I woke up.
Pain filling my body. I let out a scream even I couldn't recognize as my own. I felt like I was burning. My vision blurred, similar to my first encounter with that dark elf.
Taehyung woke up in a panic, he didn't know what was wrong because all I had in my mind was pain.
He tried to hold me down, but he pulled his hands away the moment he touched my skin. His hands blistered.
There was a ringing in my ears. He tried to speak to me, but I couldn't hear him. He left the room, left me screaming. My muscles and joints felt like they were ripping and twisting out of place.
What was happening to me?!
Taehyung came back running into the room with the elf king.
The king was just in a thin robe, her hair messy.
Her facial expression just showed terror.
She grabbed the sides of my face. I could tell she was in pain from touching me but she stayed that way.
She was speaking but I still couldn't hear.
Green clouded my vision then, I felt a calmness wash over me. The pain subsided. I fell back into the bed completely drained of energy. The ringing in my ears finally gone.
"What just happened?" I was barely able to say.
The king looked at Taehyung.
Taehyung shook his head in disagreement.
"I'm not sure." the king replied. "I had to cast a healing spell, luckily that worked."
"Your hands!" I didn't know Jungkook had come into the room with the king. He was also in a robe that was hastily put on.
I looked at Taehyungs hands and they were already healed.
"They'll be fine..." the king reassured the shifter. "Regain your strength before leaving the bed." she ordered me.
She and Jungkook left the room.
"It has to do with the spell." Taehyung spoke to me. "So, I can't tell you."
"Is this kind of episode a part of my history?"
"No... " he wanted to say more but stopped himself.
I understood why he couldn't tell me, but it didn't make it any less frustrating. I didn't even have a memory to trigger this episode. And without doing anything I hurt two people.
...
We finally got dressed and were ready to go on this new quest. The king provided us with healing herbs and had forced me to drink something which helped me feel better after that episode.
Hoseok was not joining the three of us since it was a good opportunity for the king to try to heal his broken mind.
Before we left, we said our farewells.
Jungkook and the king gave each other a glance. I didn't want to bring it up and ask but it was easy to see there was something more to them.
The moment we left the city's borders and the curtains were closed we couldn't even hear the people working and selling goods.
A strong spell to keep the city hidden. Protected.
The three of us kept walking for two hours. Talking about random things.
"What about you and the king?" Taehyung teased Jungkook.
"You noticed?" the shifter seemed embarrassed. "well, it's a long story."
"We have some time" I chimed in.
"Well I've been to the kingdom many times to get things for Hoseok. And the king loves to walk around the city dressed like a commoner, which I didn't know about. We had crossed paths and I accidentally offended her by not knowing who she was. Anyways, we became close when she found out that there were hunters in her forest attacking a large wolf. She saved me."
"Hunters?" I wasn't sure why there would be people trying to take down a wolf as large as him.
"A group of people decided shifters are a danger to mankind. So, I need to be careful of where and when I transform."
"But you're harmless. You're a good man."
Jungkook smiled "Thanks Yoongi"
"Humans will always find a new race to be afraid of and to try to eliminate. They fear what they do not understand." Taehyung chimed in.
"It doesn't help when they have people like King Derlanty ruling them." I added.
"I still don't know how a barbarian like you can sweep an elf like that off her feet. She is so graceful and proper compared to you" Taehyung teased Jungkook breaking the serious talk.
"Maybe you don't understand it because you've never had a taste of the wild. You're too proper for it!" Jungkook snapped back, they both laughed.
They liked to tease each other in a very brotherly way. I was happy Taehyung had someone like that. Especially after having a horrible older brother.
Wait.
I stopped walking.
They both turned to face me.
"Why'd you stop?" Jungkook asked.
"You had a brother?" I asked Taehyung.
I never had a memory about his brother if he had one.
But why was I so sure he did?
"Yes." he said in shock.
You didn't have a memory?
He asked clearly trying to search for answers in my mind.
I shook my head no. I was worried that maybe I would just remember everything. The pain I felt this morning must be a sign of what It might be like to remember all at once. If it's worse then that, I know I would die.
"Hey! It's alright! Don't think too much about it! Just means you're closer to remembering is all!" Jungkook slapped my shoulder.
I hope he was right, but I had a bad feeling I couldn't shake.
As we got closer to the mountains, I felt more anxious.
Something was wrong and I didn't know what.
As we continued, the forest thinned out until we were no longer in it. We were slowly going up hill as the mountains seemed to come closer.
There were no sounds. No birds. Just wind.
We all decided to continue some more before finding a place to camp for the night. It was supposed to take us two days to reach the mountains.
Jungkook was talking about how he had fought some minotaur's in the past when I heard something even Taehyung seemed to not notice.
"Stop." I told them.
They did.
I strained my ears and could hear footsteps not too far from us.
"Do you hear that?" I asked in hushed tones.
They were quiet for a moment when Taehyung took out his bow and arrow ready to shoot.
Jungkook reached his hand out and from thin air appeared a double-sided axe. I was shocked he could even hold it properly with one hand.
I readied my sword. We waited and stared at the top of the hill waiting for what ever it was to show itself.
Two heads showed themselves and they both stopped dead in their tracks when they saw us.
They were fawns.
