The three heroes who had managed to take down one of the Royal knights of the Rawan kingdom ran all night, determined to put as much distance between them and the danger they had narrowly escaped.
Jasem, who was at the front carrying Luna, slowed down after he noticed that he was getting far ahead of his two friends, who were struggling to keep up.
He started walking normally after that, as he knew that his two friends were exhausted after running for a long time without resting.
"Huff... huff... I can't take another step," Adam said before he fell to the ground. Dean stayed standing, gasping for air with his hands on his knees.
"We should be safe here," Dean said. "I don't think he'll be able to find us here anytime soon." Jasem clicked his tongue in annoyance. He wanted to keep going, but he knew that the two were barely breathing. They wouldn't be able to move an inch further in their current condition.
He sighed, then put Luna down on the ground. "Fine," he said. "We'll rest here, but we'll start moving when the sun comes out." Adam and Dean nodded. Dean went to check on Luna's wounds, while Jasem walked away.
"Is this still hurting you?" he asked, his voice soft and concerned. He pressed slightly on her arm, and she closed her eyes and bit her lip to suppress a cry of pain. He could see the tension in her face.
Dean let go of Luna's arm immediately, his eyes scanning the dark sky above them. Adam was lying on his back, looking up at the stars. He smiled as he watched the constellations twinkle.
"Hey, does the book have any recipes for medicine?" Dean asked Adam, who was enjoying the moment. Adam didn't even look at him, but he grabbed the former hero's book from his storage and threw it towards Dean, who was sitting beside Luna.
"Read it and find out," Adam said, placing his arms under his head and closing his eyes. "I'm going to sleep." He planned to rest as much as he could before they continued their journey into the unknown in the morning.
Jasem did the same, laying down under a tree and closing his eyes. Dean was left sitting alone with the injured Luna, who was shaking as she lay beside him.
He looked at her with a smile on his face, waving the book in front of her slightly. "This is a very valuable book," he said. "I'm sure I can find something in here to heal your wounds."
Luna, who was still shaking, smiled at him when she heard that. Dean started opening the book and reading its contents, hoping to find something to help the poor girl. Her wounds were getting worse as time passed.
She kept looking at him for a few minutes, with a smile on her face, as he read the book silently. Her eyes became heavy, and she couldn't stay awake any longer. She fell asleep shortly after.
=========
Hours had passed since the incident, and Halland was starting to wake up slowly. The sun was rising, and its rays were hitting his face, announcing the arrival of a new day.
Halland groaned as he sat up, his head throbbing. He reached up and touched his forehead, wincing at the pain. He started checking himself for injuries, looking for any wounds that needed healing right away.
After seeing that there was nothing major wrong with him except for a broken tooth that had fallen out of his mouth due to Jasem's punches, which were heavier than he had expected, Halland sighed in relief.
Halland stood up and looked around, hoping to see the Heroes. However, he found no one except for some wild animals that were starting their day. He felt a pang of disappointment.
Halland clicked his tongue in annoyance. He knew that the Heroes were long gone by now, if they weren't before. He started heading back to his horse, knowing that he needed to get back to the Capital as soon as possible if he wanted to keep his head intact.
He went back to his original plan of taking his family and fleeing that place as soon as possible. He knew what the consequences of his failure were, and he was not about to risk his life or the lives of his loved ones.
As he walked back to his horse, which was waiting for him at the village entrance, Halland stopped when he arrived at where Zachary was tied up. He started waking him up, hoping that Zachary knew more about why the Heroes were running away.
Halland's hopes of surviving were renewed when he saw Zachary. He thought that he could take Zachary back to the king and explain what had happened. He hoped that the king would believe him and spare his life.
"Wake up, soldier," Halland said, slapping Zachary a few times. Zachary's eyes slowly opened, and he saw Halland sitting before him.
"Hummm hum hummm" Halland took the shirt out of his mouth and threw it away. He was eager to hear what Zachary had to say.
"The Heroes..., the Heroes are evil, they were trying to kill me Sir Halland, I don't know why."
"Do you know anything about where they are going or why they are running away?" Halland asked. Zachary stayed silent for a few moments before shaking his head. Halland was disappointed by the answer.
Halland looked at Zachary for a few more moments before sighing. He knew that Zachary was useless to him and that there was no point in taking him back with him. He couldn't frame Zachary, even if he wanted to. He felt bad for the poor bastard.
He untied Zachary quickly and then started walking away from him. He headed toward his horse, which was down the hill.
