-Break-
“Due to your injuries, you fell into a deep sleep which we couldn’t wake you from, this caused a lot of worries to spread among us, but eventually your body started to heal. I guess dragons are capable of healing if they sleep for long enough, so we just left you to rest up and you’ve slept for 6 months. Though Orb’s case is a bit different.”
As we walk, I start to hear a familiar voice scream, so I say, “Orb!” Then moments later I dash down.
“Cyrus, wait!”
Running down the hallway with Gheorghe following close behind, I look fanatically for the source of the screaming I heard. Where are you, please be ok.
Finding the source of the screaming, I see a door in the distance and run towards it. With my hand, I open the door and say, “Orb.”
In front of me, I see Avram, Iancu and Suzuka beside Orb on the bed, as he screams profusely.
Seeing me, Suzuka says, “Cyrus you’re awake.” Then she runs up to me and gives me a hug. “I was so worried about you guys!”
Taking a second to give her a hug, I run over to Orb and say, “What’s wrong, what happened!?”
Suddenly, I am hit on the head. Turning around, I see Elia is the one who hit me, “Calm down you eye-patched gecko, your loud voice is bad for the patient.”
“I can’t just cal-,” In the middle of my sentence I spit blood out of my mouth.
As I fall to my knees, Elia says, “You might be awake but you sure aren’t at full health, so calm down because the way you are now isn’t helping either your, or Orb’s situation.”
Taking me by the shoulder, Avram says, “Let’s give them some space, I will explain the situation to you in your room.” Looking to the door Avram says, “I will also need your help for that.”
Standing in front of the door the woman called Scheherazade says, “Right.”
“What is she doing h-h-h-here!”
“Be kind Cyrus, the only reason that the two of you haven’t been killed is thanks to her, so I would suggest you listen.”
“But-.”
“As you are right now, you’re unable to seek revenge against your foes or help your friends. Now if you want to even have the ability to do either I would suggest calming down and listening. Is that, ok?”
Nodding my head in compliance we walk out of the room, and as we do I turn around and see Orb’s face in pure agony as I leave. But one thing that catches my eye as I do is that the silver in Orb’s orange hair is much more noticeable than before.
-Break-
Laying in my bed, Avram says, “Well where should I begin? I guess sometime after your big fight Mime woke up and we were able to see what had happened to all of you through her and Anto’s shared senses. Seeing what had transpired we headed over to Jedidiah, and when we arrived, we started to nurse all of you back to health.
Despite how long you were asleep you still seemed to be healing up rather well, with the exception of your eye and horn you have made a near-full recovery. You can thank the Tepekh fruits, they had one in Ahmed’s room lying around. But Orb’s recovery wasn’t so liner.”
Avram looks at Scheherazade who says, “Sailsaila judgement inflicts all the pain those chains have ever inflicted in the history of their use onto one target, but the pain those chains inflict doesn’t ever fade.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t ever fade!!!”
With a pained voice, she says, “The pain doesn’t go away, it can’t be deactivated or removed like the normal chains Ahmed creates. Once they get stuck on, they are on forever.”
Avram says, “The pain Orb feels is so intense that he has been screaming a weighting in pain every single day from dawn to dusk, unable to do anything but yell in pain. We haven’t been able to even feed him.”
“But wouldn’t he die!!!?”
“That’s the thing, Orb muscle and organs degenerate due to lack of nutrients then they regenerate a full strength just a little bit later. It seems Orb’s healing is keeping him alive, but his regeneration has been getting worse and worse over time. It seems even his healing has a physical limit.
Bathing his body in spirit energy seems to help a bit, so Suzuka has been by his side, though he lashes out at times, so Iancu has to increase gravity around him to keep him still. At this point, we really don’t know what to do.”
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Scheherazade says with a conflicted expression, “Normally Ahmed would never use the judgement chains unless he plans to kill his opponent soon after, but an exception was made and thus this situation now exists.”
“DO YOU THINK THAT’S GOOD ENOUGH? Not only did he kill my sister but then he left Orb to live in torturous pain for 6 MONTHS! WHERE THE HELL IS HE, BECAUSE WHEN I SEE HIM, I WILL KILL HIM IMMEDIATELY!!!!”
Avram in front of me says, “Well that won’t be happening anything soon because he is not in Jedidiah.”
“What!?”
Scheherazade says, “We feared you would kill him once you awoke, so we forced him against his will to leave Jedidiah to protect his life.”
“SO, HE JUST RUNS LIKE A COWARD.”
“CYRUS!” Avram shouts. “After you guys fought, you all felt unconscious and were surrounded by the soldiers of Jedidiah, you guys lost, and your life was in the hands of your enemies.
Yet you all still breathe and that is only because of Ahmed, who even choose to flee his country so you guys could recover. I know you're angry, but taking that anger out on Scheherazade won’t fix anything, your sister was her friend too.”
