Whole Again-1

"What the hell happened to you?" Ben asked astonished as he looked at the disheveled figure of his friend.

Adui never really did have muscle or fat mass since he had first met him. But currently, he looked very weak, even more than before. His cheek had sunken in, the small amount of fat or muscle on his body had vanished, and his eyes looked like they could pop out of their socket at any moment.

The most astonishing thing was that all of this happened to him in the span of a few days. At first, he almost didn't recognize him when he came to his table and joined him. It took him a few seconds and finally, and then he recognized him.

"Something did happen. But I am too exhausted to talk about it. Why don't we just call it a day for now?" The journey from the village to Huston had not been easy on his body. He was really exhausted and wanted to sleep.

"No, we cannot! Look at you! You look like someone who would be blown away by the wind… Do you need something, like a potion or a herb? You look like you could use some magical herb or whatnot."

"I am fine Ben. This is the result of one of my mistakes, and I don't wanna talk about it. Just do me a favor and wrap everything up, we will set out for Laverdale tomorrow."

"But Adui…" before he could say anything further, Adui cut him off. "No buts, I don't have the energy to speak with you Ben, just let me go and shut my eyes."

"Alright. But if you need anything just say so."

"Sure. Also did anything happen in my absence?"

"Nothing much, but a weird couple did come looking for you… A meek and submissive man and a very fiercest and loud woman. Do you know them?" Adui's eyes widened.

Jarad and Clair? What the hell were they here for?

" What did they want?"

"They wanted to meet you. When I told them that you weren't there, the woman started cursing loudly. You know she even tried to jump on me, saying that I am deliberately hiding you from her. She was a crazy bitch."

"What happened then?"

"She gave me a letter for you. As you were not here, I slid it under your room."

"Well, thanks. I will be on my way then."

As Adui got to the room, he sat down on his comfortable bed with a letter in his hands. I don't have time to deal with this right now. He then put the letter beside his bedside table and fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed.

***

Ben didn't notice that he had grown back his leg. Maybe it was his habit of limping and his clothes hid his regrown leg. So he also didn't take any initiative to tell him the good news. It was not like he didn't want to tell him; since morning Ben was pestering him to reveal what happened in the ruins, but for some reason, he didn't like the idea of him knowing what happened last night. So he just avoided his questions.

"Would you stop playing with that damn box and answer your question?" Ben yelled, he was driving the cart while Adui was sitting in the back cleaning metal cube.

"Ben, I am this close to kicking you from behind, do not tempt me. I cannot tell you what happened there, just live with this fact."

"Okay, I get it. There are some things that you can't share with me. Maybe I am not a good friend of yours as I thought I was." He rolled his eyes at Ben's futile attempt to emotionally blackmail him, he just concentrated on the box.

Since this morning he had to work on it. He had cleaned up the old thing and now he was having a look at it. There were no visible patterns on the cube that suggested that one can open up this thing, it looked like a big chunk of the iron cube. But he was not buying it. The cube was obviously hollow otherwise the weight of the cube would have been much higher if it were a pure iron cube.

"Hey, did you gander at the letter the woman left you? What did it say?" Ben's words made Adui stop brushing the cube. Oh yeah! The letter, how could forget? He immediately then fished out the letter from his spatial pouch.

_________________________________

Dear Adui,

If you are reading this letter, then do me a favor and fuck yourself. While you are at it, take your balls and then tear them off your genitals. You don't deserve them, because you are no man.

I left my kids behind and traveled 2 days to come and meet with you. While you on the other hand vanished after having a lousy dinner with us. You took advantage of Jarad's innocence and then went off on your own way. We are not some cheap hooker that you can use and then vanish you son of a bitch.

Do not contact me or my husband again.

Clair

______________________________

Adui couldn't describe what he was feeling. He had decided long ago that he would limit his contact with Clair and Jarad, for his well-being, and he stayed true to his intention, but now after reading the letter he didn't know what to think. All this time he didnt want to upset Clair by telling her the truth, so he maintained the distance between them.

After reading her words, his heart started getting heavy, somehow her words pierced his heart, and now that every bridge between them is broken, he felt hurt.

Ignite. He burned the letter and threw its ashes away.

"I am sleeping. If something happens wake me up." As he lied down and closed his eyes, he started seeing Clair's face, her disappointed face, he didn't like it.

***

Adui found himself in a dark forest, the only source of light was the red blood moon whose rays were barely making it through the canopy of trees. As he moved in a muddy path of the forest, the leaves of trees rustled with one another sounding like whispers of trees, talking about him, looking down on him.

As he moved forward the whispers became louder and clear, and he was eventually able to recognize the voices behind those whispers. One of those voices belonged to Clair, mocking him. "You are a useless piece of shit. Still at Rank-4 after a decade, you are useless. Look at Jarad, he is a normal human but he has more power and influence than you do. He is the ideal man, you are just a useless piece of shit."

After Clair, he started hearing mocking remarks from any significant person in his life, at one time he even heard his father. All those harsh words started increasing the weight on his shoulders, the more he listened, the more the weight increased.

Eventually, he started slowing down, his shoulders started aching. There even came a time when he wondered whether he would be buried with this weight. But it was then a red wisp came flying down from the moon and landed in front of him.

Further down the path, that red wisp hovered freely in the air. He could feel the power emanating from the light, and he instantly knew, that power could help him regain control of his life, and relieve him from all of this burden. He made up his mind and stelled his resolve, he wanted that power, no matter what the cost, he could not live like this any longer like this.

As he moved forward, the weight of his words kept on increasing, there came a time when he could hardly move forward. But he didn't stop, he took small steps, and eventually, he fell and had to crawl, but he didn't stop. When the red wisp was just above him, he gathered all of his strength and pushed himself up, he extended his hand and grabbed it. The wisp then transformed into a Rose.

Blood started flowing from his hands as the thorns from its stem pierced his skin, but the pain was a very small price to pay as the Rose relieved him of his burden. He felt free, and after a long time he could finally breathe again, the whispers had also stopped, and he felt alive once again. Now he had the power to achieve everything that he ever wanted.

Abruptly a pale man appeared beside him, who had shining white long hair. Kaisel looked at him with his scarlet red eyes with contempt. "You have something that belongs to me young mage."

It was then he grabbed Adui's neck, and with a jerk, he brought him closer. "Learn your place, you useless piece of shit!"

He then raised him in the air and threw him. As Adui landed on the muddy road, his vision started getting distorted, he started hearing yells and curses, he soon regained his bearing and found himself lying on a muddy road. A bunch of men surrounded him and were carrying rusted axes and swords.

One of the guys pulled him up to his feet, it was then he saw Ben kneeling in front of a fat man, crying to his right. While their cart was not too far away from them. It didn't take him long to realize that he was surrounded by bandits.