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Gentle rays of light slowly beamed through my separating eyelids; my consciousness was starting to return to this mortal body, grounding me further and further into my new reality whilst seamlessly dissipating those memories from a distant past.
As soon as my foggy vision adjusted itself, I immediately realized that I was once again inside the Ashwell family home. The extravagant space coupled with this needlessly large bed was more than enough to give that away.
A quick glance around the near empty room soon turned into an abrupt examination of my body, I didn’t feel any more pain and there were no visible scars to be seen anywhere but I still wouldn't call this a complete recovery just yet.
While my body was free from any apparent wounds, an exhaustive sensation was still coursing through my veins, almost like my body had just completed an hour-long sprint. Everything that happened after Oliver destroyed the Basilisk was still a blur to me, but this miraculous recovery was undoubtedly Julia’s doing, the same went for the change of clothes too.
I’m not sure where she got it from but this thin white gown that was around two sizes too large for me felt oddly comforting for some reason. Rising up from under the insulated covers, my half-closed eyes winced and narrowed in a desperate attempt to restore my vision.
Seconds before I was able to succeed, the sturdy oak door on the opposite side of the room opened with a screeching sound. A young girl emerged from the other side of the swinging doorway, she had chestnut brown hair and vibrant blue eyes, donning an apron of matching color that extended a few inches past her knees. In her hands was a metal tray with countless necessities from damp white cloths to ointments and salves, as soon as her eyes met mine, the thin metal tray promptly fell from her small hands.
She was staring at me like I was some kind of apparition, but before long, her suspicions had been cleared and she immediately started charging towards me with teary eyes and trembling hands. I knew exactly what was coming but unfortunately, I just didn’t have the strength to dodge.
“Liam!” Leaping off the floor, the girl tackled me onto the welcoming bed, tears endlessly streaming down her cheeks that had now been dyed a bright red color.
“Li...am...I was so...worried...”
Between all the sobs and sniffles I could hardly even make out every fifth word of what she was trying to say, since this wasn’t going to get very far, I opted to give a typical response.
To her surprise, my index finger was already swiping away at the stream of tears. I responded to that frantic expression with a chuckle before leaning forward to utter my first word of the day - “Good Morning, Emma.”
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After the commotion Emma had stirred up, it was only a matter of time before my parents, and frankly everyone else, came rushing in. Julia was the first to bolt inside the room at a breakneck pace, she stumbled forward in disbelief before hastily coming over to pull me into her embrace. It had been well over ten minutes now, but tears were still leaking from her eyes, she was clutching the thin white gown covering my body so hard it almost felt like she was trying to wring it out.
Emma was doing a bit better in that regard, her tears had already dried up for the most part.
Between Julia’s muffled cries and mournful sobs, I could only make out a single sentence.
“Liam.....don’t.....don’t scare me like that again.” Those words burdened me with an unseen weight, right now I was at a complete loss for words so the only thing I could do was return her embrace with a hug of my own. Sadly, she was requesting an oath I couldn’t keep, an idyllic life like that was far beyond my means, if anything, I was barely even scratching the surface of what this world had in store for me.
“It’s all right mother, I’m fine now, see.” I waved my arms around to ease the unrest swelling up inside her, Julia covered her mouth in both shock and relief, desperately trying to hold back the flood of emotions.
She clasped my cheeks in her hands, pulling me closer to press my forehead against hers. I don’t know what kind of soothing effects this practice had but it certainly worked; even if it was only a little, Julia was starting to calm down.
In the midst of our tearful reunion, another large figure swooped in to cover the two of us in an even wider embrace than before. It was Oliver, he wasn’t crying but his face was painted in a mix of relief and sorrow, with gritted teeth that almost betrayed a smile, he rustled my hair for the first time in a while.
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“Liam...Thank goodness your back....truly. I’m sorry, I should have come sooner.” He told me with a trembling frame, clearly, my actions had taken a great toll on them both. Those words set off a series of nightmarish flashbacks in my mind, ones too cruel to recount in great detail.
