A warm blanket was suddenly wrapped around my shoulders from behind. “As I said. You are safe now…” The troll woman’s eyes reflected the beautiful gold light as it swirled around her and the pressure from the spell fluttered her robes. Her blood lit up her body with blue swirls as it flowed through the natural engravings indented into her blue skin and ivory tusks.

I didn’t understand why exactly they were sticking their necks out to help me, much less dedicating a tier 6 divine spell without so much as an explanation, but I was grateful.

Pieta’s voice came from just behind me, but her words felt all jumbled. It took me a moment just to piece together what little meaning I could, realizing it was her who gave me the blanket. I couldn’t make out any of her words, but somehow, I still understood the meaning of her asking if I was ok as my brain started to jumble everything around me.

“Fine… Just cold… And” I let out a small chuckle, rubbing a hand through my sweaty hair as the brisk wind caught a hold of it. “Honestly I feel half naked.” ‘I’ve gotten so used to wearing my helmet it just feels wrong being outside without it.’

She wrapped an arm around me and helped me stand up straight as Alden approached and a small hole opened up only large enough for sound to freely pass through. I saw his face and froze, once again starting to wheeze.

It felt like it would be any moment they would just hand me over again, ‘All out of manna… I still can’t feel my legs, and my lungs aren’t holding up either…’

I fell back to my knee only to feel more divine light, this time flowing through me, entering my blood like the soft warmth of a campfire against my bare skin.

“Calm,” Pieta said.

I felt lighter, but it still wasn’t easy to breathe, my eyes started to water as I dug my hands into the dirt.

“Take your time, just breathe, you’ll be ok.”

My vision was too blurred to see clearly, and my ears rang until my head started to feel as though it was being crushed under a tremendous weight.

“What are they saying?” I muttered as best I could. Blood pounded through my body as it started to recover from suffocation, rushing to get everywhere it needed to. It was so intense I couldn’t focus my senses. I felt like a fly trying to constantly slam my face into a window without understanding what was happening.

“Don’t worry about it, just come with me.” She grabbed my arm and attempted to help me walk, but ended up carrying my dragging feet to one of the carriages, although somehow I managed to get in by myself.

It felt like hours had passed as we sat there in silence. I kept thinking that at any moment they would come and tell me I had to go back to the cell and wait for my execution, but they never did… ‘I guess he was pretty easy to see through, at least for me. Maybe she saw through him too? But then… Even if that is the case, what happens next?’

The carriage started to move and moments later I felt the mana scattering synonymous with teleportation. I had such little mana already that losing even a fraction of the mana scattering made my arms and legs go limp again.

My senses jumbled together, and I got dizzy, all of the anxiety pooling together as I quickly stumbled to the back of the cart, feeling as though I was about to vomit. I managed to hold it back somehow, at least long enough for Pieta to cast another spell on me to make me feel better.

“Are you alright?” She asked, gently rubbing my back.

I turned around and leaned back against the tailgate. “All things considered, it’s usually worse.” ‘I guess since I used up all my mana it couldn’t get confused with the teleporter this time. I’ll have to remember that…’ I looked down at my legs. ‘Then again… Losing all feeling in the extremities isn’t great… It’s just a different kind of problem…’

She started to look away from me, letting out a small groan. Her eyes slowly moved around the covered wagon as she started Fidgeting with the cargo, pretending to inspect it to feel less awkward. “We’ll take you back to our guild hall first… It would be better for you to stay there… Least until everything gets sorted out. We’ll have a change of clothes for you… And a hot bath too… Are you sure you’re ok?”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I let out a sigh, turning so I could see out the back of the carriage as it started moving again, pulling out into the city streets. ‘That sounds nice…’ I pulled the blanket tight, casually leaning against the seat behind me. My lungs still felt like they were burning, but I could breathe again, and with that realization, every muscle in my body relaxed all at once. “Who knew I was more afraid of people than monsters…”

“You don’t have to be afraid anymore…”

Looking back I saw a strange sense of determination in her eyes. It was a little funny… But mostly just embarrassing. She was just a healer, not even an adventurer, if anything I was the one that should be rescuing her… “I’ll get stronger yet… Strong enough I don’t need to be rescued… Strong enough that no one can hurt me…” ‘I guess… Somewhere along the way that became one of my goals too huh…’

Pieta let out a small whine. Opening her mouth, quickly closing it, second-guessing her words, and then opening it again, speaking rapidly. “Are you sure you ok, I mean I know you said you were, and you seem fine. But are you really? I mean you don’t sound ok…”

“Uhm… So do I sound ok or not?” I muttered, my voice getting softer.

“Uh, no, I mean… I feel really uncomfortable right now. So if you could just like tell me what I’m supposed to do to make you feel better that would be great… Do you want a hug? I could give you a hug… Or maybe you'd rather no one gets close to you.”

