Pain.


    A familiar friend.


    I am of course using friend in its loosest definition.


    I guess an acquaintance is better?


    It doesn’t really matter. What is matter is I know pain.


    That’s why I can say that pain isn’t simple. And I am not talking about mental or emotional pain. They are different altogether.


    Pain from burning is different.


    Pain from being stabbed is different.


    Pain from being crushed is different.


    Different people have varying resistances to different types of pain.


    For me, getting hit by acid was the worst. Imagine breaking your femur and just letting a single noise but crying like a bitch when just a single drop of acid falls on your face. Fucking embarrassing.


    Anyways.


    This pain I was feeling right now was very different. It was brand new and I wasn’t even sure if I could call it pain. It was more like nausea and dizziness cranked up to eleven. I opened and closed my eyes.


    Where was I? I was moving. Something, someone was carrying me.


    I couldn’t focus. Everything was a blur. It was like having astigmatism but in daylight. It was too bright. I tried to raise my hand to block out light but I couldn’t.


    I just couldn’t even foster a focus on a single action. It was like thirty elephants were sitting down on my consciousness, pushing it down.


    Despite that, I was able to notice the surroundings around me changing. Light sometimes dimmed or increased.


    “Mother?”


    Escaped from my lips.


    No, she can’t. I am too heavy. She’ll hurt her back.


    “I can….”


    In and out of consciousness.


    In and out of consciousness.


    In and out of consciousness.


    I don’t know how long I stayed at that edge. Time stretched out, almost like sands were falling in slow motion. It felt like days, weeks, or even months.


    “Help me remove his armor!”


    “Argh! It bit me!”


    “How can an armor can bit-Aww!”


    I heard people talking. I couldn’t grasp what they were saying. It was like I was underwater. They felt familiar. But I just couldn’t focus enough to find who were they.


    “Poyraz?”


    Another familiar voice rang out.


    “Sis…ter?”


    I tried to muster but my lips barely moved.


    “It is okay. I will help you just like you helped me.”


    I felt two small hands on me. At the same time, I heard a song. It was small, meek, and hard to hear at first. But as time went on it became louder, gaining confidence.


    Finally, I managed to focus. I opened my eyes fully and kept them open.


    The first thing I saw was Larve’s star-shaped blue eyes looking back at me. Seeing me open my eyes, she also smiled and hugged me. I hugged her back and raised my aching body.


    “Thought we lost you.”


    Ama said while bandaging Arslan’s arm. I quickly scanned the area for enemies.


    “Don’t bother looking for enemies. Your edgy anime armor did it.”


    I looked at Lily. He was also holding his bleeding hand.


    We were back at the camp.


    “Morrigan?”


    I stood up quickly but I was hit by a sharp headache.


    “Fucking.”


    I held my head, nearly kneeling to the ground.


    “She is fine Poyraz. She brought you here. She is currently with other warriors. You should rest.”


    Ama just like always was the logical and calm one.


    “How long I was out?”


    “You were gone for nearly a day. For how long you were out… I had been trying to heal you for an hour before Larve intervened.”


    I sat down.


    “Thanks, Ama. You guys can go on. I will join you after a minute.”


    “The fuck you are.”


    Arslan cursed.


    “Poyraz, you completely emptied your mana reserves. Do you know what that means?”


    Ama finished bandaging Arslan’s arm and turned to me. Her red eyes were serious.


    “It is bad?”


    I answered.


    “It should have killed you.”


    Larve hugged me again, this time tighter. I looked at Lily and he give a shrug.


    “Don’t look at me. You know I also will say the same thing. Rest, Poyraz. You always forced me to work, so I am forcing you to rest for a change.”


    I put my arm around Larve.


    “Okay.”


    I said begrudgingly.


    “But call me if things are dire.”


    “Yeah, yeah.”


    Lily waved his hand before leaving. Ama and Arslan followed him and I was left alone with Larve and G?kb?rü. Speaking of him he was still in my armor. Somewhere. He was sleeping which kind of worried me.


    I couldn’t use Regeneration or Enhanced Senses. However, I also didn’t feel any discomfort or pain coming through Synchronization so he should be fine.


    “Don’t you want to play with other kids instead of staying with me?”


    I asked Larve.


    “I played with them enough. I want to play with you too… But you are always busy. Always fighting.”


    I patted her head.


    “I am sorry for not taking care of you. I… Grown-ups sometimes can have a lot of things to do.”


    “But you don’t have anything now, right? Even Lily said you should rest!”


    Her sparkly eyes were melting my heart.


    “Yes. But I can’t move around too much.”


    The idea of playing with Larve while we had a monster wave close to us was… less than ideal. But my body was aching all around and I felt dizzy every time I tried to get up.


    My armor didn’t repair itself. I closed my eyes to feel my mana but the amount surprised me. It was nearly non-existing and it didn’t increase. I waited and longed for the soothing embrace of mana regeneration yet it never came. I felt frustrated both with my mana not increasing and how much it made me feel powerless.


    How quickly did I start relying on it?