Looking at Scheherazade, I see she is on the verge of tears, so I calm down. Curly up into a ball I say, “I-I-I-I-I-If I can’t be a-a-a-a-angry at Ahmed, I don’t know h-o-o-o-o-o-ow I can handle all of my fail-l-l-l-l-lures.”
“Well, the only thing you can do now is rest up, since for the foreseeable future all of us are powerless and just have to watch the event before us play out.” Getting up Avram says, “Get some rest Cyrus, the day is almost over.”
-Break-
Lying in my bed, I see my sister's face flash in my mind time and time again. So I get up and walk out of my room.
As I continue to walk her face continues to flash back and forth in my head. Her smile, her laugh, her sad face, her angry face, the face she made when she tucked me in at night, the face she made when she said she hates me, the face she made when she died.
My sister was an amazing person who had always been there for me granting me happiness, even when I was alone her words gave me strength. All she wanted was to be happy, yet because of my selfishness, I took that away from her.
Walking over to a large open balcony in the palace, I just stand there and look out into the city. This truly is a beautiful place that my sister could have enjoyed the rest of her life in, yet I took that away from her.
Suddenly the words Orb asked me at Basileia come back to me. Dejected I look down at the city and say, “Ahhh, why am I even alive anymore.”
“Ahh, isn’t that why people suck!”
Hearing a familiar voice, I turn around to see a woman with one arm, who says while dancing around, “You complain about death yet are too scared to truly die, utter foolishness don’t you agree? Simply just get over your fickle emotions, all they do is bind you, but despite being blessed with intelligence we still fail at such a thing.
Truly we are no different than animals. NO! Animals are far better than us, they are fierce, loyal, and act on instinct which contrary to popular belief is much better than the misguided intelligence of us humans. Then when all is done and over you can devour them to restore your life, truly they are the master race. Wolves, horses, deer’s wonderful every single one of them!!!!”
The woman’s eyes are black holes filled with nothingness, though one of her eyes seems to have a bit of blue in it. Her hair is jet black like the night sky, yet there is a scarlet colour streaking up her hair.
Her body is full of life, yet her face is devoid of it almost as if two people dwell in that one body. She looks different, but it has to be who I think it is. Standing up I walk towards her, and pull out my arm saying, “Atalanta?”
But she falls down, and a sick expression appears on her face. Shocked I say, “Atalanta are yo-o-o-o-o-o-ou ok!?”
“I am fine, it is just that such close proximity to another human is making me feel ill, so could you stand over there.”
After moving back, a bit, she gets up and says, “Thought I was going to vomit, it’s been a long time since I saw my insides though.”
Looking at the somewhat disturbing woman in front of me, I ask, “A-A-A-A-A-Are you reall-l-l-l-l-ly Atalanta.”
“Who else would I be.”
Running up to her, I grab her by the shoulders and say, “Bu-t-t-t-t-t-t-t you look different, what h-h-h-h-happened, ar-r-r-r-r-r-r-re you sick?”
As she starts to look nauseous, I hear her say, “Too much contact.”
I back away and say, “Sorry. But what ha-a-a-a-appened?”
Dancing she says, “Question for you Cyrus. How long did Orb spend in Fimbulwinter.”
“I believe 14 ye-e-e-e-ears.”
“Now have you ever wondered despite Orb’s minimal communication with people for so long, that he is so well adjusted to the outside world?”
“He sa-a-a-a-aid he read lots of books on it.”
“Reading and experiencing things are completely different, the fact that Orb can so effortlessly integrate himself with society is strange is it not.?The same goes for you a slave for over a decade and Suzuka a shut-in for years, are all capable of communication and understand that shouldn’t be possible.
And it is not only that, but even in high-stress situations that would cripple normal people you all function rather well. Let’s take combat as an example; you had military training back in your home country, and Suzuka had been fighting spirits for years, but what about Orb he merely trained for a year in Aplos and essentially had to learn how to fight as he goes. But look at the results he can do, he even made up a combo attack with me on the fly against Ahmed.
Now Cyrus do you really think all of that is natural?”
“Wha-a-a-at are you getting at?”
“Many think legacies are a god-given power, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. All of our legacies are simply just a means of reincarnation.”
“What!”
“First it is your little ticks, then it is the personality, and then your body. Little by little the attitudes of your legacy rein over your body, until not a single aspect of you remains.”
Looking at my hand, I say, “Even me.”
“Of course, it doesn’t affect everyone equally, things like the progression of your spirit arts, your mental acceptance of your legacy, and their will to reign over you all play a part. But the worst thing you can do is activate advent which speeds up the process by a lot.
But now let me pose another question to you. Imagine if there was a young boy unable to use spirit arts who saw their legacy as a friend, I doubt that such a person would be able to retain their base personality for long.”
One person's face instantly flashes into my mind, “Orb!”