23 Unyielding Will

With him giving me the choice, I recalled the past events of my life. The good, the bad and the worst. Then the old homeless man's words reverberated in my mind. 'Explore your life...', with these words in my mind, I looked the doctor straight in the eyes and said, "An old man taught me a very valuable lesson. Instead of wasting my life on unnecessary things, I should explore it. My answer is, No".

The moment these words left my mouth, I could feel something raging inside me. The doctor was stunned. He looked at me in disbelief, as if he couldn't comprehend what he witnessed. Only after a while, the smile returned to his face. "I'll be damned. To think I'd find something like this in this shithole", he said. The feeling in my body quickly disappeared, and the numbness of my limbs returned.

"You'll live, kid. You'll also learn my skills, I'll make sure to teach you", he added. "I already refused...", he stopped me. "Yes, you did. That doesn't matter, if you want to survive in the future, my skills will be vital for you. I don't want anything in return, just learn my skills". I gave it some thought, and asked about the words he spoke after my rejection.

"Hehe... You have an Unyielding Will, which should be considered a legend. I'm not sure who you are, but the historical descriptions were accurate... I'm still shocked it even exists", he said, but didn't explain much. "Unyielding Will? What are you talking about?", "Yea, it makes sense for you to be unaware. With your strength, it's no wonder. Unyielding Will ties directly to the lost history of this place. In short, the greatest warriors had this will. Though it was considered a legend. One day you will find out, but you need to be stronger", he explained.

The doctor was no longer hostile, or unwelcoming to me. He explained and talked to me with genuine interest. As if talking to his student. "Since you want to teach me so badly, and there's no conditions. I have nothing to lose", I said. "Don't be mistaken, kid. I'll teach you, but your problems are yours to solve. Remember that", the doctor said. "Nex, not kid. I'm a man already, not a child", I rebuked him. The doctor smiled, "Nex... Then you can call me Nick. What a weird name".

"Before anything else, Rand should be here due to your screams before. There's no need to say that our relationship should stay hidden, right?", Nick added before taking a seat in his chair. "... You ain't going to help me? These wounds were your doing after all", I asked. "Your problems are yours to solve. The numbness will disappear soon, the poison was diluted on purpose", he replied.

A few minutes later, the doors to the house opened, and Rand walked in. He looked at me, with multiple wounds, and a knife still stuck in my stomach. He furrowed his brows, and asked "What did you do to him?". Nick replied calmly, "His punishment". Rand wasn't sure what he was on about, and asked for clarification.

"She's dead?! He killed her? How?", Rand asked furious. "No idea. I saw him carry her outside the village. Apparently, that's what she wanted after your previous treatment", he replied. "You bastard. You think this is over? You just killed someone, don't even think about leaving this place anytime soon", Rand said to me. He calmed down a bit after a while. Taking my injuries under consideration, he didn't do anything else to me. I was still their little worker, who did things for free.

"Alright, just fix him up. I don't want him to bleed to death either... Why are you just sitting there?", Rand asked Nick. "He'll fix himself, there's no need for me to do it. Besides, that's his punishment as well. Don't worry, he'll live", Nick said. "Fine, and you... Better do your work, or you'll become more miserable than now", Rand said, then left the house.

As promised, Nick didn't lift a finger to help me out. After about twenty maybe more minutes, my limbs were no longer numb. I felt a bit light headed, due to some blood loss. Albeit the wounds didn't bleed a lot, he knew where to aim. I barely picked myself up, and tended to my injuries.

'It's already night... How are they expecting me to do the tasks tomorrow?', I asked myself after leaving Nick's house. Slowly limping to my house, I recalled Dina and her smile. I didn't regret, but missed her already. Though we didn't know each other for a long time, she was a nice girl. Back at the house, my bed was stained with blood, but it didn't matter. I was too injured, and tired to do anything about that. I simply went to sleep.

Sudden noise of someone banging on the doors woke me up. "We ain't feeding you for free. Go to your work", the young hunter said while standing in the doors. 'Is he afraid to enter? Now that he knows Dina is dead?', I asked myself and slowly got up. There wasn't much pain in the areas where Nick's knives were ledged. The worst injury was on stomach, in other limbs, I simply felt discomfort. 'He's got some amazing aim and knowledge, that's the only rational explanation...'. Nick wasn't just some hunter, his skills proved that. He must've been a warrior, and probably a strong one at that.

The young hunter left before me, once he made sure I was awake. Since the sun was over the horizon already, my task of carrying the water had to be done by someone else. 'Maybe he did that, that's why he's here to wake me up', I thought and went straight to the smithy. "So you decided to show up? Go to work then", Grond said when I entered.

Thanks to the injuries, and an empty stomach, my work was rather fruitless. "You didn't even finish one ingot?", Grond asked a bit angry. "With those injuries, and empty stomach? Don't expect me to do better", I replied calmly. "Fine, leave... I'll speak to them myself", he mumbled the later part of his sentence, but it was still audible.

I went back to my house for a break, and as expected no food was there. 'I'm really hungry right now', I thought and left the house. My assumption was that they wouldn't let me go outside the village. I didn't try, and instead headed towards the well to drink some water.

I could tell people looked at me differently. They didn't know that Dina wanted to die, they probably assumed I simply killed her. 'Yea, water is not a permanent solution. I need food, I'm starving over here', I thought before heading back to the house. Since it was afternoon, I headed straight to Nick's place after my break.

I pulled the handle, but the doors remained shut. "Huh? I'm too tired for this. Hey, are you there? Open up", I said while knocking. There was no answer though, he must've left for whatever reason. "Fuck it, I'll just sit here. If they complain, they can try the doors themselves", I said to myself, while slumping down by the doors. My eyes closed involuntarily, and I fell asleep.

*Pak*, "Hey... Are you dead?", Nick's light kick, and words woke me up. "What the hell?!", I exclaimed a bit disorientated. "Why are you sleeping next to my door?", he asked. "The hell are you talking about? I'm supposed to work? Ever thought about that?", I asked a bit annoyed. "Thought you'll take a day or two to heal up first", he said. "Yea? Then what? Die from starvation? You've any idea how hungry I am right now?... By the way, you have anything?", I asked as we walked inside.

"I told you...", before he finished the sentence, I interjected him, "My problems are mine to deal with. I remember, I'm not senile. If you want me to starve, sure. That's my problem. Nice meeting you". He shook his head, "I should have something". He had some cake and leftovers from his own dinner, but I didn't give a damn if it was leftovers.

"Tell me, were you always this skinny?", "As if, some stuff happened while in the forest. I've no idea what it was, some sort of rays of moonlight. This thing made me that way. Why do you think I'd go fishing or eat fruits in summer, when they provided food?", I replied. He decided to check my body over, and got shocked again.

"To be honest? I'm amazed you managed to stay alive. I'm even more amazed you were able to do the work with such broken body". I didn't like his tone. He sounded happy for some reason. He touched me in a few places, then gave me something brown, and told me to eat it. I looked at him for a second. "Do you really think this is some sort of shit or something? Just eat it", Nick said then shoved the thing inside my mouth.

'Doesn't really taste bad or good... Kinda bland', I thought. He the proceeded to touch me in a few places, each time making a more surprised noise. "Your body is like a stove, it literally burns energy like mad. No wonder you look like this... Stay here, I'll get some more food". Nick left for a while, then returned with some meat and other stuff. "Eat, but slowly. I need to examine you more thoroughly", he said.