The next morning, when Jake woke up, his whole leg felt like it was tingling. Sitting up and stretching his leg forward and backward, pins and needles shot throughout his leg with every motion, growing worse the more outstretched he made his leg. It wasn’t necessarily painful, just an odd feeling. Before falling asleep last night, it had felt incredibly sore to the point where even stretching it out fully felt painful. Now, most of that soreness was replaced by the tingling sensation creeping throughout his leg.
He wasn’t sure if it was positive or negative progress in terms of healing his injuries, he’d have to ask Lana later, but he much preferred the tingling sensation to the pain he’d felt the last two days.
Looking around the cave, Jake saw the others already moving about. All three were inside the cave when he woke up, actively milling about, which was rare for Jake to see. They were all currently busy packing their bags, moving them toward the center of the cave. None of them had noticed Jake was awake yet. Jake could guess by their actions it was time to move again, but their pace this time seemed much more relaxed, lacking the frantic air they carried before when he last struggled up the mountain.
Jake pulled himself upright, finding it hard to balance. While his leg no longer hurt to stand on, the tingling sensation made keeping balance harder simply due to how odd it felt. Thankfully, the cane Lana provided was still nearby, and after a full day of wandering around practicing with it yesterday, Jake found he could easily use it to balance his shaky leg.
Hobbling forward toward the packing trio, Jake called out to Leopold’s back,
“Is The Swarm coming back?”
Leopold spun around and smiled at him, clasping his shoulder and almost sending the cane he was balancing with spiraling out from under him.
“Morning kid! I have to tell you, you’re a deep sleeper! All of us wake up at the slightest provocation! Was about to wake you soon if you didn’t wake up yourself.” Leopold let out a laugh, and clapped Jake's shoulder again, before continuing, “Nah, the next pack of swarm is still a week out I think, hard to tell exact details from so far away. That sound about right Rick?” He asked Rick, elbowing his side.
Rick gave a curt nod but didn’t bother turning toward Leopold or entering the conversation any further. Leopold still seemed satisfied, and continued,
“Where just moving camp while it’s safe. The Swarm ahead of us has moved out of our path, so we want to cross over the mountain the next day or so. After that, the ground should level out. I imagine it’ll be easier for you to walk on, huh kid?” He finished with a laugh, gesturing vaguely towards Jake's cane.
“Where exactly are you, guys going?” Jake asked, confused. He’d only ever heard them talk about crossing the mountains, but from the way they made it sound soon they were planning on venturing somewhere entirely new.
“Finally curious, huh?” Leopold asked with a grin, “Moving inland towards the heart of The Corruption. Most die to The Swarm so the mountains surrounding the place have acted like a wall for a while. Not entirely sure what’s over there anymore, to be honest. We only know so much about the mountain because of Rick.” Leopold said, smacking Rick on the back with a happy nod. While Rick made no outward sign of disdain, Jake noted his hands tensed up after being smacked.
“What should I do to help pack?” Jake asked, hoping to distract Leopold from bothering Rick any further as he didn’t want to deal with the two of them fighting right before starting the climb up the mountain.
“You? Nothing. No offense kid but even if you’re more mobile now, you’re still stuck hobbling around. Not much help carrying all this.” He said, gesturing to the series of packed bags.
“At least let me carry something, I could be like a porter or something.” Jake insisted. He wanted to try and do something to help pay back the people who had constantly been helping him so far.
“A porter, huh?” Leopold asked a smirk crossing his face that didn’t go unnoticed by Jake, “How about you start with your own bag, ok kid?” before tossing Jake's makeshift bag towards him and turning away, bending over to finish collecting his supplies.
“Does your leg feel ok?” Lana asked, coming over wearing a large, oversized bag that looked like it should topple and drag her backward any second, yet she seemed to move effortlessly with it.
“It feels odd, it's not hurting anymore but is covered in this weird tingling sensation. Feels like I’m off-balanced, If I try standing without the cane I’d probably fall forward.”
Lana didn’t seem surprised by what he said, nodding along with his words before saying,
“The muscles in your leg are starting to wake up again. That tingling feeling will probably subsist for a few more days, but it should slowly start to improve as your leg adjusts to its new muscle.”
After that, both Leopold and Rick were standing waiting at the cave’s entrance for the group to depart. It was slow going for Jake, who found even with the pain gone walking fast wasn’t an option, but he found it exponentially easier to climb the mountain path. He was able to keep up with the trio this time, though it was clear they were slowing themselves somewhat to let him keep pace with them.
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Leopold and Lana strolled next to him, making small talk and doing their best to help when needed. Rick, uncaring, walked ahead scouting the terrain and calling out anything he thought noteworthy toward Leopold. Jake didn’t particularly mind Rick's company, they hadn’t talked since separating amicably yesterday and he was fine to keep it that way.
Eventually, the path they were climbing upwards leveled out to smaller and smaller slants before becoming a flat walk. The walk took the group through a large tunnel that bore through part of the mountain; it wasn’t a long tunnel but for a few minutes it was a relatively peaceful walk that Jake enjoyed. This leisure would soon be uprooted once he reached the other side of the tunnel, finding a sharp slant downward, as the group began their descent.
