After a few minutes spent wiping the blood off his weapons, Lukas slowly began to assess to own condition. Beyond the minor tear in his clothing, he seemed to be fine. Instinctively he checked his neck and found no wounds or marks.
Of course, he had rewound time before he ever received the wound, but it was still a strange thing.
'No, I'm never getting used to that, am I?'
As he had just about finished evaluating his condition, he noticed a light being cast on him from behind.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
Skyla had arrived. She was a few minutes late, and it surprised Lukas that no one else had come to help him. Weren't there supposed to be other Fortissimo members out by now?
"I'm fine. I found a ghast that was playing dead. I managed to kill it after a short skirmish. It wasn't the one you saw, and it wasn't another rare one either."
Skyla had a bow in her hands made of light. However, when Lukas mentioned that everything was under control, it quickly disappeared.
"Were you the one that shot that arrow?"
"Yes, I did so to inform you I heard your call. And on the off chance that it managed to hit the ghast."
"It almost did! Only by a metre or so, but the light helped distract it."
Lukas finished getting his kusarigama's sickle unwedged and began to pack up and retreat.
"What exactly happened, and was there anything unique about the ghast?"
Lukas took some time to gather his thoughts.
"Honestly, I don't remember all of it. It kind of all blurred together in my mind. But, the ghast was able to change its shape on the fly, and it could regenerate at an extreme speed. I think I fought well, but I don't exactly know what I did."
"Didn't you collapse a few weeks ago at the sight of a ghast?"
Skyla's question was a sharp pain in Lukas' heart. She was right, but the thought of it caused his heart to yearn for the past like it did at that moment. He didn't collapse like back then, but he did freeze for a moment.
"Yes... yes, I did."
"Then you really grew. If you went from that to being able to kill a ghast on your own."
Her words fell from her lips like stone. They weren't meant for Lukas. They sounded like it came from inside her.
All Lukas did, however, was lightly nod. What could he do anyway?
"Weren't the other members supposed to be here by now? Should we go check on them?"
Skyla thought about it for a moment.
"You're right... I haven't seen anyone today."
The air grew tense as Skyla remained trapped in thought. Lukas too, thought over what could of happened.
Skyla said the others would start exploring when they woke up. But that should've been hours ago, it was already mid-afternoon. Did they forget? Probably not. There had to be a reason they didn't.
'Or maybe they did...'
Could they have died? All of them?
"Skyla-"
Her eyes lit up with panic.
"WE NEED TO GO NOW!"
Her fear sent Lukas' mind into shock. His body moved before he could think, running as fast as he possibly could. He didn't know why he was running, he simply followed Skyla and her words of warning.
All the sounds around him vanished, except for his frantic breathing. He chased after Skyla as best he could. But she was also running as fast as she could. Soon, she was out of sight.
He ran after her afterimage, where she was moments ago. Footprints and treelines shifted into grasping vines. They grabbed Lukas and dragged him deep into the mud.
Then he woke up.
"You're finally awake."
Skyla was standing over him and he was lying in a bed in the barracks of the Mistfell Fortissimo Station. He was extremely exhausted and in a cold sweat from his brief nightmare.
"I am..? What happened?"
Skyla sighed.
"Well, you blew the whistle. When I got there I found you and a ghast's corpse. Shortly after I arrived, you passed out. You likely overexerted yourself."
Lukas furrowed his brow in confusion.
"What did I say?"
"I asked you what happened and if you were alright. You said 'I'm fine.' and passed out."
"Everything else that happened was a dream?"
Skyla raised an eyebrow.
"Yes..? Although I don't know anything about this dream of yours. Oh, and I got your weapons back for you. I don't even know how you got your kusarigama up there, or why."
Skyla sighed and began to walk away.
"Take the rest of the day off, tomorrow you're going to search this side of the river."