The way to Antioch was long and well-protected. After a day the group reached the main road from Rhodusium, the Dukedom’s capital, to Antioch. It was bigger and comparably busy. Faust saw many merchants, villagers, and some army detachments on patrol.

Faust was riding next to the carriage, watching their surroundings and the road in front of them. This was the second day of their travel. They had slept in an inn the last night. There were several towns on the road, making them small hubs of trade and commerce.

Faust didn’t find much time to spend with Leona, but she often looked his way and her smiles brightened up his mood when he sat in his saddle, riding all day.

Faust, even after an entire day on horseback, felt as fresh as ever. He didn’t feel sore or tired. Quite the opposite. His muscles tingled with energy and he found it near torturous to sit on horseback.

‘If only it wouldn’t look so suspicious if I ran along…’ he snickered to himself.

His inhumane endurance and agility would have allowed him to run along for an entire day in his estimate. Yet he couldn’t. He sat in his saddle until they made camp or arrived at an inn where he immediately started training to finally move his body.

Aquila groaned as he watched Faust balance on his arms.

“We have been riding all day and here you are holding a handstand for half an hour…” the black-haired youth sipped from his cup and rubbed his butt.

“I’m sore as fuck.” He laughed.

Faust nimbly jumped on his feet and sighed. It looked gracile like the movements of a cat.

“I can’t help it, ever since my body changed I have so much more endurance, strength-endurance and I can move so much smoother.” He grinned at Aquila who chuckled.

“I guess the entire world of women would be envious of Leona if they knew.” He cackled and Leona’s face flushed deep red. Faust coughed violently and Cassius laughed.

“Not yet Aquila, in two years maybe, but before then…” he clicked his tongue and left the sentence unfinished.

“Ah, I forgot Schenk forbade them to do it before marriage…” he laughed and slapped his knee.

Faust looked at Leona and she bit her lip. He sighed and shrugged.

“Not much we can do. We will just have to wait…” he smirked briefly. “Though it won't be easy.”

Now it was Leona’s turn to cough.

“Can you stop talking about that already?” she groaned while catching her breath.

They all shared a laugh and Faust grinned at Cassius and Aquila.

“Get your own partners first before mocking us.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Aquila leaned back with a smile.

“I heard the women in Antioch are beautiful…”

Faust shook his head and resumed his training. He just had too much energy and didn’t know what to do with it. Even wrestling with Bronn couldn’t empty his reserves. Faust had grown even taller over the last weeks, being the tallest of their group now, standing at around 190 centimeters.

He found it surprisingly easy to adapt to such a sudden growth. Still, it all remained a mystery to him. He had tried it all. All forms of training, weapon training, yet beyond a large increase in his body's capabilities and instincts he had yet to find out about why his energy levels were so high.

‘I feel like there has to be more to what happened… I can’t wait to learn more about it…’ he thought excitedly.

“I am not tired. I will go outside and take a run.” He announced before he left. He could see enough in the night to run through the hills and forests surrounding the small town.

Leona shook her head with a smile.

“That man has been a bundle of energy ever since the hunt. Anyways, I will go to sleep guys.” She left for her room and soon fell asleep.

Faust did not return to his room until 3 hours before dawn. He was sweaty, but he didn’t look tired.

‘I don’t feel as giddy anymore… but I am far from tired… whatever happened to me has crazy effects…’ he wiped the sweat off his body and fell into the sheets.

‘I swear, I am not tired at all…’ he forced himself to close his eyes and after an hour he fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Faust was surrounded by darkness. He felt a cold sensation on his skin and felt weightless. He was underwater.

‘Where am I?’ he opened his eyes only to be overwhelmed by absolute darkness.

He looked around himself. He couldn’t see anything but an unending black veil around him. He felt no urge to breathe and didn’t sink. He just floated. His eyes didn’t hurt.

‘The hell? How did I get here?’ he wondered. He sat cross-legged with his hands folded.

Faust felt the cold seeping into his body. It was this familiar sensation he experienced when he sank down the underground lake, this unnatural cold.

‘It feels nourishing… there’s also a lot of pressure on me… my body… it feels too pleasant and yet straining…’ he marveled as he let his eyes wander through the darkness. Then he saw a small light in the distance.

‘What? A light?’ he immediately started swimming towards it.

He got closer and the light got larger and larger.

‘Huh? It's coming closer to me? What could it be?’ the light approached faster and faster. Faust’s mind raced. He tried to distance himself from it yet failed to do so.

The light came closer and closer before it slowed down. A sigh of relief escaped Faust when he saw a fish about half a meter long approach him. The light sat on a small lantern on its head.

‘What the fuck?’ he furrowed his brows in surprise. The fish was incredibly ugly and black with large white eyes. It came to a halt before him and turned off.

‘Is that it? That's what I was so afraid of? It probably thought I was too big for prey…’ he gulped.

Then suddenly the light on the fish went dark as it swam off.

When Faust looked after it, he could finally relax a little, yet before he could gather his thoughts the scene around him changed.

From where the fish swam to, in the far distance, Faust noticed a blue glow.

‘That is… the same blue as in the cave!’ he thought, and his mind raced. Then the light disappeared.

‘Shit this is creepy… who knows what lives down here! I don’t even have a weapon!’ he looked around only to notice the futility of his actions. He looked below him, when all of a sudden, a bright light appeared below him. When Faust looked downwards, he had a heart attack.

Below him, he could only see a gigantic maw approaching him with lightning speed. It was so large Faust had no chance to even react. Just one of its hundreds of teeth was the size of several men. The maw closed around Faust and…

He jolted awake with a loud scream. His entire body was covered with sweat, and he was shivering.

His eyes were wide open, and he panted heavily, trying to calm himself down. His heart rate was higher than he could ever remember. In his eyes, one could see pure shock. The bright light he saw before he woke up had burned itself into his mind.

‘THAT LIGHT… WAS THE SAME AS IN THE CAVE!’ he thought as the door opened and Titus stormed in, axe in hand, looking around for an enemy.