Hall of Games [ REWRITE ] | The Varya Chronicles #1

Chapter Thirty-One

Media: determination

Cadence remembered Kashimi Healing her. She heard the deafening cracks as the splintered ends adhered back into one piece, followed by the crippling pain of the bones resetting. Maybe she screamed, she didn't know. She wanted to crawl out of bed and check on Ales. He had fought ten well-trained and well-armed men, equipped with only a Celestium blade, a crossbow, and his Affinity. He had risked his life to save hers.

Is he alive? Did Kashimi save him?

Someone tried to hold her down. She fought with every inch of energy left in her body.

Ales, Ales!

Light exploded behind her eyelids, followed by a wave of drowsiness. How dare Kashimi put her to sleep. She needed to see if her mentor was still alive. If she lost Ales, she didn't know what she would do. She had already lost her father, now she was going to lose another father.

After Kashimi put her under, she slept. She slept like a child rolled in a warm blanket, unaware of the terrors waiting for her out there in the real world. She sank into her own cocoon of comfort, but that piece of faux safety was infested with monsters she couldn't see with the naked eye.

She saw Khazaria fall over and over again, her body smashing against the gargoyles, slid down the tiled roof, then hit the ground. She saw Ales' guts spill all over the floor from the deep slash in his abdomen, then he pitched forward, glassy eyes staring at her.

Your fault, your fault!

When she woke, the only thing that anchored her to reality was the soft, steady breathing of Ales lying on a bed next to her.

"Ales." She tried to get up from the bed but ended up sliding into a messy pile on the floor, bringing down her sheets with her. Her chest was wrapped with thick bandages. Cadence clutched Ales' bed frame and hauled herself to her knees.

Her mentor was lying as still as a corpse on the bed. The sheets were too white, it was blinding. The blanket was drawn up to his chest, his hands limp by his sides. His eyes were closed and his golden hair fanned around his head. He looked...human....vulnerable. It shocked Cadence, for the Ales she remembered was the warrior with a white wolf mask, a Varya who could fling himself into the air and shoot through the night sky like an eagle. He was strong, so strong, Cadence could never imagine him be anything but invincible.

He was so stiff, so quiet. If it wasn't for the gentle rise and fall of his chest, Cadence would have thought him dead.

"Ales?" she tried to speak, but her voice came out as a whisper. "Hey, Ales."

Her mentor stirred. Cadence cried with relief and joy as he opened his eyes and stared blearily at her.

"Hey, little mite," he said.

"How do you feel?" Cadence asked. She gripped his hand tightly, feeling the roughness of his skin from years and years of combat and training. His arm was heavily bandaged as well. Was he so badly injured Kashimi didn't dare risk speeding up his cells to heal the external wounds?