A few days later...
"*whoosh*" I felt a small breeze brush my skin as I messed with one of the symbols that seemed to float around me before shaping a current of air in a circle.
"What about this?" I tried to make a dragon with the air before it seemed to warble and dissipate along with the symbol, leaving me feeling a bit tired.
"Ugh, this is so hard!" I said, feeling annoyed about my failed attempt at manipulating a symbol again and briefly recalling how I just woke up a day or two ago and found them floating around me, blocking my vision.
"Whatever, let's just watch something..." I turned to a large orb on the wall, focusing on the image of a dark-skinned witch who had an even amount of stubble growing from his chin as he talked about the Boiling Isles news before symbols seemed to block that too.
While I tried to watch through the symbols, I thought back to the few days I spent in this room and a few others in the hospital. "...or Healing Ward, I guess?" I remembered how those nurses kept talking about memories being lost but I couldn't remember how I would've lost them.
"Well, I guess I wouldn't, since amnesia is memory loss or at least that's what I know from the doctor- no wait, The Healer" I corrected myself feeling a pang of annoyance emerge as I thought more and more about all the things I was annoyed with.
I was annoyed thinking about amnesia, about how I felt I knew its meaning but just couldn't remember, about these new symbols that were blocking my vision, about how I couldn't use the symbols like I wanted, about why I kept getting concerned looks from the nurses as they gossiped, about these tests I had to do, and finally about...
"Ugh! Why am I so annoyed every time I see my hair?!" I growled out before hearing a knock on the door and quieting down, feeling kind of awkward that I yelled that with people close by my room.
"Ahem, wh-what do you need?" I asked, trying to move away from my outburst as I watched The Doc- Healer come in with another guy with blue hair.
"Uh, who is that?" I asked only to notice that The D- Healer had a tense but friendly smile on his face and the Blue Haired guy looked kind of embarrassed, though it was still hard to tell through the symbols... you know what I'll just stop mentioning them unless they're important, so I watched the two walk in and sit down.
"Hello again..." He looked down at the clipboard and took a deep breath before looking up again, "...Azure, how are you doing today?" I looked at him weirdly yet again for using that name, the name that has annoyed me just as much as my hair with their similarity.
"I came here today to have someone visit you, now you might not remember them but they are your family, specifically your father," The Healer- 'Hey, I got it right that time, nice!' -explained as he moved an open palm to gesture at the blue-haired man.
"Well, I guess we're kind of similar..." I remembered looking in the mirror before and seeing a dopey face that seemed similar to his, the only thing that seemed completely different was that my eyes and hair didn't quite match his with my eyes being a pastel green and my hair being a darker shade of blue compared to his whatever color it was.
"So, you're my dad?" I asked as my embarrassment from before being replaced with skepticism, 'me not being in a great mood doesn't really help either,' I squinted at him as he nodded still seeming awkward.
"Y-yes, I am your fad- I mean dad, sorry I just thought the words father and dad at the same time and it kinda just combined, hah..." He seemed awkward but something still felt off about him, leaving me with a feeling of suspicion but he was better than nothing, '-and he might just be socially awkward and telling the truth.'
"well... ok, so am I finally leaving or do I need to do more tests?" I said the last half with more annoyance as the doctor's smile tensed a bit more... 'Dang it, I did it again!'.
"Yes, that's actually what we came to say, congratulations on finishing your tests, I know you were annoyed with them but you powered through and now your father is here to pick you up," He said as I nodded to him and got up from the bed I was sitting on.
"So, I can go right now?" I said, brushing off the symbols that were covering my face as they both gave me a weird look, "Yes, we just need you to go with your father so he can sign you out."
"Ok, great!" I smiled, feeling relief that I was finally done here, 'Well, I probably just don't like hospitals and don't remember,' I nodded as I walked over to my 'dad' and looked up at him, feeling some apprehension about going with him, but pushing it aside before making eye contact with him.
