Chapter 19

I feel weak. I try to open my eyes and after a great amount of strength succeed. What I see is Lily cooking something on a fire. Are we still close to the dungeon? How is Lily?

Lily notices that I have woken up and smiles. Why is she smiling? Isn’t she mad that I killed Jack? Before I realise it I close my eyes again. I will sleep a bit more.

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Pov Carlos

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!!!

What the hell did that kid summon? I knew that he was to dangerous to be left alive. I should have killed him in his sleep.

I continue to run through the forest. What did that thing do to me? It made me swallow something. Only thinking about it made me almost puke.

I have to warn the guilds about the kid.

Because I walk to fast I seemingly trip out of nowhere. Fuck. I clutch my ankle in my hand. Did it break. A lot of pain surges through my leg notifying me that it has indeed been broken. SHIT, how unlucky can I get.

I try to stand up and I succeed after some time. I then begin to hop through the forest. That kid also forced me to let go of the Ronga Ronga. Not that it matters since it is soul bound to me, but still. I knew that that kid was going to turn out like the rest of them.

I continue to hop and trip again. Falling on the ground another surge of pain flows through my body. This time however it is not my ankle but my arm. FUCK!!!

Are you for real god? I look at my arm and inspect it. Is it broken? No, it seems that I just hurt my arm, but it is nothing bad.

I try to calm down and close my eyes for a second. Relax Carlos, stressing out won’t help you.

After a few breathes I begin to calm down despite all the pain that I feel. I need to make a plan.

What are my goals?

1. Getting out of this forest

2. Notifying the guilds about a Roque kid with an unique ability.

3. Continue my trade.

Alright, so how do I get out of this forest. I open my eyes and start to look around. On the north: Trees. On the east: Trees. On the south: Trees and on the east: Trees. I am surrounded by trees. In other words I am lost. FUCK!!!! My body really hurts!

Alright, relax Carlos. It can’t get any worse.

The moment that I thought that my chest began to hurt. Not just pain, but as if something was pushing against my ribs.

“AAAARRRRGHHHHH”

I begin to scream. The pain in my chest becomes worse.

“AAAAARGGGHH WHY DID I THINK SOMETHING SO STUPPPPPPPIIIIID!!!!!!”

I hear something crack in my chest. WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?

my previous calm is completely gone. I am in a complete panic.

I raise my hand and put it on my chest. Despite all the pain I try to feel something inside my chest. Then I sense a small movement, Something is inside my chest. Was it that thing?

I begin to realise that this is probably my things fault. Shit, what can I do?

One of my ribs snap, forcing me to breath out and grunt.

What can I do?

Another rib snaps, making me puke some blood.

I know If I can get out of the forest then I can be saved. I am becoming disillusioned.

Another rib snaps and I can know clearly feel something inside my body moving.

Lian, I will kill you. I think this while smiling out loud, I will…

My chest explodes, making me scream.

“AAARGHHH”

I look at my chest and see a thing crawling out of my chest. It then turns its oval head towards me and starts to crawl to me.

“GET AWAY!!!” I scream, while puking blood.

The thing doesn’t listen to me and stops when it is a few centimetres from me. Then it opens its mouth and I stare at it in horror.

Inside the mouth of this thing is a tongue with a mouth, but something black is swirling around it as if alive.

“Get away” I mutter softly, not even having the strength to scream.

The thing ignores me and the last thing that I see is the tongue coming towards me in high speed.

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Pov Lian

I wake up again, this time feeling a bit stronger than before. I open my eyes and see that it is morning. It is also a bit moist.

I get up and begin to look around. What am I looking for? Lily.

After looking around the camp I realise that Lily isn’t here. Did she leave? I get up and decide to walk around the camp.

Some time passes and I come across the Ronga Ronga. This is Carl’s Teigu. I decide to appraise it and am not surprised when I see that it isn’t soulbound anymore. This means that Carl has died. Probably because of Xeno’s child.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Speaking of Xeno, where is he? I begin to search for him, but can’t find him. Did he go out to hunt? Wait.

I decide to check my shoulder just in case and see that the pokeball tattoo is there. So Xeno went back into the pokeball. Does it have something to do with the fact that I fell unconscious?

Before I can ponder longer about this I see Lily coming out of the forest. I let out a relieved sigh. She didn’t leave me.

“How are you doing Lian?” Lily asks without looking me in the eye.

“I am fine, a bit weak but fine” I honestly answer.

“What happened after I lost conscience?” Lily asks still without looking me in the eye.

I decide to tell her what happens and after a few minutes of explaining Lily begins to cry. I, of course, have no idea what to do, so I do the most logical thing.

“Are you alright?”

Yep, I asked a stupid question.

Lily doesn’t answer me for a good minute before she starts to speak or more like rant.

“Of course I am not alright. I promised Joh that I would keep you safe and then Carlson tried to kill you. And I couldn’t protect you because Carlson ordered me with the contract to sleep and Jack died, because he was on Carlsons side and I broke my promise and..”

I walk up to her and hug her. I do not know why but I feel like this was the best thing to do. Lily returns the hug and begins to cry even more. I did not expect Lily to be this emotional. No wait, scrap that, I just killed her friends because they tried to kill me and she couldn’t do anything about it.

“There there, everything is alright now, everything is alright” I begin to utter these words and after repeating them a few times Lily stops crying.

Lily looks down at me (she was still bigger than me) and smiles embarrassingly.

“I don’t have any right to be this emotionally he” she says.

“Nah, you have all the right”

An hour passes and we begin to discuss the future, but not before I told her that Carl was dead. Lily took the news quite well, but was sad nonetheless.

“Lily, do you know a way to get more information about all the powers? And how to get stronger?”

“The best place for that would be one of the five academies” Lili explains.

“The academies have recorded most powers and teach people how to use theirs. They furthermore encourage experimenting and becoming stronger.”

“How will I be able to enter one of those academies?” I am curious now.

“There are a few ways. The first one is to pay for one of the academies and do a few tests. The other one is to use your influence as a noble, which you do not have, and enter the academy. The third way is what I recommend and is a tournament in the Land of Eren (merchant country).”

“Why do you recommend the last way?”

“Since the top hundred people from the tournament will get a scholarship from one of the five academies. Of course if an academie doesn’t want to take you in, you cannot choose that one, but this almost never happens. Furthermore you can compare your strength with others. ”

“But what don’t the caretakers take in all the promising people?” I mean that happened with Selly right?

“No, none of the countries have enough man to go to each village, furthermore some of them refuse because they want to do something first. It is also possible that they missed some people or gained their status after they have left”

“When is this tournament?”

“the tenth day of the fourth month” Lily replies confidently.

“And what day is it today?”

“The first of the third month”

By the way the world has twelve months and each month has thirty days. There are also twenty-four hours in a day.

“I will go to the tournament then”

Lily smiles and stands up.

“Then we will have to start travelling today, since we do not have horses that are built for travelling fast.”

“Stop”

I quickly say. I have some things to do. Like show her Xeno and tell her that we can ride him and I have to wait for his baby.

“What is it?” Lily asks curious/

“Promise me that you won’t freak out alright?” I say.

“Sure, I won’t freak out now what is it?” Lily asks impatiently.

“Xeno, I choose you” I say and the tattoo on my shoulder turns into a bright light.

Lily backs off and looks curiously until Xeno appears.

She looks shocked at Xeno and takes a battle stance.

“Lily do not attack Xeno” I immediately say.

Lily however doesn’t changes her form and doesn’t even move.

I slowly walk towards her, not wanting to startle her, and realise something.

She fainted.