As the door was pushed open, its loud creaking noise filled the small, cozy little house, battling with the sizzling strands of deliciousness for a very brief moment.
"Ah, just in time!" The gentle voice of the blonde-haired woman, Sera came from the other end in the next moment. "In front of you is the bathroom, go do your thing, wash up and come to the living room!"
Following her instructions, Lucien, still feeling weak in his legs, slowly pushed himself forward in the narrow hallway. Using his right arm as support, he kept it behind him, holding the wall behind him, whilst reaching forward with his left, trying to grab the metal lever on the door and push it open.
With a bit of struggle, he was eventually successful. Once his fingers latched onto the door, he pushed himself away from the right side, walked, and leaned forward, grabbing the next wall in front of him once again for additional support.
Finally, his efforts bore fruit, he pushed against the lever, opened the door, and wobbled into the small bathroom.
A few seconds later as the door closed behind him, the sound of the running water reached Sera's ears who was just finishing up with the breakfast.
Fried eggs and bacon.
Normally it wouldn't be anything noteworthy, just your normal morning intake of calories with a bit of vitamin, antioxidants, protein, and of course, the best and at the same time worst of them all, fat.
As the food was ready, the yolks were shining with a bright golden luster at the center of the egg whites, with two thin and crispy strips of bacon, Sera listened for a brief moment, confirming that the boy was still occupying the bathroom.
With that knowledge in mind, she raised her right hand over the breakfast plate, closed her eyes, and focused her mind on a particular stream of energy circulating inside her body.
A moment later, the very same bright white light appeared, surrounding her slender hand like a glove made out of energy and radiated towards the still steaming platter.
She kept pooling and emitting the energy, even as small beads of sweat began to appear and convulse on her forehead. She gritted her teeth and continued to provide the food with her transcendent power. She could regain what she used up now, and it would serve a just goal. The boy needed all the help he could get, he needed to regain the strength he lost.
She continued with it until she could no longer hear the streaming sounds of water from the bathroom. By the time the door opened up and the boy wobbled its way out of it, she was already back to her previous, 'normal' self. She hurriedly placed the plate on the table and ran to the boy.
"Come let me help, you are still weak. After all, you just woke up after spending so much in bed." She chuckled as she offered a helping hand.
Although he wanted to resist and push the approaching hands away, he knew he couldn't. He was barely standing. His legs still seemed to be incapable of supporting his weight. He felt worse than ever before.
Even during the experiments back in his 'Facility days', by the time he woke up, he was usually back on her feet, he was healed up, either by the continuous injections or by his unique regenerative trait.
However, this time it seemed that this ability was either incapable of doing its job, or it was doing it way too slow.
As if understanding his thoughts, Sera spoke with the same warm smile on her face as she grabbed the boy's back and helped him walk in a more stable manner.
"Your regenerative ability is currently inactive. Your energy was probably completely depleted when you were thrown back by that Enhanced. Don't worry, it will kick back soon, and you will be back in your tip-top shape in no time!"
She chuckled once again as they slowly walked towards the set kitchen table. She helped him sat down and pushed the plate in front of him.
"Come, eat up, you need all the energy you can get!" Her warm smile seemed to finally calm the boy's racing mind. He reached for the fork and knife and without waiting for her to take her seat quickly dug in.
After all, he was just like she said, he was hungry, famished. When he smelled the bacon, the eggs, he almost couldn't hold back salivating.
However, as soon as he swallowed the first bite down, the knife and the fork fell from his hands.
The system's window instantly came up, and a notification appeared with the usual blood-red, eerie letters.
[…::: Holy Essence absorbed! Damages are being slowly healed. :::…]
[…::: Health and Energy are being slowly restored. :::…]
And just like the message had said, he could see both of his stats slowly growing at the very top of his vision.
[…::: Health: 2.091 / 10 ::: Energy: 0.85 / 10 :::…]
His health grew at a much slower pace than his energy, but the fact was, he once again came in contact with this mysterious source of energy. This time, however, the system seemed to have used everything he received as there was no EP generated.
Instantly, his eyes darted at the warmly smiling woman. He became wary and instinctively reached for the knife with his right hand, using it as a makeshift weapon if the need would arise.
Sera was obviously expecting such a reaction from the boy. He always seemed to be on alert against everybody. He felt that the whole world was against him, which, to be honest, was quite justified in his case. After all, all his life was spent with constant abuse, and the only source of light he had met was almost killed because of him.
"Don't worry. I know you have questions, and I have promised you answers, remember? I will answer everything you want to know, but for now, eat everything in front of you. You need to restore your energy so that your body could finally begin regenerating."
She spoke, urging the boy to continue and not to be afraid.
However, the boy was hesitant to do so. Although the food was delicious and the strange essence inside it was undoubtedly beneficial to him, Lucien couldn't appreciate it. He made a promise to himself, that he will not be toyed with, he will not be a puppet to anyone's will. Being led in the dark like this, was definitely not something he was willing to accept.
"No." He coldly spoke, pushing the plate away from him. Whilst holding onto the knife as his only source of defense against any potential attack, he slowly pushed the chair back, and wanted to leave the table.
Before he could do so, Sera placed her right hand over his left and spoke with a worried, concerned tone. As he looked at her, he could see the same worry that was visible before.
"Don't leave, please." She begged. "I know, I shouldn't be hiding anything from you, but please believe me that I am only trying to help. You need the energy. You have received damage that should have been fatal. It was only thanks to your unique situation as the Chosen One, that you survived a strike from a Rank 3 Enhanced."
Lucien looked at the woman with scrutinizing eyes, trying to see if there was anything behind her mask. Only after he felt like she was truly honest, did he sit back. Still, he didn't reach for the fork but matched the woman's gaze with his own cold, distant one.
"What did you do with the food? Explain." His tone was rigid, hostile, like daggers piercing into the woman's heart.
Still, she didn't show any pain, as she smiled and explained.
"I used my own energy to further enhance the food. I didn't mean to hurt or alert you, just wanted to help you get back to your peak self."
For the first time since he began interacting with her, Lucien could see behind her gentle smile and could feel her pain. It was immense and felt as if she was still grieving… someone?
"What happened? Why are you in pain?" He asked, as he finally reached for the fork. The hostility vanished from his face, replaced by a neutral but inquisitory look. There was no coldness, no wary in his tone anymore, he was truly, honestly interested in learning more about this person.
Sure, he wanted answers, but for the first time, as he got an insight behind the curtains, he felt that he could finally start stepping towards her.
Hearing the question, Sera instantly understood what he meant. A pained, wry look appeared on her angelic face. She sighed as she responded.
"Heh… You truly are like him… No wonder…"
A drop of tear appeared at the corner of her eye, slowly flowing down, she took another long, pained sigh as she slowly began her tale whilst Lucien finally began to eat up his breakfast.