Chapter 59: Brimir's Strength

An eerie silence enveloped the room. Sasha had just fallen into unconsciousness again, so they couldn't ask her if they heard her incorrectly. After several minutes of sitting next to her in silence, a team of doctors rushed into the room.

"My King, my Queen. Please leave the room and allow us to work." One of the doctors said, bowing low.

Initially very slow to respond, the two leaders got up and walked out of the room in silence. They sat outside the door, wondering what was next for them.

"Snap out of it." Tempus said, gently pushing their heads with her tails.

"What do we do?" Saito said quietly.

"Wait until they wake up." Tempus said.

"Couldn't you make them heal faster?" Louise asked.

"I could, I suppose." The dragon said. "However, it might put their bodies into shock considering the amount of damage they've taken. Healing so quickly and waking up could be traumatic."

"I can heal them if I need to." Saito said. "I've healed people before."

"Considering your method of healing, you would be out of energy." Tempus said.

"What do you mean by that?" Louise asked.

"The way the boy heals is peculiar at time. Rather than letting the body regenerate its lost tissue, sometimes he seems to...create the tissue himself. Apparently from nothing as well." The dragon said. "Creating something from nothing is something mortals should not be able to do. Regardless of this, such a process drains him of energy, as has been shown in the past. Even though he can assist the body in regenerating itself, which would cost less energy, he has no control over which method he uses."

"I'll wait for the doctors to do their work." Saito said. "After that, I'll help heal them. More importantly, did you hear what she said, Louise?"

"Brimir?" Louise said rather quietly. "He should be dead. She killed him."

"This can't be right." Saito said to himself. "Maybe she mistook him for someone else."

"I don't think that's a face she could forget." Louise said.

For hours, they then sat silently outside the infirmary until eventually, the stress from the situation made them exhausted enough to fall asleep. They were woken up past noon the next day when the doctors emerged from the room.

"How are they?!" Saito immediately asked.

"They will live, my lord." One of the doctors said.

Saito sighed in relief and thanked the doctors, then dismissed them to allow he and Louise to be alone in the room. When they walked in, they were better able to see the severity of the wounds their friends received.

Sasha's throat was crushed, several of her ribs broken, and was covered in deep stab wounds. Mariel had similar wounds, save for her throat being intact, but her body was covered in several more bruises than her little sister. Shion seemed to have had the most bones broken and was covered in scars that made it look like chunks of flesh had been torn from her body. Worst of all, she had a scar over her right eye, making her blind on that side

Alex was had similar wounds to his wife, but had much more of them, perhaps because he attempted to protect her. However, the most heartbreaking wound he sustained was the loss of most of his left arm. From halfway between his shoulder and elbow, it was severed off, with nothing left but a stump wrapped in blood stained bandages.

Saito put his hand on Sasha's forehead and closed his eyes. Every injury about her body was made clear to him. Not only was she hurt on the outside, but she had severe internal damage, although the doctors had done a good job of healing her.

"Her throat is crushed." Saito said. "I'll fix it, at the very least."

With his hand still on her head, Louise could see her throat rearranging itself to its former state as Saito let his magic flow into her body. The process made Louise feel sick, but she remained in the room anyway. When he was done, he moved away from her and sat on a nearby chair.

For the next eight hours, they sat in silence, with Saito's eyes gravitating towards their friends' wounds, particularly Alex's arm. After the eighth our, while Louise had left the room to feed her kids, Sasha's eyes slowly crept open.

Saito, who had fallen asleep on his chair, was nudged awake by Soren when he noticed Sasha was awake. When Saito saw Sasha's eyes, he immediately rushed to her side.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"What a terrible question to ask someone in this condition." She said, although Saito knew it was a joke.

"What happened?" He asked.

When she was reminded of why she was in a hospital bed, she immediately tried to get up, but the shocking pain from her wounds kept her in bed.

"We were attacked." She said. "It was Brimir."

"But...you killed him." Saito said.

"He is alive." Sasha responded. "I'd never forget his face."

As she said this, Shion began to stir. Her eyes shot open and she immediately jumped onto her feet. However, as soon as her brain realized that she was safe and, more importantly, in excruciating pain, she laid back down in bed.

