Some noises woke Aksibilian from his sleep.
He slowly opened his eyes, but the moment he did, the sunlight shining through the window hit them. He immediately closed them again, letting out a quiet groan before trying once more.
This time, he slowly lifted his head and looked around.
He was lying on a bed inside an unfamiliar wooden room. His body felt heavy, and when he shifted slightly, he felt a dull pain coming from his injuries. Looking down, he noticed that his wounds had been carefully wrapped in bandages.
’Where am I?’
He tried to remember what had happened, but his thoughts were still hazy. After a few moments, he pushed himself up and attempted to stand.
"Ugh..."
His injuries hurt more than he expected. He gritted his teeth and struggled to straighten his body, finally managing to stand, although he could barely keep himself steady.
’Where is Macarius?’
Before he could think any further, the door opened.
A girl entered the room. She was a little shorter than Aksibilian, with long, dark-red hair and matching dark-red eyes. Her small, round face was beautiful, and she wore a long maroon outfit.
The moment she noticed Aksibilian standing, her eyes widened in shock.
"Grandpa! Grandpa!"
She hurried toward him and grabbed his hands, trying to make him sit back down.
"Hey... Who are you? Where am I?" Aksibilian asked weakly.
"You shouldn’t be standing yet! Your injuries might reopen!" the girl said, her voice carrying a hint of fear.
"I’m asking you who you are. Where am I? Where are my belongings? And where is my friend?"
But the girl didn’t answer any of his questions. Instead, she continued trying to make him sit down.
"Please, just sit down first!"
"Answer me!"
Growing increasingly irritated,
"Damn it answer to me, who the hell are you and stop clinging to me" Aksibilian suddenly pushed her away.
The girl lost her balance, and Aksibilian, who was already struggling to stand, couldn’t maintain his own balance either.
Both of them fell to the floor. At that moment, an old man entered the room. He looked to be well over fifty, with half-grey hair and a half-grey beard.
"What are you doing?!"
He hurried over to Aksibilian and tried to help him up. Slowly, he lifted Aksibilian and helped him sit on the bed. Once Aksibilian was settled, the old man turned toward the girl.
"Angelica, you can leave now."
The girl lowered her head. Her eyes had grown wet, and she looked as though she was about to cry.
Angelica lowered her head and left the room without saying a word. The sound of her footsteps gradually faded down the wooden hallway until the room fell silent. Aksibilian watched the doorway for a moment before turning his attention to the old man standing beside the bed.
"Hey, where am I? And who are you people?" he asked, his voice still weak and hoarse.
The old man let out a quiet sigh as he looked at Aksibilian, who was sitting on the edge of the bed despite his injuries.
"Hey, young man, I would appreciate it if you moved less. Otherwise, your injuries might open again."
Aksibilian glanced down at the bandages wrapped around his body. He could still feel the dull ache spreading through his muscles, and even the slightest movement sent a sharp sting through some of his wounds.
He reluctantly leaned back against the headboard. After taking a moment to settle himself, he looked at the old man again.
"Where am I, and who are you people?" he asked, this time in a calmer voice.
"You’re at my house, in the small town of Vernerossa," the old man answered. "And we’re the ones who saved your life."
He adjusted one of the bandages around Aksibilian’s arm before continuing.
"And that girl you saw earlier is my granddaughter, Angelica. She was the one who took care of you for the past two days."
"What? Two days?"
Aksibilian’s eyes widened. He stared at the old man as though he had misheard him.
"Wait..."
His expression suddenly changed as another thought came to mind.
"There was one more guy with me. Macarius. Where is he? Is he okay?"
He leaned forward, his hands gripping the bedsheets. The movement immediately caused pain to shoot through his body, but he barely seemed to notice.
"Is he here? Where is he? What happened to him?"
"Young man..." The old man raised a hand, trying to calm him down. "Take it easy."
He gently pressed Aksibilian back against the bed before examining the bandages around his chest.
"And about your friend..." The old man paused briefly. "He was the one who brought you here two days ago, in the middle of the night."
Aksibilian’s fingers tightened around the bedsheets.
"That night, it was raining as if the sky itself had been nailed open," the old man continued, glancing toward the window. "The rain was so heavy that I could barely see anything outside my house."
He shook his head slightly, remembering the sight.
"Wait. You saw him bring me here?" Aksibilian asked.
"Yes. I was awake when he arrived."
The old man pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down.
"When he brought you here, you were in terrible condition. Your body was covered in wounds, and you had lost so much blood that I honestly wasn’t sure you would survive the night."
He rubbed his beard thoughtfully.
"Your injuries were so severe that it took the entire night just to treat you properly. Even then, I couldn’t be certain you would make it."
Aksibilian’s expression darkened.
He remembered fragments of what had happened before he lost consciousness. The battle, the pain, and Macarius desperately carrying him away. But everything after that was a blur.
He swallowed before asking the question that had been weighing on his mind.
"And what about him? Macarius. What happened to him? He was injured too."
The old man fell silent for a moment.
"It was different with him," he finally said.
Aksibilian raised his eyes.
"Although he was covered in blood and his injuries were just as terrible as yours, he somehow managed to reach my house despite the weather. I still don’t understand how he managed to walk that far in such a condition."
The old man slowly shook his head, his expression growing more serious.
"But what surprised me the most was his regeneration."
"His regeneration?" Aksibilian repeated.
"Yes. I’ve seen plenty of people get injured in my life, but I’ve never seen anything like that. His wounds began closing at an incredible speed. I could barely believe what I was seeing."
The old man’s eyebrows drew together as he recalled the scene.
"His flesh healed, his wounds closed, and his body gradually returned to normal. It was as though his injuries had never existed in the first place."
He paused, then let out a troubled breath.
"But then, after his body had fully healed, he suddenly started screaming."
Aksibilian froze.
"Screaming?"
"Yes. It was horrible to listen to." The old man lowered his gaze. "He screamed as if he were experiencing unbearable pain. He kept hitting the floor, writhing around and desperately trying to bite anything he could reach, as though he was trying to force himself to endure it."
The room grew quiet. Aksibilian stared at the old man, his lips parting slightly but no words coming out. He remembered Macarius fighting those three attackers. He remembered the countless wounds his friend had endured, the blood covering his body, and the way he had continued moving despite everything.
But he hadn’t known what happened afterward. He hadn’t known that even after his wounds healed, Macarius had to endure something like that everytime.
"And... what happened after that?" Aksibilian finally asked. His voice had become noticeably quieter.
"He eventually stopped screaming. By morning, he seemed to have recovered enough to move around again." The old man gave a small nod. "Now he’s helping me take care of you."
Aksibilian lowered his head. For a while, he didn’t say anything. His hands slowly loosened their grip on the bedsheets, but the tension in his expression remained.
’That idiot...’
He clenched his jaw.
’How much pain did you have to endure just to bring me here? And why did you do that?’
The old man watched him silently for a moment before slowly rising from his chair.
"I’ll go call your friend," he said, making his way toward the door. Then he stopped and looked back at Aksibilian with a stern expression.
"But don’t even think about getting out of bed. Your injuries are still serious, and I don’t intend to spend another few hours treating you because you couldn’t sit still."
Despite his stern words, there was a hint of amusement in his voice. Aksibilian didn’t respond. He remained seated on the bed, lost in his thoughts. The old man opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
"Just stay there and rest," he reminded him before slowly closing the door behind him.
Aksibilian was left alone in the quiet room. He stared at the closed door, waiting for the moment he would see his friend again.