"Was that a… person?"
Elvinn muttered, exchanging a puzzled glance with his sister. "Aria…" His voice trailed as without thinking, the young girl dashed, rushing towards the motionless figure lying on the shore. She doesn't think at times. He thought as he went after her. As the siblings got closer, they could finally make out the features of the figure on the floor , a young man with rather short golden hair clad in tattered looking clothes. Indeed, it was a person, albeit in a sorry looking state
"Is he alright?" Aria asked, concern evident in her voice.
Elvinn crouched down beside the unconscious young man, carefully checking for any signs of injury. "Sword wounds?" he noted, carefully observing the cut marks littered all over the young man's body as his face darkened. "He's lost so much blood, How the hell is this guy even still alive?" He wondered
"Poor guy" Aria said, observing the young man as well, her eyes filled with concern. "What could he have been through?" She wondered as well
Elvinn's face remained darkened as he was lost in thought. Without a doubt, those sword wounds could come from only one set of people. The set of people he hated the most in the world, Knights. In this world, they were the presiding military forces. Once an order sworn to defending the weak, in the past couple of years, and under the rule of the new king, the once defenders of the oppressed had become the oppressors themselves. This young man was probably a victim of one of their raids, and from his wounds, it seemed very likely they were after him
Or so he thought.
"Well…" He shrugged "...It's not our problem"
"What?" Aria stared at him in surprise. "What are you saying?"
"We shouldn't get involved with him." Elvinn continued, his expression remaining the same
"Elvinn… where's this coming from…?" Aria asked, unable to understand her brother's sudden change in behavior."... you were concerned about him just a minute ago" She pointed out.
"I was.." He responded. "However.." He went on "...for our own good, it would probably be better for us if we didn't interfere in matters that didn't concern us."
"You always said I should try my best to help people" Aria countered back.
"Aria this is different. We have know idea who or what this guy could be. I mean, he could be a runaway slave… or a fugitive–"
"--Or someone in need?" Aria cut in.
" Aria…" Elvinn sighed.
"I understand your worries. Honestly I'm a little worried myself." Aria began, calmly looking into her brother's eyes. "But…" She went on, her gaze shifting back to the young man in front of her "...if I just let this man die knowing that I might have the ability to heal him, that would haunt me even more"
"Aria…" Elvinn started, but the words were stuck in his mouth, unable to push forward. He took one final look at the young man lying unconscious on the sand. "Alright. I'll trust your judgment" he gave in finally. Aria's eyes glowed at her brother's approval. Placing both her palms above the young man's chest, she closed her eyes, concentrating her utmost.
Whishhhh!
Her palms began to glow with an otherworldly green light. As Elvinn watched, impressed at his sister's ability, he could see this green light leave his sister's palms and transfer to the young man's chest. This procedure lasted for a couple of minutes.
"Thank goodness." She finally said, heaving a sigh of relief at the fact that it had worked well this time. "Now c'mon," she nudged at her brother as she tugged on the unconscious young man's limp arm "I need help with this."
"Help with…" Elvinn wondered what she was talking– "WAIT," it finally struck him "You're… not SERIOUSLY thinking of bringing him with us are you?"
"Well… it's better than leaving him to die out here." Aria shrugged indifferently "Besides," she went on "how would I know if I've healed him properly?"
Elvinn actually saw reason in her words. However, a small part of him still kicked against all of this."Urgh" He groaned in frustration. it seemed he was losing more control of this situation with each passing minute. Well, He thought. They had already healed him in the first place. They might as well see it through to the end. With that thought in mind,he walked over to aid his sister with carrying the unconscious young man.
***
The young man stirred and slowly opened his eyes, a slight groan escaping his lips. Where was he? He wondered. With a pair of slightly hazy eyes, he scrutinized his surroundings. He could see a few sleeping bags arranged in a corner, a small tent and a few pieces of wood arranged together, hopefully to make a fire. Overall, everywhere seemed really strange and unfamiliar to him. Where was he? He wondered for the second time as he slowly tried to recollect his thoughts. The last thing he could remember was–
GROWL!
As if on cue, his entire body twitched in response to the low growl he heard from the bushes behind him. He immediately sprang up from where he lay, seizing a nearby tree branch he found as he mentally prepared himself for battle with what ever adversary came his way.
WHOOSH!
With incredible speed, a blurry figure lunged at him from within the bushes. He instinctively ducked as the object whooshed passed him. Turning around, he finally got a good look at his "adversary".
"What the?"
Standing in front of him was probably the strangest looking animal he had ever encountered in his entire life. It stood at over 8 feet tall, with reddish brown fur and had a body which looked like a strange mixture of a bull and an anteater. The fact that the creature was able to move that quickly inspite of its size and physique further perplexed the young man.
