CHAPTER 13 - THE LONG AWAITED TIME III

My body screamed for the attention of a healer, me. But I had my attention elsewhere. “You’ve got to be kidding me…” I managed to let out those words, having my arm dislocated and much worse, my body didn’t utilize the mana coat around me as defensive but rather neutral.

It didn’t serve as a protective barrier, or maybe it did but that bear’s attack was something that surpassed my expectations. Not only have I succeeded in subjugating the largest bear and now I needed to put down the other one as well.

“So… that call wasn’t for more beast to come… rather, it was for you mate.”

Small enthusiastic green and yellow light enveloped my left hand, my healing magic was working on my body, as for my dislocated arm… I’ll find something else.

With the halt of my body’s plea of help, my now concern was that other small bear. It looks like a smaller version of the big bear but it had a sleeper build, the strength it had to push me away from the large bear was incredible.

The extreme pain that radiates down my dominant arm was unbearable, yet, I couldn’t show weakness in front of my enemy. The inability to move my arm, which I was most confident in, made me worry for my outcome in this fight. Especially when I’m still not used to my new body.

Having many gaps which I fail to grasp mid fight, bring me to defeat knowing that I could do better but fail to do it.

The popping sound of my arm being back in place reassured me that I was fine, for now.

I could move my arm freely but there was still some pain to it, so I restrained myself from moving it as much as I wanted to.

Cries from the large brown bear brought the small bear’s attention to it. They were communicating in their own way. It might be dangerous if I let them communicate any further. I thought.

The mana in my core was already half way, the healing and the ability to shape the mana to something suitable for this branch took too much energy and endurance.

But I was grateful for it. Now I know a spell or a technique that I could use in the future when things get out of hand.

For now, let’s get this done.

I dashed forward to the small brown bear, having my “sword” in place to cut off the head. Sensing my bloodlust or intention, the bear let out a roaring scream before mana activated around its mouth.

Mouth Beam?

Frustration and annoyance were all over my mind, I was tired that these beasts were better equipped with abilities and experience unlike me.

Moving to the side of the directed beam blast, thinking that I could just move and dodge it. The bear suddenly turned its head as it fired the red beam of light that screamed life taking ability as it tried to track me down by following me with its head.

Like its mate, the attack cut down even more trees in the process of trying to kill me. “Deforestation isn’t a good thing, didn’t your parents and friends teach you that, mutts?” I questioned, already behind the small bear ready to cut it down.

That’s when I came to the realization that if I did what I wanted to, the same result will be awaiting me like what I did with the larger version of the bear. So I needed something else, and thankfully, I did.

Visioning and stapling my sights on its legs, I dash once more and again, on each side, slashing the two legs on both sides, cutting the tendon off. Its strength was weak enough that its body flopped down, creating a small smoke cloud with the tension of the dirt around them.

Both dark black eyes of the bears stared at me with an unknown emotion, not comprehending the whole thing. I simply looked them in the eyes, as cold as I could, resembling a serial killer’s eyes, face, and emotion. I said, “I warned you both, but that’s fine, I really don’t care.”

Stabbing both of them in their skulls, confirming the fact that they were defeated by a four-year-old child who had awakened as a mage just at two-years-old.

Staring at their lifeless bodies, I use the same branch to cut them open, taking out their cores. Being twice my weight, it was impossible to bring both of them together. I needed to get them to safety before Arthur fell off that cliff.

Wait…

Mia! James!

Not caring for the cores and their weights, it was only logical to leave them but my other thoughts said otherwise. Instantly without checking if they had mana or some sort of curse magic. I stashed them into my bag that Mordain had given me before leaving the Beast Glades.

I was slow but still it was doable with my speed in which I again injected mana into my body for a pillar of strength and speed.

When I got to the location. The battle was still going on, the echoes of metal clashing with each other wasn’t relieving but it was stabilizing my anxiety and nerves.

“How am I going to get to the top? The main path isn’t but a couple of tens of miles away from my current position, and it isn’t even confirmed that I will make it on time even with my mana at this state!”

I searched for other possibilities for my climbing and to my own path, there wasn’t any I could use.

Prior to my attempts with my mana abilities, I hear water above me being used. Paying close attention, I knew what that meant and who it was.

It’s happening!

Two distinct bodies fell from the cliff, sending them pretty far off from the edge, that an Earthen hand spell could not reach them, rather its target.

Dammit, at the worst time of them all!

