'I'm cold…it hurts everywhere…what's going on…why am I wet?'
These thoughts filled a semi-conscious Chike's mind as he tried to get a hold of his surroundings, he tried moving but everything and everywhere hurt especially his chest and the pain just got worse every passing second, weakness washed over him and he almost slipped back to unconsciousness but he fought the pain.
Finally managing to open his heavy eyes he immediately regretted it as blinding light stung his eyes, everything was still blurry but he could make out what seemed to be a blue sky, bearing the pain he turned his head to the side to look around, what he saw frightened him so much for a moment he was fully conscious, he saw the dead body of a man laying next to him on what seemed to be the bank of a fast running river, half of his body was still in the water, his blood dyeing it red.
Looking closely, he saw the eyes or rather eye of the man was still open, he seemed to be missing the skin on half his face, and the side facing him was missing an arm.
Strangely the dead man was still emitting a powerful aura, Chike remembered this aura, he felt it right before…right before…his foggy mind could not remember where he felt it, he remembered it was way stronger than this before though.
'Where am I ?' 'Who is this man?' 'How did I get here?' these questions filled Chike's mind as he tried moving again just to be thrown right back into a world of pain as the adrenaline from the shock had gone, it came in waves and the weakness again took over his body as his consciousness began slipping again.
As he lost consciousness again he heard two sets of footsteps, one sounded light and quick, the other sounded heavier and approached slower, he heard what seemed to be the voice of a kid shouting something but he couldn't quite understand what he was saying.
In his blurring vision he saw the face of a little boy looking down at him, his mouth was moving but Chike could no longer hear a thing, soon another face joined that of the boy, it was the face of another boy but this one seemed older, he too seemed to be saying something but by now Chike's vision had started darkening again "Help me" he said just before slipping into unconsciousness.
It was a cold day in Silver Wolf town, the winter was around the corner so the temperature was on the colder side but the town was as busy as always, the town marketplace was filled with people going about their business, normal people buying food items or cloths, fierce looking people buying weapons or the likes, all types of people gathered in one place.
Even though it was called Silver Wolf 'town', this town was more like a city than a town, it was only called a town because the kingdom still labeled it one.
Silver Wolf town was a well-known merchant town on the far east side of Lumiel kingdom, since it was at the edge of the kingdom, it was a popular spot for trading with neighboring kingdom merchants, to its east was the Mist Mountains which served as a natural border, the mountains were also filled with beasts so the town was a good spot for warriors to come prepare for hunting, from the valleys of the Mist Mountains came a river, the Silver River which got its name from the peculiar silver color of the stones on the riverbed.
In the market…
"Hey! Watch where you're going!!' a man shouted as two kids ran past him laughing as they played with what seemed to be a flying paper bird with strange inscriptions on it.
The bird flew amidst the crowd with the two kids chasing after it, it soon approached a midsized store with a sign board that read 'Gor's Inscriptions'.
The bird flew into a window in the store while the two children ran into the store too.
Inside, the bird had perched on someone's hand, the hand belonged to a middle-aged looking man with black short hair and a mustache who had a friendly face, he wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and had a warm smile on his face as he watched the kids come in.
"Again! Do it again Dad!" they said, they were a little boy and girl, both looked to be 7-8 years of age, they jumped as they asked for their dad to make the paper bird fly again.
"It's getting late children, that's enough for one day" the man said.
"Please?! Please?!!" the children begged as they grabbed his legs and shook him.
"Ok, just one more time and you have to go home, ok?" he chuckled and said to them and they nodded heavily "Your big brother will go with you, he wants to go check his fish traps at the silver river, he'll take you both home afterward, now hurry." After saying this he lifted a finger which was covered in azure light and tapped the still paper bird, after which the inscriptions on it lit up and it became alive again.
The excited children took the bird and ran out of the shop after which another kid followed behind them, he looked to be around 14, the same age as Chike, he had a resemblance to the man, with black hair and pale green eyes, he was playing with a little knife in his hand as he walked towards the shop exit "Old man, you know I don't like babysitting" he said to the man as he paused at the door.
"I know Haden" the man replied "Make sure to bring home some delicious fish" he said as he went deeper into the shop.
Haden sighs out of the store, outside he quickly located his junior siblings who ran in circles waiting for him to come out.
