When Shu opened his eyes, his vision was blurry. The more he blinked, the more the world came into focus. He realized he was in an empty hospital room. It looked like the sun had just risen.
I'm… not dead, am I?
He looked down at himself and saw his cut up clothes. His shirt was barely held together, and the bottom of his right pant leg was torn. He looked through the holes in his shirt and saw that his entire torso was thickly wrapped in bandages, along with his right forearm. From the middle of his shin to the middle of his thigh was wrapped as well. There was no blood visible near the bandages which surprised him.
Shu looked around the room again and saw his crow. He tried to speak to it, but his voice wouldn't come. Instead, he waved it over with his left hand. It landed at his side and he took a small piece of paper and an ink pen from the capsule on the crow's leg. He tried writing with his right hand, but a stab of pain went up his arm, causing him to press too hard down, splashing ink across the paper. He switched to his left hand and tried to write as legibly as he could with his off-hand, avoiding the ink splash.
When he was done he put the components back in the capsule.
"Aiko…" Shu managed to say.
The crow took off through the window and headed back to Windrise, his home, the village of wind.
His message was simple. It said, "Send Ryu to the north or come yourself. We need help."
He tried to get up, but his wounds sent a pain like hot knives stabbing his body. He accepted that he wouldn't be able to do anything.
Shu wondered what had happened. He knew Kiyoshi never would have let him live, so someone had to have saved him. And if it were Yuki, she would be sitting by his bed. Unless she had been hurt in the process. He decided it would be best for him to rest and fell asleep.
Yuki woke up in a cold sweat. She had nightmares again.
She saw what might have happened if she had been too late. Shu being killed by Kiyoshi's scythe.
And there was the blood. Most of that night had been filled with visions of blood. Then darkness had engulfed her.
But now she was awake. She saw she had been bandaged up, but the blood had saved through. Yuki knew from how it felt that if the bandages were replaced, it would just worsen the wound.
A medic walked in the door.
"You're awake! Let me get you some water. You must be parched."
Yuki took the cup of water and downed it. She didn't realize how dehydrated she was until then.
"You lost a lot of blood. I'm glad you survived. I would ask you what happened to make you and your friend like that, but you shouldn't speak right now. Speaking of, he woke up. He seems to be recovering swiftly. It looked like his wound had been cauterized before he was brought here. His wounds being sealed really helps him. It means he won't lose any more blood than he already has, which from the looks of it, is a lot. You were both out for about two days. I will leave you to rest for now."
Yuki fell back asleep.
Aiko heard the beating of wings as Shu's crow flew into her office. She opened the compartment and read the note. She looked at Ryu.
"Shu and Yuki need help in the north. Can you go?" Aiko asked Ryu solemnly.
"I'll be headed out then. I'll see you later."
She watched as Ryu ran out of the office.
After three hours, Ryu made it to the town and followed the crow back to Shu. When he saw Shu, his heart skipped a beat.
"What happened? How did this happen when Kiyoshi was protecting you? Where are Kiyoshi and Yuki?"
Shu looked at Ryu with a warning. "Kiyoshi is the Puppet Master. He attacked me when I was alone, and I lost consciousness right as he was about to kill me. Then I woke up here."
How could Kiyoshi be the Puppet Master? They would have recognized his mana, surely. But Shu couldn't be in this state if nothing happened. Ryu's mind spiraled into thoughts.