The next day, Saul awoke in the room and see that Andrea was not in. However, next to him was a fold-out table with a tray on it with the same food he had yesterday, along with a note to the side. He reaches out to the note and reads it around.
“Gone to a meeting. Don’t wait up for me. Proceed to do the procedure like yesterday to fix your arms and eat your breakfast. If you plan to go outside and meet with your friend again, use the spell circle in front of the bed and say Mitte ergo mihi ad votum debet (Send me to my desire destination) and it’ll take you to the courtyard immediately. Once you’re done, return to the same spot and repeat the phrase and It’ll take you back to the room. Do not, under any circumstances tell anyone where you’re staying. Not even to my colleges’ or your new friend. Understand?”
Much love to you,
-Andrea.
As much as it frustrates him to admit it, she’s right. Considering how much the other doctors were eyeing him and Andrea yesterday, perhaps it would be best to keep where he’s staying a secret. For now, at least. Slowly he unveils the bandages around his left hand and sees that the contract mark is at 13 now. He took in a deep breath as he grips his fists as the contract reacts and begins to heal his arms. However, in doing so, the flashbacks of having his arms blown off ran back to him as the pain came flowing back to him. Though the pain was slightly lesser than yesterday. He stops as the contract mark dropped from 13 to 7 and the flesh on his arms return to a normal state. He unveils the rest of the bandages as his arms really have returned back to normal. Or at least, that’s what he thought. He reaches over to the food tray and picked up the spoon only for it to slip out of his hands and fell to the floor. He looked at his right arm as it was shaking. He tried moving his fingers as fast as he could but the responses were delayed and they moved slowly instead of rapidly. He assumed since his arms were back, they would fully recover with the contract mark. He even tried to activate it again but it didn’t respond no matter how much he forced it. It appears that he would need more time to heal properly. He sat on the edge of the bed and picked up the spoon of the floor and proceeds to eat and carefully eat his breakfast.
After finishing his breakfast, he puts on a set of new bandages wraps around his arms. He gives moving his fingers another trying and the results… were the same. His fingers were delayed in his response and his arms were still shaking. He sighed and admits that his arms were going to need more time to heal properly. Though for how long they will need to heal remains unknown to him and possibly Andrea. He walks over to the spell circle and repeats the phrase Andrea instructed.
“Mitte ergo mihi ad votum debet!” he said.
The spell beneath him reacted to the incantation as the spell circle began to spin and illuminates and surrounds and engulfs Saul in a large beam of light as he teleports out of the room and is now out in the courtyard. He looks around and was surprised at how instant the teleportation was. Now if only it exists back home this would make traveling a lot easier. And for a safety precaution, Saul marks the ground with a makeshift X mark on the ground to remember where he teleported in. He looks around and sees Jonna sitting down on the same bench as yesterday. She was sitting there twirling her cane looking very anxious. Saul smiled and walked right over and greeted her.
(editor note: Just like in chapter 34, Though they're speaking in French their dialogue will be English as it is a time-consuming process to translate everything from English to French and I know a majority of you don't speak French. So Please barely that in mind as I barely understand French.)
“Jonna! How’ve you been?” he asked.
Jonna looked up and hopped up with excitement. Though she stopped as her ankle was still in pain so she sits back down. Saul noticed her wincing when she was sitting back down.
“Your leg is still hurting?” he asked.
“Yes, the pain is still aggravating to endure. Let alone trying to walk around. But so long as I don’t strain it too much I should be fine.” She wrote.
“I know the feeling. My arms are healing properly but they’re still not back to normal.” He said.
Saul sits down on the other side of the bench. Though he still struggles to keep up with a decent conversation in French, Jonna still appreciates his company nonetheless. She told him that while the doctors are helping her recover with their medicine and healing magic, it’s best to have someone decent to talk to. Since the rest of the doctors and nurses are too busy with treating everyone else under their care.
“To be honest, I am a foreigner. So, it’s understandable that not many people here speak French. In fact, a lot of the freed slaves here are also foreigners here too and speak different languages than what I am familiar with. So I will try my best to learn the language here.” She wrote.
“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it. It just takes a bit of practice.” Saul said.
To be honest, Saul feels more like a foreigner for being in this world in the first place. Though it still surprises him that even residents in this world speak the same languages as his world. Including Latin as that language itself is considered dead in his world for centuries yet here everyone knows it as a native language. Even in his spellbook, every instruction of how to cast the spell is in Latin. Though there is something that did pique his curiosity.
“Hey Jonna, I know this might seem a little weird to ask but what are your thoughts about the human world?” Saul awkwardly asked. Jonna tilted her head in confusion.
“The human world? Are they still around? Last I heard they also had a “War to end all War” in their world so I thought they would have died out from it. Why do you ask?” She wrote.
“Cause I heard a lot of our languages in our world originates from their world.” He said.
Jonna didn’t exactly know what he was talking about as she was more confused about his question.
“I suppose you do have a point. Though I have never once set foot in their realm before. Nor would I since I heard humans are just as vile and cruel as us demons in our realm if not crueler. Plus, I heard that they’re disgusting as well.” She wrote.
He somewhat agrees that humans can be cruel and vile over the years. But disgusting? Where did they get that idea from? Then again, he does live in the united states and they have a huge problem of obesity becoming more and more apparent in the states so maybe that’s why calls them disgusting.
“From what I heard; they don’t taste that good so I don’t think I’ll ever eat a human in my life.” She wrote.
Suddenly Saul felt chills down his spine when she said that, as he kind of forgets that she’s still a demon. She’d probably lose her mind if she ever found out that he’s a human. So it would be best to keep to himself that he’s a human. Jonna then rubbed her rubbing against her sprained leg. Saul noticed and ask her;
“Does your leg still hurts?” he asked.
“It still does. Despite what the doctors are doing for me, it feels like it’ll be a while before I can heal properly.” She wrote.
“Then we’re in the same boat. I thought my arms would heal up sooner especially with how skilled I heard these doctors are. But while can heal us they can’t exactly pull off real miracles. I know it’s frustrating to wait. Believe me… I’ve been there.” He said with a depressed tone in his voice.
Saul’s mind then drifted off to a deep void in his memory he would rather forget. And yet, it was drawing towards.
April 15, 2013. Antioch General Hospital. Room 213. 3rd floor.
He was sitting inside in a hospital room, in bed with his eyes, blank from thought. Nothing was going on in his mind. There he laid, in a straightjacket with nurses examining his body for signs of response. They tapped and even slapped him across the face for a single response. But he didn’t. The nurse scoffed and walked out of the room and wrote off on their report as “nonresponsive” for the 13th time in a row. Just as they left, Saul’s head tilted towards the doorway out of his room. There was a sudden urge for him to just walk out. But he couldn’t do it. His body was nearly unmovable due to the straightjacket. And he barely had the strength to budge even if he could. He laid there, barely thinking, barely responding, or even wondering what's going on anymore.
Before he could remember even further, Saul was brought back into reality when Jonna touched his should. The touch itself shocked him as he was hyperventilating, as he came back from the edge of death itself. Sweat dripped down from his face as he tries to calm himself down. He turned to see Jonna with a concerned look on her face.
“Are you okay?” She wrote.
“Y-yeah. Sorry, I was lost in my own thoughts. It’s nothing really. I'll be fine.” Saul awkwardly said.
Jonna didn’t respond at first. She stared deep into his eyes all while she wrote into her notepad without even looking. Saul was getting anxious and nervous as she was getting too close for comfort. Jonna then raises her notepad for him to see what she wrote. But she only wrote two words.
“… you’re lying.”
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