Arthur woke up, his eyes flashed open as if he had merely only closed his eyes for a moment. What greeted him was a familiar setting, a wooden ceiling covered by drying herbs and spices. He quickly tried to sit up only to feel an indescribable pain course throughout his body, nearly knocking him back into a state of unconsciousness. He couldn’t help but let out a slight groan as he fell back onto the bed.
“Granny! The person is awake!” A familiar voiced could be heard. Arthur was still in too much pain to clearly discern the owner of the voice. In fact, he was seeing flashes of pain as struggled to maintain consciousness.
Soon after, an elderly voice and face presented itself before him. The elderly person bent over him and gently lifted the blanket to examine him before covering him up again, “It’s good that you’ve awakened, but it’s best if you get some rest. We can talk about this when morning comes.” Through his blurry vision he saw a calm smile on the face and soon let the warm embrace of sleep take him.
By morning, when the first rays of the sun peeked through the cracks of the windows, Arthur felt much better; there was no pain when raised his arm to try to prop himself up. Just when he tried to lift the blanket off himself, the familiar voice chimed up again from his bedside, “Granny!”
Once again, the elderly woman swiftly came to his bedside and helped him up, “There, there. Child, there’s no need to rush.” After helping him up, she turned to the side and the young girl at the side handed the elder a bowl of medicine. “Here. Drink this, it’s a medicinal soup.”
Without much of a choice, Arthur slowly drank from the bowl. A bittersweet taste entered his mouth. Although it was bitter, he could taste the mellow sweetness reminiscent of pumpkin within the soup, cooling his internal temperature to some extent. Finally after polishing off the rest of the soup, he could finally see his environment. However, it wasn’t what he expected.
“It’s Granny Ferdinand!” His eyes widened as he saw the gentle eyes of the elder at his bedside. Then beside her should be…” Arthur stiffened before resting his eyes on the girl beside Granny Ferdinand. “Janna!” He shouted and tried to jump out of bed only to nearly black out from the pain.
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Janna, who heard the stranger call out her name, was confused. Never in her life has she ever met the person in front of her. Granny Ferdinand was the same; she couldn’t recall ever meeting such a person either. The hunters of the village happened to find the person after going to look for Arthur, a bright and upcoming youth. However they were never able to find Arthur, but on their way back they heard a loud explosion and decided to go check out the noise only to discover an injured person laying down in a pool of blood beside the Black Gorge.
“Who are you?” Janna asked.
Arthur felt some confusion at her expression, it was like she had no clue who he was. He briefly observed her expression only to discover that her eyes were puffy and tinged with red. “It’s me, Artemis.”
“Artemis?” Granny Ferdinand and Janna both asked at the same time.
“?!” Arthur felt as if he was tongue-tied and tried once more. “I’m Artemis. Artemis! I’m ARTEMIS!” He was beginning to panic, every time he tried to say his name, his mouth would change it to something else. No matter how slow he tried to see it, his mouth refused to change its change to what he wished.
“I don’t believe we’ve met, Artemis… Have you perhaps heard of me from someone?” Janna smiled weakly. She seemed to be deep in thought before her eyes lit up and she asked, “Perhaps it was Arthur?! Did you see a man around my age before you came here?!” The look of desperation and the hint of hope in her tone nearly caused his heart to tear.
“No, no, no! You have it wrong, it’s me! Artemis!” He was belligerent as he struggled to reach over and grasp Janna’s shoulder. “I thought I would never see her again.” He thought as he tried to push through all the pain that was erupting in his body.
“Calm down, Child!” Granny Ferdinand sternly warned and held her down. “I know this must be too confusing for you, but I implore Miss to calm down! You must remain calm!” Granny Ferdinand repeated as he wrestled with the struggling patient.
“Wait. Miss?” Arthur froze up, finally noticing the strangeness with his body. He saw a pair of smooth slender arms being grasped by Granny Ferdinand. In disbelief, he looked down at his torso only to see a pair of mounds wrapped up in gauze-covered medicinal paste. “UWAHHH!” He screamed out loud in fright and fainted.