TBATE| The Demon of Elshire

Chapter 23 - Fallout

Firae Aefiel Pov

"Firae!" I heard a voice yell, slightly muffled by something so I couldn't quite tell who had spoken.

I felt the blindingly painful sensation of my sternum being pierced through by a mana-clad fist.

"Firae!" The voice said my name again, and I could vaguely peg the person speaking to be female.

The scene of Alea's body laying propped against the stone as Arthur cradled her replayed through my mind. I heard her tearful cries, laced with the fear of death.

'Was she calling my name? Am I dead?'

"Firae!" The voice yelled out once more and I was finally able to identify who it was in my discombobulated state.

My eyes shot open and I saw Aya hunched over me with tear-laced eyes, calling out my name desperately. Each time she said it, a fresh wave of pain pounded throughout my head. As my vision focused, I noticed my former guardian wrap me in a desperate hug, and only then did I realize where I was.

I was in the elven encampment, about a mile or two south of where the battle had started. I saw Elijah in the background, dirt, and blood littering his sharp features, his glasses nowhere to be seen.

"A~ya?" I choked out, "w-what happened?"

Talking, I realized, had been a mistake because I almost immediately coughed up blood. "Don't speak," she said softly, pulling me to my feet with the help of the injured Elijah. He seemed to be in pretty bad shape, but he didn't look nearly as bad as I felt.

My entire body groaned in pain with every slight movement I made, almost as if I'd been ripped apart and slowly pieced back together again.

"We need to get him to Lance Arthur's bond," Aya said to Elijah who was practically supporting all of my weight. Elijah nodded back and the two of them half carried me to wherever they were headed.

The journey itself was a complete blur. I felt myself lose consciousness multiple times, stumbling to the ground only to be propped up by the Lances at my side. Eventually, we made it back to the apparent main encampment, where soldiers were busy celebrating their victorious win over the Alacryans.

Cheers of excitement burst out when the soldiers saw their generals return, however, they were silenced with a wave of Aya's hand as we continued to a tent where I was supposed to rest.

I fell asleep. Sometimes for hours at a time, and when I woke up for the fourth time, Elijah and I were on some sort of mana beast, heading back to some city in Sapin. 

Eventually collecting my rationale, I propped myself up on the large back of the beast with my elbows and asked Elijah what exactly had happened.

I was painfully aware that I had lost to the retainer...badly. But I didn't understand how we had made it out alive.

"Well after I took a spartan kick straight to the chest," Elijah said, wincing as he recalled the painful memory, "I had been effectively taken out of the battle and—"

"What does Spartan mean?" I asked, unaware of this new term.

Elijah's face scrunched, "I-I'm not really sure," he finally said, confused by his own diction. "Anyways, I was defeated, and by the time I came to, the retainer held your unconscious body in a princess carry, and he looked like he was deep in though or something."

I let Elijah's words linger for a few moments, unsure what to make of this revelation.

'He had beat us both soundly, but didn't kill either me or Elijah afterward? What was he playing at?'