22

Aftermath and Preparation II

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Time passed while Alduin was unconscious. But for him it only felt like a couple of days passed since he had last woken up in his bedroom.

‘Two weeks?’ Alduin sat silently on his bed. His thoughts could hardly focus on the conversation he just had with Veleda.

It had been two weeks already. The time gap was hard enough to understand but the fact that the world he woke up in had completely changed was something he couldn’t fathom. Everything that happened felt like a dream.

But Alduin felt this change firsthand. The room he woke up in was different from his bedroom. A small chamber in the church, modified into a sick bay, was where Alduin had spent the last two weeks in an unconscious slumber. And now every detail of this room was forcing him to realize that his memories were true.

From the warm environment to the table full of antibiotics and painkillers to the bottles of vitamins. Each time he looked over he couldn’t help but close his eyes.

‘Bandages and a feeding tube.’ Alduin touched his nose. ‘It really wasn’t a dream.’

He couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

‘That’s not it.’ Alduin pinched his arm again. ‘This is too comfortable.’

His thoughts were a jumbled mess. From the moment he woke up until now, everything felt hazy. It was as if he was still stuck in an ever-pleasant dream. An incomprehensibly fresh sensation continuously overwhelmed him.

Countless strange phenomena formed an unfamiliar input to his senses. Almost like a newborn child coming into the world for the first time.

The first change he noticed was his sense of smell. A room as old as a relic should have an old and heavy smell. But the continuous sniffing betrayed the fact that Alduin was enjoying an overwhelmingly refreshing scent.

His hearing was the same, the gap in the small window allowed him to hear nature’s heartbeat carried through the breeze. He didn’t even have to mention his eyesight.

However, the greatest discrepancy to his familiar senses was his sense of touch. From the moment he awakened and held Veleda’s hand until this moment, every touch he felt made him sit in a daze.

A sensation he had never felt before was coursing through his body. Almost as if the world in his memories was a lie, he couldn’t even recall how it felt before. An overwhelming sense of liberation originating from every nerve in his body gave him an ecstatic feeling.

‘It’s almost as if a barrier disappeared.’ Alduin pinched his arm again. His hands continuously touched his surroundings. The sense of touch he remembered almost seemed to be held back by an unknown veil. And now he was finally allowed to interact with the world for the first time.

Right, there was one way to describe it. It was as if the chains that kept him from interacting with the surrounding world had finally vanished. A veil had lifted. For the first time, his sense of touch could interact with the world without a barrier holding him back.

A familiar sensation of experiencing the world for the first time. It was something everybody experienced but none remembered. It was with this feeling that Alduin sat in silent contemplation.

It was to the point where he almost forgot what had happened this morning.

***

“How is this possible?” Lydia said. The moment she entered the room she had already arrived near her son. “How are you feeling?” Before Alduin could even respond to the first question several others had already followed.

“I’m feeling fine mom.” Alduin held his mother’s hand.

“No, no, this shouldn’t be possible.” Lydia was much the same as Veleda. Their first order of business was to check every part of his body for any abnormalities.

His voice couldn’t break through her concentration and his father seemed to be of no help to him. The absentminded Lucas stared at his son with visibly red eyes.

“Does anything feel strange?” Lydia held his face. She was already removing the bandages on his arms.

“I-“ Alduin wanted to answer but he didn’t know how. “I’m feeling fine, actually, I feel better than I did before.”

“I- I don’t understand,” Lydia spoke up. She had been praying for his recovery but even then this shouldn’t be possible.

“Were my injuries that severe? How is Ise doing?” Alduin asked. He was as surprised as his family.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Lydia looked over at Veleda who smiled with the most heartwarming smile. The four of them turned this silent room lively in an instant. Lydia asked back, “You don’t know?”

“About my injuries?”

Lydia nodded as she tried figuring things out.

“No, I do. I honestly thought I-“ Alduin dared not say his next words. “Thank you for saving me.”

“It’s-” Lydia wanted to soothe her son but she couldn’t. “I don’t understand, your injuries. How is this even possible?”

She tried to contain her emotions, but the memory of seeing his almost lifeless body in front of her still haunted her dreams. His arms should have become limp, even in the best-case scenario, the current treatment was far from enough. But only a small scar remained where his bone pierced his skin.

His legs were worse. If the goblin’s claws had cut any deeper, the artery in his leg might have been a fatal wound.

But something else haunted her mind ever since that day. If it wasn’t for Veleda helping her then her son might have really died.

“How is your back?” Lucas had walked over. “Well, considering that you can sit up straight it must have healed well.”

Having removed the bandages, a large amount of dead skin gradually revealed a smooth back.