"We lost..." She said quietly.

"Don't be disappointed." Sasha said.

"How did we get here?" Shion asked.

"I dragged you here." Sasha said bluntly.

Shion looked around the room, happy to see Saito staring directly at her, albeit looking quite sad. She then noticed that she couldn't see out of her right eye. It was entirely black, with all of her vision coming from her left eye. She slowly touched the right side of her face, realizing she was blind on that side.

"I'm sorry to be a burden." Shion said.

"I would not have survived without you, my sister, or your husband's help. Do not be sorry." Sasha said.

"My husband..." Shion said before realizing what Sasha meant. "Alex!"

She shot up in bed and looked around for her husband. As soon as her eyes gazed upon him, she initially felt a rush of happiness. However, this happiness was immediately followed by extreme sadness and guilt as soon as she saw his arm.

The longer she stared at him, the more tears began to flow down her face. She rubbed stroked his long black hair, glad that he was alive, but devastated that he lost an arm.

Soon, however, his eyes began to move under his eyelids. After a few moments, his gray eyes slowly opened. His eyes immediately met with his wife's, who was staring directly over him, the tears from her eyes falling onto his face.

"Hey, what's up." He said weakly, keeping to his child-like nature.

Despite her broken bones and immense pain, Shion hugged him tightly. He didn't move at all, instead letting her release her emotions. Eventually, she let him go. He managed to sit up very slowly.

"It hurts!" He said, starting to pout his face.

His childishness allowed everyone in the room to feel a little better, even going so far as to bring a smile to Shion's face. However, he soon looked down at his left arm. Everyone was anticipating a more serious reaction to this.

"Well, that's not good." He said, moving the stump the was left there. "I guess learning to use one hand wont be too bad."

"You're not upset about it?" Saito asked.

"I mean...it could be worse." Alex said.

However, his childishness disappeared when he noticed Shion's eye. It had become completely gray in coloration. A scar ran from the top of her forehead and down through her eyelids and cheek, going all the way to the base of her neck.

"It's just a scar." She said. "Don't worry."

Alex's eyes filled with water as he held her hand.

"I couldn't protect you." He said, his voice with grief.

"You gave your arm to protect me." She said. "I'm alive because of you."

He laid his head on her chest, hugging her with his remaining arm. He held her very firmly, refusing to let her go back to her own bed, instead having her lay with him.

As this was happening, Louise walked back into the room holding her two kids. A large smile appeared on her face when she saw three of her four friends awake.

"I'm so glad you're okay." She said to all of them, holding back tears.

"It's nice to see you too, little sister." Sasha said.

"What happened?" Louise asked.

"We were attacked by someone." Alex said with an air of hostility surrounding him.

"Sister, is it true that it's Brimir?" Louise asked.

Sasha nodded, wincing slightly at the movement.

"Wait...where's my family?" Saito asked with fear written on his face.

"They are safe." Sasha said. "We hid them underground. Without any magic for him to sense, it's highly unlikely that they can be found."

"That's a relief." Saito sighed. "I'm going to heal you guys a little. Shion, I'll start with you, although I don't think I can repair your sight. Still, your wounds are the least severe."

"No. Heal Alex fi-" She stopped short from Alex grabbing her arm.

"Saito, heal her." He said quietly.

Saito nodded and put his hand on Shion's arm. For just a moment, Sasha thought he looked alarmed, but the look quickly disappeared. Soon, Saito's dark red aura enveloped Shion as well. She felt a strange sensation inside her body, as if it were being destroyed and created again.

After several minutes, her body had been repaired. However, she still couldn't move. She felt extremely fragile, as if moving might break a bone. Her back especially was actually extremely painful. Despite this, however, she knew that she'd be okay given a few days of rest.

As soon as Saito finished healing her, he collapsed onto the ground. He was extremely light headed and felt devoid of all energy. Louise helped him to his feet. When he looked up, his eyes no longer glowed a brilliant orange, but were a very dark, dull red.

"That really takes a lot out of me." He said weakly. "I dont think I'll be able to heal the rest of you for a while."

"Thanks for healing her." Alex said.

"Don't thank me. I should have been there to help you guys." Saito said.

