Everything felt like a blur, my head couldn't resist feeling heavy as I slowly began to gain consciousness. The soft feeling under my head felt as if it was pulling me in, refusing to let go. The warmth I felt surrounded and hugged me, it was easy to not want to move from this state. I slowly began to open my eyes to see an old cedarlike ceiling above me. The sense of unfamiliarity began to settle in once I realized this wasn't somewhere I've been before.
Sitting up, I looked around quickly to assess what was happening and where I was until my eyes fell on a man laying on what seemed to be another bed in the room. He had a smaller stature and looked to be reading a book in bed. He turned slightly, noticing I was finally awake and smiled. His mustache covered his mouth but he began to speak in a light tone.
"You seem to have gotten your rest."
"I must have passed out-"
"Don't try to move too much, you're only recovering from the effects."
"Effects…?"
Thoughts of the last events I could remember before passing out flashed within my mind. Seeing the effect of taking the strange pill was straining, but without that, we possibly wouldn't have been able to get out of the situation as cleanly as we did. Suddenly, the image of someone appeared in my head, before I jolted upward, holding my head and wincing before looking over to my side.
Sitting on a stool next to me, was a heavily bandaged boy. His arms and legs seemed to be well wrapped, as he crossed his arms and held his head low. Small snores were heard as he adjusted himself on the seat, much to my surprise.
"He's been checking in every few hours." he said as putting his hand to his cheek and sighed heavily.
"He wouldn't stop talkin' about you, fell asleep even waitin'. If that ain't dedication, then I don't know what is."
Looking at his body, I realized his chest was wrapped pretty tightly. He turned to put his book down on the table beside his bed. A big red scar stretched along his back, presumably from the attacks previously in the fight. His eyes closed once more before slowly leaning back to lay in bed, though I knew there were a few blanks that needed to be filled in.
"What about…the adventurers? What came of them?"
"Oh those fools…"
A small pause sat in the air before words followed shortly after.
"They were dealt with by some officials from the kingdom, apparently they were in cahoots with some bad people already, so they took them in on that and the crimes they've committed against the village. Essentially letting us off scott-free. Oh, and you and your friend. He's already outside with the others."
I laid my hand on my heart, letting out a deep breath of relief. Not only for our skins being saved, but the fact that Dante's identity was kept safe. I looked at him with lowered eyes, thinking back to the sights I saw. From meeting him in the cave, to finding out all sorts of things about him in such a short time, to seeing his impressive swordsmanship to boot. He was something I never expected to find out about on such a whim. I was thankful for the opportunity to meet such an interesting person, but I felt that there was more to this meeting than I could truly believe. What could have possibly lined up such a meeting for us? I shook my head at the thought before slowly lifting myself out of bed.
As I stood up, my feet hit the cold ground, I looked down and noticed I was wearing comfortable clothing, seemingly big for my size. Peering into the corner, I noticed my academy uniform which was clean and folded sitting on a chair. I quickly grabbed them and stepped into the room next to me and changed quickly. It wasn't the usual type of bathroom I'd be used to, but it seemed fine for the most part. After throwing on my clothes in a hurry, I stepped out once more to see the old man asleep on the bed. Seeing the scar he received from the fight didn't surprise me, but looking at Dante who was still seemingly asleep was a surprise to say the least.
I walked over to him and bent down, looking at his face. His eyelashes were long and the small patches of scale like skin under his eyes intrigued me. I never knew what a "dragonborn" would actually look like. The mix of a human and dragon is only spoken in the history books and is now widely considered a myth, but now seeing that it's not the truth brings more to question. I inspected his features more closely, seeing his pointed ears, and stronger features was intriguing before I looked down to see his eyes fully open and looking into hers. The green sharp glow of them stared directly into mine before I pulled away quickly at the shock that he was awake.
"D-Dante! You're up!" I said, flinching backwards and away from him. He began to stretch his arms and body as standing up. He looked over to the old man and smiled before turning back to Terra. His eyes, full of earnest intention, looked towards me and was followed with a bright smile. The teeth he bore were sharp like a wild animals, but had the feeling of sincerity.
"You're finally awake! I didn't have much of an idea of when you'd finally wake up, so I stuck around."
"Well, I'm thankful I had a watchful eye over me. How are you feeling?"
He then looked over himself, patting down his arms and legs and making a flexing motion with his arm.
"Fit as a fiddle as they'd say!"