"So, are we going to go now?" My 'Dad' seemed to snap out of it and ended our little staring contest by standing up and walking to the door as The D- THE HEALER followed after us.
"*click*," I walked behind my 'dad' as The D- you know what sure, the doctor guided us to the elevator and pressed the arrow pointing down before the door opened.
'So I know what an elevator is, but not amnesia?' I questioned as I stepped in with the other two, noticing an older woman who looked to be in her 70s looking down at me.
"Oh, aren't you just the sweetest thing?" The Woman cooed at me before pinching my cheek.
I looked up at my 'dad' who was talking with The Doctor, hoping he would notice and get this lady to leave me alone, but sadly it seemed I had no luck as he kept talking.
"Who's the cutest little fella?~" She continued to pinch my cheek.
'How much longer are we going to be on this elevator?' I tapped my foot on the ground as I waited, watching the number above the door ticking down.
'Finally!' I thought as I saw the number hit one and I swatted away the woman's hand which she still found cute for some reason before I rushed to the opening door.
"Whoa!" I stared at the magical-looking lobby as I pieces of furniture made of odd material and stuff like filing cabinets or bells that looked like living, breathing monsters.
"AAAAHHH!" I flinched back, not making a sound as the bell sitting at what would probably be the front desk screamed, confirming that they were definitely alive.
"Are you ok Azure?" I heard my dad- "What?" I looked at him confused, "I-Is something wrong?" He looked at me just as confused.
"Uh, no just thought the bell was kind of loud..." I responded as he looked at me in understanding.
"You'll get used to it, every kid has the same kind of reaction, the first time they hear that." I watched my 'dad' press the bell as it screamed again, making me jump just like before.
'Wow, this guy actually seems kind of nice?' I felt my distrust ease off as I looked at his face as he talked to the receptionist.
After that I spent the next few minutes waiting for my 'dad' to finish signing out with the receptionist, we walked over to an area with a sign saying public transport.
"wait, you took this to get here?" I looked at him strangely before a fox jumped out from nowhere, turning into wood as a straight pole of wood jutted out from under it.
"What is that?!" I said feeling a bit of panic from the sudden appearance of whatever that thing was.
"This is my Palisman, which I used to get here, I just had it waiting here since I didn't want to bring it inside the Hospital." He explained as I nodded and calmed down.
"Isn't it called a Healing Ward though?" I stared at him as he shrugged.
"Well yes, but you can call it a hospital too, it doesn't really matter." I stared at him skeptically.
"But that's the term they used in there?" I pointed to the Healing Ward as he nodded which sort of irritated me.
"Sure whatever, so uh what's your actual name?" I asked as he positioned his palisman between his legs and turned to me before helping me up.
"It's Raine, Raine Whispers," I sat down in front of him as he took off.
"So, that's make me Azure Whispers?" I let the name roll off my tongue as I felt odd saying that.
"Can we just go with Az? It feels way too... dramatic," I explained flatly.
"Sure Az, as long as you're fine with it," I looked at him as more of my skepticism subsided.
"So uh, where are we going?" I knew that we were going to his home but I didn't quite know where that was.
"Oh, it's just on the edge of BonesBorough near the residential district," I looked at him suspiciously as my intrusive thoughts, fueled by my suspicion, made my mind go to places that weren't helping me stay around this guy comfortably.
'What if he just pretended to be my parent to take me out of there, but that wouldn't explain how he got the doctor to let him take me?''Does that mean he actually is my dad?''but what if he isn't and this actually turns into something bad?''could I escape if it did turn into something bad?''Why did I go with him?!' What if he stops me and I get dragged inside his place and...'
I paused for a second as an image of my legs bending the wrong way appeared in my head before I felt a flare of panic as a phantom pain of bones snapping came to me.
I started to hyperventilate, clinging on tighter to the Palisman, feeling panic well up inside as I looked towards some trees below, debating whether I should try to jump off now and- before I could I saw a hand grip onto mine.