"Then you could have died with us." Mariel said, revealing she was awake.

"Elder sister!" Louise and Sasha both exclaimed.

"I'm okay." Mariel said, sitting up. "I'll be able to heal myself. I, unlike my little sister, specialize in sciences rather than combat."

"If we could get to the mountain, we might be able to heal everyone in a few weeks." Louise said.

"We can't go back." Mariel said. "That thing might still be lurking there."

Her eyes soon met with Alex's, who had become extremely serious after seeing Shion's eye. She could feel a strange determination and hatred coming from him. The only things that ever made him serious were Shion or her. She then noticed that he was missing an arm. She looked away for several seconds, then took a deep breath.

"Once we can go to my lab, I can make you a new arm." She said.

"I don't want one." Alex said. "This happened to me because I was protecting Shion. I gave my arm for her life, so I'm willing to live with that."

"That one has a good heart." Sasha said. "Just like his father."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is all very intriguing to me." Tempus said. "Do explain what happened."

"As you wish." Mariel said.

After Saito and Louise departed

Alex, Shion, Mariel, and Sasha all watched the dark figure in the woods. For several minutes, it watched them without moving. After approximately an hour, it simply vanished into nothingness.

"Get Saito's family hidden immediately." Mariel said.

Alex nodded and immediately began shaking the Hiragas awake. Aisaka woke up almost immediately.

"Eh? What's wrong?" She asked lazily.

"We're all in danger. You have no power, so we're hiding you away." Alex said.

"In danger from what?" Aisaka asked.

"We don't know yet." Alex said. "Wake your parents and tell them. We'll carry you to where you'll be staying until we can make sure it's safe."

"I understand." Aisaka said.

She woke her parents up and explained the situation. They didn't quite understand, but they listened anyway.

"Where are we going to be going?" Aisaka asked.

"It'll only be a minute. It's an underground bunker far away from the cities." Mariel said. "It's about 100 kilometers away."

"That'll take days to walk that far." Aisaka whined.

"It'll only be about 10 minutes." Sasha said. "We won't run as fast as we can. You might be a little scared. Aisaka, Mr. Hiraga, hold onto Mariel. Mrs. Hiraga, hold on to me. Alex, Shion, remain here and keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"Understood." Shion and Alex said.

Sasha and Mariel grabbed Saito's family and began running quickly into the woods. Alex and Shion sat back to back in the house. After a very long 15 minutes, Mariel and Sasha returned.

"They're safe." Sasha said. "We have to inform the council of this."

"Good grief. More bad news." Mariel said. "Alright, let's go."

They all quickly ran to the council building, making sure not to let anyone see them. When they arrived, the council had also just arrived to have a meeting. Despite wondering why she wasn't invited, Sasha decided to simply inform them of what happened.

"My colleagues, I have come with information." She said. "There is a foreign, possibly hostile power within this kingdom."

"What kind of power?" Eres asked.

"We do not know yet. We will inform you if anything happens." Sasha said. "Now, we will be leaving your meeting. Do make sure that you inform me of what you are plotting in due course."

Before they could respond, she left with the other three. They immediately went back to Sasha's cabin, where they decided that two people should keep watch while two took time to rest. For the next six days, they kept using this cycle.

At midnight on the sixth day, while Sasha and Mariel were keeping watch, Mariel saw something in the distance with her keen eyesight.

"Little sister. Look." She said.

Sasha looked in the direction her sister pointed. There indeed was something strange. A person was walking towards their cabin. Immediately, Sasha woke up Shion and Alex.

"On guard." She said. "Something is coming."

"What is it?" Shion asked.

"It seems to be a person." Mariel said.

As they stared at the person walking their way, they each grabbed the handles of their weapons. The person was more than 5 kilometers away, so they were still unsure of exactly what they were. However, as they kept trying to make out their features, the person vanished into thin air.

This alarmed the four of them, making them draw out their weapons. As they stood back to back, waiting for an attack, there was a deafening silence. Suddenly, an explosion detonated their house, throwing them to the ground.

They quickly got up to face their enemy. In front of them, there was one man. Clouds covered the twin moons in the sky, so they couldn't get a clear look at his face. In a fluid movement too fast even for Mariel to see, he lifted his hand and pointed at Mariel.

