"No. If it was him, he would be one hundred and fifty years old by now. This mortal I recently encountered looks young. He must be in his mid-twenties," Thea shook her head but also realized something unnerving. "They do have the same abilities. Aside from appearing out of nowhere, they both know how to diagnose patients just by looking at them and he had medicines in his huge bag."
"That's Henry Riverstream," Gia smiled.
"No way," Thea violently shook his head. "Did he use sorcery to meddle with his age? Is he an immortal now?"
"The Henry Riverstream that we knew adopted a child, made him an apprentice, and had given him the same name. The mortal you encountered used to be called Young Henry before his master passed away. Now he owns the name. He is Henry Riverstream."
"When did our mortal friend passed away?" Thea sadly asked. She kept bumping on to bad news after waking up.
"A decade ago," Gia answered with a sorrowful smile. "We sent flowers to his grave through his apprentice."
"At least he lived quite a while and he had gotten himself a reliable apprentice. He always wanted that," Thea sighed and lay down on the bed. "My heart feels heavy, Gia. I could not help that stranger and now I heard that our mortal friend had already passed away."
"Meeting his apprentice felt like meeting a younger version of him," Gia tapped her on the shoulder. "And if the wounded fairy you wanted to help is with him, he will get better. Henry is as good as his master when it comes to treating patients. I even think he is better than me. He had a remarkable gift, Thea. Trust in him."
"How long have you known this… young Henry?"
"Almost a year. Though he is an excellent healer, he could not control his transporting ability. But he will eventually get the hang of it, just like his master."
"I hope to see him again soon," Thea let out another sigh. "I want to ask him about the wounded fairy."
"You will meet him again soon," Gia beamed with confidence.
"Are you still searching for the seals?" Thea was hesitant to hear the answer to that question but if she would hear more bad news, she should hear them all right at that moment.
"Of course," Gia surprised her with that delightful reply. She thought that her friends had stopped because of what happened to her. "Riz and Sel are searching for a possible seal bearer right at this moment. I am also assisting them. I just went home for a while to check on my herbs and brew a few medicines. I will join them later. Do you want to come?"
"Of course," Thea replied with excitement. Before she was forced to sleep on the chrysanthemum bud, she and her friends were already looking for the seal bearers. She could finally continue her most important mission. She would find and destroy all twelve seals together with her dependable friends.
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Asuren woke up chained, not in the tower of Nightgloom Fortress but against the wall of a dimly lit cave.
"You are finally awake," a shadow monster entered the cave. It was a silhouette of a female fairy and its eyes, like most of its kind, had crimson eyes filled with loathing. "I already sent a message to the Nightgloom Fortress," it summoned a sharp blade. "The queen had given me permission to take your heart out," it aimed at the drying cut in his chest but an explosion near the cave had stopped it from adding another cut to his body.
The shadow monster hurried out of the cave. Asuren heard clashing of blades and more explosions. He had no idea how long his captor would be distracted but he should slip out of that place before anyone else arrives.
He pulled his wrists from the chains binding him to the wall. They were tight and the force he exerted caused lacerations on his wrists but at least his hands were freed. He grabbed the chains tied around his torso and destroyed it with a few powerful wind gusts that also damaged his skin. He leaned on the wall but still collapsed on the floor. His energy was drained when he shattered the chains in his torso.
He shook his head but it only worsened his dizziness and he was almost knocked unconscious. Through his foggy vision, he saw a shadow approaching. The shadow monster had returned. It knelt in front of him, scooped him up from the floor, and put him to its back.
"Please… don't take me back… to the Evil Witch…" he weakly begged but did not hope for the better.
"Don't worry. We won't."
Asuren was surprised to hear that voice. It was not the shadow monster but his friend. Ayhan Woodland.
Ayhan hurried through a tiny hole and quietly chanted a few words to conceal that route. He soared dizzyingly fast for a few miles, passed through a long and narrow tunnel, and stepped out of a cave submerged in knee-length water. He traversed a marshland for hours and entered a dark forest before stopping inside another cave underneath a cliff.
Asuren could not remember the route his friend had taken but he recognized that cave underneath the cliff. It was their hideout, a place that always gave him comfort. There was a bed, fireplace, cabinets, chairs, table, and kitchen.
Ayhan placed Asuren gently on the bed then lit the fireplace using a lamp next to it. From the cabinet, he pulled a blanket, a few towels, bandages, and medicine bottles. In the kitchen, he filled a basin with water.
He returned to the bed and checked on Asuren.
"I can't sense any poison," he seemed surprised as he began cleaning the cut. "Your chest wound is also starting to heal. What happened? Is the Evil Witch sick? How did you get out?" he applied powdered herbs on the cut before wrapping his chest wind bandages. Then he covered Asuren with a thick blanket. "Forget it. We can talk later. Get some sleep. I'll be on guard."
"Thank you," Asuren sincerely whispered to his friend. "I'll leave as soon as I recover some strength."
"Stay here," Ayhan seriously told him. "We fortified this place. She cannot find you here. It's been a hundred years, Asuren. We've gotten stronger. You can rely on us now."
"I know I can always rely on you," Asuren closed his eyes. "But we are against the Evil Witch. If she finds me with you, she will not just kill you. She will torture you in front of me until you die. I can't let that happen."
"We found an unusual trace and it probably belongs to a seal bearer," Ayhan crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm thinking that once you get better, you might want to join us. You still want to destroy the seals, right? Because Juliann, Calix, and I are still pursuing that dream. But it seems that this time, you only want to hide away from the Evil Witch."
"I still want to find and destroy the seals," Asuren stared anxiously at the ceiling.
"Then join us again. Let's continue pursuing that dream together."
"I don't know…" Asuren closed his eyes again. The drowsiness he was feeling was getting stronger. "I want to destroy the seals… I also want to find that strange mortal and that… beautiful… fairy…" despite his anxiety, he had eventually fallen asleep.
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