Day Two

Meham opened his eyes, he was lying on cold hard ground, he Stood up and was shivering with cold.

"Aughh!, It's hard to breath…"

Meham scanned his surroundings, it was pitch dark and the fog was too thick for him to look beyond 2 meters.

"it's too late I need to go home."

Meham start walking in the only path he could see, he walked cluelessly for 5 minutes then he saw a silhouette in a little distance, he went close to it, he could make more sense of its feature now, A slender girl around the same height as him with long straight hair reaching her waist, the only thing he could not see was her face.

'Why the heck a lonely girl out at a time like this, definitely not someone I know, but I think I see her somewhere else '

He just ignored her the scenery was getting a little clear he realized he was not too far from home, as he walk past her she whispered_.

"I am glad you are okay"

Suddenly Meham felt a jolt through his body he could not seem to move.

"I waited for you… for very very very long… but you never came, you will pay for this "

"HA!" Meham forced awake himself, He was staring at a ceiling and was lying on a bed he could hear birds chirping near the window it was morning, he suddenly sits up and observed his surroundings he was in a room of wooden ceiling, floor and walls, at first he thought he was contained in a cell, but then he saw he was not alone here.

A petite girl in a violet robe sleeping on a wooden chair beside her, her head waving slightly forth every 2 to 3 seconds looking like she would fall face down but then straighten herself unconsciously, Meham just stared at her for like half a minute, then realized he should do something more productive he tried to move.

*Zap*

"Ow, what is that?" he looked at his hands they were tied with pure energy and the more he tries to move stronger the grip gets, he also realized his arms which should have been in grazes were completely fine, even the fracture was gone.

'I see, it's quite a cliche though_ '

He looked back at this little girl, she had a necklace on her neck it contains different gems.

'It must be some sort of artifact to amplify her magic.'

Looking at her sleeping so peacefully, Meham whispered hesitantly.

"Um Hello? MIss…" He felt awkward at first then annoyed.

"MISS!"

"AHH!" She screamed in a high pitch almost falling from the chair.

"Hi!" Meham spoke first looking at her his face was indicating he needs some answers.

The little girl suddenly stood up while turning her back and started wiping her face with rob sleeve, checking if there was any drool, she turned back.

"Ahem! sorry I did not have much sleep"

"It's fine"

"Oh okay, get ready you have a lot of explaining to do" The girl had a slight frown on her face.

"Huh? What are you talking about, I am the one who needs explaining, where is that She Man, and where is Aram?"

"She Man? Ohh you mean Leah, she is taking care of your friend, if you be nice enough to give us the location of your group, we will go light on you" She was trying to sound intimidating with her little body.

'Why are they after our group? is it some sort of misunderstanding?' While Meham was thinking Leah entered the room.

"Leah I told you I would handle it!"

"You were only needed for healing him Chi, interrogation is my thing." she pats on Suchi's head, Suchi was pouting.

"And you_" Leah looked at Meham, he was annoyed, it was the sense of inferiority, he remembered that he could not land a single blow on her.

"Is it true that you people just came from the gate ?"

"Yes, It's true "

"I see, I am sorry I mistook you for a criminal group that is on loose near the Serenity Forest"

"Really? that's why you almost killed me?"

"It's your fault, how did you expand your mana this much in just a single day?"

'Mana that energy? Of course ' Meham's eyes start glowing his fatigue was gone from yesterday, he could feel it, it was like he is pumped up from fresh new energy/mana and the vessel containing that mana widened as well.

"So what's wrong with using my mana?" Meham looked at Leah.

"Hey are you a genius or something? you really have no idea" Leah took a sigh.

"Chi release him"

"Are you sure?"

"Yup if he tried to harass you I will beat him up"

"Thats not what I meant" Leah giggled, Meham did not find it funny.

Suchi grabbed her hat from the table to wear it then she dispelled her magic with the chant

"*GriftKhatam*" the shackles disappeared.

'Hmm, wonder if I can use magic too'

"Where am I?"

"Follow me "

They exit the room and go through a small corridor then went downstairs everything was made of wood the buildings made of wooden planks were foreign concepts from where he belonged.

"It's an Inn" Meham scanned the whole area, the counter was serving Drinks, and individual dining tables for pairs or quadruples.

"You must be hungry right? come the meals on me" Leah pointed to the table near the large window.

Meham was a little hesitant not because they are strangers, but eating outside with anyone let alone friends was totally not his thing, he always lived off takeaway or food delivery for years, but he joined them after all.

Leah ordered five portions of meals while Suchi only ordered a cherry pie with some native special soup, the beer was free with meals for glugging down.

"So Aram told me you got separated from your group because you went after someone peeking on you people. "Leah started the conversation.

"That's true, speaking of which where is Aram? "

"He wanted to check the Town, so he went with one of my friends who had to buy some items "

'Is that a good idea? also, I am in a town? the slaves would be common here since there was no trouble in bringing two unconscious bruised people here, the setting seems very similar to every one of those fantasy novels, I guess they did inspire by old medieval times after all. '

Mecham's train of thought went on and on.

"By the way, are you one of the peaceful types, if I was in your place I would not stay quiet as long as I pay back the beating haha."

"Leah!" Suchi was worried that Meham was trying to hold himself back, Meham took a sigh.

"I know that you went easy on me"

"Huu! how did you figure that out?"

"Your attacks were pure strength, You did use mana when you were following, probably hunting that white animal, but hold back when fighting me "

"Impressive!" Suchi responded.

"That's true, but I don't trust you yet because you are very weird".

"Well if we are being honest, I want to say I will repay you back for this welcome one day"

"Pfft_!" Suchi tried to hold her laughter back.

"Oh yeah It will take years to get to my level, but then I will be close to immortality so forget about it"

Meham and Leah continued taunting each other and Suchi just silently listen and laugh at their bickering.

The food arrived Leah was more than happy to share her's with Meham, even though Meham prefers mild breakfast she somehow forced him to have eat n drink competition, Meham did not even try and let her win.

He looked over at Suchi she was drinking hard her bangs were covering her eyes, he noticed a tear on her cheek.

"Are you okay?"

"What? Oh I am fine, just some good old memories came back that I had forgotten long ago "

'she sounds like some old grandpa' Meham thought she was around 15 or 16.

"If you don't mind how long ago are we talking about?"

"Umm it was about 5 years ago, I used to come here with my friends that were transferred here with me"

Meham became speechless.