Chapter 4-Time Bomb

The archer said that the village was pretty small, but Akro Village could not be called a village at all. From what the boy could see, just in the market itself there were over five thousand people.

The bustling market was very loud and chaotic, there were people running, walking, talking, and yelling. On one side you could see people selling fruit, vegetables, and other kinds of grown goods. This side held more of the villagers and children. On the other side though, there were many shops selling daggers, knives, and other hunting gear. This side was dominated by mostly men dressed in similar attire as the archers who captured him.

The contrast surprised the boy, these sides seemed entirely different but somehow integrated into one market making it look too normal.

“Okay, follow me, we must go see the doctor. You look pretty messed up. We don’t want any of that getting infected. Well take you to our commander after that.” The archer to his side said. The archer led him through the crowd. More people started whispering. They didn’t know if the boy was an elf or not and if he was, they would have felt bad.

“Um, Sir?” the boy said. He was trying to be respectful because of the age difference and the obvious prisoner type situation he was in.

“Yeah, what is it?” the archer said looking at him while still walking.

The boy answered while looking around confused “I can get why I would stick out like a sore thumb and that causing the people to whisper, but why are most of the people looking at me with a sense of pity?” The archer then looked at the boy and facepalmed “I was wondering why you were in an ok mood, I forgot you don’t know anything about elven culture. Well, they are pitying you because in the elven culture, cutting an elf’s ears off is one of the worst things a person could do. It usually happens when someone wants an elf to reject their culture and people.”

“Oh” the boy said looking down at his feet. He kind of felt bad that these people’s pity was wasted on him. He didn’t feel awful, but it caused him to have a bitter taste in his mouth.

The two archers led the boy into a big hut near the market. The hut had some strange words on it, most likely the elven language, there were also people waiting outside. The boy and archers made their way to the big door and opened it, behind the door was a type of waiting room. It was separated between High risk and low risk patients. When they walked in, they made their way to the low-risk side, the hut wasn’t small by any means. It was around 2000 square feet. It also looked like there were multiple people working in the hut.

The boy sat down next to the archer that shot him in the ear. The archer that was at his side at the market was still standing and told the boy “I’m going to go talk to the receptionist, wait here” the archer then left. The boy was anxious. He didn’t think he would be escorted all the way to the commander of the archers.

‘Did I make a mistake? Should I have run and tried my luck of getting away from these sharpshooters? Would I have been able to get away? Should I run now?’ All these questions and ideas rushed through the boy’s head. He didn’t know if he would have a better death if he ran now or in the forest earlier.

“Hey, chill out, nothing is going to happen to you” the archer next to him said, obviously seeing his manic face. “We are just escorting you because it might not be safe for you in the village. You could be mistaken as a human and killed by other scouts or elves.”

The archer was trying to be comforting but this did the opposite.

‘Well, there’s my answer to the “would I get killed if they knew” question. Of course, of all the places I could have stumbled across I find an elven village. No, a city at that.’ The boy thought chuckling to himself nervously. ‘I might be going insane.’

Suddenly though the archer reached out his hand and said, “My names Eren, what’s yours?”

The boy looked at the hand and after a second of hesitation took it and said “Im- “the boy stopped and then said, “I don’t have a name, my slaver never gave me one.”

‘If they hear the name Odysseus, my life would be over before I even knew it.’

The archer looked at the boy, a flash of pity in his eyes and said “You should give yourself a name, we need to call you by something” the archer said with a smile.

“Um. Let me think” the boy said. He genuinely didn’t know what his new name should be. The boy wanted a new name that could keep him under the radar of the people who destroyed his family, but he still wanted a connection with his old life.

After a few seconds of thinking, the boy looked at the archer and said, “I’m Raven.” The boy picked this because he loved his father very much and wanted to keep his image alive. What better than through his only son.

“Its nice to meet you, Raven.” The archer said as he shook the boy’s hand. “I hope we can be friends; I want to make up for shooting your ear off” Eren said laughing, Raven laughed along with him.

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“Yeah, let’s be friends” Raven said smiling. Raven felt like he could be friends with a guy like Eren, and Eren didn’t look that much older than Raven himself.

*********

After a while, the archer from before came back and said that they could go meet the doctor now. Eren and Raven got up from their chairs and followed the other Archer. When they got to a room on the right side of the hallway, they knocked on the door.

The hallway looked like a regular home’s hallway. It was refreshing to Raven for some reason, he didn’t know why but it just did. While Raven was enjoying the décor, the door opened, and a middle-aged elf opened the door. He examined the archer and then faced Eren. “It’s nice to see you again Eren, do I have to treat you again. Haven’t I told you to stop hunting beasts, they are too dangerous.” The doctor said with annoyance and worry in his voice.

“No, sir” Eren said and laughed “Me and my mentor have brought someone else.” After saying this Eren stepped to the side and let the doctor look at Raven.