Zachary kept shouting at Halland, "You need to warn the king! These guys are not heroes, they are monsters!" Halland didn't care what Zachary had to say. He went back to his horse, got on top of it, and started leaving the place.
"Wait! Where are you going? Take me with you!" Zachary shouted as he ran after Halland, who was already mounted on his horse. Zachary was wearing nothing but his underwear, and he was clearly afraid. Halland ignored him completely and continued heading towards the Capital.
Zachary stood in the middle of the road, watching Halland ride away. He knew that Halland wasn't going to help him, and he felt a wave of despair wash over him. He watched as Halland disappeared from sight, and he knew that he was on his own.
Zachary stared at the empty road, thinking about what he should do. He heard voices from behind him, and he turned around to see a group of people staring and pointing at him. He was only wearing his underwear, and he felt humiliated. The people laughed at him, and he felt like he wanted to disappear.
Zachary immediately ran back towards the hill, tears welling up in his eyes. He was feeling embarrassed, angry, and confused all at the same time. He vowed to himself as he ran that he would never go out drinking in the middle of nowhere ever again.
*****
"Agh..., that's really painful"
After sleeping for a few hours, Jasem woke up at the sound of someone groaning. He sat up immediately and looked toward the source of the sound to find Dean and Adam sitting in front of Luna, who was lying before them. Dean and Adam were holding a sword, and Luna was groaning in pain as she slept.
"What are you two doing?" Jasem asked as he wiped his eyes and looked at them. Adam smiled and waved at him. "Oh, you're awake finally! Come and see this amazing thing."
Jasem didn't know what was happening, but he stood up from where he was and started heading towards the two men before him. He was curious about what they were doing, and he wanted to see what this "amazing thing" was.
After he arrived he was shocked. He saw blood all over Luna who was still sleeping as Dean was holding a bloody sword. His hands was full of blood as well while Adam smiling beside him as he looked at the sleeping Luna.
"What did you do?!" Jasem shouted at them, pushing them away from Luna, who woke up frightened by his loud voice. He was worried that they had hurt her.
"We're healing her! Look at her wounds," Dean said as he stood back up and started heading back towards them. Jasem looked back at Luna, who was surprised to see that her wounds were being healed. The pain was starting to disappear from her body.
"How did you do that?" Jasem asked, amazed as he could see the wounds and bruises that were on Luna's body disappear at an enormous rate before him.
Dean sat back in front of Luna, who was looking at her body confusedly. He cut his hand with the sword and dropped a few drops of his blood on her wounds. The wounds immediately healed, and Luna was amazed.
"It's our blood," Dean said. "It's stated in the book that we can heal people with our blood. The former Hero found out about it after one of his party members was accidentally healed when his blood spilled onto him during a fight with one of the Demon Lord's generals. He didn't know why it worked, but we're able to heal people with it just like him."
Dean smiled as he cut himself again and dropped his blood on Luna, who was healing. Jasem was suspicious of this power and started speaking.
"Are there any side effects? This power seems too good to be true."
Dean looked at Jasem and shrugged. "I don't know. The former Hero didn't write anything about side effects in the book."
Jasem looked at Adam, who was still smiling. Adam could imagine the endless possibilities for them to use this power.
"What do you think about this?" Jasem asked Adam. Adam looked at him and stayed silent for a few moments, thinking about what he said.
"It's a great power for one person to have without any restrictions, as you said. We can monitor them for the time being and see if anything about them changes," Adam said. Jasem nodded in agreement. He stood up and left to relieve himself before they continued their journey. Leaving the two with Luna.
"Don't overdo it," he said after arriving back at the tree he was sleeping under. "We don't know what could happen, so it's best to be careful. Get ready to leave soon." The two nodded at him.
Jasem went to the other side of the tree, he didn't want Luna to see him whip it out and start pissing in front of her all of sudden as he would feel uncomfortable.
After getting at good blind spot, Jasem started relieving himself and enjoying the moment, before he heard something coming from behind him quickly.
He tried to turn his head and look to see what was that, before a sword appeared from behind him and stopped at his neck as someone started whispering in his ear.
"You move, you die!. You speak, you die!. If you even think about doing something, You die!"
Jasem gulped as he saw a middle aged man behind him with five others holding their swords. They were walking slowly toward Dean and Adam, who was giving them their backs. They were looking at Luna who was laying on the ground while her wounds being healed by Dean's blood.