Elena had to remain in intensive care for the rest of the day for some reason; she didn't have much; her injury was easily healed in a matter of minutes, yet she had to stay in the infirmary for some reason.
After I gave one last round of apologies to that stone-cold wall, I was escorted out of her room; my mother stayed behind with Elena, my father, on the other hand, escorted me back to my room.
"Hey is there—" Just as I opened my mouth, my father's phone rang, so he he took the cool and headed downstairs.
What the… what kind of timing is that? Now what?
I began to reconsider my options, I didn't feel like playing I wasn't in the mood for it anyway, I didn't feel too comfortable staying on my own so I peeked outside my room to see if my father was still visible in the hallway.
"Yeah, she won't mind…" he said to the uncle.
"It's for my well-being and the well-being of my family after all… yeah," I could barely grasp their conversation, but i started following him until we got to the elevator.
"I've already discussed things with her, yes... That I can't guarantee… Yeah, bring them over that way; he won't feel lonely."
He was definetely talking about me in the last part, does that mean the uncle is going to bring over his kids? Yay!
"Where are we going?" I asked as he pressed the button to head towards the ground flood.
"You'll see it soon enough." He responded while affectionately pinching my cheek.
He then took out from his pocket a bunch of really soft candies, and as soon as he showed them to me I snatched them up.
"Don't overstuff yourself; you'll end up like Elvis." He nagged me while stealing a chocolate filled candy from my hands..
"Hey, that's mine!" I yelled back at him, trying to climb over him to get back my snack, but it was useless as he finished eating it in a single bite.
"Mhh, the desserts made here are something else; they were so creamy, soft, and sweet, I thought I was biting a cloud." He commented right in front of me with a playful smile.
"Don't worry, you'll get yours when you decide to start exercising again." He said while pinching my nose.
But I don't want to exercise with you; it always hurts afterward, my body aches, and I'm so tired I can barely get out of my bed.
We reached the ground floor and headed towards a separate building containing an arena; the floor of the arena was covered in, strangely enough, it was extremely hot.
Why can I feel the temperature all of a sudden? And why is the place so hot?
"Why don't we start making a few laps around the arena while we wait for the uncle to come?" He proposed to me with a gentle smile. Slowly leading me to the center of the arena.
The floor of the arena was covered in sand, a bright red sand.
No, I don't want it; I want to at least enjoy my–
He took my arm and began dragging me with him, running just fast enough so that I could follow him.
"Come on, if you're still running by the time the uncle gets here, then I promise I'll buy you whatever you want, how about that?" He proposed..
Refusing was pointless; I already knew how things worked with him. It was better to accept the deal now that it was sweet rather than refusing it, arguing, and ending up doing the same thing without receiving any reward.
"Fine!" I reluctantly accepted as I started accelerating; my legs couldn't possibly keep up with him, but I needed to show enough determination for him to start picking up the pace; that way I could slow down later, and he wouldn't have minded it.
After a couple of laps, I began to feel the change; my body was starting to feel the many months passed in the Fracture without any training; my heart was beating out of my chest; I had become a sweaty mess, and my legs had started to hurt.
They were so frail they felt as if they were about to snap and break in half any minute.
Fuck, this is worse than I originally remember I was. Fuck, I was too lazy out there, never again…
After ten more laps, my leg felt as heavy as mountains. I could feel my muscles scream in pain whenever I raised my legs; my feet were hurting because the shoes were a bit too tight on the sides.
My heart was beating in my throat; I was so thirsty I felt I could drink a whole lake right then and there; the sweat had started slowly getting into my eyes; my clothes were drenched in sweat and had begun to stink.
"Am I interrupting something?" A familiar voice interrupted the training session; feeling freed from that agonizing torture, I let myself go and almost fell face-first in the arena.
My father saved me from an embarrassing fall and then carried me to the spectator stands where my cousins were waiting.
Fuck, I feel like shit.
Together with the cousins, a few maids came forward with a change of clothes and some beverages.
I grabbed a bottle of water and tried drinking something, but I immediately spat out its contents because drinking in that state felt like drowning.
"Here are some spare clothes." One of the maids said while handing me a bunch of clothes.
"Nah, I'll wash myself first; just wait here." I responded as I dragged myself out of that hellish place.
None of my cousins followed me; they were all interested in looking at the sparring session between my father and theirs.
My legs collapsed while I was washing myself, so I had to get carried back by the maids who weren't all too pleased with the situation.
When I returned, I saw my father covered in blood being tossed around by the uncle.
"You're too obsessed with the concept of always doing sneak attacks; you tend to miss out on chances to land normal attacks. Try thinking less about it." The uncle shouted to my father.
One of the uncle's eyes had turned black while the iris had turned gold, dark veins appeared around it, and the other eye turned blue. A second mouth had appeared in his throat, smoking a pipe.
Chains were wrapped around his arms and floating around his waist. He was dressed in his usual formal clothes, and they had been dirtied a lot by my father's blood-bending ability.
My father had planted a flesh banner in the middle of the arena; he was covered in blood and was heavily injured, currently missing an arm. Holding a strange sword in his remaining arm covered in bandages.
"So, how was the match?" I asked the cousins waiting in the spectator's stands. They were barely paying attention and were happily chatting amongst themselves.
"They've been at it for quite a while, and they don't seem to be tired at all; they might continue for a couple of hours if everything goes well." Ilay responded to me while handing me a bag of gummy bears.
"No thanks, I feel like I'm about to die right now." I refused them.
My father was playing extremely dirty, covering the entire arena with his blood, attacking the uncle either on his back or on his sides, yet he couldn't land a single attack.
As he got up, he made his hand explode to shoot a spear out of his wrist; the uncle grabbed it, pulled it closer, and raised his hand, feigning a punch to the face.
Trying to react preemptively, my father sacrificed one of his eyes to create a shield of blood in front of his face and was hit by the uncle's knee in the stomach.
The floating chain then wrapped itself around my father's waist, and the uncle used it to throw him away once more.
This was something they repeated over and over again; anytime my father was knocked out, the uncle would wake him up by tossing him against the walls of the arena.
"Man, you've gone rusty! Playing the housewife has seriously dulled your skills. I'm using the same powers as the last time we sparred, so you can't blame the usage of stronger abilities this time." The uncle yelled at my father.
"You think you're doing me a favor by telling me this out loud? You're just twisting the knife in the wound, Kiriam." My father responded as he got back up.
His legs were trembling and his eyes were unfocused; he seemed barely conscious, then, using his power, he managed to wake himself up.
"You need some pain then; that way you won't make the same mistake again. Don't you feel shame that you had to rely on someone else's help to save your son? I wouldn't be able to show my face ever again in front of my family if I were you." The uncle scolded him as he wrapped the chain around his arms, making sure there wasn't an inch of skin left uncovered.
The two of them rushed towards the center of the arena, unleashing their strongest blow, and unfortunately my father came out on the losing end once more, being flung right back against the wall.