"Rise and shine, sleepy head, "a small soothing voice called out to Ash, forcing him awake. His thoughts were slow, and his body took a moment to respond. 'Weird, 'he thought, looking at the white ceiling above his head, which was way brighter than the one in his room.
He looked around and noticed he was in an unfamiliar room. The air inside wasn't fresh by any means, just a little sterile. He looked around for a little while, but the room seemed too bright. It didn't take him much to realize that he was in the bastion's outer infirmary.
He gave out a sigh of relief while touching his face and noticed his eyes were still present which was a sign that he had won the fight or they had ended in a draw, he didn't know what had happened in the final moments before he passed out but if there was one thing he was sure off was that he didn't pass out from exhaustion which could have been the case but he couldn't tell what had happened.
There was a possibility that he was knocked out by Captain Kruger, which was a possibility, but was not right since it was somewhat beneath her; the possibility of him being knocked unconscious by another of the soldiers in training was also there, However that seemed to have little to no chance that Kruger was going to let that happen, or worst case scenario, it could have been Ken while they were struggling desperately, but that still had one of the lowest chances of happening since his eyes were still working.
He threw the other thoughts at the back of his head staring at the ceiling recalling what had happened when he met with Alex and how he noticed that his memory seemed to have been tampered with making it hard for him to remember things, straining his head he tried his best to see if he could remember anything this time but couldn't as most of them seemed to be obscured and clouded but instead of stopping to think he kept trying until he felt a sharp pain in his head occurred very much similar to having a nail was being driven into his skull.
He yelped, clutched his head, and almost rolled off his bed. The pain continued for some time before subsiding, leaving him drenched in sweat. He remained motionless for a long while, letting the terrifying feeling fade away.
This kind of pain was foreign to him, so he didn't really know how to deal with it; it was like his mind was being crushed and torn from just trying to remember, as if his soul was being pulled and almost ripped off his body, his head even felt like it was swollen at some point and on the verge of exploding before he stopped trying. It felt more like a trauma than something than something a human was supposed to go through ' what the fucking hell have I been doing ' Ash shivered just thinking about it folding himself into a ball remaining motionless trying not to think about it, he now knew why Alex was scared of ' them ' because just trying to peer into his memories had him almost killed him right where he was then their existence had to be something he had to be extremely wary of.
But deep within Ash had a weird feeling inside something very similar to excitement, he was weirdly intrigued thinking about the kind of problem he was already in. anything that Alex was doing was going to be a temporary relief he didn't need a soothsayer to know that fact but he was currently stuck in a warzone like jail which if used properly could be used as an asset but, he couldn't use it due to having a trash body and worse still was that he was a child.
Even then children his age could use mana and enhance their body with it while he could only summon and use atmospheric essence bypassing the core formation step but he didn't really mind it he was going to have to find a way eventually, there was a saying that he knew very well by heart " in the world of magic there is no such thing as impossible ...… its only the will and the right tool that needs to be found ".
Another thing that bothered him was the fact that Alex told him that he had tried been good in the first place but when in his lives had this happened and what was the outcome of it, he was itching to know but, he knew better than to try again the pain wasn't something he was willing to go through again, he gave out a loud sigh and allowed his mind to wander ' this life is going to be one hell of a bumpy ride ….. isn't it '.
The pain and the sore had subsided by a large margin, allowing him to move properly. Slowly, he turned his head to the other side of the bed, only for him to freeze as he set his eyes on someone who seemed to have been present, watching him with keen interest, way different from the spiteful eyes.
"Took you long enough "Kruger's voice called out to Ash who was frozen not exactly sure of how long she had been in the room, "how long have been here?" he asked trying to move his now somewhat free body and sit "from the very beginning .... You seemed more hurt than we anticipated "she said with a pause staring at him more like she was trying to find out something deep inside of him making him uncomfortable.
The awkward silence continued for a while before Ash decided to break it "am I still going to lose an eye? " he asked trying to know where he stood in all the mess he had created for himself, her expression didn't change rather she seemed to have gotten more curious " no you are not going to lose an eye " she said adding a weird smile that made him give out a sigh of relief but at the same time feel unsettled " ….. but you got a whole new set of problems on your plate "those words didn't sound like something he wanted to enjoy.
"What kind ... exactly? " he asked adding emphasis on the last word, anything that looked like trouble was next level outrageous " your recent performance earned you a shiny well good promotion nothing too fancy " her words sounded fancy, like it was the best thing that could happen to him but who was a fool to be enchanted by such things not him though because now it was obvious how large the problem in his plate looked like
"It is with all due honor that I welcome to the second batch of the Bastion graduating soldiers ".
[AN]
[ please I want to sincerely apologize for not being able to post any new chapters and might not be able for a little while because I'm currently sick and too weak to do so, so please don't drop and hold on a little while]