A New Beginning II

I woke up, completely recovered.

All symptoms of the horrible fever were gone.

I was well rested too.

As I tilted my head forwards, I saw the girl sitting by my side, holding my bloodied hand.

If I was travelling alone…

…would I have woken up from that nightmare…?

Trying to keep those thoughts away, I felt guilty.

I was disappointed in myself because I left the girl by herself to keep watch over me all this time, when I should have been the one doing that, not her.

She’s been at it all night, too…

Suddenly, as if she felt my gaze on her, she turned around.

“Are you okay?” she asked worryingly. “Do you still feel unwell?”

“…”

“…thank you…” I said, “I am alright now…”

As she released my hand, I noticed that my wounds on it were miraculously healed.

“…how… did you heal my hand…?” I asked in awe.

“…I don’t know… I think it just healed on its own…” she said.

But that was impossible.

Even if I did say that it will, I was exaggerating.

The girl had some kind of aptitude for magic, but it didn’t look like the normal or ancient type.

“…can I ask you something…” she said hesitantly, “…what… happened…?”

I looked at her skeptically, thinking whether I should tell her my story.

…maybe just a little…

“…it’s a nightmare I used to have… around 2-3 years ago… when I lost my grandpa…” I answered bleakly.

Her face overcome with sorrow and sympathy, she continued listening.

“…I keep on having it from time to time…”

“…what about your parents…?” she asked quietly.

“…he… was my only family…” I answered depressingly.

Tears started filling her eyes.

“Why are you crying?” I said flustered. “It’s okay!” I told her, “…I am… used to it… it’s been years… since it happened…”

“…”

From that point onwards it was pure silence, with only her occasional sobs breaking it.

I had to think about our next steps.

My leg bone was still shattered, so doing something about that was the first step to improving our current situation.

I picked up a bunch of sticks with my wind element and transported them in front of myself.

“…how… did you do that?” she murmured.

“It’s wind magic…” I replied.

“Can I use it too?” she asked eagerly, wiping her own tears.

I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I went with a neutral response.

“Maybe, who knows…”

“…can you teach me?” she asked gently.

I turned around to face her, realizing that she is serious, and started thinking of the best way to gently shut down her request.

“Maybe later…” I said cautiously.

Disappointment and gloom dawned on her excited face.

I felt like I was being manipulated.

“Let me take care of my leg first, then I will try my best to teach you… I promise…” I said as softly as possible.

She nodded silently, watching how I was going to do that.

I got my sticks, next I needed something that would hold all of them together.

I ripped apart some of my shirt and now had a cloth to tie down everything I needed.

I looked down at my shattered, exposed bone – a sight gruesome enough to make me throw up again. I was at a loss for what to do, while the girl waited patiently and kept watching intently.

I gathered some pointless sticks and got a small rag, but that wasn’t going to magically force the bone to reassemble itself.

If I was brave enough, I could try physically reconstructing the bone with my hands and my earth element as a temporary measure. That way I wouldn’t be so much of a burden on the girl when we decide to leave.

But could I do that?

Is that safe?

I didn’t want to risk having to amputate my leg if something happened from my inexperience and carelessness.

“…is everything okay…?” the girl asked, seeing my indecisiveness.

In her eyes, I was sitting there, idle with a bunch of sticks in my hands, when I just told her I was going to be ‘taking care of my injury’.

Spineless coward…

I took off my shirt, rinsed it, and whipped it clean. Instead of securing the leg in place, I wrapped my leg in the big cloth.

Frustrated at myself, I tried to stand up and experiment with my mobility.

Faltering slightly, I tried walking on one leg, using the tree to prop myself up.

“You shouldn’t!” the girl warned me.

It was a pathetic sight.

I slid down into a sitting position once again, gritting my teeth.

We sat in silence, as I thought about what grandpa would do in this situation…

…

Next day I tried walking again.

As expected, there were no overnight improvements.

“…are you in a hurry… because you plan on leaving soon…?” the girl asked suddenly.

“…yeah…”

I saw hesitation in her eyes.

It was clear something was bothering her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“…can I… go with you…?” she asked quietly.

“…sure…”

“Really? You don’t mind?”

“I wanted to take you with me in the first place, but I couldn’t possibly force you,” I explained. “What is your name by the way?”

“…Ayu…” she said.

“Welcome to the party… Ayu.”

She looked at me frustratedly.

“Aren’t you going to tell me your name?” she asked.

I frowned.

As soon as she enters a village or town, she will recognize me on the posters.

“Zenzo…” I answered quietly.

“Nice to meet you, Zenzo,” she said warmly.

“…nice to meet you, too… Ayu…”

…

The sun was setting as darkness began enveloping the region.

We ate and, in mutual agreement, decided to leave this forest by midnight and head for Ors Juna’s holy capital, Mirion.

The plan for my leg consisted of blind hope that I can get it healed there. As the capital of the largest country on our continent, it was essentially the capital of capitals, meaning if they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it there, no one would.

Ayu proposed to act as a support anchor for me with my hand wrapped around her shoulder as we walked, but that would be the least manly thing I could possibly do.

Grandpa would never forgive me if I ever agreed to something as egregious as that.

So for now, I was going to travel using a fitted stick I made for myself, adding a couple of earth element touches to it to maximize its effectiveness.

With it, I could walk without having to burden her.

It was well made for something I thought of on the fly, and my pace was a lot quicker with it, so my initial doubts were put at ease.

As we began to leave, she looked back at the top of the waterfall, in the direction of the village.

I could tell something was still bothering her.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“…before we leave… can you make it rain some more… for the village… and harvest…” she asked quietly.

I looked at her sympathetically out of the corner of my eye.

She was too good for this rotten place.

“I’ll try,” I said.

Try was an understatement.

I was going to drown this village.

I lifted my arm towards the sky.

Controlling the water element was not easy, even though it did rain recently and the clouds were still there.

The problem lay in the kind of output I was going to be dealing with.

But my disgust with this village was an ideal solution to any uncertainty I had in my abilities.

I gathered my energy within my bandaged, injured right hand, and swiped through the air.

…quench their thirst…

Violent thunder filled the sky.

Illuminated by lightning, it was your typical storm. Except for these people, it would be the first one in a while.

“…let’s go… or we will get caught in it…” I muttered to the girl, turning around and leaving.

“…yes… thank you…” she said with a gloomy expression, getting one last look at the familiar region, before catching up to me.

As we slowly walked through the forest which was now receiving the most rainfall it ever had in the last 3 years combined, we didn’t exchange any words.

A month or so journey’s away from here, we were in for a long trip.

That said, I was actually looking forward to the travelling.

Because for the first time in years since I left Acolatum...

I wasn’t going to be alone…