“...the second sun appeared above and showered the planet in a white glow. Ahjer became chaotic. Rivers would turn to lava. Clouds would turn to stone and fall from the sky. The wind would turn toxic and corrosive. It was a true cataclysm.”
“How didst thee make manage to survive?”
“They say it only lasted a day. I believe more people died in the aftermath than they did during the Sky Break itself, but many civilizations fell and almost all record keeping was lost.”
“Why—Enchantments.”
“Exactly. Not everything that was enchanted was lost, but most archives don’t just have one or two.”
“What cameth to beest of entities of soul?”
“I’m not sure what you mean?”
“Spirits.”
“Ah. I’m not sure. I believe…”
Heitor tuned out the rest of the silver’s conversation with their potential savior. The way the giant human spoke was curious and his complete lack of basic historical knowledge was even more so, but his curiosity did not overshadow his responsibility. Erasma wasn’t waking up. Instead, she lightly twitched in her makeshift bed.
Pained expressions flashed across her face, failing to mar its beauty in the least. Whether it was a bad dream or something more sinister, he couldn’t know. He gripped her hand firmly, feeling the heat of it, and fed her some more tube.
“Greetings again.”
Heitor turned around to see the front leg of the six-legged atka waving at him, “Adlar, greetings.”
As two of the physically strongest in the camp, they had spent a great deal of time together while working the grindstone or as striking bags. At a time, his words of encouragement had been all that kept Heitor’s string uncut.
“Has she still not woken?”
“No.” He gripped her hand even tighter.
“Don’t you worry my friend, there is a healer among us. I’ll call them over.”
Heitor nodded and released his grip a little. Adlar was truly a blessing. How he’d managed to keep his bright personality through everything they’d been through, he could only applaud. Heitor hadn’t had that strength.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Soon, a small human with a ghastly scar across her face poked her head into the cell, “Sammy?”
Sammy?
Another, taller woman stepped past her, “What’s going on?”
Heitor would like to know as well, “Who are you two?”
The tall woman pointed to herself, “Call me Maim.” Then toward the smaller woman, “That’s Akiko.” The scarred woman waved, revealing a four-finger hand.
Names weren’t exactly what he was looking for, but he went along, “I’m Heitor. Is one of you a healer?”
“Oh we know.” Maim smirked, “She loved to talk about you.”
Oh? Oh.
As the only two drakens, Heitor and Erasma were always separated. It seemed that while he found Adlar, she had found these two.
Maim moved into the cell and stood over Erasma, “I ain’t really a healer, but I can probably help. She have any injuries or just not waking?”
“No injuries that I have noticed. She sometimes winces as if in pain, but I’m not sure the cause.”
“Let’s see then.”
~I invoke: Rich Blood~
She took out a dagger and Heitor braced for a moment, but instead of doing something untoward she did something insane. She cut herself. Multiple times across her forearm. Immediately, blood gushed down it and onto Erasma’s head. Within a second, her skin absorbed each droplet.
Though the sight was strange, Heitor could infer the purpose. He had never seen such a strange spell that would require one to mutilate themselves, but he understood why she went by Maim.
When the last drops of blood fell, she withdrew her arm and shook it. “Give it a minute.”
“She fine.” Akiko came inside too and stood next to her, “Just night terror. I have many. Wake up soon.”
Heitor hoped so, “You’re right.”
The twitching seemed to stop instantly, at least.
Maim took a seat against the wall, “You been listenin’?”
“...it’s 768 PB. The PB referring to since the Sky Break…”
Heitor focused on Erasma’s face, “Little bits. It is confusing.”
“How a guy like that doesn’t know anything is kinda crazy right?”
Akiko spoke up, “Former master also stay hidden from world.”
“He didn’t know Sky Break. How long he been hidden, a thousand years?”
He speaks like it.
While that kind of lifespan was extremely rare for humans, it was not completely unheard of. Heitor knew there were many dragons that far eclipsed that. The Salian Emperor supposedly lived through the Sky Break too.
“He may—”
“Hm.”
He immediately shut up as he felt Erasma stur. Her eyelids twitched a few times before they snapped open. She instantly sat up and looked around.
“Aki? Maim?” She turned around and saw him at the head of the bed, “Heitor…”
A million emotions travelled between their eyes. He had so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to do. But.
“We are—”
He sucked it all in and quickly put a finger to her lips, “Let us not be too hopeful. I'm thankful that we are both alive, but we don’t know what comes next yet.”