15 Guardian Spirit or Dangerous Beast?

  Franklin jumps out of bed and rushes towards his mother. He grabs her good hand and squeezes it. "Let's go, mom. I know how to save you!" He exclaims.

  "What's going on?" A dozing Arron mumbles. His eyes blink open to see Franklin trying to lift Anna. "What are you doing!" He hollers, grabbing the boy's arm and yanking him away.

  "Let go! I'm taking her up the hill," the boy retaliates while trying to throw off Arron's grip.

  Sighing, Arron grabs the boy's shoulders and kneels in front of the devastated child. "Listen, your mom doesn't have much time left." His stern eyes directly look into Franklin's eyes. "We should try to keep her comfortable, not drag her around. Okay?" Arron explains.

  "No, you're wrong!" Franklin retorts while shaking his head. With tears in his eyes, he doesn't know how to explain himself. If he says, a man in his dream told him no one will believe him. "If f, if, mom isn't going to live… Then we should take a chance," He says, stumbling through his words.

  "Look, I had the same thought too. However, a bull won't know about healing," Arron says in resignation. "We may even anger the beast leading to more suffering."

  Franklin grips Arron's hands as he looks into the man's eyes, "Please."

  Around noon the men carry a wounded woman away from the shacks of the newly found village. Arron made a makeshift stretcher out of wood to help take Anna up the hill. Trepidation fills their eyes as they climb the hill. They fear the demonic beast, but they've already lost too many.

  On the hill, Joe is chowing down as usual. He is enjoying the day. Joe showed off quite well, so he is expecting to get a lot of extra good food soon. When he sees the men coming up, he is excited his small tail swings back and forth.

  When Joe sees that it is the lady who was hurt being brought up the hill, his jaw drops, what are these people thinking? He's a bull. Clearly, he eats plants. Just because he's a demonic beast, they think he wants to eat a human? Gagging a bit, Joe glances at the bush in a panic.

  Laughing, John says, "Don't worry. I told the boy to bring the lady here so I can heal her." John shakes his branches in a fun way before continuing, "Although if you'd like to partake, I won't stop you."

  "Snort," Joe is horrified by the thought. How disgusting must it be to eat meat? He no longer has an appetite for the first time in his life. Annoyed, he gives off a strong aura, which makes the men's knees shake in fear as they near.

  The men aren't quite sure what to do now that they reached the top of the hill. Hesitation fills their eyes until Gregory clears his throat. "It's fine lads, let put her down."

  Arron stays close as if to guard Anna while the others step away. Though if the demonic bull goes berserk, there is nothing they can do. He still feels more assured, staying close to Anna.

  Gregory bows politely as he addresses their guardian spirit, "sorry for disturbing you great one."

  Joe's eyebrows perk up, 'this guy is way better than the stupid bush.'

  "Even though you already helped us out," Gregory says while swallowing as he tries to find the correct words. "We are too weak and easily broken. This young lady is on death's door from trying to save her child," as he finishes explaining Gregory gets down on his knees and kowtows, he waves for the others to follow suit. "We beg you to save her guardian spirit."

  The others follow Gregory's lead also kowtow with a, "We beg you."

  Joe sighs and glances at the bush.

  "Alright, she's here send them off, would you?" John asks while shaking a branch as if shooing them away.

  The demonic bull can only roll his eyes in contempt. Yet, how long will these weaklings sit here if he does nothing? "Roar." His power soars, and the people here find it hard to breathe as demonic energy surrounds them. Before they can even understand what is going on, they are flung by an unseen force down the hill.

  "Anna!" Franklin tries to grab her as he is flung back, but it is too late. He tumbles down the hill with the rest of them.

  Joe glances at the plant as if to say see they fell down the hill too.

  "Ha, fine, if you want to compare them to you, go ahead." John laughs, fluttering his leaves. Joe frowns but chooses to ignore the plant and take a nap.

  Down below, the villagers are panicking running to and fro preparing to flee. However, after a few hours without a rampage, they begin to calm down. Arron attempts to climb back up a few times only to be sent back down.

  Franklin tries to go back to sleep to see if he can get help, but his fear keeps him awake. He worries that he let his imagination run wild and doomed his mother. Sweat covers his body as he can only stare at the hill.

  "Alright, let's see what I can do," the bush ponders while examining the woman with his energy. He never had any medical training, so resetting bones is impossible.

  However, he does have a fair amount of control over energy. All cultivators can use energy to stimulate the life of themselves and others, improving the bodies natural healing. Natural healing uses a great deal of a person's life force. So an injured person may lose their life before the healing is complete. Simply put, this technique replaces life force with an external source.

  In fact, John heard that a truly powerful chosen of heaven is nearly unkillable. As long as the brain remains, they will just regenerate a new body. Above that, there were even rumors of those that no longer had any connection to the flesh. Though that is a stage, he can't even imagine.

  Anna's eyes open with a jolt as the daylight fades away. The pain has significantly lessened and She no longer feels weak. 'What happened? Where am I?' Anna wonders.

  Looking around, Anna sees a bull eating lazily next to a small bush. She then looks down to see the small shacks below. "I'm on the hill?" She asks no one in particular.

  Anna moves her right arm, causing her to wince in pain. The bones are not set correctly, so it is painful to use. 'It's intact!' Anna exclaims internally. 'Normally, such an injury would be amputated,' she thinks as she sighs with admiration.

  "I don't know who helped me," she says bowing deeply towards the bull and bush before continuing. "Thank you." She waits a bit to see if anyone will answer. However, all she hears is the chewing of Joe and the ruffling of leaves.

  Seeing no one will see her off, she turns to leave, saying, "If there is nothing else. I'll return home."