Jamal's own cough awoken him, as he slowly opened his eyes. He could see he was placed in some bed with a window to the right of him. Looking outside, he had to straighten himself up, as he couldn't believe the site he was seeing. Not far from where he was could he see the ocean and houses leading to it everywhere. He only had seen it once, and that was when he trained with Boom several months ago. How was he anyway, he pondered, hoping for his recovery to be going well. He felt his stomach grumble, realizing that he was hungry, and eyed the table next to him with a platter of fruits. Not hesitating, he began eating it all up quickly until he was satisfied.
Not knowing how long he's been out, he tried getting out of bed, and it didn't hurt him at all, until he placed his feet on the ground, feeling his left side aching. He could feel something underneath his shirt in what felt like bandages, but for now, he needed to know what was going on. He grabbed the door handle and it opened to a small hallway like he was in some type of house. The only conclusion he could come up with was that they reached the city and found somewhere to stay. But then who healed him and how long was he out for again?
Frustrated for being so careless, he carefully moved down into an opening where there were several seats around, but no one in sight. Continuing past, he reached some type of kitchen and opening the fridge to only see little inside. Perhaps they were getting food?Behind him, was a door and once he opened it, he had to cover his eyes as it led to the outdoors and onto a bustling road with carriages everywhere and people milling around. Not wanting to get lost he reentered the house and continued to explore. He found bedrooms around the house, but no one inside, and was about to go searching for his belongings until he heard giggling from the outdoors.
Following the noise, he could see an open window, and peering outside, he could see Brat and Fonda chatting about some topic across the street.
"Hey," he called out weakly, but they didn't hear him.
Getting his head back in the house, he looked around until he saw a door next to him. How did he miss this? Opening it, was just a small driveway and a cobblestone path that led to the road. Who bought this place, and how much did it cost them? But he could ask those questions later, as he walked out the home and closed the door behind him, ready to know what he missed. He began moving towards them, but he realized something that shocked him. There was a tree that he couldn't see from the window, but the color of the leaves was a strong red and orange. He quickly realized that he was out for a bit, and now he was definitely going to get some answers.
There were two tall walls next to him, as Jamal finally crossed the street and approached them.
"Hey," he called to them again, as he was much closer to them.
"Who are yo-, wait a second, Jamal?" Fonda asked him.
"Wasn't he still out?" Brat asked her.
"Okay, well I don't know what going on, but we need to talk about a lot of things."
"Wait, just in case, show us your power," Brat told him.
"Is this really necessary?" he grunted, as a formed a small fireball before it dissipated. "Dang, what happened to me?"
"Oh, it is him!" Fonda hugged him, "Can't wait to see Ula's reaction, but we got to show you around."
"Yeah, heh," he said, wincing when she touched him.
"He's still hurt. I'm surprised he even survived." Brat commented.
Not this again, as they led him back into the house.
"Did you guys buy this place? Oh, wait, the possessions from the bandits? How about-"
"Calm down. We're doing fine, unlike you've been trying to die lately." Brat said as they re-entered the house.
They led Jamal to the back of the house, where there were several seats to take. Jamal took the closest one back to the outdoors, and he watched them take a seat. They began explaining to him the events afterward when he was struggling to attack the bow woman, and Hops jumped her from behind, also kicking her off the cliff. Then they described as they rushed him back into the carriage and they quickly drove towards the city without stopping. Luckily it was closer than it seemed, cause seven hours later, they reached the gates of the city and were quickly let in once the situation was figured out. They found a hospital where the doctors there quickly removed as much poison as they could before they began attempting to heal him seriously to get the remaining amount.
They had given him a five percent survival rate due to how much was in his system, but they were surprised by the resilience of his body fighting it. With that, they were able to able to heal him enough to where his body could fight the remaining strands inside him. Once they were successful, they had told him that he would just have to rest but didn't know how long it would take. So they found somewhere to stay while they let him recover undisturbed.
"And I've been out for how long?" Jamal asked once they stopped talking.
"Two weeks, I think?" Brat told him.
With all this information, he was disappointed. He was getting injured again, and he could have dropped those bandits so easily. That old man got captured and he basically killed him. His side where he got stabbed still ached, and he didn't want to push himself again as he did in Saputa City. Something had to change, or he really might die in the future.
"Okay, well at the very least, where's Ula and Hops? I need to know."
"They went to the store to get some things. I'm going, to be honest, it's almost like regular prices before the war." Fonda told Jamal.
"Probably cause the actual effects of the war haven't been felt here yet?" he had asked until he heard a door open.
Getting up, he cautiously moved out the room with Brat and Fonda itching behind. Looking over the corner, he began to smile. There was Ula talking to Hops as they had several bags of goods in their hands. It's time to see what else I missed, Jamal processed, as he began to walk up to them.