“ah”

After Raven was revealed to him, the doctor was struck with fear that subsided almost immediately. He let out a gasp involuntarily though.

“Sorry about that, I thought you were a human for a moment there.” The doctor said breathing in relief “We have had some bad experiences with human in this village before.”

“Oh, sorry about that” Raven said. ‘Is there that much of a difference between a human and an elf?’

“Don’t be, it was my mistake. Now come on in, I can see that you are a mess there’s blood all over you.” The doctor said motioning them in his office. The doctor was right. Ravens’ black hair was a mess with dirt stains all over his face, his arms and legs had cuts all over them. But the worst thing was probably his back.

When Ravem walked into the office, the doctor was going to close the door but after he looked at Ravens back, he gasped again. “Gods Almighty”

This drew the attention of everyone in the room. They were confused as to why the doctor had said this. “What is it doctor” the head archer said, just as confused as Eren and Raven.

“That boy’s back, why weren’t you guys in the high-risk section. His back needs to be worked on immediately. Just from what I can see his nerve endings are completely fried away.”

This surprised Raven, he didn’t feel anything at all.

‘Oh, it must have been from the fire in the castle. When me and Jameson were running away crouching down it must have burned my back pretty bad.

“Ok lay down on that table, I need to get a closer look.” Raven did just that. The doctor started to look at his back and his facial expressions were changing every time he looked at a new spot-on Ravens back. Raven noticed this even when he was faced down, so the two archers definitely noticed it too. This led Eren to ask the doctor what was wrong.

“There’s nothing wrong boy, it’s the opposite actually. As a usual patient with this kind of damage, they would have to say goodbye to a normal life. These burns would cause someone to have indescribable pain and would restrict them from doing normal things. They would also be permanently scarred for their entire life.” The doctor said, Raven and the archer’s expression falling every time he said listed another issue “but from what I’m seeing, is that the boy is healing. This should be impossible. I can’t even begin to explain how.”

This surprised Raven, he knew his healing ability was that much better than most people he’s been around. He then remembered the dream he had when he ran into the tree in the forest. His father had said something that he passed by without a second thought but now it stuck out to him, his father had said “you are my son, so you have a stronger body”. Did this mean that being his father’s son he was given a healing ability?

“Okay well there’s nothing I can do for your back. Show me those ears now, they look very weird.” The doctor said, motioning for Raven. This snapped Raven out of his thoughts and instantly made him anxious.

‘What if he finds out I’m human” Raven thought, more thoughts similar to this were polluting his head but he showed the doctor anyways.

“Well from what I can see, they are very clean cuts. The right looks like it was cut by a projectile while the left looks like it was done by hand” said the doctor “I feel bad for you boy. It is not easy to have your ears cut off, they are one of the most sensitive areas on an elf.”

‘The bitter taste is back’ Raven said.

The doctor then said with a more uplifting tone “It would take a few years for a normal elf to grow their ears back, but for you boy I think it might take only a year. Be happy about that.”

‘Well, I have more time than I thought I did’ Raven thought to himself ‘I just need to find a way to leave this village without anyone knowing in the next year.

******

Raven, Eren, and the archer said their farewells to the doctor. The doctor gave Raven some ointment to put on his wounds, especially his back.

‘That boy is weird.’ The doctor thought to himself. When he was examining the boy’s wounds, he saw that most of the wounds on Ravens body were self-inflicted. He could easily tell, and he noticed at first sight. He didn’t tell the archers because he didn’t think that it was that serious. Little did this doctor know, that if he did tell the archers, it would have meant the death of Raven.

Raven and the archers were making their way to the commander’s outpost in the village. Raven was still anxious but not as much as before. His identity as an elf was already confirmed by the doctor so he did not need to worry about that anymore. Now he just needed to make a plan.

While they were walking, he got caught in conversation with the two archers. He liked talking to them, especially Eren, he learned that Eren wasn’t so professional and also made lots of mistakes. The doctor said all that stuff about Eren earlier because Eren would usually get wounded hunting beasts on the periphery of the village, and he did it alone.

Raven also found out the name of the other Archer. His name was Folin. Folin was Eren’s mentor and trainer. They were both part of the scout side of the military in the village.

Eventually they made their way to the office of their commander. They knocked on the door and waited for a response.

After a while someone from inside yelled “Come in.”

Raven, Eren, and Folin walked into the office and laid their eyes on the commander. The Office was nice, nicer than the doctor’s. Raven noticed that there were leather chairs, a map, papers strewn all over the desk, and a bow on the wall. The person sitting behind the desk looked up at them with an expressionless face and said, “Sit down.”

The three men sat down and waited for the man behind the chair to speak.

The commander looked at Raven and examined him.

The commander then suddenly said “You are different boy, why is that?”

Suddenly a yellow aura exploded out of the commander’s body. Raven’s eyes went wide.