By the time Celest felt the world around her. She wasn’t on the hard rocky ground of the forest but on a soft bed.

Reluctantly, Celest pushed herself up to see a decently decorated room. She laid on a plush baby blue bed and soft fur-covered blanket. A chair sat next to the bed and a whole wall was lined with books.

She still felt the sharp pain and it worsened as she looked through the windows. Quickly she drew the curtains shut to block out the light.

Debating if she should stand up, the door opens to see Erix. Celest didn’t see the sigh of relief Erix let out.

“You gave Carlos quite a fright there,” he said leaning against the doorframe giving Celest a look over. “Feeling any pain?”

“Just a slight headache,” Celest looked around the room, “Where the hell am I?”

Erix moved to Celest, sitting down in the chair.

“Well, a traveler was walking past and saw us panicking over you.”

Forcing down a laugh, Celest asked, “You were panicking over me?” She got an unimpressed glance.

“You were bleeding all over the forest floor. So of course, I panicked. But back on track, a guy named Ren found us. We were lucky as he wasn’t, well-”

“Human?”

“An avian to be exact and a healer at that.” Celest knew that avians were a race that rarely ever left its flock, and healers were rare. So, why was Ren wandering around the forest and helping strangers? “Honestly, I wouldn’t have allowed him to help but I know very little about first aid.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“We are in Ren’s house.” Speaking of the avian, a tall blonde man appeared at the door. He was nearly the same height as Erix which is saying something. He politely knocks on the door, as he looks over Celest and Erix.

He gave Celest a warm smile, waiting for permission to enter. Celest gave him a nod as he then entered. As he walked in, Celest saw a pair of bronze wings with speckles of gold in them. The speckles glowed in the dark room as wings ruffled.

Celest hasn’t ever seen an avian before as their species don’t mix well. She of course, was taught all about them but she never thought their wings would be so memorizing.

She was so distracted by the wings she didn’t notice how close Ren came.

“Good morning, Erix and it's nice to meet you Celest.”

“Nice to meet you too?” Celest didn’t mean it to sound like a question but she had no idea what to feel.

Ren didn’t seem to mind as he crouched down next to the bed.

“May I give you a check over?”

Hesitantly, Celest nodded. Erix was here. So even if Ren was not to be trusted, Erix would step in.

“Any pain, nausea, or anything?” He looked into Celest’s eyes and asked her to follow his finger.

“I have a slight headache, but that’s all.” He hummed as he ran some more tests. Celest couldn’t remember the last time someone gave her a checkup. It is not like she let anyone close to her enough to worry about her.

Ren didn’t mind the eyes boring into the back of his skull. Erix was still guarded around Ren. But Ren made sure to voice any movement and made sure he moved slowly.

Celest felt her stomach twist as the examination went on. She didn’t mind Ren. And that was weird. Celest had built a wall. Putting a mask of a lucky go human with nothing special about her. Yet she let her guard down around someone who knew next to nothing about her. Had Erix broken her walls so badly that she let anyone in now?

While Celest has her internal conflict, Erix has his own. The pure dread he felt as he watched Celest collapse, and blood slowly poured out of her head. His body wouldn’t move as his body felt stiff and heavy. He watched Carlos slide onto the ground next to her.

Carlos screamed out her name.

In a blind panic, Erix gripped his sword and slashed the rest of the walking corpse to pieces. When all the corpses fell to the ground, he heard the heartbeat of someone else. Pointing the sword he was faced with a man with silver eyes.

Blonde hair was pulled into a messy bun, with giant wings behind him. Erix felt his heart skip a beat as they stared into each other.

When the stranger noticed Celest he quickly said he could help. Erix didn’t know what complied to agree. Ren was a stranger when he saw that Ren had healed Celest he didn’t feel too bad about it.

When they arrived at Ren’s cottage, Carlos was about to pass out. He led Erix to a room to lay Celest down and for Carlos to sleep in.

He paced around the cottage, listening to every sound and trying to feel for any magic. He didn’t see why walking corpses would be anywhere near here. Such things needed a decent amount of magic and anyone Erix’s know that had that spell wouldn’t randomly summon them in the woods.

Snapping back to reality, Ren had finished examining Celest.

“I was a bit worried as I’ve never really healed head wounds before, but it looks like you’re all right.” He smiled as he stepped back to look at Erix. “Though she should be careful and take things easy just in case.”

“Where is Carlos?” Celest questioned.

“Your friend is in the quest room sleeping. I should properly wake him for some lunch though.” Ren walked to the door before turning back and saying, “I’ll call you when I’ve finished making lunch. Okay?”

Erix nodded.

Erix turned back to Celest who was looking at him.

“How do you feel about Ren?” Erix felt heat on his neck.

“What do you mean?” Erix blurted out as he looked away.

Celest paused. “Like do you think we should trust him? But it looks like feeling something different about him.” Celest teased as she muffled her laugh.

Erix only groaned as he watched Celest's body shake with laughs. He was glad that Celest was still the same.