After dinner was over, the night settled in, and Shurry performed his special healing magic upon both Alfia & Meteria once more. It took a bit longer before Shurry ran low on mind, or magic power, than it did the time previously.
Shurry, exhausted, panted in his human form, collapsing to his butt and then laid down. Using that healing spell had clearly taken far more out of him than fighting the Goliath, or even just redirecting a powerful dual element spell did.
Alfia, opened her eyes, taking in the world's sights once more, she blinked a few times. "This effect is stronger than the times he's treated us before."
"I know, I feel so much better!" Meteria exclaimed. "I might still struggle with my aim a bit though."
Empress eyed the exhausted Shurry, he's actually fallen asleep after that? Hmm. "Take him inside a tent to rest. He's still just a 5 year old boy, and the day has been filled with new things."
The nearest person was an Amazoness, she acted right away. Even if it wasn't me who did it, I should at least play a part in taking care of him. To show him that not all of us are terrifying monsters. She was about to pick Shurry up when… "Ouch!"
Shurry had transformed and bit on instinct. He may have registered that this particular amazoness was not an enemy, but touching him in his sleep was a line never to be crossed. He had awoken in a trance, the glare in his eyes was unmistakably one of fury, and fear. The same look an animal gives once it's been cornered.
"Leon! What do we do now?" Maxim shouted, calling for Leon to return.
Leon, returned from where the minimal leftovers were located. "Oh shit, that's not good." He said, as he arrived on the scene. "Todice, slowly crawl backwards. Slowly." Leon instructed, as he also slowly walked closer. Several tense seconds later, Leon was now the one in front. He began talking slowly… "Shurry, it's alright. You recognize me, Leon." He offered up a skewer of meat.
Shurry's subconscious focus switched to the meat in an instant, devouring it with gusto. This allowed Leon the chance to place a hand on Shurry's head, one that he recognized, and it calmed him down, back into a deep slumber. Leon picked him up and put him to bed inside a tent, then returned to the others.
Empress was concerned and confused. "Leon, what the hell was that? I thought there wouldn't be any issues if he had recognized them already?"
"Your guess is as good as mine in this case. The only others who've touched him in his sleep are a pair of twins that trained with him nearly every day. You could call them siblings at that point. And even they hardly got the chance to get that close to him." He sighed, explaining a few more bits that should have remained private.
Maxim pondered this outburst, putting a hand to his chin, and staring into the flickering flames. "If I had to guess, what happened to him in his past ingrained an instinctual defensive posture regardless of the situation. And only while he is conscious, is he able to resist that feeling."
"That would mean that simply being around any of them, he'd constantly be exhausting himself. Always on edge like that, can't be a good thing for him." Empress sighed, poking the fire.
"Perhaps it would be prudent for us to create the opportunity to build a more trusting relationship. Have them spend time together, from what I've seen in the past, that's about all I've got to go on." Leon added, folding his hands together, bringing them up to his forehead. "If only I'd been more on edge back then, I could have stopped it from happening." He grit his teeth in extreme frustration.
"I'm sure there's nothing else you could have done, Telskyura has always been a horrible nation to live in. I'm shocked they even had a way to keep him safe. Even for a moment."
"I couldn't protect him, that's all there is to it. I at level 7 couldn't even sense the torment of the young boy nearby. And yet… he did it for me that day. My magic was way too slow, and I made too many mistakes."
"This seems to have really dug deep into you. Almost the same as the boy himself." Maxim noted, with a glint in his eye. "You can't change the past. One can only improve to face the future. I'm sure the boy doesn't blame you in particular. Though, Goddess Kali, on the other hand, definitely isn't on his good side anymore." He chuckled.
"And as for your magic, have you tried naming the weapons yet? Perhaps that will help you to cycle through all of them?"
"I've tried, but getting clear names isn't easy either. I've tried it during training, and the spell fizzles out by the time I reach the 5th weapon. And that's not nearly enough for that monstrosity." Leon shivered slightly.
"Is it really that strong?"
"Yes, it is the strongest entity I've ever fought. It's no wonder why the Poseidon familia members suffer casualties on the regular."
"We'll see if we can help you while you're still here."
"I appreciate that, Empress."
The Amazoness, now healed, came over. "So, what happened?"
"We think it's that he can't repress the instinctual reaction while he's asleep."
Her eyes went wide, coming to the same realization as the others did earlier. "That poor boy really suffered too much."
…
The morning came, and Shurry woke up in Leon's tent, looking around really confused. "Huh? How did I get in here? Last I remember is falling asleep on the grass outside?" He got up and stretched, walking outside, to see that the camp was actively being torn down.
The same amazoness from last night noticed Shurry was awake and came over. "Good morning young Shurry. Did you sleep well?"
Shurry's senses immediately went on high alert, and he actively began suppressing them. Struggling to force a cheerfully innocent smile. "Not really, it's very hard to sleep without mommy. But I should be fine to traverse the dungeon a bit more."
"I see, well, if there's anything I can do to help, please tell me. I'll do what I can to make you more comfortable."