Rehan opened his eyes drowsily. He couldn't raise his eyelids completely since they were still too heavy and sluggish. Still, he noticed that neither was he looking into a girl's face nor at the blue sky. The information had to sag first and with increasing urgency drove away the haze that had covered his turquoise eyes. After the initial shock subsided and Rehan now knew it was some kind of fabric he was staring at, he tried to figure out what could have happened while he slept soundly.
At the same time, his body slowly abandoned the sleep-induced rigidity. Rehan tried to move his fingers. They twitched and he wanted to continue moving his whole arm, but quickly noticed that that wasn't possible. Every limb of his body was somehow very constricted.
Worried he raised his eyebrows before his tired gaze wandered. To his left was just another thick piece of fabric. It was deep black and various runes danced on its surface with a shiny blue light. The ceiling had the same runes dancing around. This occurrence gave Rehan the hint that he was in a tent. A very important one at that, because those bluish runes weren't only ensuring a controlled temperature and weather resistance. They had some more practical functions, for example enlargement of space. Such inscriptions required a lot of money and were rarely used. Mostly for the most important part of a group or army. Rehan swallowed at the thought. Maybe someone unexpected had found their way here?
The worries were washed away shortly after, because what he saw next surprised and reminded Rehan of something he had lived through after his first death. Directly opposite him, at the far end of the tent and behind a wooden support beam, several shelves stood close together, all covered by shiny silver curtains. In the middle was a wide work table on which various glasses were placed. In all shapes and colours, with and without contents. Plants were also placed in their rightful pots here and there, while some papers threatened to fall off the full table. Only a small glass filled with jet black ink barely held the pile.
Rehan smiled softly and involuntarily at the sight. For a few seconds he remembered the life of a lonely lab worker whose table had looked no less bad than this one.
It was his first time doing a mission and grade E at that. The only thing he had to do was growing up and then mistakenly invent the zombie virus with the help of a mutated plant. After that his host would hole himself up in a vacant laboratory and try to find a solution, till he died because of malnutrition and dehydration. And that was exactly what Rehan did to fulfil fates will. He swallowed the deep laugh that had worked itself up his throat and continued to concentrate on the surroundings.
Two more support beams appeared in his field of vision. A soft-looking fur rug covered the floor in front of and under the bed on which Rehan was lying. Meanwhile he had also found out that another fur completely enveloped him, from which he first had to get free. Then it was time to find the female main protagonist and slip into his actual role as a concerned little brother.
With this conviction in mind, Rehan rolled himself in one direction and then in the other to free himself from the fur in which he had been rolled up. When his legs and arms could finally stretch out, he surprisingly found that his soft prison wasn't 'simple' fur. It was a coat that had served as a source of heat for his little body. The momentarily brown-haired boy had a bad premonition before he hastily pushed his short legs off the bed frame. As soon as his feet had touched the fur on the floor, they broke away under him and trembled incessantly. That reminded Rehan that Blitz's body wasn't in good shape. First, he was half eaten by a blood wolf, then his body had spent days restoring all the flesh and bone, followed by a long run through the thick forest. If it hadn't been for the dragon's blood, his human and magicless body would never have managed to withstand so much exertion.
A helpless expression spread across the round face as Rehan tried to get to his feet with his thin arms. The tremor, which also took up the rest of his body, only made it harder for the little one to carry his own weight. Breathing heavily, he made it to his knees as a cramp spread through his stomach. Rehan was shocked to find that his golden core was forming at exactly this moment and that additional energy was being drawn from him. His face instantly lost colour and all the blood sagged. His breathing became more erratic and the trembling was accompanied by the uncontrolled rattling of his teeth. Rehan felt hot tears running down his cheeks as the cramp tightened. He had the feeling that he could lose consciousness at every second.
A golden core often formed in the first year after the birth of a child and determined if the child could use magic or not. The pain that arose was equivalent to the pain that came with the growth of first teeth. A comparatively harmless process. However, if the golden core formed later in life, it almost always led to the child's or adult's death. Blitz's body was well endowed to survive this ordeal after the renewal of bones and flesh, but Rehan knew it was too early. His information stated that Blitz fully developed the basis of his golden core within the next two months, step by step. And yet, he crouched here and writhed in pain. He really didn't have time for this premature part of the story. To escape the influence of the spasms, Rehan bit his lower lip until one of his canine teeth broke through the deadly pale skin and purplish red blood trickled down his chin. At the same moment he got up while still trembling and wobbled toward the exit.
His fingers had barley slipped through the gap between thick fabric as his body automatically shivered violently. Rehan could feel the freezing temperature penetrating his body till it reached his bones. It wasn't pleasant and definitely didn't help with his current situation. As soon as he opened his lips, a bright white cloud rose into the morning sky.
"Where is she?" Rehan shouted. He was immediately the centre of attention.
Everyone who was currently at the clearing kept his eyes on the child, that was standing on the dark grass with only a small piece of cloth on his body. Here and there, smaller and larger fires flickered, over which a saucepan hung. Most people gathered around it to get their meal. The smell of meat soup, sweet potatoes and fresh bread had spread throughout the camp and some of the people had been busy doing their morning workouts. Actually, it could be called a harmonious sight, but Rehan had no time to pay attention to harmony.
Blitz had woken up in a strange environment, without his family by his side and with indescribable pain. His strange and foreign circumstances didn't let him think clearly. As a child, he was more than distraught, even hysterical, and that's exactly what he showed.
He took another step forward, was now completely out of the tent and looked at all the unfamiliar eyes anxiously.
"Where?" He pleaded now, his weak legs not stopping to move. Tears of pain ran down his icy cheeks.
"Where is my sister?"