"Isda! Rian! Let's go" he shouted. Hearing his voice, the two children ran towards him while controlling the paper bird to fly ahead of them.
As they joined him he led them away from the marketplace and towards the outskirts of town, towards the silver river, he went to bring home some fish, but today he would be bringing home more than a fish.
Meanwhile, back on earth …
Rakun watched it all happen, he saw his attack hit Seth and he knew that he had died as he felt his life-force evaporating, he saw the body collide with the poor mortal boy knocking him into the spatial portal, he would have liked to personally check and also loot from the dead Seth but he had bigger problems.
One, the exhaustion and injuries from the clash with Seth's lightning palm attack was setting in, yes even if he just broke through to the Berserk Emperor stage he hadn't even stabilized his newfound power.
Two, his left arm was barely attached and he was bleeding a lot from numerous other wounds, even if he had tried to forcefully close the wounds with his newfound Emperor energy, he couldn't control it that well, it was like trying to ride a wild horse.
Three, he could vaguely feel some fast approaching powerful auras, the strongest seemed to be a Peak Berserk King.
'The guardians of this realm have finally arrived, I would have loved a good duel but in this state, I'll just die if I clash with them'.
With all these, he knew he had to leave soon, flipping his hand the halberd he held vanished and a turtle-shaped totem appeared in his hand, he shot towards the ground with his fastest speed and he approached the dead tree.
Placing the totem on the tree surface it sunk into it and as usual, the tree glowed as the spatial portal began forming, as he stood waiting for it to form he looked around, some meters away from the tree lay two strange two-wheeled machines, by now they looked kind of deformed and he was guessing it was because of the auras released by he, Seth and Zol previously, besides lay a young mortal boy, he lay still with blood seeping from all four orifices, quickly scanning the kid he noticed his heart had just stopped beating 'Sad, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, rest well young one'. He thought to himself.
By now the spatial portal had completely formed and on the other side, a huge mountain range could be seen.
As he was about to step into the portal he suddenly stopped, looking back with a frown on his bloodied face his eyes landed on the body of the young mortal 'I thought he just died? His heart clearly stopped beating…and what's this I feel…' his eyes were wide open in surprise as he began turning back towards the boy, just as he turned fully he felt a rapidly approaching mental energy, "Tch! I guess I can't take you with me" he said to the unconscious boy. He immediately rushed into the portal, just as he entered he stole a glance at the unconscious boy 'Good seed!' he thought as the portal closed.
Back in Silver Wolf town…
Isda and Rian excitedly chased after the paper bird as they made it move in circles in the air, Haden trailed behind as he held a half-full basket of what looked like purple bumpy apples in one hand and the other held a half-eaten one
Even though it seemed like he wasn't interested in babysitting his little siblings, if one paid attention they would notice that his eyes never left them and you could see the warmth and care deep in those bored-looking green eyes.
By now you could hear the sound of rushing water, and feel the fresh air, Haden closed his eyes as he basked in the cold wind a slight smile appearing on his face.
He stood there, lost in the feeling and enjoying the moment because this was the real reason he loved coming to the river, he spent most of the time in a crowded busy town, but here he could be alone with the wind, this place was a secret part of the river bank hidden by some trees and rocks and could be gotten to by following some hidden paths so it was usually the only one here, he came here for the solitude and silence, he only caught fishes because he didn't like going home empty handed.
His moment of peace was broken by a high-pitched scream, even before he fully opened his eyes his body moved speedily towards the source of the scream.
He stopped before a scared Isda "What's the matter?" he asked as he surveyed the surroundings while gripping the little dagger that he unsheathed from his side
"There" she said in a shaky voice as he pointed towards the river bank.
Haden's full focus immediately went there as he pushed the scared Isda and the strangely excited Rian behind him.
Taking a moment he looked around and listened to the wind, after a minute his tense body loosened as he could confirm that there was no one around but he had a frown on his face as he stared at the scene before him.
A few meters from him lay two bodies partly in the river, they were both covered in blood, one was still and the other just started moving very slightly meaning he was at least conscious.
Squatting down he held the shoulders of Isda as he calmed her down "Relax ok? There's nothing to worry about ok?" he said and she nodded her little head "Now I want you to do something for me, can you?" he asked her and she again nodded "Good girl, now run and go, call dad, tell I said it's an emergency and he should come alone and quickly, can you do that?" he asked, this time she paused for a second after which she again nodded "Go now" he said and she took off running back towards town.
