As he was recalling that moment, the woman, Ayra, had returned with the physician. Physician swiftly arrived near bed and gave bow to both Allistair and Damien. Soon he started checking on Damien's wound and placed his hand lightly on the wound. Seeing an uneasy expression appear on his face, Allistair inquired "Is everything alright Pho?"
"Yes, your majesty. Everything is better than I had hoped."
"Then why do you look like you've seen the unseeable."
"It's just... to be honest, when I had first examined Prince's condition, I was sure that the prince's chance of survival was very slim. But today, when I arrived, it took me by surprise that he was alive. But more shocking was his recovery rate. Prince has been healing at very faster rate than it is possible to heal."
Allistair getting hold of the situation, aimed his killing aura towards the physician. "Pho you are not going to tell anyone this, are you?"
"No, your majesty. I...I... wouldn't dare. I owe my life to the former king. Even in my dreams, we wouldn't betray the royal family."
"That's good. You can leave." Allistair heaved a relaxed sigh and turned to Damien.
"Do you know anything about your healing speed?"
"No." Still unreadable expression on his face.
Allistair came close to his nephew and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I don't care about how you are healing fast as long as you are healing that's all that matters to me. And I haven't said this before but thank you for saving my life."
Damien looked him in the eye and had a faint smile on his face. "I did it because, I knew you would have done the same for me." Damien had seen the memories the adopted Damien had shared with Allistair. He was always so kind to him and always treated him like a family. And Damien also regarded him as a father figure he never had, thus willing to go as far as to put his life in danger for him.
Hearing that Allistair was surprised. "Look at you talking like a grown up, I remember it was just yesterday when you were crying from getting beaten up by Juda." He joked.
"Anyway, I have to go back now. And you don't push yourself too hard until you are fully recovered. Ayra here will attend to your every need."
Saying that he started walking towards the exit but turned around "We will leave for home day after tomorrow. And, as I have said before, things have changed in seven years, even you have changed. So, give yourself and everybody a second chance."
After Allistair had left, Damien looked at Ayra, "I would like some privacy."
She nodded "If you need anything just call for me, I'll be outside." and then bowed and left the chamber.
After she had left, first thing he did was get up from bed and walked towards the mirror to see his body. Earlier when he had looked at his wound, he was sure that it was not his body. The body he was seeing was muscular with muscles visible, which was in contrast with his frail thin body and he had also seen few scars. As he was walking, he could feel a sense of freedom when his body moved. It was like his brain and body both were connected and brought about a chemistry in his every movement.
When he arrived in front of the mirror, he saw a handsome face that he has been seeing frequently after waking up. He had black medium long hair, and sharp face with eyes that had certain quality of seduction imbued in them. He was tall with lean muscles. All this was not making any sense to him, he was sure he was Damien who had lived his life, till his death, in a frail body, with blonde hair and blue eyes, up in the mountain of exile. What was he doing in the body of the adopted Damien. More importantly how was this possible?
After he had been sent to the mountain of exile at the age of five, he found a profound interest in reading all kind of books. He had read about the life before the Leap-Time and after leap time, about magic, about mutation in the powers and development of various arts. Even though, after Leap-Time world has turned complete opposite, there was still not a mention of waking up in a different body after one's death.
His gut was telling him that the answered lied with the old man and the leap-time. For Leap-Time was the beginning of the unimaginable. From what he had read, around 400 years in the past for thirty minutes a strange phenomenon was observed by the people. The sun shone brightly for thirty minutes, leaving only half the population alive and a changed atmosphere.
Due to this phenomenon, gradually, all the living beings started to change. After few years, some people had become physically stronger, some could control the air, water etc. As people started getting used to these newfound abilities, they observed, these mutation in their body was due to the shining sun. After shining sun incident, everything around them had new property, they named it essence.
Essence was found everywhere in the air, food, water.... and their body had started storing this essence in their hearts. To use these abilities beyond just feeling their presence, one needed to consciously store and make use of it, as it was the fuel for these abilities. In the beginning one's heart could handle about ten strands of essence. And, if one stored more essence than his heart could handle. They could die from essence poisoning. And, if they survived, they would only become burden in this new society. And will be sent to the mountain of exile.
When this new society was taking shape, hierarchy was formed on the basis of strength. Because, people who used to do all the activities that required bodily strength, before the Leap-Time, were put in an advantageous position due to their unconscious use of essence. By the time people started to notice other abilities, like, power to control elements around them, practitioners of the body arts had already put themselves in the positions of power. Time passed; new kings were crowned on the basis of power, and people began to relax into their new roles after the Leap-Time.