From my experience with Agis, it was easy to assume I had been forgetting my conversations with him, but for whatever reason it was still all fresh in my mind, not only that, but our past conversations were vaguely returning to my memory as well.

After I fell through the portal and my consciousness drifted back into my body I was met with my father’s warm embrace. It was a nice change of pace from Mara’s cold and distant presence or a lonely empty space.

After some time had passed though he left, leaving me alone again. Not long after, I heard him arguing with Mara. Their yelling voices reached my ears, but they were too muffled by the distance and the shut door for me to understand them.

I still knew what it was about. Well, I had a pretty good idea anyway. ‘Magic is banned in Skorveyati, at least among the noble class… The punishment for using it is the same as being weak yourself.’

‘Still, it's not like anyone’s going to find out, everyone in the castle is more loyal to Father than the country. Very few of them are natives, so they don't really care about tradition either. On top of that, if my body was so weak I had to literally will myself to keep living… That means he saved me. Was it really so wrong for him to do that?’

The yelling stopped. Mara quickly opened the door, but paused in its frame, her urgency and aggression seeming to vanish. “Can you stand?” she asked, her tone still clearly agitated.

‘Right, I was expecting us to start training again as soon as I woke up… Let's go.’

I wrestled with the massive fur blanket and crawled to the edge of the bed's large frame, hanging my feet off the edge. ‘Why is it so hard to move…’ I began feeling a weird sense of vertigo like I was even smaller than usual.

My legs dangled off the bed, covered by a long fur nightgown. I could still see my lower legs and ankles though. ‘It really is all healed.’ I knew what I had felt when my father used magic, but seeing it was something else entirely.

I slid out of the bed and landed on my feet. My bones ached as my legs folded underneath me, too weak to support my weight. Suddenly the fresh sting of pain filled my body again as I bruised my knees on the hardwood floor. “What?” I muttered… ‘Maybe my legs are just asleep from laying in bed for so long.’

Mara growled with a clear hint of anger.

I tried to get up on my own but it was like my body could hardly even move. As I grabbed the frame of the bed to try and use it as a crutch, I fell down again. My gown had bunched up as I continued to try and move, exposing my legs. Chills ran through me and I could feel my eyes widen. ‘They look like toothpicks…’

I couldn't explain it, but all the muscle I had spent years building was gone. I looked down at my hands and arms and it was the same. It looked like I had been starved for weeks.

“Stay there,” Mara said with an annoyed tone as she walked over to my side, offering a hand. “I'll help you.”

My body was so thin and weak without any explanation. I didn't notice at first because my spirit form was naturally thin anyway, but after taking a second glance it was clear I had lost a lot of weight. No, it was beyond just losing weight, I looked like I had been starved for months. “How long was I out?” I asked, looking up at Mara as she towered over me with a grimace. ‘How am I going to train like this?...’

She knelt down, grabbing my arm. It seemed like she was going to try to help me walk, but after a small pause, she turned around and lifted me up onto her back. “In regards to this incident alone, you've been unconscious for about a day…”

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“Just one day?” My shaky voice cracked as I tried to talk. It wasn't that I was exhausted. I had energy. It was more like my body was just ridiculously weak.

“Yes well…” She paused. I couldn't see her face, so I had no idea what she was thinking. “This wasn't normal sickness. That's why you're so weak now. You surprised me. I thought for sure you wouldn't make it this time.”

“The reaping…” I muttered.

“You know?...”

“I… well…” I couldn't exactly explain to her how I knew. “I've just heard of it before… But I don't really know that much about it.”

She opened the door and began carefully walking down the stairs, trying not to shake me around too much.

“It's a state of complete exhaustion, that's why you're so skinny and weak now, your body had to tear itself down to keep you alive. Luckily, since it's brought on mostly due to a lack of manna, your body will naturally recover much more rapidly than you might think. It might even become stronger than before, having survived such a brutal trial.”

