Heroes of Xevida

Chapter 12

When he awoke his mind was still in a daze, his body felt numb and his eyelids were heavy as stone. Aiden couldn't even remember for how long he laid there, looking at nothing in particular, just staring at a wooden ceiling.

Blinking slowly, he tried to sit up, but his vision blurred again almost immediately, resulting in Aiden falling back down onto the soft bed. He looked around the sterile and bright room, unfamiliar magical devices stationed nearby. He wondered what had happened, but the recollection of the events seemed fuzzy.

"Where the hell..?", he muttered and looked around in confusion, until he faced the biggest source of light within the room. Standing up slowly and shakily, he made his way towards the window only to look down at the familiar bustling market stalls of Bramen.

Once he heard a click at the door, Aiden spun around, but grabbed his head shortly after as he tried to numb the pounding in his head. A short woman in an ankle-lenght light blue dress and apron stood in the doorway and dropped a small silver tray. Quickly she ran back out and held onto her headpiece, screaming for a doctor.

Aiden remained standing in the room looking towards the door and tray with a bewildered expression and put a small strand of hair out of his eyes. Not thinking for long, he walked out behind the nurse, realizing that he was most definitely inside a hospital.

Slowly he remembered what had landed him inside the sterile halls in the first place and with widened eyes his fingers reached over his shoulder for his back. He touched and touched, his hand brushing over flawless skin, finding nothing. No bandages, no wounds, nothing indicating that he had nearly died of blood loss due to a heavy wound just however long prior.

He did not know what time it was, or how long he had stayed here, but before he could contemplate some more, a doctor came rushing in, bombarding him with questions about what possibly had transpired. Aiden couldn't properly answer, and instead studied the man.

He wore a long, dark robe and smelled of scented oils that made the mage a tad dizzy. The strangest part was the doctor's mask though, it looked similar to a Chiba's beak and was unlike anything he'd seen the Vienigo doctor in his village wear. "Where are the others?", the young mage asked instead, after having ended his observatory pause, with concern and confusion etched across his features.

In his mind's eye he saw them all get seriously wounded, Windene bleeding heavily, just like Hugo who had been knocked into the thick tree's trunk at full force. And then... Fire. It wasn't his fire, most definitely not, it hadn't been something he could've created.

Without further comments, the nurse grabbed hold of his arm and guided him towards the room next door, the doctor following close behind. As soon as the neighbouring door opened, Aiden gasped, seeing Hugo stand there as if nothing had happened. He was still the same dark skinned boy with the orange and black mop of hair Aiden had grown accustomed to.

Upon further inspection, Aiden realized that's just how it seemed. As he focused on Hugo's eyes, the mage could see the despair and pain whirling in them like a waking nightmare, an agony he didn't like seeing on a friend's face.

Before he could reach out to the beastman, the nurse dragged them along into the next sterile room, where they were asked some more questions. The two were also told that 'the girl they had been with' had been brought to a different sector of the hospital. At first they were worried, until the doctor mentioned that she was physically fine, miraculously, just like them.

Some tests were run and a day later both boys were discharged after having to pay a hefty sum for health care, even though, according to the nurse, nothing major had been done on them. They walked in complete silence for a while, until Hugo walked off into an alleyway, Aiden trailing behind him, clearly worried.