I opened my eyes to a blinding light. I moved my hand over my eyes to block it. I was at a different place than the place where I had collapsed. I really hoped passing out and waking up at another place wouldn’t become a habit.
My bladder was full, my back was sore, and I was hungry enough to eat a horse and thirsty enough to drink an entire lake. While all of those were important, the fact that I was being carried took my priority. I was on a stretcher being carried to God knows where.
“Hello?”
My voice was raspy and I had to cough.
“Thank the Ancestors! You are awake!”
The guy in front turned around and I saw that it was Ursara. I looked at the other guy the see if it was Blaria but he was a guy I didn’t know. Unlike Ursara, he looked a little bit annoyed. Guess because he had to carry me. I couldn’t blame the guy. Carrying an unconscious person on uneven ground was hard.
“Go and get Morrigan here.”
Ursara ordered the guy. He ran forward.
“Growl?”
G?kb?rü poked his head out of my chest plate, startling Ursara. I put my hand to my forehead. My head hurt. I wasn’t sure if it was because I just woke up, was dehydrated or the mana I spent was too much for me.
“How long have I been out?”
Ursara handed me a bottle. Just by its smell, I could tell it was water. I chugged it. It was lukewarm but with how thirsty I was, I couldn’t care less.
“One and half a day.”
Damn. It was both longer and shorter than what I guessed. A lot of things hung on my mind. My conversation with Aliera, and Asmoneal, and how I should explain to others the things I learned or if I should explain them at all.
“Weren’t you injured? Should you be carrying me like that?”
I asked, remembering the wounds Ursara endured during the onslaught of corrupted beastkin.
“It is okay. They were nothing compared to yours. I saw the explosions. Amaterasu and you took down that giant beetle right?”
“It was mostly Ama.”
I stretched my body and G?kb?rü, who came out of my armor, imitated me. Every time I moved my joints cracked. I got up. My head spun. I had to stop for some time covering my face as G?kb?rü and Ursara looked at me with worried eyes.
“It is just iron deficiency.”
I pulled my hand off my face. Spinning stopped.
“I am not sure what that means.”
Micronutrients weren’t common knowledge here. Of course.
“Your body needs small amounts of iron to function. If you don’t have enough it can cause dizziness or some stuff.”
Ursara looked unsure. I guess telling a citizen of a fantasy world about science stuff was a little… stupid? Challenging? I mean, they could just use magic to heal fatal wounds so laws of chemistry and biology can go and eat shit.
“I need to take a piss.”
I disappeared into shadows to not be seen. I found it very easy to blend with shadows even though I wasn’t trying to actively use Shadow Melt. That made me want to look at my status window. Even though I looked at it just before I went out to check for the monsters less than 3 days ago, I could feel the difference.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Strength</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">39(44,6)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Agility</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">37(42,2)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Vitality</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">39(44,6)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Mana</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">35(39,8)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Charisma</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">40(45,3)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Defense</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">31(50)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Spark:Fallen Knight’s Armor( Intermediate Grade, growing)</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">*Can generate armor around the body.
*Increase all stats by 20 percent.
*Increases defense further by 15.
*Will form armor automatically in danger.
*Gives resistances:
-Darkness 30 %
-Fire 18%
-Curse 15 %
-Instant death 68 %
-Poison 17%
-Ice 15%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Spark Skills</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Night Vision B(Passive)
Shadow Melt A (Passive&Active)
Shadow Walk E (Active)
Armory of the Fallen E (Active)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Personal Skills</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Full Combat Mastery D (Passive)
Combat Sense B(Passive)
Iron Will A(Passive)
Monstrous Strength C(Active)
Rapid Healing C (Passive)
Indomitable Marksmanship C (Passive)
Armor Collapsing Claw C (Active)
Mana Erupt D (Active)
Synchronization ?(Passive & Active)
Mana Manipulation D (Active)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">Titles</td>
<td style="width: 48.7568%">The One Who Have Seen The End
Mythical Beast’s Partner
Divine Touched
Aliera’s Champion</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
As I washed my hands I noticed that while my stats were higher math was slightly off. Was it because of how they were calculated? Did the stats change my Spark caused come before everything else? Considering how Sparks were manifestations of our souls they had to come before everything else, right?
“I owe you one.”
I exited out of the shadows and startled Ursara once more. When his surprise wore off he smiled and raised his fist.
“There are no debts between brothers.”
I bumped my fist against his. He didn’t know about fist bumps before. I wonder if Lily told him.
“I’ll still buy you a drink.”
I couldn’t feel but to feel indebted. Maybe it was my pride or my conscience, but despite feeling warm inside with Ursara’s reaction I had to pay him back somehow.
“I’ll buy the food then.”
I sighed. G?kb?rü bumped his head against my ankle.
“Yeah, hearing the word food also made me hungry.”
I haven’t eaten for like 2 days? No wonder I felt so weak. Especially with how much healing my body went through. I wondered how Regeneration worked. I was sure the amount of nutrients in my body wasn’t enough to heal all of my wounds yet I had no injury beyond an aching body. Did it work with mana?
“If you are hungry, good. We are about to reach Whifur. I am sure they prepared a lot of food for our arrival.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.Ursara jumped once again with Morrigan’s sudden appearance but I was unfazed.
“We traveled pretty fast then?”
Considering we were still considerably far away from Whifur when I passed out, it was surprising we were close.
“We were able to contact them after defeating that thing. Its immense mana must been blocking our contacts. Ursara, you go and join others.”