As Haden saw her running back, he turned back to talk to Rian but saw him already walking towards the bodies with an intrigued look on his face, again gripped the dagger tightly and followed as he surveyed the area again.
"Look, big brother, he's awake" Rian said pointing to the moving body, looking closely Ian saw it was a young boy that looked about his age, he had dark skin like the men from the exotic lands he'd seen in the marketplace a few times, he wore strange looking cloths that were stained with blood, Haden didn't know if it all belonged to him.
The strange boy was trying to move but it seemed the pain he felt stopped him, as he lay back down Rian was standing over him "He's dressed weird" he said strangely unaffected by the bloody scene.
When Haden finally reached him and stood over him the boy said something in a strange language and lost consciousness again.
After looking at the weird boy for a few minutes Haden turned to look at the other body.
It was the body of a man, from the remaining skin on his face he seemed to be a middle-aged man, the body was missing an arm and there was a huge gaping still bleeding hole in its torso area, pieces of a black robe or cloak still clung to the body it was covered in blood and still emitted a heavy aura, the aura was heavy but was weakening every second.
'He was a whisperer' Haden thought and he looked at the hand of the remaining arm and just like he expected, a silver unadorned ring rested on one of his fingers. 'What killed him?' he thought to himself as he stared at the gaping hole in his chest.
"Haden!? What's the matter?" a voice said behind, he turned around shocked to find his dad, the kind-looking store owner standing behind him
'I didn't even feel him coming' Haden thought as he stepped aside for his father to examine the situation.
Gor had rushed here as soon as Isda came and told him what happened, now looking at the scene in front of him he knew this was really an emergency.
With a slight frown on his face he quickly walked towards the unconscious boy, getting on one knee he examined him for a moment before propping his head and pouring a bright green liquid into his mouth from a bottle that seemed to appear from nowhere, after that he watched as the boys' chest glowed slightly and a thin coat of luminous green energy coated him, he nodded after seeing that.
Standing back up he approached the other body, seeing the state of the body his frown deepened, squatting down he examined the body closely and when he got to the chest area just above the gaping hole he saw a tattoo of a necklace, the pendant was a key and the main necklace seemed to be covered in scales like the body of a serpent, seeing this his eyes flashed behind the glasses, he immediately raised the body and looked behind the neck where the tattoo continued, there he saw the head of a serpent swallowing its own tail, his eyes flickered and he lay the body back down reaching over he collected the ring on the man's finger and stuffed it in his pocket.
He stood up and after thinking for a few seconds he pushed the body back into the river and watched it float away.
Turning back he walked to the unconscious boy, standing over him Gor's body started emitting an azure light. 'Laifen, Wind's cradle!' he whispered and the azure light around him covered the boy and made what seemed to be a bed made from soft winds
"Head home Haden and take Rian. I'll take a different route, don't want anyone thinking I kidnapped this boy eh?" Gor said in a playful tune after which he left using the bushes as cover.
"Let's go home Rian" Haden said as he led his little brother home.
'Where am I?'
A dizzy Chike asked himself as he just woke up to see a wooden roof above him, he tried moving and even if the pain was mostly gone he still felt extremely heavy and tired.
He finally managed to sit up and looked around, he seemed to be in a large simple looking room, under him was a large wooden bed with soft white sheets.
Looking down he saw most of his hands and chest was covered in bandages, his head too was wrapped in bandages, as he tried to get up from the bed the door which was directly in front of him opened, looked up to see a man walk it, black short hair, glasses, a kind face, and a warm smile, he stared at Chike and said something in what seemed to be another language.
"I can't understand what you are saying" Chike said after a while listening to the man speak gibberish. The man paused and said something else in gibberish before smiling again.
Gor had just come home and decided to check on his little guest, as he walked towards the room where he laid the boy worried thoughts and questions filled his head, shaking it he decided to take it slow for now.
He opened the door just to see the boy trying to get up from the bed.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said "You broke a lot of your bones and they are not fully healed yet, I'm even surprised you woke up this soon" seeing the boy looked confused he said "Why don't you rest a bit more, we'll talk when you're better"
This was when the boy spoke to him in a strange language, shocked Gor had a realization and said to himself "Well, this is interesting"