Honor and Glory | ATEEZ

061

I awoke the next morning to find myself back in the comfortable bed of my old room, drowning underneath the weight of several blankets and covers that had been draped over me, my head sinking into the mountain of pillows behind me.

My body was still sore and hurting from the fight yesterday, and as I pulled off a sliver of the covers, I realized that it had been covered in white bandaged that told me that someone had been tending to me throughout the night.

I yawned, stretching my arms above my head before rolling onto my side, only for the bed to disappear from underneath me as I tumbled onto the floor, cursing at myself under my breath as I groaned in pain.

I slowly got back up, running my hands through my hair in an attempt to comb out the knots in the mess of locks on top of my head without much luck as I limped over to the bathroom.

A hot bath was the only thing I could think of at the moment, pushing back all of the other thoughts racing around in my head as soon as I lowered myself into the bathtub.

I sighed in content at the feeling of the hot water enveloping my sore body, caressing every wound, and bruise with care.

Leaning my head back against the edge of the tub, I closed my eyes for a moment only to flinch as the memories of yesterday came crashing down on me in vivid details so brutal that I immediately opened them again.

I shuddered involuntarily despite the warmth of the water.

"He's gone," I whispered, "I made sure of that. He's gone, I'm alive, San is alive, we're all alive. He's gone."

But the flashes of fire, blue as well as red, the flickering lights and purple flashes of the lightning, and blood pooling onto the floor from the wound in San's chest still stuck with me.

I grimaced, getting out of the bathtub to change my bandages before heading out of my room once again.

It took a while for me to figure out how to wrap the bandages myself but I didn't want to bother any of the servants by asking them to fetch the royal doctor.

No doubt they would have enough on their minds already.

When I finally poked my head through the door to my room in order to peak into the hallway outside, I was almost shocked to see that the palace was already wide awake everywhere around me.

Just like in the old times, the hallways, stairways, and rooms were once again filled with people, elementals, servants, and guards milling about.

But the horrors hadn't been forgotten despite the warmth in their eyes and the greetings they gave each other despite the hint of smiles that was hiding somewhere underneath the surface of their masks.

Many of them bore scars and wound that hadn't been there before, memories that would now forever weigh them down as a reminder of what had happened to this kingdom.

I opened the door just enough to slip through, making my way down one of the many winding staircases as I stared at my surroundings, studying the small details that had changed overnight, taking in as much as possible without going noticed by anyone.

But I wasn't looking where I was going, and I realized my mistake too late as I suddenly crashed into a figure heading up the same stairway, sending both of us stumbling down the steps in a tangle of limbs and groans.