‘I make her uncomfortable? I don’t get it…’ “Just this is fine… I’m not big on hugs. The blanket is warm, and I’m not injured, so your job is done isn’t it?”

She let out a big puff of air. “Oh good, I mean… I’m glad you’re doing ok.”

‘Or glad you don’t have to work anymore… Why is she so angry all of a sudden, she wasn’t like this before?’ I tucked my knees up to my chest and rested my head against the wall, covering my whole body in the blanket. It was soft and warm, far better than my own. Before I knew I was having trouble opening my eyes.

In what felt a single blink Pieta was gently shaking me awake. “Hey, we're here. Time to wake up.”

My body felt warm, but only because I was surrounded by the blanket, I didn’t want to walk through the cold, or even move, so as to keep the cold out. Not without my helmet and arm guards. Even my boots were taken. ‘Just… Like another 2 minutes ok? Please…’

She sighed, opening a small hatch to talk to the driver. “Hey… Can we get dropped off inside the barrier?”

The man at the front of the cart laughed. “Of course, you would ask that again, it’s a real pain you know, the horses don’t want to leave once they get inside.”

She folded her hands, tilting her head with a smile. “Please…”

He sighed. “Anything for you Pieta.”

‘Her cuteness is a weapon… Maybe I can learn from her.’

I spent the time waking my mind up by first trying to go over all the day's events in my head, not bothering to try and figure out my next move, just reviewing what had already happened. Then, I opened my mana circuits to feel the flow of mana around me. They were sore, which basically just meant casting would be hard for a few days but they were growing more dense with every life-threatening adrenaline rush… So that was good I guess.

After that, I stretched out, but the moment the blanket moved the cold started to get in… ‘Well, now there's no point in staying still.’ “I’m ready…” I groaned.

Pieta opened the slide to speak with the driver again. “Here is good enough, you can keep the horses outside and we will just get off. Thank’s a ton Jack, this means so much.”

“No problem, Like I said, anything. Anything, anytime anywhere.”

‘It’s lethal… Who is she that is so wise in the ways of womanly charm…’ I squinted, looking closer at her. She had blond hair swept back into a long and full ponytail, with a strand of equally long and full bangs hanging as though they had somehow gotten pulled out of the tie. None of her hair fell like normal though, it was all… Poofy? Like it was scared of her skin, looking almost like layers of a dress. Her bang, although hanging down past her face, still looked like it wanted to be swept back, and the ponytail looked as though it had the stiffness of needles and the softness of a lion's mane.

She grabbed a strand of loose curly hair and pulled it behind her ear bashfully. “U-uhm… Please don’t stare like that… It’s embarrassing…”

Her voice was light and soft, high-pitched. Very girly. She wore the same robes as the others as well, only hers were a size too big… Although if anything that made them almost more provocative somehow. The whole robe moved like a tint up and down as she moved her arms around, turning a slight shade of pink. The secret as to why her robes were too big… Well, they fit properly in one place, the chest. ‘Maybe I can’t learn from her…’

“U-uhm… Chika?” Her voice broke.

My eyes traced back up to her cheeks, now bright red as her eyes wandered.

A knock came from behind her and she stiffened so much her legs straightened and she jumped slightly forward. “S-sorry Jack, We’re getting off now!” She yelled.

I cleared my throat, “Right, sorry, I guess I’m still half asleep.

As she stepped forward she didn’t realize that when she jumped she landed on the hem of the robe and fell nearly directly on her face, if it wasn’t for me jumping up to catch her.

“Th-thanks…” She gasped, regaining her balance and bunching up her robe, a little too high, before jumping off, after landing she bounced up and down a few times spinning around. “Come on hurry, you making Jack wait!” she cheered merrily.

‘Yeah… I don’t think she could teach me… I don’t even think she’s doing it on purpose…’

I got out of the carriage and looked out in front of me, floored by the sight of the White Light guild hall. It stood just inside the cliff's edge, acting as a lighthouse unlike any I could have imagined. Brilliant white light shined out to the sea in beams of divine power, and a gentle golden glow enveloped it, coming down from the sky like a warm embrace.

It was made from the most beautiful white stone, along with gold, silver, and a strange rock that looked as though it had been bathed in soft candlelight.

A great river ran through it, pouring in as pure water, and coming out the other side with the soft glow of holly water, spilling out over the cliff edge into a basin next to the sea.

“First time seeing it?” Pieta giggled.

“Uh… Yeah…”

She walked with me to the front entrance and I could see a solid wall of light. When we stepped in the scent of fresh herbs and honey filled the air as a sudden rush of warm wind hit my face. The burning in my lungs slowly vanished, and my body felt almost weightless.

Pieta took in a deep breath. “Ah… It’s good to be back. Some of the higher level members maintain this barrier for various reasons, but it really takes that feeling of coming home, and turns it into something real.”

“Yeah…” ‘must be nice…’