"What… are you?"
He was no stranger to mythical creatures, but this particular one was very unfamiliar to him. Whatever the case was, he was going to need more than just a stick to defeat it.
WHACK!
"Urgh!"
The creature's tail swung at the young man who, in his hazy mind state, had failed to react in time. Said attack was probably the equivalent of swatting away a fly for the creature, but the impact from the attack sent him crashing against a tree, causing him to lose his grip on his "weapon" from earlier as pain shot through his body.
What was with this creature? He wondered, his head was spinning and he was beginning to feel dizzy. Damn it, he was loosing consciousness again, what could he do? Many thoughts ran through his mind but he barely had time to recollect his thoughts as in the next breath, he felt the creature directly above him. With effortless ease, the creature casually pinned him to the ground as it brought it's snout closer to the young man's face.
"Maik STOP!"
The last thing he heard was a female voice calling out to someone– seemingly the creature in front of him. Who was that? Probably it's owners? He could barely make sense of anything as his eyes slowly closed.
Darkness...
***
The young man stirred once again, slowly opening his eyes once again. Nope. That wasn't a dream. He thought as he was greeted by the same scenario from the environment he awoke in previously. Few things were different though, he noticed a fire had been made from the prices of wood he saw earlier, there was a pot on top the fire, the sleeping bags had been distributed and–
"You're awake? Thank goodness. I thought we lost you back there"
A familiar feminine voice came from behind him. It was the voice he heard before he lost consciousness, although his mind had been too muddled to concentrate back then. He turned around to see a young girl of about the same age, or slightly younger than him, walking in his direction.
"You weren't seriously injured were you?" Her voice contained a tinge of concern as she squatted in front of him, carefully studying his body for any more injuries. He finally got a good look at her for the first time. Her long golden brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and her emerald green eyes carried a hint of concern as she carefully examined him. Her touch was smooth and delicate, as though she was scared that he was too fragile– Wait! A sudden thought struck him. What about the creature from earlier?
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The young man's entire body stiffened as the bull-anteater hybrid from earlier strutted towards him. Speak of the devil, He muttered to himself. Lowering its bull-like snout, the creature gave a low growl before it began sniffing at the young man. On noticing the creature's behavior, the girl couldn't help but give a slight chuckle.
"Maik seems to really like you"
Maik? Was she referring to this creature? These and others ran through the young man's mind as he felt the creature's slobbery tongue brush across his face. Gross!
"What is…?"
"It's a Kreevid"
Shock was clearly written all over the young man's face as he stared blankly at the creature who, from a strange mixture of a bull and an anteater, had become a much smaller, ferret like creature which perched itself on his chest.
It could shapeshift as well?
"You… haven't seen one before?" The girl couldn't help but voice out her astonishment at his ignorance. Who was this boy and where was he from?
"If you're done over there, maybe you can help me with the food?"
Came a sarcastic remark from another young man who, standing over the pot on fire, couldn't help but roll his eyes at the interaction between the both of them. "We're on our way" the girl replied before returning her gaze to the young man in front of her. "Got an appetite?" She asked, her voice hinting friendliness.The young man slowly nodded, still trying to process everything that had just happened. He couldn't deny that he was famished, having been unconscious and injured for who knows how long. The mention of food reminded him of his own condition, and he gingerly touched the areas where the sword wounds had been, surprised to find that they were now completely healed.
"How…?"
"I healed you" Aria said, a warm smile leaving her lips. Strange, the young man thought. There were no stitches anywhere and he was sure he had received cuts. He also couldn't perceive any healing balm or potion or whatever, meaning they didn't use any of that. The only option left was…
"You… used magic?" The young man's eyes widened in shock, his gaze not leaving the girl's face.
"Yeah" She answered simply, her smile unwavering.
The young man stared at the girl in front of him, multiple thoughts running through his mind. Magic? How was that possible? Magic shouldn't even exist anymore
Unless...
Could she possibly be...?
But those people were rumored to have died out a long time ago.
He wasn't making sense of anything at all. And the girl in front of him was simply smiling.
As if she hadn't just done one of the most unusual things he had seen in years.
Well in any case...
"Thank you,..so much." He mustered, she had saved his life after all,the least he could do was to thank her at least.
CLANG! CLANG!
The sounds of kitchen utensils hitting each other jolted the two from their conversation. "Dinner's ready you two" the other young man called from where he stood.
"C'mon let's go" The girl coaxed the young man in front of her, extending her hand to help him up. "They didn't seem like bad people." He thought as he took her hand and they both walked towards the pot on fire.