The rush that came along with the unbelievable moment had vanished, and Noah once again was starting to feel the effects of overtaking his body, but he couldn't rest yet.
He set Valdor against a tree trunk and gathered his Kali sticks and packed them into their spots in his backpack leaving only the throwing the knives into their spots in the sheath. He retrieved the glowing orb on the floor before going over to the other corpses checking to see if they had an orb too.
He found one only in the other three streaked wolf. Putting them into his backpack, he dragged himself towards a tree trunk opposite Valdor and took a rest waiting for his brother to wake up soon. He could only hope they had no more encounter with beasts
*********************************
Valdor opened his eyes to the sights of a copper coloured sky with the sun at the edge of the horizon. He remembered the chase and the battle up until the moment of the last swing, he wasn't sure of the outcome but he probably failed and left everything to Noah as usually did.
Seeing as he was still alive, Noah did a damn good job saving their asses. He took a deep breath to regulate the aether following into his energy channels, nourishing them and removing the strain from battle. He noticed a few more energy channels were now open and had aether flowing into them as well.
'Well atleast something good came out of this hell hole, but it's a pity I wasn't able to secure what I really wanted. Would Noah really be able to awaken in his lifetime? He definitely didn't want to see that happen which was why he took the risk of coming here, but even fate was against him.
Valdor carefully stood up and stretched his body, getting accustomed to the strained and sore muscles, he might not have gotten a beating, but he moved his body mkre times that he ever did at a single period in his lifetime. He'd remember to give Ryan his thanks afterwards, or not. Who knows what he'd do to him if he told Ryan about how grateful he was.
Valdor walked towards Noah who was leaning against the tree trunk opposite where he woke up from.
"Even in such a situation, you're still looking out for me, makes me wonder who's the big brother between man. Look you're so drained you couldn't even react to my movements like you usually would"
Valdor spoke as he arrived at Noah's position, gently tapping him on the shoulder. The moment Noah opened his eyes, he was engulfed in a hug
"Thank you a lot Noah"
Valdor was hugging Noah, his face hidden to hide his tears, as he poured his heart out
"I know I put you in a lot of trouble and that I don't show you much I appreciate you, but little bro, I want you to know, till death do us part, I'll forever be in your corner"
Noah smiled as Val sniffed into his clothes, managing to utter out those words clearly enough for Noah to hear. Noah didn't know this, but the words uttered by Valdor, was an oath. One he could never go against, if he did, the price would be all the aether he had. He would be reduced to a mere mortal.
"It's alright bro, you'd do the same for me"
Noah hugged Val, patting him on the back
"We should get going soon though, would soon be dark and it would be a disaster to navigate once that happens, and you and I both are in no state to have a conversation right now. All you want to know, I'll tell you once we're at the outpost. We'll stay there for the night and continue our journey tomorrow."
Valdor nodded separating from Noah, he picked up his bag and they both begun their trek to the outpost. Thankfully they were able to avoid anymore encounter with any beast, the blood of a higher level beast on them scaring away any lower level one.
This was also the reason they were able to sleep unguarded at the devil's nest, well that and the kind of location it was. Under normal circumstances, no sane beast would approach the nest. If it wasn't for the grudge the pack had and they being of a higher level than the usual residents of the part of the forest, even they wouldn't approach the nest.
Arriving at the springs, they used one of the harmless pools as a bath, and cleaned their clothes on the spot before going inside the outpost and falling into a deep sleep. The amount of rest they had at the nest wasn't enough to clear their fatigue, not to mention that Noah just had his awakening and had a rebirth of some sorts.
They didn't get up from their slumber until the noon of the next day. They caught a rabbit, roasted it and had a meal before pulling the cart to make a route back home. Thankfully, this time, without any encounters.
When they arrived at in town, they found a few of the fogies, ahh sorry, the old men were all suited up and were ready to set out. They all had serious expressions on their faces, you'd think someone was on the verge on death and they were on a mission to retrieve salvation for the dying soul.
Indeed it was as Noah was thinking, as the folks who knew of Val's target started to get worried when he he didn't return the previous night. But the all chalked it up to him fooling around as he was known for and deciding to stay the night at the outpost.
The real trouble came when noon was approaching and he still had not arrived. Pete, one the folks, a hunter and butcher who ran the local butchery, paid the temple a visit to find Noah. If Noah was back then there was no problem, the kid was just playing around and he could continue with his business, but when he got to the temple, Diara informed him they weren't back from the trip yet.
Rushing back to his place to he got in gear and made a run for the forest. On his way there, he met others similarly clothed all heading in the same direction. That was when he found out Val had asked for almost everyone's help in planning his little adventure.
With the amount of help and information they all provided and his partner being Noah who everyone acknowledged was a genius, they should have finished and arrived back in town by now, so they decided to group up and head into the forest to search for their traces.
It was better to be safe than sorry.
Just as they were about to disperse and begin their search, Noah and Val appeared from the edge, guiding their cart towards the village. If they were ten minutes slower, the group's would have dispersed and searched for them all over the forest.
Sighting the boys, the tension in their midst finally dropped. They waited for the boys to get in town before they started their interrogations with looks that would make a child beg for his momma.
Of course they weren't angry, just worried, and wondered why they had to take so long. If it was one of Val's mischief this time, he wasn't going to get away it so easily. The first snow would call at anytime and it was the wrong time for such games.
They dragged the boys to the tavern, where Val regaled them with the tales of the their journey.
His playful nature and loudmouth, brightening up the previously tense atmosphere