A few moments ago, Ian was confused and dying.
But now, he was confused and alive.
His mother? Like birth mother?
The earliest memory he had was when he was around 3 years old, by then Ian would wonder who were his birth parents. But after the 'incident', Ian stopped caring about who were his birth parents and focused on the people around him.
With that in mind, Ian's confusion slowly turned to smoldering anger that he thought was buried a long time ago. He made eye contact with his supposed mother who was still smiling brightly while checking his condition which further added fuel to this buried anger to the point his boiling rage finally spilled as Ian spoke in a low cold tone to the mysterious woman.
"Listen here lady I-"
"IAN!!!"
***
For the entire time, Mike was a bystander who watched his best friend turned into meat paste after pushing the boy away from harm. Then a bright white light blinded every spectators before anyone could react. Once the light faded, a mysterious silver haired woman wearing knightly armor and a blue cloak stood over Ian's mangled body. She simply stared at Ian's body for a brief moment before kneeling down and hovered both her hands above his body emitting a bright light but with a silver color tone. The woman kept her action as Ian's body mysteriously reverted back to before the accident happened.
By then, Mike went through a swirl of emotions from devastation to relief. Once the woman stopped her action and stood up while seemingly checking Ian's condition, he sprinted towards them.
"IAN!!!"
The woman immediately turned her attention towards Mike and held her palm out in a stopping sign to which Mike complied. She checked Mike from head to toes with a mere gaze as if accessing whether Mike was a friend or foe. Interestingly, the woman kept her soft smile for the entire time which further highlighted her otherworldly beauty mesmerizing Mike before the woman finally opened her small mouth.
"I assume you're a friend of Ian, young man?"
***
Her question seemed to have snapped Mike out of his daze as he immediately answered her question.
"Yes ma'am! We grew up together so we're basically brothers."
"Oh that means we're basically family fufu"
"Huh?"
'Is this idiot fooled by her natural looks?'
The thought came to Ian's mind as he witness the interaction between the two. He then slowly got up from the ground and checked himself to see that his body was in perfect condition minus the bloody tattered clothes.
'sigh I shouldn't get worked up over the past when she practically saved my life just now. At least I should thank her and treat her like a friendly stranger at least.'
Ian quietly quelled the rage inside of him to a certain degree and started examining his surroundings. Traffic stopped completely with bystanders spectating or recording what just happened. It was to be expected as Ian died saving the kid then rose from the dead by this mysterious woman's healing powers.
Speaking of that reckless boy, he stood still from where Ian pushed him. The boy was bruised from the rough push but at least he was alive. Ian breathe a sigh of relief that his sacrifice wasn't meaningless.
He stared at the boy for a brief moment, not sure what to say to him but chose to speak what came to mind.
"Don't worry too much about it and go back to your folks or where ever you came from, but you should probably stop watching that type of content kid. I don't think I can come back from the dead a second time."
Ian turned away from the shocked boy to turn his attention towards Mike's and his supposed mom's conversation.
Actually, it was more like the woman was gushing over Mike's family adopting Ian and raising him as she seemed excited asking Mike many personal questions to which he answered...shyly?
Ian shook his head in disbelief before intruding into their conversation-
"Argh"
-but he immediately felt a sharp burning pain in his lower abdomen causing him to grunt in pain. The pain itself felt like a hot knife stabbed into his stomach searing his insides yet Ian held back his scream as if challenging the perpetrator of his current predicament. Mike and the mysterious woman immediately stopped talking to see Ian clutching against his stomach in pain causing Mike to worry.
"W-what's going on with Ian-wwwait wait what are you doing?"
"I'll explain later but we need some privacy away first."
The mysterious woman switched to a serious tone as she grabbed both Ian and Mike by their arms then emitted a flash of bright light before disappearing with the two boys leaving the bystanders confused as to what and why it happened.
***
In a alley near the truck accident stood three people. All three of them were in different states with one in pain clutching his stomach, another panicking that his friend is in pain, then the last person was calmly observing the one in pain.
"Uhh uhh lady I mean ma'am. Is Ian going to be okay?"
"Don't worry child, the pain will go away soon."
"Arghhh"
Ian was now on his knees clutching his stomach even tighter and visibly sweating. Moments ago, the armored woman grabbed both of them then jumped away while emitting a bright light shielding them from the public eyes. Ian was in too much pain to notice that the woman carried two grown men like weightless grocery bags and jumped more than 50 feet in the air before landing in this alley safely without leaving much noise or even a scratch on the concrete floor. Nor was Ian able to focus on the current conversation happening between Mike and his supposed mother.
Mike, on the other hand, witnessed everything and was barely keeping it together by focusing his attention on Ian's current condition.
His worries for Ian overridden the sheer panic of being carried and sent 50 feet into the air then landing softly on the ground.
So Mike continued pressing the woman for answers.
"But like what's happening to him?"
"Oh my apologies, I forgot this world lost its connection to Elysium a long time ago. I'll be brief, Ian is awakening as a Mender. So...like me to be exact."
"Okay..."
Her casual demeanor to the ordeal calmed Mike a bit as Ian seemed less in pain now and was just breathing heavily until...
"And another thing, Ian here will be sent to complete a trial in a pocket dimension to complete his transformation."
"Okay....EXCUSE ME WHAT!?"
Mike quickly lost his cool but before he could fully comprehend her words, Ian's body started emitting blue sparks as he started disappearing as if blue fireflies was scattering all around him until Ian faded away.
Once again, Mike's heart dropped to the floor seeing his best friend disappear right in front of him leaving him shocked.
After a brief moment of uncomfortable silence.
"Oh deary me, I must be getting old. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Coraline Argencrest, leader of the paladin order in Novum City and current family head of the Argencrest clan...though there's not much left of the family. But anyway I prefer it if you called me Cora or maybe even mommy since we're practically family fufu"
Of course, the mysterious woman named Cora, couldn't read the room and introduce herself to Mike while maintaining her bright bubbly self.