I had no mana but half and my elemental affinities didn’t want to work with me, the best I could do was to heal his injuries as fast as I could. Unless…

Having a specific idea that rumbled in my mind, I decided to do it then just let him fall and possibly die.

Integrating mana into my whole body, perhaps pushing my than 40 percent of it. The gears in my head turned, trying to figure out how I was going to save Arthur when I didn’t have the elements to do so.

As I was getting ready to catch the boy—who had the same height and body as me, a four-year-old child—a loud scream of fear came from the second person falling. It was the mage bandit that tried to kill Alice and Arthur because his boss told him to.

Before another thought came up, a streak of brown landed hard next to me making a sound of an apple being squeezed into a compressor. Blood gushed from the bandit’s head and even his brain ooze leaked.

The feeling of something landing on my cheekbones made me want to know what it was, passing my hand light over the thing that landed on my cheekbones, retracted my hand from my blind spot for me to see.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

It was this bastard's blood.

“Arthur will end up like that if I don’t hurry!” I exclaimed, paying attention to Arthur’s landing location as for me to catch him in odds of the weight and speed he was going down in.

‘I appreciate your help, child, even after using so much mana for those mana beasts, but let me handle this.’

Wha—

A voice—from God knows where—entered my mind, leaving me shocked and confused by the sudden action.

The lack of mana is getting at me. I simply thought, putting my attention back on the falling boy. But being as it is, the falling boy who resembled a meteorite suddenly lost speed and landed gracefully on the ground.

Before I could even process the fact that the main character of the novel had gone against all odds of speed and gravity, and that he was unconscious, landed slowly in front of me with nothing but scratches from the Grand Mountain's main path battle and not from the fall.

Only one question entered my mind: How?

Moreover, what was the voice from earlier? There shouldn’t be anyone here aside from Arthur and me–

Stopping my inner thoughts from rumbling any more, I turned to where the wind blew from.

So this is how he was saved from the fall? I questioned, already knowing whose voice it was.

‘Judging by your facial expression, I take it that you’ve already calmed down, yes?’ The voice that seemed to come out of nowhere had a dignified, yet soft quality emanating a sense of royalty. Being powerful and resonant, yet a silky and soothing sound that made you want to trust it.

I nodded, “Yes, but to be honest, I rather chuck this into me being mana depleted than thinking that I’ve gone insane.” But that wasn’t the case, I already knew who this was and why she was here. As for me knowing why she was using her–unknown arts–to see me or Arthur, was still not revealed in the novel.

Yet the question I had popped into my mind right now was, why is she talking to me like it was normal? No. In the first place, why would she reveal herself when she could just talk to Arthur.

Again, things were already progressing differently from the novel. I even sometimes fear that the progression and setting has already been changing since I’ve formed my mana core. Hopefully, it's just minor things and not major events that bring the story to what it was.

Sylvia didn’t say anything but instead I felt her piercing gaze which had curiosity. I was going to ignore her at first but that would mean that I was something that she or that machine of aether that Agrona has in Alacrya didn’t know about, and it should stay that way, or until I’ve grasped my own abilities in the war.

Now, for my own benefit, I must act like a four-year-old boy who has been lost and separated for two years in the Beast Glades without any information about his family or family name. I must get rid of the Hodges name for a while, or until I know things to escalate to the south.

With a timid and unknowingly tone, I spoke, forgetting that it was Sylvia Indrath who was hearing me. “Uhm, excuse me, m-mister voice? I was separated from my family two y-years ago and I-I wanted to know where the h-human kingdom was.”

Nailed it!

My own satisfaction almost made me not hear Sylvia’s response.

‘Hmmm. I see. But that doesn’t explain why you are unfazed by my sudden voice?’

I cursed, lightly under my breath, hoping that she didn’t see or hear that. My plan of being a normal child was already going through a destructive phase, and I didn’t have any more of a plan to retrieve my current position in that fake story of mine.

My thoughts to counter Sylvia’s thoughts came to a halt, movement from my right, next to the corpse that bleed out, was the kid.

I felt Sylvia stop her thoughts as well and instead watched with me how the four-year-old boy would not open his eyes, check his pouch, grab whatever snacks he had and drink potable water next to his body, tears streaming down into his ear simultaneously before falling back asleep.

Amused by his sudden actions and carelessness, I turned to where I thought the cave was, imagining that Sylvia too gave me that confused look.