    “?atlak patlak, yusyuvarlak,kremal? b?rek, sütlü ??rek, ?ek dostum ?ek, araban? yoldan ?ek, ?ek amca ?ek, burnun kanca, al sana bir bulmaca, bulmaca ka? par?a, veriyorum 5 par?a, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5”


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.The fact that I remembered the clapping game I learned in my childhood surprised me. Guess you can’t forget some things.


    “Rock, paper, scissors!”


    “Haha, I won again!”


    Larve swirled on one leg like a ballerina to celebrate her win against me. I watched her happily even though I let her win for the last 5 games. Before that, I won like 20 times and she was on the brink of crying. Upss, indeed.


    “Larve, can I ask you something?”


    She stopped dancing and looked at me.


    “How do you heal people? Can you heal others too?”


    Even though I knew she could heal others as she has done to me I never asked her. I didn’t want to risk her falling asleep indefinitely again. But now she healed me without any signs of strain.


    Ama knew some healing spells but you can never have enough healers.


    However, hearing my question Larve’s face fell. She became silent and looked at the ground. I waited for her to say something but she just silently looked at the ground.


    “Larve, it is okay if you can’t do it. I just wanted to be sure.”


    She was a child still. I patted her head. I ran my fingers through her hair.


    “Your hair is really pretty. It is very soft. Mine is pretty coarse and pricky. Who did your hair?”


    Her eyes sparkled once again before she started to tell me a story about friends she made and how one of their mothers did her hair. I nodded and said, “That’s nice.” Despite her machine gun-like talking feeling like hammers to my already aching head.


    “Growl.”


    G?kb?rü poked his head out of my chest plate.


    “Are you okay buddy?”


    G?kb?rü let out a tired noise. I gave him some water and food. I also ate with Larve. My jaw still hurt.


    I closed my eyes again and felt my mana. It didn’t increase a bit.


    Shit. I might have broken something. I hoped it was something that could be healed by just resting. Speaking of resting, after eating and drinking my eyelids felt heavy.


    G?kb?rü must felt similar to me since he opened his mouth to reveal a mouthful of tiny, milk-white teeth.


    As its soft, velvety muzzle stretched wide, a delicate sigh escaped its button-like nose.


    I couldn’t help but yawn with him. It also spread to Larve.


    “Guess we can use some sleep.”


    I released all of my armor except my cloak. We cuddled closer. Larve nestled snugly to my chest. She buried her sleepy head in the curve of my shoulder. I had to be careful and position myself in a certain way so that her horns doesn’t hurt me. G?kb?rü inched closer to us. Larve’s delicate, white fingers tenderly brushed his fur. I also stroked her hair while murmuring a lullaby I barely remembered. Despite the pain enveloping my head and the discomfort I felt in my stomach, I fell into the arms of sleep rather easily.


    Unlike times I fell asleep, this one wasn’t filled with screams and monsters. A nice change if I say-


    “Help me!”


    Fuck, I talked too early. I opened my eyes slowly. I let out a soft groan. God, my body ached.


    “Someone, please!” Oh, ancestors!”


    My eyes widened. Despite being awake, screams didn’t stop. I looked around. Larve and G?kb?rü were nowhere to be found.


    “Fuck!”


    I threw myself out of the tent, only to come face to face with a monster. It was tall, easily towering over me. It was bipedal. Its body is covered in thick, dark fur with a pattern reminiscent of a large jungle cat, hinting at its predatory nature. The fur was a mix of deep shades of brown and black. It bristled with tension, ready to react with lightning speed.


    It swung its claws towards me. It was a wide swing so I had no problem ducking under it. I tried to summon my armor but to no avail. Trying to summon a weapon also ended up in failure.


    It wore only tattered clothing around its waist. I also carried a bunch of skulls fastened up on its waist with a vine. Just a quick look told me he killed humans before. The creature opened its tiger-like head and let out a growl.


    “This is not good.”


    No weapons. No armor. No mana. My body still ached and my head was fuzzy.


    “This is the worst fucking possible situation.”


    I dodged several more claw strikes. The creature seemed to be frustrated with me as its growls got angrier and angrier.


    I ducked under one of its wide swipes then shot upward, uppercutting it. The creature’s head was whipped backward while pain engulfed my fist. I expected it to do some damage but the creature just growled more with a bloody mouth.


    I needed a weapon. Fuck, anything. Even a rock would be better than just using my fists!


    Especially since the creature seemed to understand it wouldn’t be able to hit me with its claws. Now it tried to pounce on me with its huge body.


    “Okay, let’s go.”


    It lowered its stance and leaped at me. I also jumped towards it. I kneed its lower jaw. I saw a piece of its fang flying into the air and my knee felt like it was broken. Despite its fangs getting broken, the creature was able to grab me with its claws. They dug into my forearms while we fell onto the ground.


    Unfortunately, I ended up under the creature. Wrestling something stronger than you with claws and bristle-like fur wasn’t a good idea. So I did the logical thing: I cheated. I put my right index and middle finger to its eye while hooking his nose with my other hand. It tried to retaliate by clawing me but I managed to get on top of it by just losing some skin off my forearms.


    I gouged out both of its eyes and disengaged from it while it wildly swung its arms. I could have suffocated it maybe but doing it was too risky with its claws. I had to find a weapon. Anything would do…


    Wait. I looked down at my bag of holding.