"Az, are you alright?" I looked up to see Raine looking back at me with concern, I noticed my face was tensing with my panic.
"Uh, y-yeah just kind of nervous being so high up." I saw the look on his face, which showed he definitely did not buy that excuse, now knowing that I was aware something might be wrong.
'Shit, He's going to-!' I was interrupted in my thoughts as my body acted on instinct and I fell towards the trees.
"Az!" I heard him call out as he turned his Palisman toward me and flew down with his arms outstretched.
"Shit, shit, shit!" I said panicking even more now as I watched myself pass between the brush of the trees.
'What do I do?!' I looked around frantically only seeing tree brush as I fell.
"*crk* Ow!" I held my head as I saw a leaf-filled branch now falling beside me and as I looked at it,
I saw symbols covering its surface, different than the ones in the air, and as I realized what they were, an idea came to mind.
"I really hope this works!" I said holding the leaf-filled branch as I connected to the symbols on its surface- Suddenly the leaves and their stems multiplied and enlarged as they started to catch onto the large branches of the trees as well as the wind.
"Oh thank god," I let out a huge breath as I started to slow down and finally came to a stop just a few feet from the ground.
"Az!" I heard the yelling get closer as I realized Raine was getting closer and I looked for somewhere to drop down.
"There!" I dropped onto a plain red and orange bush before I took off running, feeling better than I thought I would for taking a branch to the head at high speed.
"Az, where are you?!" I turned to see Raine appear close to the enlarged branch I used to catch myself and frantically looked around before noticing me running away, looking on in what seemed to be surprised.
I saw him shake his head and start to fly after me, and to my surprise, he seemed to not catch up quite as quickly as I thought he would.
'Wait does that have to do with why that branch didn't hurt me?' I pondered that as I kept running through the woods, hopping over things I didn't notice or ducking under branches that seemed too close to move out of the way from, but strangely as I did that, I got the same feeling that I did when I used the symbols around me.
"Wait does that mean that I'm using the symbols?" I looked down at myself as I reached a point without many obstructions, I noticed symbols on my body that I recognized as the ones usually floating in the air.
'Have I been using them to push myself?'I thought in astonishment as I realized that I was instinctively using them to help control my movement and boost my speed, but now that I really focused on myself I noticed how tired I was getting.
"Wh-wha-?" I panted out before coming to a stop in a clearing and caught my breath.
"*pant**pant**pant*, how w-*pant*-was I doing that?" I questioned myself before I heard the sound of brush behind me.
"Shit, it's Raineeee..." I trailed off as I noticed a large pitch-black figure emerge from the trees instead of the blue-haired witch I was expecting.
"Oh, so one of my drones finally located you?" A distorted voice came from the gaping maw of the beast as I finally saw what it was, a centipede beast that seemed to skitter around like liquid down a rocky surface.
"Who-what are you?" I asked feeling my skin crawl from how disgusting it looked with the carapace seeming to crack down its sides with black oozing puss seeping out and writhing like countless tendrils across its body.
"*wretch*, what the fuck?" I mumbled disgusted as it continued towards me.
"Do you not remember who I am? Well isn't that just a twist of fate, the whelp that injured me seems to have forgotten what he did?" I heard it chuckle, sounding like shattered glass scraping against metal.
My ears hurt as I listened to it and I tried to get up to back away but fell back to my ass feeling too tired to stand. "So you-you're here for revenge or something?"
It stopped chuckling and stood still, rising to a rather intimidating height. "Whelp I already started before that blue-haired Blasphemer came to your rescue."
I looked at it in surprise as I heard those words, 'Did Raine bring me to the Hospital?'
I sat there as it loomed over me seeming to enjoy my confusion.
"-and now it seems you have run away from him which is quite funny to see, the protected running away from their protector." It started to turn to circle me as I tried to back up as best as I could.