He looked at me and Morrigan and raised his eyebrows before leaving. I looked at Morrigan. She looked tired, no that wasn’t the right word. She was drained. Her eyes were sunken in and her posture was hunched. Her hair was messy and she looked like a witch. That was a big contrast to when I first met her. Even though she had been living in the wilderness she was still well-groomed. But now, she looked burnt out.
I couldn’t blame her. Too many bad things happened in a short period of time. We lost tens of beastkin, her mentor and grandpa were corrupted and she had to risk her life in battle.
I put my hand on her shoulder. Even though I didn’t put its weight on her, her shoulders fell as if even that was too much.
“You did well, Morrigan. I don’t know if that carries weight coming from me but you did well.”
Our gazes met and her eyes looked empty.
“I know it is easy to blame yourself for everything bad and drown in guilt. Hell, I am feeling like that 90 percent of the time but you did everything you could. I witnessed it, Ama witnessed it, and Lily witnessed it. We purified your grandpa and hundreds of beastkin souls and sent them to their rightful place. We were successful thanks to you. Stand tall and proud.”
She put her hand to her face. Her nails dug into her face.
“I can’t… I just can’t help but think I could have done something. Something more. Something to prevent all this from happening.”
I grabbed her hand to stop her from hurting herself.
“If you could have, you would have done it. So the only logical conclusion is you couldn’t do anything to change things. You can’t blame yourself for something beyond your power, Morrigan.”
She kept looking at me with curled lips and reddened eyes. She looked like she was on the verge of crying. She was young, too young to deal with this much. I patted her shoulder.
“You are tired. We all are. A warm meal, a bath, and a good night''s sleep, and you will feel better, I promise.”
Her eyes softened a little.
“Thanks, Poyraz.”
“What friends for? Come on, let’s go.”
As we walked towards Whifur, I couldn''t help but be worried about Morrigan. She looked deeply troubled and I had no idea how to help her. I sighed as G?kb?rü curiously growled. If baldy had a cure, he would put it to his head.
“So. You haven’t been here for some time right?”
Maybe I can distract her from her negative thoughts?
“Yes. It’s been some time.”
Okay, maybe this can work.
“Are you excited? To return your home after all this time?”
“I am actually a little bit scared.”
She said a little hesitant.
“Why?”
I asked, wondering if there was some kind of problem.
“My mother will be angry.”
A loud laughter escaped from my mouth.
“Sorry about that. Prepare yourself for the sandal.”
Hearing Morrigan’s groaning made me realize that no matter the universe, mothers were the same in every one of them. As we walked closer, I saw the wall covering the city. It was the first time I saw a heavily defended city since I came to this world. Considering Whifur was a safe haven for the beastkin it was normal for it to be defended tightly.
A bunch of beastkin were entering the city from the gates. Looking closer, they were the beastkin we protected. I saw Lily and he lifted Larve like a trash bag to show me. She waved her hand and I waved back.
I am going to have a talk with both her and Lily sometime after.
A very intense talk.
“Is Arslan okay?”
Damn, I forgot about him. He was in pretty bad shape the last time I saw him.
“Ama was taking care of him.”
“Ohhhh, so he is fine.”
He was being cared for by the woman he loved. Must be nice. While a slight jealousy and happiness for Arslan filled my chest I hoped this wouldn’t cause me to lose the bet I made with Lily.
I looked back and noticed that Morrigan was not walking anymore.
“Morrigan?”
I called out. She didn’t seem to hear me. Her gaze was fixated on something. I searched for what caught her attention and I saw a woman resembling Morrigan helping the newcomers.
“Morrigan.”
I called out again, this time louder. She looked at me with hesitation in her eyes.
“It will be fine. She carried you for 9 months, stayed awake for nights and you are her blood. She may be angry but she will be happy that you are well.”
She covered her face with her hands but I was able to catch a glimpse of tears flowing down.
“I am not afraid of that.”
She said shakly.
“I left. Ran. Like a coward. I was afraid of being a leader so I tried to escape.”
G?kb?rü tried to console her in my headbutting her leg but she didn’t notice him.
“You fought for others. Do you think that’s cowardice?”
“You don’t understand! I am not like you!”
I sighed. Her words made me feel weird. Did she think I was that respectable? Aliera’s words came back causing a stinging sensation on my back.
“It is a good thing you are not like me. I am kind of a failure.”
She shook her head.
“I am serious, Poyraz! I am not like my father or B?rü! If I return there I know they will accept me. But I also know that I will fail them, just like I did before.”
Fuck. I was basically looking at a mirror right now. I took a deep breath.
“You must think we are fucking stupid then. Me, Arslan, Ama, Ursara, Blaria and all other beastkin. So stupid that we follow you despite your many fails?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
I sighed again. I hated that I was about to hit her similarly to how Aliera hit me.
“Then there can only be one conclusion. You are not inept as you think you are.”
She was distraught while she tried to come up with counter-arguments. I grabbed and pulled her closer for a hug.
“We are here.”
I patted her back, somewhat awkwardly.
“No one is perfect. Not you, not me. That’s why we are together. If you think you are not enough, we will train together. But first I think you need to have a good cry.”
She looked puzzled as I tore off from the hug.
“You have been throwing your feelings inside for a long time. You need to let it all go.”
I pointed to the woman resembling Morrigan. She was running here with tears in her eyes.
“Good thing you have a good outlet.”