A beam of light quickly shot from his finger and pierced her leg. It was an unusually intense pain for such a small wound, making her fall to the ground. Despite the pain, however, she quickly stood up. The man quickly disappeared again, causing the air to make a cracking sound from his speed. He then appeared behind Sasha, punching her several times in her abdomen before finally kicking her dozens of yards away, shattering the bones in her rib cage and one of her vertebrae.

Before Mariel could try and attack him, he disappeared again. Next time, he appeared several yards away in front of all of them. He lifted his hand, although not towards any one of them in particular. Five balls of light quickly shot out and into Shion's body. Soon, they began to grow, destroying the flesh around them. She screamed in pain, unable to stop it.

Alex, fearful for her life, quickly ran to the man and tried to stab his abdomen. He thought he was successful at first, but soon realized the man had grabbed the blade before it could touch his abdomen. With his other arm, the man brought down his hand on Alex's upper arm, severing it from his body. He fell to the ground, screaming in pain as his arm bled profusely.

With her speed, Mariel appeared above the man and attempted to kick his head. However, where her foot would make contact with the man's head, a circular white shield of magic appeared. It repelled her foot with the same force that she used to send it forward, causing her to be off balance in mid air.

While she remained in the air, the man punched her as he did Sasha, causing several fractures and damaging her organs. Sasha maneuvered behind the man and tried to cut through his abdomen, but he coated his hand in magic and, in one motion, shattered her axe.

The shock from this left Sasha open to attack. He grabbed her by the neck and began to choke her, crushing her windpipe and vocal chords, then threw her onto the ground. With all of them incapacitated, the man seemingly walked into the air, stepping on discs of magic which appeared at his feet.

He turned back and looked at the group who he had just defeated. Slowly, he drew his wand from under his cloak. As a ball of magic gathered at its tip, the clouds in the sky cleared, allowing the moonlight to illuminate his face.

Sasha's eyes widened when she saw his blonde hair blowing softly in the wind. Brimir stood above them, looking like a deity in the way the moons in the sky bathed him in light. Without saying anything, the light shot down towards the group and Brimir began to leave, taking one last look at Sasha before disappearing. Sasha thought she noticed a slight bit of hesitation before he left, but dismissed it as her imagination.

The ball of light exploded instantly as it touched the ground. Sasha's skin began to burn as the explosion enveloped her. It seemed to be infused with the other four elements, as intense winds cut her, blazing fires burned her, a multitude of rocks bruised her, and poisonous water filled her lungs. Eventually, even she succumbed to the onslaught of magic, finally losing consciousness.

When she finally woke up, the sun was in the sky. In the distance, she could see smoke towering into the sky. However, her main concern was the lives of her companions. She managed to crawl to each of them one by one. Eventually, she managed to bring them close enough to where she could drag them by their hands.

For the rest of the day, she crawled away from the smoke, eventually leaving the kingdom. Through the night, the next day, and the following night after that as well, she crawled through Gallia and Tristain. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, she saw the home of Saito and Louise in the distance. Filled with determination, she kept crawling until soon, one of the palace guards noticed her in the distance, eventually leading to her being brought to the palace infirmary.

In the Present

"That's what happened." Mariel said.

"What a monster..." Saito said in shock.

"He is no normal human." Sasha said, remembering the fight.

"We need to be ready for when he comes back, don't we?" Louise said.

"I doubt he will come here." Mariel said. "At least not yet. But it is imperative that we all heal very soon."

"It will take me a while to gather the energy required to heal you all." Saito said. "You could be here for more than a month."

"Then go and rest." Mariel said. "We have no time."

"Alright. I'll do my best." Saito said.

He got up and, with Louise supporting him, walked back to his room. He laid down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Now I know what you meant when you said I'd have no choice but to figure out my magic, Gandalfr." He said.

"Sort of." The beast replied.

But Saito did not hear this, as he had already drifted into unconsciousness.

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! I know I should stop making a habit of posting at 2 in the morning, but...whatever. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I told you it wouldn't be particularly happy, but I still enjoyed writing it. A new chapter is coming tomorrow. Maybe even today. We'll see. Either way, I'll catch you next time!