“You came just in time to save me at the end father....isn’t that what heroes do?”
Surprised by my comment, Oliver found himself chuckling through the sorrow.
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“A week!?” I asked with a dumbfounded stare
Julia nodded in response. “Mhm, an entire week's gone by since that whole thing with Brünnhilde happened. Honestly, even after all this time, it still doesn’t feel real to me.” The vigor was still being drained from her eyes, but it was losing out to solemnity, not sorrow.
“Well, we still don’t have all the details but the picture I'm piecing together in my mind doesn’t seem that much more believable.” Oliver paused, his brows furrowing in concentration. “Liam, I need to ask you a few questions about this whole situation, but for now rest up, you’ve been through a lot.”
As soon as I gave my nodding response, a few faces, both new and old, stepped across the room’s entrance. The first one to catch my eye was Beatrice, her frilled blue dress trailed across the floor as she approached us with glossy eyes.
“Welcome back Liam.”
“Good to be back, Lady Beatrice.”
She smiled and lowered her vision to the young boy standing at her side, giving way for him to introduce himself. Stepping forward, the young lad got ready to do just that. Introductions were certainly in order, but just from a glance I already knew who he was, the deep blue color of his eyes were a dead giveaway. Unlike Emma’s chestnut brown hair, the strands on his head were walnut colored and parted into two distinct segments that gave way for two prominent bangs to plop down from the peak of his forehead to his eyebrows.
The innocent face he wore didn’t exactly match up with the body he’d obviously built through hours of grueling training.
“Hmm...so you’re Liam huh? Nice to meet you, I’m Isaac! Isaac Ashwell, my mother tells me you’re good friends with my sister...”
“He’s not a friend, Liam’s my little brother.” Emma sporadically chimed in with a dismissive sentence and a menacing glare.
“Emma, you don’t have to look at me like that you know; weren't you the one bawling your eyes out when I was unconscious.”
“T-T-T-That's only half true, I was just confused that’s all!”
“Yeah, Yeah, whatever you say.”
She clearly wasn’t prepared for her brother’s cheeky assault; she quickly whipped her head around to mask the shades of embarrassment now springing up on her face.
I tapped on her leg with the last bit of strength left in my veins, her gaze dropped to meet mine but before she could even question it, I managed to squeeze out the fragmented words that were building up inside me.
“E....Emma...Can you..get off?.....Can’t breathe...”
She was straddling me the entire time, and as soon as that realization hit her, she bolted off my body in a panic. If it wasn’t for Isaac standing so close to the bed she would have probably tumbled across the floor.
“Are you okay, Liam!?” Emma asked in a panic the moment she regained her footing.
“I’m fine, I just need to....catch my breath a little.”
I heard her unleash a sigh of relief; thanks to her little stunt just now the atmosphere inside the room had lightened up quite a bit.
“Liam, I’ll need to check your body a few more times but before that, are you sure you’re okay?” Julia question, her hands now gripping me by my shoulders.
“I’m sure, you don’t have to worry so much.” My reply was earnest, but I doubt this strained expression of mine could ever convey that.
Her eyes remained locked on my face; she stared me down as if she was trying to peer into the depths of my very soul. “The Signum...it’s not causing you any pain, is it?”
I felt my brows furrowing at that strange question.
“Sig...num?” I unconsciously muttered
Betrice gave a silent command to Emma with nothing more than a glance, as soon as she received the directive the young girl made her way back over to the oak door to retrieve the shiny metal tray she had dropped earlier, all while ignoring the clattering mess she’d made back then of course.
Emma came back over on my right with the shiny metal tray and held it up in front of my face, the reflective sheen of the shiny item displayed the juvenile face I was expecting to see, but with one slight modification.
In the center of my forehead, just above my eyebrows, lay a cryptic symbol reminiscent of the one adorning Julia’s face.