for?”

Even if the Amazons helped beastkin rebuild the city, this wasn’t something that could be done in a week or two.

“Today marks the 30th day, your majesty. Even though both Head Priestess and Head Mage healed you, the wounds you suffered were truly serious. I am pretty sure only you, Aliera’s chosen champion could survive them.”

I processed her words, ignoring the blatant ass-kissing. A month of unconsciousness. No wonder my body felt like it had been through a grinder. I cracked my neck and examined the city while we were walking. Amazons stopped what they were doing and saluted me the moment they saw me and beastkin looked different at me now. They must have learned that I was the Champion of Aliera. It probably felt awkward for them to learn the young man who helped them with their daily jobs was someone important. Well, goodbye to my casual life, it was good while it lasted.

“Poyraz! You are awake!”

I turned where the voice came from and saw Arslan closing in while waving. The priestess got between us, her face bearing no sign of softness she showed towards me. It was clear that she wanted to block Arslan from reaching me, even if that meant that she would have to attack her. Well, shit. This is going to be a problem.

I patted her on the shoulder.

“It is fine. Arslan is the one who slayed Bloodbane with me, a very strong demon. Please give us some space.”

She bowed and took several steps back. Arslan looked at her and then at me but didn’t say anything.

“How is Morrigan?”

I asked before he could muster a single word.

“That’s the first thing? You are not helping with the rumors but she is fine. Ama and others helped her and one of yours attached her arm. She is walking and well.”

The weight of my month-long absence settled over me as I processed Arslan's words. The last thing I remembered was Börü and others pushing her toward the magic circle. I felt bad with the fact that I wasn’t strong enough to subdue her by myself but all's well that ends well.

“What rumors?”

Arslan's eyebrows shot up, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

“The ones about you and Morrigan being together.”

I sighed.

“Some people have too much spare time.”

Seriously, this getting quite old at this point.

“How bad are the losses?”

I knew that it was a tough question but I had to learn if I wanted to plan for the future. Arslan averted his eyes.

“Less than what we would have expected, more than what it should be. It is hard to tell the exact number since most of the dead are not in one piece but we think that it is around 200 or so. For structure damage…. Well, you can just look around yourself.”

Arslan clenched his fists.

“If it wasn’t for your guys it would been worse. I… I was weak.”

He made a face I made countless times before. Sighing, I slowly raised my hand as high as I could before slamming it into his back.

“Fucking shit!”

Arslan jumped forward because of the pain.

“I wouldn’t be able to defeat Bloodbane if it wasn’t for you.”

I shook my hand. Damn, he was tough. My hand hurt.

“And this is how you thank me, you shithead?”

I grinned at Arslan, shaking off the pain in my hand. He rubbed his back, shooting me a glare.

“You have thousands of “ifs”, right? Here is the thing, if you did one of those “ifs” it would have only led to other “ifs”. You were in a disadvantageous battle with no information or preparation. Only surviving would been counted as a victory but you managed to take down many enemies too. Stand proud.”

Arslan's glare softened, replaced by a look of surprise. He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with me.

“What is the condition of Methild and Elandris, the elves that came with me?”

Arslan took a deep breath, his eyes still averted.

“They were here to help with the reconstruction with several more elves. They also were worried about you but went back to Mother Tree. They said something about reinforcing the barriers.”

I nodded. Methild must be pissed. She worked to reinforce the magical barriers before this invasion and now she has to do all over again. However, I wasn’t sure how this invasion affected the barriers around Mother Tree.

“Your Majesty! You should have called for me the moment you woke up!”

I turned around to see Thalia power-walking toward me.

“I was heading for you.”

Her blue eyes widened.

“I should be one coming to you, not you! How is your condition? Any pain? Soreness?”

Arslan slipped away silently as Thalia circled around me, checking my body. For a second I was afraid that she was going to strip me in the middle of the street but thankfully she didn’t go that far. Thalia's concern was almost overwhelming, but I appreciated her dedication. I gently caught her arm to stop her fussing.

"I'm fine, Thalia. Just a bit stiff. I’ll be up to speed in no time."

She narrowed her eyes, clearly not convinced but willing to let it go for now.

“We were worried, Your Majesty. Your wounds were too deep and your mana was too low. I was afraid of losing you even though we just found you.”

Thalia's worry was palpable, her eyes searching mine for any sign of weakness. I squeezed her arm reassuringly.

“I'm here now, and we have work to do,” I said, giving her a determined smile. “Let's focus on what needs to be done.”

She nodded, though the worry didn’t leave her eyes entirely. Gökbörü, sensing the tension, nudged my leg with his nose, his tail wagging slightly slower than before.

“It is better if we call others before. Can you call other Amazons and beastkin?”

Thalia started to order the priestess surrounding. It was somewhat amusing watching them scatter with her orders.