"What happened to him?"
"Miss, we don't know, but looking at his injuries, most likely a fight."
"A fight and he got injured. That's impossible. Ast is invincible below the Foundation Realm. I don't believe it."
"We'll know when he wakes up."
"Leave! I want some alone time with him."
....
The force striking his mind was heavy beyond what he'd felt since he started following the Path. It ground his very being, pushing him lower and deeper with each second he was in its presence.
He didn't know where he was let alone who he was. He floated in absolute darkness, unable to determine which direction was which. His thoughts were muddled beyond comprehension. Putting words or ideas together didn't work. He tried, without knowing why he should. And the result was random nonsense.
Then his break came. He heard sounds. At first, muffled and inaudible but as he focused he heard words. His mind had somehow broken out of the cage it was in. A free bird. Let out from the cage it was forced in due to circumstances. It had somehow regrown its wings and taken flight.
"Ast!" he heard sobs.
He couldn't tell the direction they came from. But he felt the raw unbridled emotion encapsulated in each wave. Raw emotion swept his mind, jolting a little more clarity in him.
"Y..." He tried formulating a thought. It failed.
"Wake up!"
"I..." He tried again. This time with some success. He felt it. His jaw. It moved. He could think.
"Yes. Ast. Did you say something?"
"Ye..." It took him some time to reply but the thought took form. His jaw moved along with the thought.
"What are you trying to say?"
*BOOM!*
Memories, thoughts, ideas, everything, Assaulted him from all directions, filling up the absolute darkness with countless specks of lights. Each spec held a part of him.
And then a new sensation assaulted him. At first, it was mild and nothing more than a single pulse. But as more memories and lights filled the blackness, the feeling grew. He didn't know what it was but it made him uncomfortable. His suspicions were proven correct when the feeling blew out. The tiny pulse grew into enormous waves that shook the endless blackness. He wanted to cry. To scream. His body didn't listen to him.
After what felt like an eternity, Ast's vision opened. He was met with murkiness and vague shadows fluttering about near him. It took a full ten minutes for the blurriness to be replaced by the crystal clear image of Layla out cold on a rickety chair near him.
His thoughts were still muddled and a headache constantly buzzed within his mind but he paid it no heed. He wanted to stand up and greet Layla. He willed his hand to move. It didn't. He tried his feet. They didn't either. Despair slowly settled in when he realised a possibility. He was crippled. Useless and on death's door. What happened to him to be in such a state? The years welling in his eyes never dropped. The muscles in his eyes were far too weak to squeeze the droplets out.
He just stared at the ceiling. A few days ago he was so close to breaking through to the Foundation-Establishment Realm. Now. He was nothing but a pile of useless crap ready to be tossed out. What would his father think? Could he even face his father at this stage? Instead of getting stronger like he promised he'd be going home a cripple with no potential. He might as well die here.
"Ast, are you awake," a voice came into his ears. It was Layla's.
He battled hard with his throat. He pushed and pulled- hoping to seduce a few words so that he could console Layla.
"I'm... wake," a barely audible moan was all he could achieve.
"You are awake?"
"Ye....s"
"Am I dreaming?"
"N..."
"Ast you are awake," Layla leapt from her chair, rubbing away the sleep crust that gathered around her eyes.
She zoomed to Ast's side, tears drenching her cheeks and running down her chin. Her hand wound around his. She couldn't stop the tears from flowing even though she was borderline a Foundation-Realm expert. She'd been waiting for him to wake up for months. Whoever did that to him was going to die one way or the other. She wouldn't rest to make that a reality, even if she had to trample on Heaven and its decrees.
"I missed-'' her tears poured out along with her anguish. She cried letting out the feelings she'd bottled up inside since she saw him battered and mutilated. He barely had breath in him then. Blood constantly gurgled from his mouth, gathering into a large pool that drenched him. The heartache that struck her then was beyond what her mind could handle. She fainted almost immediately.
Ast immediately fell unconscious again. The energy he'd used to open his eyes was far too much for the current him. Bright light woke him from his slumber.
The strength flowing through him was much more than yesterday. With that, he opened his eyes and gazed at the room he was in once more. He didn't understand how he never noticed it the day before but the place was an utter dump. The curling was nothing but decayed at this point. Brown and somehow morphed into grey and black. Pieces of it dangled in the air. The lightest of forces could surely be nicked down. The walls were charred with little spots of white that he assumed were the old paint. The windows were barricaded with large pieces of the wound. Only a small amount of sunlight made it into the room.
Layla woke up and noticed his wandering eyes. Excitement slammed against the door of her heart. It wasn't a dream. Ast had woken up from his month-long slumber.
She shuffled her chair to his side and began stroking his hair. Her fingers feathered his forehead before moving into his cheeks.
Ast looked up and saw her smiling expression. He wanted to smile too, but moving his facial muscles was no different to a mortal pushing a mountain with their breath. For Layla, his eyes were sufficient. To her, they told a story he wants from here from his mouth. They spoke of hope and a better future.
But reality sunk in when she gazed at st's bandages. His entire body was wrapped in them. She spent her entire personal fortune to buy him the best Body-Rebuilding elixir. Unfortunately, she couldn't find ones that could restore him perfectly. Instead, she found ones that could only regenerate his limbs at the cost of his dantian and cultivation. She sacrificed his future just so he could live. She didn't know what she'd tell him once he woke up.
It was her fault, wasn't it? If she hadn't left him alone that day he would have been safe. There were so many things she did wrong and this was the way the Heavens punished her. Ast would hate her for saving his life, wouldn't he? She took away his future. For something as selfish as seeing him live another day.
Ast focused, gathering his energy to move his legs. He pushed and felt for it with every strategy he could think of. One of those methods worked.