“Shit. Not good.” Panic was evident in her voice as she picked him up, rushing into the house.

Vaeri laid Ruith stomach down on the couch, ripping off the remains of his shirt. She burst into her fathers empty room, searching for something.

She ran back to Ruith, now holding a small jar of transparent and slightly glowing blue salve. She spread it all along the boy's spine and up his neck.

This salve contained insane amounts of mana, and had cost her father tens of gold coins. The mana was absorbed into Ruith’s body, and the bleeding of his wounds slowed, eventually stopping and starting to close. Even then it took a few minutes before his condition stabilized. 

Vaeri let out a sigh of relief, laying on the floor and closing her eyes to wait for Ruith to awake. She had a lot of questions for him, he had acted extremely recklessly against the Voidlings.

Two hours later, Ruith finally stirred. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. The events of the battle flashed through his mind and he frowned, looking for injuries.

“Finally. You’re lucky my father bought that salve, or you would be dead by now.”

“Salve? What do you mean? What happened?”

Ruith remembered the battle, but not the true extent of his injuries. Vaeri gladly explained to him the condition of his body with an angered look.

“How could you lose control of yourself like that? What if you had died!?”

“I mean, I’m not dead aren’t I…”

“Shut the fuck up Ruith! You completely lost control of yourself, the salve that cost my father at least twenty gold coins is the only reason you’re alive by the way. Now explain what happened.”

The young man’s face paled at the mention of twenty gold coins, and he finally realized just how severe the situation had been. But he put that aside for later, and decided to tell Vaeri why he had acted like that.

He explained how his father made him run away while the man brawled with the Voidborne. But he continued, describing how when he went back to check on his father, what condition his body was in.

His father was mangled, limbs twisted at odd angles. His throat was torn out, and shattered bones poked from under the skin of his upper body. The old man’s lifeless eyes still had tears in them. 

Ruith chose to not go into any more detail of the gruesome scene before he broke down.

“When that Voidling’s teeth tore into my arm, it reminded me of that scene, and I couldn’t control myself after that. I simply wanted the Voidborne to die.”

Vaeri nodded, thinking. She now understood the reason behind Ruith’s actions, and he himself seemed to be well aware of why he acted as he did.

“In any case, you need to be able to control yourself next time you fight. If it was any other kind of Voidborne, you would have been easily torn to pieces.”

“I’ll try.”

The reality of his situation finally set in. He barely lived. If he died, there would be no revenge against the Voidborne that killed his father.

The door to the front of the house opened. It was late at night, and Vaeri’s father had finally returned.

“What the hell happened out there? I’ve never seen so many Voidlings before…” The man trailed off, staring at Ruith and his daughter sitting next to each other on the couch.  The young man still didn't have a shirt on, and his pants were not in the best condition.

Vaeri quickly explained the situation before her father got the wrong idea. 

“Wow. I don’t mind that the salve is gone, at least it was put to use. Try not to almost die again though, Ruith.”

Teran rubbed his temple and closed the door before saying something else.

“You two should sleep now, early tomorrow morning the King will be announcing something. Every citizen of the bastion is required to be there.”

Ruith felt Teran likely knew what this announcement would be, but didn’t question it. Him and Vaeri were mentally exhausted, retreating to their rooms.

Teran headed back to the Bastion, The night was far from over and many Voidborne needed slaughtering.