Chapter 2: A fiery embrace
Darkness
All I could see was darkness.
A familiar warmth filled my body, Little by little I felt my senses coming back to me, and with those senses came pain as well, a flurry of aches beat across every muscle in my body. The wound on my bloodied hand felt like it was left to burn on a cast iron stove.
But I was alive--- Somewhat.
Still I found it strange, no matter how hard I pushed--- my eyes wouldn't open. It was almost like…
they didn't exist… or that they got removed, but entertaining either idea right now would probably give me a heart attack from sheer shock.
I didn't panic, I felt awfully calm actually--- the soothing warmth that was still washing over me, gave me a vague feeling of euphoria. It heightened me, made me feel whole. In every sense of the word I was elated, aside from sight of course.
After about a minute or so, my sense of touch fully returned, and with it, I could feel the source of this warm embrace.
'A hand?'
I thought absentmindedly.
This hand was far too soft to be any of Cristoforo's men, and I was sure he wouldn't go out of his way to pay the Healing Tears to tend to my wounds. So who could it be?
I was stricken in thought.
Then a voice rang out.
"Laos… What did you do this time?"
A shaky female voice spoke, her lips quivered and a slight tremble could be felt as she repositioned her hand further up my forearm.
'I know this voice… Liera?'
Liera Morstvor, my neighbour in my living complex, and also one of the only friends i have in this godforsaken place. I've known Liera since before I could even remember. She's been there when I was in a less than fortunate financial situation. Through highs and lows. She was always there. Always so… kind. Sometimes she would grace me with her barely edible "Essential soup" ; it mainly consisted of whatever she had in her fridge at that given moment. It was really remarkable what she could do with the given resources.
I pushed myself to speak, my lips barely giving way to a barely audible squabble.
"... Leira? What are yo-"
I felt her grip tighten around my left arm, and with it, the intensity of the warmth was exacerbated, it felt like it was beginning to immolate me from the inside out, whatever Fire Mana she was pouring into me began to surge to a single focal point in my body.
My oh so dear eye sockets.
Maybe I was experiencing penance for all of the times I beat other people to near death, or maybe it was truly just my time, and this was my body showing one last triumphant push to stay on this plain of existence.
"Laos, stay still. And don't try to open your eyes please. It'll only lead to more "complications" later."
Heeding Leira's advice, I bit down on my lip and tried to wait out this intense fury that took over my eyes. It was partially working, I could feel the burning subsiding somewhat, and for a moment I felt at ease. Not because of the pain lessening, but because I had begun to feel my once missing eyes return to their vacant space.
Then the burning stopped.
All over, my body was left completely still, muscles that were previously tensing and pulsing returned to neutral. And for the first time since this whole debacle went down, I could feel myself being able to think fully of my own accord without the influence of that spell.
"Leira, what spell are you using on me? Did you develop an innate mag-"
Leira firmly grabbed my mouth with her hand, leaving my last words to die on my tongue. She then made an audible "Shhh" noise before continuing.
"Listen Laos, you speak nothing of what you felt here today, okay? Not one word to anyone."
She paused a hint of solem sadness followed her last words.
"Also you can open your eyes now."
My relief was immeasurable. Casting aside my curiosity for Leira's newly acquired skill--- i allowed my eyes to finally indulge themselves to my surroundings once again.
I was In Leira's apartment, firmly planted on top of her bed, and looming over me was Leira herself. Im not sure if it was the after effects of having my eyes healed or just sheer adrenaline. But i was awestruck by Leira in her current state, her long flowing cyan hair was almost touching my face. A couple inches away from my face was Leiras, her complexion was… well it was what was expected from someone who constantly spent their time indoors, away from the harsh environment of Myre port, her skin was an ivory pale color. But that only accentuated her features. As much as I would hate to have her hear it. She was.
Quite pretty…
We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, but in reality it couldn't have been longer than thirty seconds. I began to tense at the realization of my current predicament. And before I could let out any form of dumb joke to lighten the mood, Leira spoke up first.
"You're blushing. Am I really that beautiful?"
Leira leaned back in her chair, wiped the tears from her swelling eyes, then in one swift motion grabbed her hair and tied it into a ponytail. She stared at me half mockingly half disheartened waiting for whatever dumb reaction I would give to her tactless teasing.
I didn't realize at first, but even after healing, I felt like a sack of bricks, and even so my body still had the ability to muster some dumb flustering reaction to the woman in front of me. In the end all I could do was laugh. Laugh at my own flustered reaction, or laugh at the fact that the realization had finally dawned on me.
I had managed to create a new type of spell…
An Imbibe Wind spell.