“You had shards of glass piercing through your back.” Lucas patted his son up and down as he explained, “One of those shards narrowly missed your vital organs. Yet now only a scar remains visible.”

It seemed the heavier wounds were the only ones that left a trace behind. But still, this rate of recovery shouldn’t be possible.

“I can’t remember, I don’t think I even understand. It’s just-“ Alduin couldn’t figure things out on his own. He was as much in the dark as they were. His eyes met Veleda’s who stood near the entrance pushing away her tears of joy.

But then Lucas spoke up once more.

“It’s not the only thing that is weird.” He was a logical thinker. Well, as an engineer it was his job. “The world is not the same as before. Your healing should be impossible but then again...“

Lucas had spent the last couple of days trying out every possible communication tool at their disposal. Yet none worked. His mumbling continued as he tried to make sense of the situation.

“How is Ise doing?” Alduin came back to his earlier question.

“That- She’s doing fine. With the current medicine, we’ll be able to treat her. Maybe she’ll pull through just like you.” Lydia said with a difficult smile.

“Now, I want to reprimand you, but...“ She quickly changed the subject. “I’m glad you’re fine. Please don’t ever make me worry so much.” She suddenly hugged her son.

The stress of the last two weeks had been overwhelming her. Her two sons were the most important things in her life.

Alduin smiled gently and put her arms around her.

“It’s alright, I’m fine,” Alduin said.

His father couldn’t help but join in. It had been a long time since they last hugged each other in this manner. The atmosphere felt like a warm oasis.

“Come join us.” Lucas didn’t hesitate to invite the young girl either

With shy steps, she joined the hug as Alduin put his arm around her as well. His family was safe. He couldn’t help but be relieved.

Like this Alduin spent the entire midday greeting people. From his friends to those he saved. And eventually, Edward entered as well.

But one thing remained the same. A hidden frustration was visible no matter who visited him.

It took Alduin an entire afternoon of trying to get his jumbled thoughts in order. But when the quiet room returned he could finally decide.

‘There’s no time to waste in bed.’

He knew that he didn’t heal on his own. No, based on the unknown familiarity of this world he had a vague idea of what was going on. But this also confirmed his intuition, he was right about not letting the goblin captain escape.

But most importantly, even though they tried to hide it, Ise was currently facing the same fate as him.

‘There’s no way they don’t have a plan’ Alduin put on his clothes. It hadn’t even been a day since he finally awakened. But his thoughts pushed him to take his next step forward.

***

“-We’ve tried everything. Internet, radio waves, satellite, even the landline doesn’t connect. Not only that, energy generators are overheating. Unless we add diluted fuel it’s impossible to keep them going.”

Lucas continued his explanation after looking around. “It’s not just electronics. The application of energy is changing.“ Lucas paused. “The extent of this change is impossible to predict but I don’t think we can assume someone will come to our aid”

The voice was heard in the hallway. The room was near the back of the church. Close to where Alduin was resting. Right now people had gathered to decide their next steps. Some advocated for evacuation, others wanted to wait for help.

“Right. Which is why we need to prepare. We can’t-“

A knock on the door and the turning of a doorknob changed the entire atmosphere inside the room. Silence instantly descended as all heads turned.

“What?” An aged voice rang out.

“What are you doing here?!” his heavy voice reprimanded.

“Go back,” Lucas followed up, “Right now you need to rest!”

Chaos reigned as everybody reacted in shock. Although they knew that he had healed, to see him walking around, only hours after awakening from a two-week coma was still a shocking sight.

Alduin looked around as the curtain finally dropped. Right, this was what was hidden underneath their calm smiles. Although their happiness at his recovery was much appreciated, the situation they faced was not one where they could relish in their happiness.

“I want to help,” Alduin said with a stern voice. He walked inside without paying attention to their reactions.

“Go back and rest Alduin, we’ll take care of this!” Edward couldn’t hold it in anymore. His temperament had become more stubborn ever since he had seen him laying there. In his mind, there was no way he would include this kid.

“The goblins originated from the shrine, didn’t they?” Alduin cut straight to the point.

“How-“ Theo asked in shock.

“I saw it. On the day of the invasion. A blood-red shard landed in that direction,” Alduin continued, “If we think about the worst-case scenario, then we’ll assume that was only an advance party.”

Silence descended

“Alduin.” Lucas finally snapped. “This is not the time to get involved.”

“No,” Alduin answered, “That night I saw something, we can’t afford to let them close a second time.”

Alduin stood his ground. Right now there was not a single person more familiar with the habits of these creatures than him. And this was something he had been thinking of the moment he was caught up in that explosion, something he experienced firsthand.

And it was this that gave him an idea.

If the world has been altered from the smallest of sparks to the largest of explosions, then it was for them to make use of it.

And right now he had a debt to repay.