The Life I Gained From Dying

Chapter 50 - Recovery

"..."

"It's cold." Jayson said softly in his head. "Everything... is cold. Where am I? The air is so thick that I could barely breathe. Wait... I can't breathe."

Jayson was one of the twelve unfortunate individuals who were not able to evacuate Aestus when everyone else did. Since he was alone and lacking the knowledge on how to perform the bubble technique, Jayson exhausted his own water essence reserve as he became one of the final few trying to hold up the entire lake. Of course, that task would prove far more difficult than what the young man could manage, so he ended up being engulfed by the falling water. The force and pressure of the water swept Jayson away, giving him zero control of his body as he was tossed around like a rag in a washing machine. It wasn't long before Jayson was struck by a stray piece of debris that knocked him completely unconscious. He then drifted through the wreckage of the village, slowly taking water into his lungs since he was unable to control his own breathing in that state. If he remained in this situation for another two minutes without resuscitation, Jayson would suffer from brain damage and die from drowning. Luckily for him, a creature of a divine nature intervened just in time. From the darkness of the depths appeared a pair of bright blue eyes that ominously illuminated Jayson's body and all of the nearby debris. The gargantuan mouth of the Leviathan then crept open and swallowed everything before it. Jayson included.

.....

Eight Days Later

Chirp Chirp Chirp Chirp

"Ngh... Ah..." Jayson groaned.

Once again, Jayson found himself waking up in an unfamiliar location all by himself. This time, he woke up inside of a two man tent with nothing but a quilt between him and the ground.

Chirp Chirp

Very slowly and in a groggy manner, Jayson pushed himself up into a seated position where he found a bright red cardinal hopping around the entrance of his tent. The bird seemingly inspected Jayson as the two stared at each other curiously before the cardinal hopped away. For some odd reason, Jayson felt compelled to follow after it, so he fell forward and crawled his way outside of the tent.

"Good morning." Said Kaden, who was sitting with his legs crossed just outside of Jayson's tent. "I don't think you should be moving around so soon."

"... What are you doing here?" Asked Jayson.

"I've gotten into the habit of meditating to start my day."

"No, I mean... ngh."

In an attempt to push himself up further, Jayson collapsed to the ground midway through his sentence.

"Like I said, you shouldn't move around much yet." Kaden restated. "You've been out cold for over a week, so your body needs time to regain its strength."

"Ha... ha... a week? What happened?"

"Well, only you know what happened to you. But as for everything else... Aestus was destroyed."

"... I remember that." Jayson replied after displaying a face of confliction. "The lake fell, and I wasn't able to make it out. After that... I don't know."

Kaden looked over at an obviously distraught Jayson who was struggling to piece together information from his own memories.

"C'mon, I'll lend you my shoulder." Said Kaden as he lifted Jayson and placed his arm around his shoulders. "Let's move from here, then I'll catch you up to speed."

.....

Kaden took Jayson not too far away but inside the trunk of a fallen redwood tree that had started to be hollowed out. For ten minutes, Kaden recalled the events of what happened eight days ago and how things have changed since then.