Well if anything goes now, it will be after this boy wakes up in some time. Once again, in that timid voice I spoke to Sylvia, “M-mister voice, would it be o-okay for you to come w-with me to get some w-wood?”

‘Of course!’

***

ARTHUR LEYWIN

My eyes had been closed for some time. The feeling of warm heat like I had been in my old house in Ashber next to the bonfire we would have outside once in a while.

However, in the dark distance, I could hear the voice of a boy.

“…magic works—“

What?

I tried moving my facial muscles slightly, feeling my dried up tears that reached my ears. Most of my body—if not everything—ached in pain from my contact with the water spell that ruptured when the mage lost concentration.

Ignoring half of the pain, aside from the single voice, a crackle of something similar to fire would go off once a few seconds before sounds of logs would collapse into flames.

Enough! I thought.

My eyes fluttered open as I stirred awake from the comfortable but uneasy feeling of heat. Looking around, the position of the first rays of light peeking through the mountains made me know it was dawn.

With my discovery, I was also able to figure out the source of the logs falling into the flames.

Next to me, perhaps a couple of feet away from me, was a stable bonfire that didn’t seem to have been set to run out of fuel—being the extra cut logs and branches it made it up into the fire.

“Who—” Before I could even finish my sentence, the sweet smell of roasted fish entered my nose, making my mouth watery.

Aside from the smell of food, what caught my gaze was the figure of something beyond the fire. In between me and the fire was someone else, they were talking to someone else but there was no one close to the figure.

I was able to slowly get up, but only with the help of mana. I carefully and slowly moved my body forward, closer to the edge of the fire, hoping the person wouldn’t notice me.

The voice of the person—which seemed to be child-like—was cut short.

Dammit… was I caught?

In between the heat of which the bonfire released, only was I able to make out the eyes of the person sitting opposite of me. Dark red blood colored eyes were staring at the floor with distance thoughts, making him wonder on and off about his surroundings.

A venerable person. Maybe a slave trader from when I was up there in the Grand Mountains foot.

The silence was heavy enough that the crackle of the fire made my heart skip a beat in fear of being caught.

Though the crackle fire did in fact scare me, like any other kid, what really struck my heart with a potent force of nature dread was the cold icy red eyes that stared back at me through the fire’s thick heat.

Taken aback from the cold stare I received, my instincts told me that he was a problem, whether or not I had a mana core this young. Silently, after locking eyes with me, the person on the other side of the bonfire stood up, letting out a tiresome sigh. “You’re awake? It’s dawn after all so I don’t blame you.”

“W-Who are you?” I asked, crawling backwards to where I suddenly felt another body that my hand fell on. A sense of nauseousness reigned over me after finding out that my right palm was covered in blood and some other type of body fluid that came from this man. Not being able to hold back the snacks I ate before, I vomited it out.

Cough after cough, I couldn’t stop but to feel disgusted at the sight of a dead body, what’s more is that this is the man who unleashed that water spell on me. I wasn’t going to feel bad for someone whose life benefits were on selling people as slaves, but the very thought that I survived and he did not wasn’t going to leave a sweet aftertaste.

The rumbling mental noise that my thoughts made as I tried to make up an excuse to my survival from a giant depth was interrupted by footsteps.

In that instant, my eyes widened in surprise when I came to see who those footsteps belong to. It was a child–perhaps the same age as me–walking with the same dark blood colored eyes that I’ve seen earlier. Black short hair and his attire was different from what I’ve seen.

Another thing, his clothes were on the edge of ripping, especially from the legs. Scratch marks that were imprinted on his clothes, and blood marks over his hands and face.

Who was this kid?

With a bright smile–though it was hard to understand after speculating that this child might have gone through something and still smiled was odd enough for me–extended his arm, offering me help to stand. I had second thoughts whether or not to accept his help but I would be labeled as the bad guy or child here.

Well, what can a child the same age as me do? Other than that, maybe he can tell me where I can go to my parents.

Accepting his help, the boy pulled me up onto my feet and said, “Oh right! I still haven’t answered your question from earlier. My name is Luke, Luke Hodges, but you can call me Lu since we are in the same situation right now.”

“Likewise, I am Arthur Leywin, but call me Art.” I responded with a weak laugh.

Somehow, Luke didn’t seem to be like those children I thought this world was full of. He was different in some way, perhaps like me. Maybe he would understand if I told him? No. if I did, his perspective on me would change.

‘Hello, Child. It seems that you two have talked, yes?’

I let out a scream of startle when I heard those words in my mind.