Jake managed at first, the descent started on a sort of carved ramp that slanted downward at ever-increasing angles. This ramp soon gave way to steps though, carved in rough winding patterns and of varying sizes and thicknesses. It was clear the steps had been born from the natural rocks that made up the mountain, so consistency was not kept between each step.
Even for the more normal steps that flowed into each other well, Jake could barely manage a descent. There was no sort of handrail or anything to grab hold of, so he was left almost falling every time he stepped down. For the larger steps, ones almost as long, if not longer than his legs all he could do was sit down and scootch himself down the steps. While this method ensured he safely continued descent, it further slowed him down.
He was carrying much less than any of the others, even though Leopold and Rick were carrying less than Lana they still carried a substantial number of supplies combined with their bulky armaments. Jake, on the other hand, carried only a stitched-together bag and a few scrounged-together knick-knacks. The only excuse he could offer was his injury, and to the people who had saved him, he was getting sick of presenting it.
Getting annoyed now, Jake tried to speed himself up down the next step, crouching lower when suddenly the bag across his back lurched forward. The strap caught on his shoulder, flipping around to his chest, and though it wasn’t much the sudden weight shift was enough to trip Jake up and send him falling off the step he was trying to descend.
Fortunately for Jake, the step he’d been descending jutted at an acute angle into a steep rock wall, causing him to crash into a wall instead of tumbling down multiple sets of stone steps. While this still hurt, it was better than falling face-first down a set of stone stairs. With a groan, Jake began to collect himself slowly, taking his time for now to regather his bearings before standing back up. Suddenly, the bag Jake had been carrying was pulled away from him, as Leopold hoisted it onto his shoulder. Before Jake could offer any sort of complaint, Leopold was already laughing, saying,
“Who’s ever heard of a Porter failing to carry his own bag? That’s a good one, kid. Here get up.” Leopold offered his hand to Jake, a kind smile cutting through his mocking tone as he said “I'll help you down the stairs, we should be setting up camp nearby pretty soon."
Though he wanted to argue, Jake could think of nothing to refute Leopold’s words so instead he wordlessly took hold of his hand and let himself be pulled up. The walk down the steps went smoothly from there on out. With the help of his cane and Leopold, who helped guide him down when needed, Jake and the rest of the group soon reached the end of the steps where a sizable clearing had been carved out and where they would camp for the night.
----------------------------------------
Jake sat alone at the edge of the clearing. He’d eaten dinner with the rest but struggled to join in sociably, unsure of what to say. Now, sitting alone, fear was beginning to creep up inside him. While it was true he wanted to pay back those who had saved his life, he also wanted to show he could be useful. He needed to justify his continued inclusion in the group now he could walk. And for the time being, he needed to stay with the trio. It was his best chance of not only surviving but continuing his journey home. He was grateful to them for saving his life, but as much as he owed them, they didn’t owe him anything. He needed to carry his weight sooner or later or be left behind to the wolves.
As he was sitting there, in contemplation, Leopold sat down beside him wordlessly. Jake glanced at Leopold out of the corner of his eyes, but Leopold was staying silent, just staring off into the darkness beyond the edge of camp waiting for Jake to speak. Eventually, Jake spoke, deciding to be upfront about what was troubling him.
“Why did you save me?”
“Because you were dying? What else should we have done kid?” Leopold asked like it was the most obvious answer in the world. Jake shook his head now, showing that wasn’t what he meant, before continuing.
“Why do you keep saving me I mean? You’ve let me come with you, keep helping me, risk your life saving me from The Swarm. Why? I can’t do anything to help you, I can’t even carry a bag properly. Was it pity? I thought you said you didn’t want to die pitying a stranger. If… if you're expecting me to do something, I’m sorry but…”
Jake was interrupted by Leopold who had burst out laughing, almost following back as he held his stomach. Leaning back after he was done, Leopold wiped a tear from his eye and said,
“That’s all this was. When you were so quiet during dinner, I got nervous. We didn’t save you because we pitied you kid, well at least I didn’t. Like I said, I’m not willing to die pitying a stranger. We did it cause were heroes, The Final Hero’s’, no other reason.” Leopold finished with a shrug.
“I was being serious,” Jake said, annoyed.
“So was I,” Leopold said, a hint of sadness intermingled with the pride in his voice his smile looking a bit forced now “’ The Final Heroes’ are the world's last band of heroes, tasked with saving the world. We couldn’t keep calling ourselves heroes if we just abandoned you to die. Not very heroic, huh?”
Leopold nudged Jake's side as he asked that question and flashed a smile, his eyes betraying a look of deep sorrow, as he continued,
“I promise you; you’re doing fine. Think about it, you couldn’t even walk so in comparison to a few days ago you’re already miles more helpful.”
Leopold laughed to himself while Jake sat for a moment, thinking, before giving a nod and standing up slowly with some assistance from Leopold.
“Thanks,” he said to Leopold. He still felt unsatisfied about being such a burden to the people who had saved him, but his fears about being abandoned to die had been assuaged.
"But kid," Leopold called out, "You are a pretty bad porter."