Recovery

The similar scene of a rosy bed welcomed me when I opened my eyes again. My body no longer had the armor I wore, but rather had returned to its bandaged state with no other upper wear. In fact, the bandage was even thicker than before, and moving about hurt a hell lot more as well.

“Eat up.” A voice called out to me again. From the corner of my eye, I could see something being thrown at me. I reflexively caught it with no issue, though my hand lightly flinched from both the sudden movement as well as the unfortunate fact of it still being as scaly as ever.

On my hand was the same fruit as before, but somehow, there was a different urge within me. I could vaguely feel an increase in power, so much that I had confidence in just eating the thing as-is.

And so I did. Not even bothering to break the skin this time around, I bit straight into the so-called mangosteen. A surge of water still erupted, but this time at a much smaller volume. Instead, in my mouth was another separate wave of bitterness.

“Blegrh!” I spat out the piece I bit, revealing a smudge of purple and white.

Outside the door, Arja shook his head in disappointment, but I could feel a hint of worry in his voice:

“Easy now Ren. The skin is not only tough but also bitter as hell.”

“A warning would suffice,” still shocked by the sudden taste, I frowned.

“I mean, no one in their right mind would think to eat that. Ren, didja still remember what happened?”

“Huh? Of course I do. We…”

As the memories returned to me, my hands started to shiver. Not because I had forgotten everything. No, like I had answered Arja, I remembered everything clearly. His sudden bringing me to a battlefield. His transformation. My own transformation. My first fight against those crocodile-like monsters…

And the thrill it brought whenever I struck one down.

It was pure elation. Never before had I felt another surge of emotions like it. Since I was seeing things in infrared, the monsters turned from a bright red to a cold, dark blue when I slashed one out of their life. It was like a painting; I was the artist, and my sword was the paintbrush. The warm feeling of blood splattering in the sun, contrasting the chilling cold of the fallen dead body. An explosion of contrasting flavors like no other.

And it was terrifying. I knew that I was the one feeling it. I knew that those were my own emotions. I was aware of what I had done, far too clearly as a matter of fact.

But why? Why did I have these feelings? I was a good person. I had never harmed anyone in my life. And yet, the rush that I felt…

“... Ren? Ren, what’s wrong?” Arja’s voice snapped me back to reality. His face showed a hint of worry.

“Oh, no, it’s nothing,” I immediately shook my head in response. “I did remember.”

“So, yer aware.”

It was a simple conclusion, but I knew exactly what he was talking about.

“... Yeah,” swallowing my fear, I answered. Keeping it a secret wouldn’t help, especially when I was still blind in knowing what this power was, or what I was going to do with it.

“... I have good news and bad news,” Arja said. “Good news, yer able to use the Stigmata almost right away. That’s some aptitude; the only other able to do so was Kana herself.”

“And the bad news?”

“It’s as ya experienced. This thing is not alive, but it can influence ya. Normally, it’s only in yer current form that yer gonna get eaten by its urges, and the solution was supposed to be the armor. But apparently…”

“It’s the reverse for me, right?” I concluded.

“Yup. Seeing that yer still able to converse normally with me, I can only conclude that being the case.”

“So what do I do now? And for a matter of fact, where exactly am I?” I asked. “I know about the two kingdoms now, and from the room decor, as well as how someone called you ‘Your Highness’ before you dragged me to battle, I’m gonna guess you’re someone of importance at least. A prince, perhaps? Or maybe a duke?”

“Ya got pretty much everything right,” Arja raised his hands in surrender. “Crown Prince of Drought, Arja, at yer service.”

“Tatsumiya Renji, private eye, half-great serpent.” I jokingly introduced myself again.

“Private eye?”

“Oh, right, you probably don’t know what job it is. Um… it’s like a strategist, in a sense. I take up tasks and deduce the result or the process of solving it.”

“A fitting job for ya.” The young man grinned.

Well, at least I didn’t have to reveal that I was only taking small jobs here.

“In any case, now that we’ve cleared our positions, what plan do you suggest, Arja? In both finding my sister… and getting me out of this mess?”

Arja pondered for a moment, scratching his head every once in a while. Until finally, the young man smacked his palm, signifying a genius move. Theoretically, at least.

“Combat training might fail, but ya still gonna have to control that armor, I reckon. So, first thing tomorrow, I’ll introduce ya to the rest of the frontline forces. How does that sound?”

It wasn’t a bad idea per se, but it was still too short-sighted.

“I mean, I guess that would be good for me to get rid of this… form, but what about Reiko?”

“One thing buddy: yer not going anywhere looking like that,” Arja pointed at my face. “What kind of reaction do ya think someone that looked like a snake appearing in the middle of the streets would cause?”

“... Panic, I guess,” I let out a sigh.

“Wrong!” Crossing his arms into an “X”, Arja scolded. “Remember, this prophecy was passed through generations. Ya couldn’t find anyone in Drought, or even Drizzle, that hasn’t heard or known of Vritra. So imagine, if someone bearing Vritra’s appearance came down the street, what would it be like?”

“Oh… so that’s what you meant.”

Reverence. Pointless admiration. But ultimately chaos all the same.

“So yer gonna stay put for today, kay?” Arja concluded.

“... Yeah, okay,” I nodded.

“Alright, during that time, feel free to rest in this room,” the young man, after hearing my answer, turned towards the door with a satisfied look. “My servants will bring ya meals, so ya don’t have to worry about that either. I got some ‘royal’ stuff to do though… Later, Ren!”

“Later,” I waved goodbye back as Arja left the premises.

Looking towards the window, I could see that the distance to the ground wasn’t that high. Perhaps only about a single floor of a Japanese building.

My current bed had a pretty sturdy cover. And on the side, my coat had already been neatly folded as well. Rummaging my pocket, I could see that the picture was still there, too.

Unfortunately, with my face like this right now, a single fedora wouldn’t be enough to cover me completely. But there was also a hood hanging in the corner of the room as well.

Almost as if this guy wanted me to sneak out or something.