I couldn't help feeling like there was more to the story. My body was so thin that I could see my tendons bulge out from under my skin as I moved my hands. “Why was my manna low though… Was it from the acid?”

She completely ignored the question. “For now you just need to worry about eating and recovering. I talked to your father, you'll have two days to get back on your feet.”

I was left speechless. Sure, I couldn't walk, but honestly the thought of her giving me time off never crossed my mind. There had to be some kind of catch. “What happens if I still can't walk…”

We entered the dining room and she set me down in a chair. “Then you won't like what happens next.”

If she had said I would die, I could have lived with that, but the vague ambiguous statements she was giving me just made me anxious. It wasn't like her at all.

“I guess I better get back on my feet then…” I muttered, looking down at my empty bowl as she began to dish a hot soup.

The heat from the broth warmed up my cold body, almost burning on the way down. As I swallowed my stomach ached, like it was getting torn open. I hunched over, wrapping my arms around it and leaning against the table.

“The pain will go away soon, your body just isn't used to eating, so it will take a moment.”

I still didn't understand. If I was really only unconscious for a day, how was my body so starved? I was too preoccupied with my stomach twisting in knots to ask though.

Thankful she was right and it really did only take a moment for my stomach to settle. Not long after that, a deep hunger began to overtake me. I started to feel like a wild animal desperate for the food it needed to survive. For the first time, I finished everything in front of me without feeling like I had overeaten.

She served me another bowl, and the same result ensued. By the end of it, I had eaten so much that I was sweating from the heat of the broth warming me up from the inside.

“Are you full yet?” She asked, getting ready to serve me what must have been my 7th helping.

I covered my bowl with my hands just before she poured more into it. “Yeah, I'm full.” I wasn't actually, but I was afraid if I ate too much I might throw up, I had already had so much more than usual.

She pulled the ladle back. “Right, if you eat too much after being in such a state you'll only get sick.”

The fact that she had already fed me as much as I did made it obvious she had just then thought about it. It was weird, to see her in a moment where she didn't have it all together, even if it was just a little thing. Usually, my portions were specifically designed to be just enough for me to gain weight.

It worked pretty well, even if it sucked eating that much I couldn't argue with the results I was getting. I looked at my arms which were just skin and bone now. ‘Whatever happened to me… Putting on all that weight probably saved my life.’

I brushed the thought to the back of my mind. I was much more interested in the so-called time off she had mentioned. “So… I have two days off?”

She looked over at me. “Yeah, that's right. Your body was put through an incredible amount of stress. Honestly, it's amazing you woke up at all.”

Chills went down my spine at her cold and agitated tone.

I almost hesitated to keep talking. ‘Even if it was unlikely, I did wake up. So… Shouldn’t I train my arms until my legs regain their strength… Or stretch or something?’

To simply say it was unlike her to give me a day off was an understatement. It wasn't just unlike her, it was simply something that didn't happen. “Two days… where I don't have to do any training, with anyone, not even my brothers?”

“That's what a day off is, yeah.” Her voice was so matter of fact you wouldn't have thought that this was the first time she had ever given me one.

I was beginning to get starry-eyed. I had never even had a birthday completely free of training. “Two days where I can do whatever I want!?!”

Without realizing it my voice had been escalating until I was practically shouting with excitement. My voice was weak and shaky so it certainly wasn't a powerful shout, but it was enough for both of us to pause in surprise.

Her eyes narrowed as she leaned back, pausing at my sudden outburst. “Within reason…” She said slowly.

I tried to get up out of my chair, but my legs were still too tired.

Mara sighed. It didn't sound like she was disappointed though, it was different somehow. “Of course, you won't be doing much if you can't walk.” She jeered a faint smile appearing on her lips.

“Right…” I sank down in my chair. It had always been hard for me to look her in the eyes because of how cold her face always was, but seeing her smile like that made me even more uncomfortable somehow.