"After eating, I won't be able to speak?" Ella Lacey asked, inexplicably terrified.
"Yes."
The young man nodded, then comforted her, "Don't worry, I'll be by your side always."
"...Alright." Ella trusted him.
With a slight frown, she tilted her head back, opened her small mouth, and swallowed the tiny black pill without chewing, directly into her stomach.
Almost less than a minute.
There wasn't any painful sensation.
Anything Ella tried to say turned into, "Mmm... Uh... Yeah... Ah..."
Like a toddler learning to speak.
But she already knew she had become a mute who couldn't speak.
"The silent version of you is the safest."
The young man calmed her slightly panicked heart as he stood before her, bent slightly, offering her his back, and commanded, "Hop on, we're ready now, we can depart."
Ella complied, climbing onto his broad back.
With her, the young man dashed forward like an arrow leaving the bowstring, shooting through the dense mountains.
