Cyril awoke feeling sore. His back hurt terribly. The first thing that he noticed when opening his eyes was that all the light was gone.
The only source of light is the moon shining through the hole of the tent. He tried to sit up but his entire body felt so heavy. He groaned in pain. He placed a hand on his lower back.
"Ouch, what happened to me?" He muttered to himself.
He tried to open his eyes, but his vision was blurry. He blinked a few times trying to adjust to the darkness around him. He rubbed his eyes and stared at his surroundings.
All the things that used to be familiar are replaced by strange shapes and colors. Everything felt like a dream to him.
"This can't be real," he thought "I'm dreaming right" Cyril mumbled to himself.
He didn't realize how bad his head was hurting when he suddenly felt dizzy.
He grabbed hold of his chest as he panted heavily. Cyril felt his legs give out underneath him and he hit the ground. He lay down on the cold ground with a pool of blood around him.
He gasped for breath desperately. The pain in his back hurts so badly that even if he tried to lie flat on the ground, he would feel a sharp pain in his back again.
He closed his eyes tightly, as he continued to gasp for air. His heartbeat grew faster and faster.
"How is this happening?" He thought to himself.
"Why am I feeling this way? What did I do to deserve this?" he asked quietly while panting heavily.
The pain and suffering Cyril is feeling at the moment almost killed him. Even though it felt hard to breathe because he felt extremely dizzy.
He wanted to just curl up and wait for death, but the pain was too strong. His entire body aches and he feels weak.
Even lying down on the floor makes it worse. He gritted his teeth as he attempted to push himself against the floor to try to relieve the pain.
Unfortunately, he was in such pain that he could not even lift his arm properly.
It doesn't help that he feels so drained. His throat was dry. He felt as if his mouth was filled with sandpaper.
His eyelids felt like they weighed several hundred pounds each. He felt like crying for help. But no one can hear him anyway and they might think he's crazy.
He needs to calm down. No matter what happens, he must survive for the upcoming battles tomorrow. He has to.
Suddenly he felt something wet trickling down his cheek. His hands touched his face and realized that it was blood.
The pain of losing blood is too unbearable. It made Cyril want to pass out. He felt like he was alive.
He wanted to die.
Everything seemed like a blur. Then his mind drifted away.
******
"Your Highness!" Cyril heard someone screaming next to him.
Someone was shaking him. It feels as if he was lying face down on the ground.
"Wake up!" A loud voice shouted.
Cyril opened his eyes and saw that it was already morning.
"Hah!" He coughed and spat up a mouthful of blood.
He looked around him as his body was still aching and dizzy. He saw people surrounding him worriedly looking at him.
"Are you alright, Your Highness?" the general asked as he helped Cyril to get up slowly.
"What happened to me?" Cyril asked still feeling dizzy.
" Your Highness! You collapsed during the night. One of the soldiers found you on the ground covered in your blood." a soldier who was standing nearby explained.
"The physician said there are two fresh stabbed wounds on your back too" the soldier continued.
Cyril then remembered the wings that grew on his back last night. He slowly touches his back and finds that the wings are gone.
"Someone might have tried to assassinate our leader!" General exclaimed in shock.
"No! That's impossible. Why would they attempt such a thing? Who would want to kill his Highness!" another general replied.
"We don't know either. Everyone here is under suspicion, especially the guards, there might be a spy from our enemy among us" said the physician.
"maybe even more than one" another warrior added.
"I guess it was an accident," Cyril said quietly.
"But Your Highness, there's something else. I have never seen this wound before in my entire life. If I remember correctly, this wound should belong to someone from the enemy army. Someone with strong dark magic"
Everyone remained silent after listening to the physician's explanation.
"Maybe they cast a spell on you while fighting," the general said.
"Or maybe a demon attacked you? You were severely wounded."
Cyril shook his head and smiled faintly.
"No one is trying to harm me, now let's just focus on our plan," said Cyril with a weak smile.
Cyril tried his best not to show any signs of weakness. But inside, Cyril was dying.
The physician and the others were also surprised by the wounds on his back. It looks pretty deep too.
Cyril felt a headache starting to form in his skull. He closed his eyes briefly as he was having a hard time keeping himself conscious.
"You must rest, Your Highness." Said the physician after seeing Cyril struggling to keep his eyes open.
"I'll be fine" Cyril replied.
The generals looked at him and sighed sadly.
"Let him rest for today. We must protect his highness this time"
Cyril knew that their plans were coming to an end. They won't be able to win without him. He knew it from the start. So he decided to fight anyway even if it would cost his life.
"Let's feed His Highness something first." The Physician suggested.
"Right, I will go get some bread and soup from the cook," one of the generals said.
"I'll be fine, But for now can you all please leave me alone?" Cyril requested.
He doesn't wish to show anyone his weak side. He still couldn't understand what happened to him last night.
The two generals and the soldiers agreed to leave him alone but the physician insisted on staying with him as his condition was not stable.
To be continued...