"I-I was just-""Just what? Trying to wander on your own, running away because you didn't trust him?" I felt stupid now, knowing what it told me and remembering how I ran away from Raine, dropping out of the sky to get away.
"Wait... you, now that I get a closer look at you, your appearance changed, but how..." The beast seemed to stop for a second before freezing like it just realized something it wasn't expecting.
"You- did my blood burrow into you? That would have to be it, there's no other way your appearance changed that much but if you didn't become like this drone..." It paused only for a second more and began laughing louder than ever before as the sound of shattering glass against metal rang out all the more.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAha, so that's why you were chosen by it, I thought it was just a random chance to flee that place, but if it's this," It turned to me as it scuttled closer.
"Whe- no, child come with me and I will not hurt you," It said calmly as I tried to frantically back up more and more to no avail, I could only dig my heels against the ground with my legs, slowly moving back and creating grooves in the dirt.
"S-stay away!" I screamed in fear and anger as dread formed a pit in my stomach before I began to push myself even more frantically only to kick up more dirt in vain.
"-stay away from him!" I heard a familiar voice yell out as I saw Raine gaze furiously at the thing.
**********
"Stay away from him!" I yelled out in rage remembering the terrified look on Azure's face as he backed away.
I blasted forward on my Palisman as I cast a spell creating a huge blunt wave of sound many more times powerful than my usual ones as the Centipede flew off to the side landing on its back several meters away from Azure.
I flew towards Azure as he lay there on the ground, stock still, "Come on, we need to go now!" I flew down to him as I reached out my hand to him and before long, Azure grabbed it.
I was blasting away from that Titan-forsaken clearing before I could check to see if that giant centipede was up on its legs, '...but I don't think I need to..."
"*rumble*," as I heard that I started to hear the sounds of countless giant legs skittering towards us.
"BLASPHEMER!!!!" I heard an ear-piercing screech as I looked back to the Centipede plowing through the forest behind us.
"What the hell!" I screamed out in shock as I looked to see what I now realized was a giant intelligent talking centipede, '-and why is it calling me blasphemer?!'
I tried flying but to no avail, as I looked around for spots to hide among the trees, 'There!' I flew towards a large dip in the ground, where a piece of the boiling Isles gave way to an isolated pool of boiling water.
"R-Raine I'm-" I cut Azure off as I started to wave my hand in the air at the centipede.
"Hey dipshit, we're over here!" I yelled as the centipede seemed to charge at us faster than before.
"YOU WILL RELINQUISH THE CHILD, BLASPHEMER!" It yelled again as I noticed the kid react badly enough to the yell that he started to bleed from one of his ears, so I did the only thing I could think of and covered them even though my ears were in a similar state.
"NO WAY I'M DOING THAT!" I screamed back as loud as I could despite how much it hurt as the commotion seemed to bring out dots on the horizon, white-cloaked dots that were getting closer by the second.
'Just have to get it into here and...' I watched as it seemed to slow down before looking around, 'Shit, did it notice the coven guards?!'
"HEY YOU COWARD, NOT GOING TO COME OVER HERE AND FACE US?" I heard from behind me as I felt Azure slip out from my hands and shout at it despite the quiver I heard in his voice.
'Huh... good job kid.' I turned my focus back on the Centipede as I began yelling as well, "YEAH, YOU COWARD, COME FACE US!"
The Centipede turned back to face us almost instantly as it charged even faster this time, too angry to notice the water that was partially obscured by the trees.
"BLASPHEMER, I WILL CONSUME YOU AND TAKE THE CHILD BACK!" It screamed only noticing the water when it was too late.
"WHAT IS THIS?! YOU COWARD, YOU DARE TRICK ME?!" I watched as it writhed in the boiling water, trying frantically to get out but seemed to only dig a deeper hole literally as the guards from the Emperor's Coven arrived.
I sighed in relief as we were led by a singular soldier off into the distance, far away from the Centipede...