After gathering some information about the place he was in, Teyat continued to panic, his thoughts racing with anxiety, trying to figure out how to escape this cursed place, twisting and turning frantically in his bed.
Amidst the whirlwind of thoughts, Aaron's words suddenly rushed back into his mind—the chilling knowledge that Aaron had killed hundreds of people and enslaved children's souls to turn them into Bandits.
'Violent bastards,' he muttered with a slight shudder.
Though he didn't know exactly where he was, he trusted his instincts. After a while, he started planning an escape, thinking of running in some random direction under the moonlight as quickly and carefully as possible.
Outside, the wind howled, shaking the roses violently, accompanied by the call of an owl, but Teyat paid no attention, his thoughts still racing to find a solution.
'That guy said he'd take a nap before his night watch, right? So I need to get out of here before he goes on duty. But where? Think, Teyat. Damn these thoughts.'
After frantically tossing and turning on the makeshift bed, he finally stopped, lying flat on his back, taking a deep breath. He stared at the ceiling of the dimly lit tent and pointed his right index finger toward it, closing all his other fingers.
From the shadows clinging to the tent's ceiling, a small, faint black arrow emerged, slowly and gently floating down toward Teyat, like a piece of paper.
Seeing the small arrow descending toward him, Teyat panicked and threw himself to the side. The arrow, coming at an angle, embedded itself into the blanket covering the bed.
He stared at the faint black arrow in astonishment, mumbling to himself.
"So, this ability is called 'Void Arrow'... Why does a part of me see this arrow as something terrifying? It's just a small, faint, black arrow."
Thanks to the information Mr. Handsome had given him, Teyat now wanted to try using these inherited abilities to escape.
This ability, a legacy passed down to him, could create and manipulate black arrows from shadows and control their movements. In his mind, Teyat knew that this ability, called 'Void Arrow,' could be honed to higher levels depending on the user's strength. The stronger the user, the more powerful the ability would become.
"So for this weak arrow to become like the terrifying image in my mind, I need to become stronger myself, huh? I see..."
To test his limits, Teyat attempted to summon as many arrows as he could from the shadows clinging to the tent's ceiling.
Only two more arrows appeared. They drifted down slowly, like paper, landing on the dirt floor at an angle.
Having pushed his limits by summoning those arrows, Teyat suddenly felt a wave of intense exhaustion wash over him. The overwhelming fatigue caused him to fall asleep on the dirt floor within seconds.
What a powerful sacrifice indeed.
•
As the night deepened, the cold wind continued to howl outside, the sound of rustling rose petals filling the air.
After some time, Teyat woke up from his deep slumber, brought on by the sudden fatigue. Despite having spent hundreds of nights sleeping on cold, hard ground in his previous life, his current body wasn't used to the discomfort, and his back ached painfully.
His face twisted in agony as he groaned.
"Ugh, this is ridiculous! I don't even know why I'm in this situation, but this damn back pain is killing me!"
Grumbling in pain, he felt a strong urge to throw himself onto the soft mattress instead of enduring the sharp aches in his back. Using his ability to control the arrows, he raised his right hand, causing the arrow embedded in the blanket to pull out.
However, instead of moving in the direction he intended, the arrow grazed his face, tearing through the blanket before vanishing into the darkness.
Seeing the arrow veer so close to him, Teyat recoiled in fear.
"Control, huh? The legacy must have a grudge against me because it's trying to kill me! My only mistake was existing, apparently!"
Cursing the legacy and blaming it for his miserable situation in this unknown, cruel place, Teyat stood up. Instead of lying back down on the bed to ease his pain, he made his way to the tent's entrance and opened it. The sky above was covered in stars, and the moon gazed down at him from afar. As he briefly surveyed the sky, Aaron's voice suddenly echoed in his mind, sending chills down his spine.
"So you didn't want to leave me alone? How sweet. I was waiting for you to wake up."
His voice carried a hint of amusement, despite the howling wind around them.
Aaron's brown hair whipped around in the wind, and Teyat noticed something else—something he'd never seen before since arriving in this body. Aaron was sitting on a log, larger and taller than any man. His bandit uniform was still on.
But what caught Teyat's gaze wasn't just the log or Aaron himself. For a brief moment, he saw something else—something fleeting. In the moonlight, he noticed what appeared to be liquid mercury in Aaron's hands, shimmering faintly before disappearing as Teyat arrived.
Aaron looked at Teyat and flashed a warm smile.
"Good morning."