It was so hard to breathe. My body was so heavy and cold. If I continued like that I was going to die. I couldn’t even feel the pain in my leg anymore. Did I even still have my leg?
Mom, Angela, I wanted to see you again. If only I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have left without saying a word. Sebastian, my best friend, why are you crying? Why was he crying again? There was someone else, but who? Who was the person who left a hole in my heart? Who was the one I was desperately seeking? Did he abandon me here to die? Just like my father did?
“Open your eyes! Keith, don’t leave us behind. Don’t leave me behind! I need you!” someone begged, but it came from afar. It was so faint, almost like a whisper. “Are you going to leave your mate just after meeting him? What about your mother and sister? What am I going to tell them?”
This voice, I had heard it so many times. Sebastian, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m just tired, so tired.
Suddenly, the need to cough was so intense that it felt like my chest was burning. It was so painful. I groaned in pain after coughing my lungs out another time.
“Keith, stay with me, okay? Help is coming, so don’t go to sleep, okay? Ryan is coming too! Do you hear me, your mate is here.”
Ryan, why was that name so familiar? Yes, he is my mate. He was back? I tried to open my eyes, but it felt like my eyelids were glued together.
“R-Ryan…” I muttered before coughing up again.
“Yes, he is coming. Hang on!” he supported me with a cheerier tone.
Thinking about his presence near me was enough to give me the energy needed to stay conscious. He would definitely be pained if I died here. I wanted to see him. I wanted to smell him. I wanted to feel him. I needed to stay strong for him. But it was a lot harder than said. I always had to fight the urge to fall asleep. I couldn’t give in.
“Ryan…”
“We are almost there! Please, hang in there.”
"Ryan..." I repeated as I exhaled before groaning when my head started to pound.
“H-he's here, don't worry…” he answered after a long pause.
Suddenly, the coldness in my body was replaced by extreme heat. I shivered as I could feel my hair sticking to my forehead because of my sweat. I didn’t know how to feel. I was both freezing and dying from the heat. How was it possible?
"H-He's here!" my friend shouted tiredly before feeling a new pair of hands touching me.
I didn’t know what they were doing, but I didn’t like it. It felt like they were probing and poking me in all ways possible. But one thing was certain, I was starting to feel a lot better.
“Ma’am, he has lost a lot of blood through the wound in his leg. Also, the poison from the Shadow Howler has diluted into his blood. He is currently going through the end of the second phase according to the symptoms,” I clearly heard a feminine voice explains my status over all the other sounds and voices.
“Thank you, take care of that young man. He only fainted, but keep him hydrated. If something happens, call me immediately, understood?” another voice stated, but it was a lot sharper and authoritative.
“Yes, ma’am!”
“You, bring me my bag with all my equipment inside,” the sharp voice ordered, before adding, “Hurry up, do you want to kill this boy?!”
The sudden shouting made my head pound. I groaned in pain before coughing again, but my throat was so dry that it felt like I had sand in my mouth and throat.
“Keith, it’s okay now. I will take care of you. You can rest now,” the woman’s curt tone mellowed to a soft whisper as if talking to a baby.
"R-Ryan... W-where?" I tried to ask about my mate since I was already feeling a lot better before a huge pain in my leg made me cry out.
“Shhh, don’t move. It’s okay, let me take care of you. You’ll be back into shape before you know it,” she promises before another wave of pain engulf my entire body causing me to faint.
•••
I was awakened by some annoying voices. I didn’t want to wake up. I felt like I had been run down by a damn Flaming Oxbeast. These creatures could run and burn the whole forest and villages without anything stopping them. After that Shadow Howler, I didn’t want to see any more wild animals for years.
This time, when I tried to open my eyes, I finally succeeded. My body was still too weak to move, but at least I wasn’t paralyzed. Now that I was feeling better, everything that happened yesterday came back to me. It was as if I was watching a movie.
I slowly turned my head to the side to see a sleeping Sebastian sitting on a chair next to the bed I was laying on. But I couldn’t see Ryan anywhere. I could remember my friend saying that he was there with me. So where was he now? Without willing it, I could feel a tear sliding down my cheek. It shouldn’t hurt when I think about my mate. Even if he promised to stay with me and to love me no matter what, I still had to doubt him! I was unworthy. That was the reason why he left.
“What’s wrong? Does it hurt?” Sebastian asked worriedly before wiping my tears away.
This was when I realized that I had been sobbing. I didn’t want to wake him up. He had dark bags under his eyes. Every time I did something, Sebastian was always there to comfort me. Why couldn’t I do something right for once? Why couldn’t I be the one to help him?
“Don’t worry, all the stress is coming at me now,” I answered hoping it would ease his worry.
“I see. I’m glad to see you awake. I was so worried that you might… You know,” he sighed before letting himself fall back into his chair.
"Where's Ryan?" I asked after a moment of hesitation since I didn’t know if I should be asking about him or not.
My friend looked at his feet as if thinking about something painful. I didn’t like the look he had. It was never good news.
“He was taken away,” he started breaking the heavy silence between us. “Apparently, someone saw him and alerted the authorities. He’s in prison in the capital.”
“He got taken away?” I repeated in shock.
“Not without a fight, or so I have heard,” he chuckled a little before it died down into the silence. “I already contacted the Prince and told him everything. He accorded us an audience once you get better,” he explained more seriously.
“Is he injured?”
“‘Maybe a bruise or two, but nothing serious. No one will be able to harm him until the Price talks with us,” he paused before getting closer to me as if he was afraid that someone heard him. “It’s only a rumour, but I heard he is a high ranking person back in the Ignis Kingdom. Who knows you may have married into royalty,” he joked while wiggling his eyebrows.
I laughed softly at his childish act before wincing when I unconsciously moved my injured leg.
“When will we be able to go back?”
“Maybe in a week or two until your leg heals completely and the poison is completely out of your system. You have to replenish your energy. You don’t need to worry, the Prince promised that nothing would happen to your mate.”
“Thank you, Sebby.”
My friend blushed when he heard the nickname I was always using when we were younger. People started to tease him when I called him that, so I stopped. But I knew he secretly liked it since I was the only once called him by that nickname.
“Don’t worry about it. Get some rest now. I’ll fetch some warm food,” he smiled before walking out of the room.
For a moment, I struggled to sit down. It was painful at first, but I somehow managed. I looked out of the window to see where we were. It seemed like we were in a village, but I didn’t remember coming here before. We shouldn’t be far from home since the doctors who saved were the Prince’s personal health staff. In other words, Ryan wasn’t that far away. It gave me hope. He didn’t leave me. He was waiting for me and I will do everything to go back to him.
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