The scent of fried meat stirred Aden from his unconscious state, his long lashes fluttered slightly before they opened wide in confusion and alertness.
"What happened— Argh!"
"Calm down, there's no need for alarm," an unconcerned voice spoke. "Have some meat."
Aden tried moving from the log of wood he lay upon, but even breathing felt like lifting a boulder with his chest.
"Stop trying to move. It'll only cause you more pain," the voice spoke with a little annoyance this time.
Aden turned his head with visible strain to the source of the voice, his face contorting slightly in pain.
A middle-aged man with a dark scar on his face stared blankly into the night sky while munching on a piece of meat, his obsidian eyes reflecting the stars.
The silence was broken occasionally by the crackle of the firewood that rested between them.
"You were banged up pretty bad, I managed to heal you though," he started. "Your awakening was rather unique… for a noble."
He murmured the last part as he munched idly on his piece of meat, but Aden heard it clearly.
"Why did you help me?" Aden asked finally.
It wasn't like he wasn't grateful for this strange man saving his life — he was heavily indebted to him — but he was a noble exiled from his family for throwing a tantrum and killing three royal guards when he heard his fiancée was stolen away from him three days before their wedding.
And from what he knew, no person or organization was allowed to take in a rejected noble, no matter the state they were in.
"Huh? Why did I take you in? Would you have wanted me to leave you there and let the animals have their way with you?"
Aden kept quiet.
The man adjusted his brown fur cloak and continued, "I do what I want, when I want, and I'm not one to let a kid die while I can damn well do something about it."
Aden's heart jumped at the last statement.
'Couldn't let a kid die, huh? How karmic…'
The man stood up, his frame casting a large shadow over Aden's body, his heavy fists wrapped around a piece of meat on a stick.
"Eat. Then we go in and get you some new clothes."
Aden helplessly opened his mouth and accepted the meat without much protest.
'Protein now. Questions later,' he reasoned.
The man carefully fed the meat to Aden, his bursting muscles twitching under the cloth with every movement.
Aden's eyes widened slightly at the richness of flavor that flowed out of the deceptively dry meat, and he couldn't help but mumble something that sounded like, "Delicious."
The man seemed to have understood and nodded with a neutral expression, but the very subtle softening of his eyes betrayed his true thoughts.
The creatures of the night sung their endless symphonies of nature, adding to the rather heart-warming scene that quietly unfolded.
….
After his meal, Aden was wordlessly carried over the broad shoulder of the man, the soft fur adding an extra layer of comfort to his body.
'It's soft…'
The tension and wariness that plagued him gradually washed away as he was carried into the cabin and placed on a wooden bed with similarly textured fur.
The man placed another blanket over him and turned to the door, his expression wooden from start to finish.
"Thanks for the meal and this…" Aden spoke silently, his toes twitching slightly under the blanket as his nerves slowly reactivated.
The man halted for a moment before opening the door with a hum.
The soft click of the wooden door left a calming scent of wood and sage to linger.
Although Aden was currently immobile, the gears in his mind turned endlessly.
'If these memories are accurate, the former owner of this body was Daren Redwyn — a former member of a high-ranking noble family, scorned by everyone in the kingdom for his disgusting attitude towards women and his crippling laziness.'
A heavy sigh left his mouth as he stared at the dimly lit ceiling.
"So I have no redeemable quality. Fantastic."
"I've got to think of a way to at least survive without getting stabbed by a random person. Thanks a lot, Daren."
A groan leaving his lips, Aden thought up and discarded plans as fast as they came.
After a while of thought, a previously overlooked subject resurfaced:
"How did I survive that beast?" Aden muttered, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"Did I do that awakening thing? Unlocking your innate potential under incredible amounts of emotional, physical, or mental strain? Well, I guess I was fairly strained…"
The meat he was fed by the strange man seemed to have some healing effects as Aden finally became able to twitch his fingers without getting electric shocks sent through his body.
The flame still burned brightly outside, and the shadow of the man cast a strangely comforting shade over Aden.
"Huuuaaam… I'll think about all this tomorrow. There's enough time."
He decided, with half-lidded eyes, as he moved subtly under the sheets and fell into a voluntary slumber.
….
….
….
Sitting in front of the flame with a horn in hand and a large hammer by his side, the man's mind traveled to the moments the constant falling of trees brought him out of his nap:
"What's got all these livestock lively today?" he wondered, his hands idly scratching his eyes as he made his way toward the source of the noise, a massive hammer resting on his shoulder.
"It better not be another fight. These trees are precious," he mumbled, his feet moving through the forest with relative ease.
"Good gods…"
A kid barely above eighteen years of age could be seen desperately dodging the attacks from a blue-furred beast while barely maintaining his balance.
"Is this an awakening test? But that silver hair…" His eyes squinted as he chewed on a small branch. "That's most definitely Sir Daren. Didn't he get exiled yesterday?"
He chose not to intervene, following the rules set up by the kingdom and to avoid hindering a potential awakening.
"Arghh!!!"
A loud cry caused him to sit upright in his position and momentarily stop chewing on his stick.
His hands gripped his hammer tightly, the sudden force causing the branch to snap, immediately causing him to land butt-first on the grasslands.
"Ouch," he mumbled, but his eyes never left the scene before him.
The boy had fallen unconscious, and the beast looked to have chosen to savour its kill as it walked unnervingly slowly to him.
The hammer prepared to leave his hand as a pale blue aura surrounded it, but just as he was about to end it all, the boy moved so quickly it looked like he vanished.
"He's awakened," he muttered, his face equal parts shock and solemness. "How well he controls it is left to him."
A blurry figure attacked the beast with an almost instinctual intensity, but the man could see the momentary looks of confusion on his face as he dodged and exchanged blows with the beast.
The man wordlessly grabbed a branch, infused it with his aura, and tossed it toward his direction.
As expected, the boy didn't notice and continued fighting, but eventually his hands picked up the branch and converted it to a weapon.
"He's got good instincts," the man nodded in approval.
Roars from both the beast and the boy resonated throughout the jungle as they were locked in the most primal of battles.
The final attack delivered, the man watched the boy fall unconscious almost immediately.
"Impressive. He has potential. A scary amount," he mumbled as he walked to the battleground.
.....
Back to the present, the man's eyes stared past the brown windows as he walked to his room with an unreadable expression.
"If trained properly, he could rival the strongest knight in the kingdom in a few years."
The fire eventually went out, and the modest cabin fell silent.
….
….
….
The next day, Aden woke up with a mild headache, his lips letting out a soft groan as he sat up.
"What was that dream?" he mumbled in confusion.
"What was I doing in space? And what kind of colossal creature was I facing?"
A small shiver ran down his spine as he recalled the details of his dream.
Before he could reason any further, the door opened with a creak and Aden's saviour walked through.
"Time to bath, then we eat," he spoke almost mechanically.
A fur apron tied around his neck and a spoon in hand, he looked less of a battle-hardened warrior and more of a domesticated housewife.
Aden suppressed a chuckle at the comical scene and nodded.
"I'll do so. Thank you for your help. I won't forget this debt." He bowed.
The man stared down at this bent body with a blank expression.
"I do what I want, when I want. You owe me nothing."
With that, Aden was once again left alone.
Coming out of the cabin in a brown robe that accentuated his sharp features, Aden sat down on the log he lay on yesterday and bit off the piece of meat that lay on the tray.
"Eat well. We have a lot to do today," the man spoke suddenly.
Aden frowned in confusion. "We have a lot to do? Like what?"
"You're going to learn how to stabilize your resonance state."