His vision was dark, but his ears still worked.
"Calm down, sweetheart, your father is a strong man. He'll be fine."
Elira's voice came through faintly nearby, his wife's tone low and careful the way it always was when she spoke to Lyanna. Ash couldn't make out her words clearly, but it was enough to know both of them were still alive.
His eyelids were heavy when he tried to open them. A familiar wooden ceiling greeted him, the light from several room lamps felt blinding.
"Daddy!"
Lyanna lunged at him before Ash even had a chance to sit up. The little girl's arms were tight around his neck, her body trembling softly. Ash lifted one hand and patted his daughter's back gently.
"Hey there, sweety, Daddy's right here," he said shortly.
Elira sat beside him, her eyes red and wet. She didn't speak right away, just stared at Ash's face with an expression that was hard to read, somewhere between relief and fear at the same time.
"You've been crying," said Ash.
"Of course I've been crying." Elira's voice trembled slightly. "You were covered in blood from head to toe, Ash. I thought you were already ...." Her sentence hung there, she shook her head slowly. "Thank goodness you're still here."
Ash sat up slowly, his spine cracking. Only then did he really take in his surroundings. The village hall, the place he was used to seeing residents gather for worship every weekend, was now packed with wounded people.
Dozens of people lay on the floor on makeshift cloth bedding, some groaning softly, some just staring at the ceiling with hollow expressions. The sound of a small child crying came from the corner of the room, mixed with the hushed murmurs of exhausted adults.
"Elira," said Ash, his eyes moving to the bandage on his wife's arm. "Your wound?"
"Just a small scratch." Elira lifted her arm briefly then lowered it again. "Not deep, not enough to keep me from moving. Don't worry about it."
Ash nodded once. His gaze swept the room one more time.
"Those creatures, what happened?"
"Gone." Elira let out a slow breath. "They just stopped and left all of a sudden, like something called them home. Nobody understood why." She glanced toward the hall door. "Reinforcement troops from Vindale City have been standing guard outside since last night, in case they come back."
Ash didn't answer. He tilted his head slightly, processing that information in silence. A pack of creatures that attacked the village didn't do so without purpose, and they didn't just leave without reason. Something had set them in motion, and that same something had stopped them.
There was one other thing bothering him more than that.
Ash looked down, staring at his own hands. No pain. None at all. His chest, his arms, his shoulder that had been pierced by the fangs of the large creature. Everything felt normal, no stinging, no heat, no deep stabbing sensation.
Ash stood up.
"Ash?" Elira looked up.
"Toilet."
Ash walked past several people lying on the floor, making his way toward the back corner of the hall. When the wooden toilet door closed behind him, he stood in front of a small mirror hanging crookedly on the wall, staring at his own reflection under the dim lamp light.
He began unwrapping the bandage on his left arm with slow movements. The white cloth, already browned with dried blood, came off layer by layer until the skin of his arm was fully visible.
No wound, no scar, no dried skin, no red line from a bite. His skin was clean as if nothing had ever touched it.
Ash removed the bandage on his chest as well. The same, no trace of anything there, even though he could still remember clearly how the creature's fangs had sunk into his shoulder, how his bones had cracked as his body was slammed again and again.
He knocked on his own chest twice with his fist. No pain.
Ash stared at his reflection in the mirror for a long silent moment. The dark blue blood of the leader creature, he remembered that liquid pouring heavily over his body before his consciousness went out. He didn't know what had entered his body at that moment, and even now he had no answer that made any sense.
***
Night fell quickly. Ash carried Lyanna who had already fallen asleep on his back, one of Elira's hands gripping his arm as they walked home through the quiet streets.
Several houses along the road had already been reduced to rubble, the rest stood half destroyed with holes in the walls and partially collapsed roofs. The smell of smoke and blood still hung thick along the way.
Their house was still standing, but the front section was open to the air. The roof of the living room was completely gone, and the side wall had a long crack running from top to bottom. The bedroom at the back was in better shape, only part of its roof had caved in so the night sky was visible from inside.
Elira put Lyanna to bed without much talking, tucking her daughter in tightly even though the night wind came in through the hole in the roof above.
"Sleep well, sweetheart," she whispered close to Lyanna's ear.
Ash stood in the bedroom doorway, staring at the dark sky visible through the hole in the roof. The stars were clear tonight. He heard Elira move toward the kitchen, the soft clatter of plates and light footsteps on the wooden floor.
Then something shifted inside his body.
Not pain, not dizziness. His heart began beating faster than usual, and a hot sensation rose from the lower part of his stomach, spreading up to his chest slowly but steadily.
Ash pressed his hand against the wall for a moment, trying to identify the feeling. Not ordinary adrenaline, because his heart was racing not from tension, it felt like something was pushing from the inside.
He stepped into the kitchen.
Elira was bent over taking something from the lower shelf, her back to Ash. The curves of his wife's body were wrapped in a long skirt already crumpled and dirty with dust and dried blood, but the round shape of her butt was still clearly visible from the position she was bent in.
Ash's breathing started to lose its rhythm.
Elira turned around and nearly dropped the wooden bowl in her hands when she found Ash already standing very close behind her. Ash placed one hand on the wall beside Elira's head, cornering her.
"What is it, honey?" asked Elira. Her voice was still calm, but her eyes were searching Ash's face for something.
Ash didn't answer. He stared at his wife intently with an unusual look, not the flat expression Elira had known for years, but something heavier than that.
Elira frowned, her gaze moving to Ash's face and neck. Blue veins were clearly visible beneath his skin, like roots pressing up to the surface, visible along the side of his neck, at his temple, across the back of the hand pressed against the wall.
"Ash." Elira's tone shifted, more careful now. "What's wrong with you? Your veins ...." She raised her hand and touched the side of her husband's neck with her fingertips. "Are you alright?"
Ash didn't answer that question. His hand moved and in one pull, the cloth covering Elira's breast tore open. The woman flinched in surprise, her eyes wide as she stared at her husband.
"Ash," she called again, this time more softly.
***