Back to ' Château du Cochon' (part-1)

A calm and soothing sensation hit Ryan full force, 'Ah this is the life I do not want this to end.'

The cause of his bliss was because of Maralyn using her powers to heal his eardrums, the reason for her was simple, she would have gone to heal other parts of his body, but letting her patient scream at the top of his lungs every time he tried to speak was detrimental to his health.

The sound of chatting came to his ears as his eyes widen, 'I can hear, I can hear.'

A sense of joy enveloped him as he tried to sit up only for him to wince from pain as he pushed back by someone.

Ryan looked up to see an extremely nice shade of blue eyes looking at him with anger in her voice, "You are injured do not try to move too much, or I will not heal you, Ryan."

Ryan could simply nod at that, 'Damn it I should not have tried to sit up, now the pain has flared up even more.'

"Ryan, how are you feeling?"

Ryan looked at the concerned face of Michalina as he spoke with pain-filled voice, "I feel as if I have been run over by a lorry, then out through a blender, do you have some painkillers I would love some."

Nikita who was by his side spoke with a helpless look on her face, "We already gave you some, so sorry but it would dangerous to make you even more."

Ryan winced as he spoke, "It hurts so badly."

"As Nikita said we are sorry but we cannot give you more."

Ryan looked up towards speaker as he spoke, "Sorry but you seem to know me, but I fail to recognize you."

The person waved off her hand as she spoke, "I would have worried if you knew me, someone you have never met before, my name is Maralyn and I am one the few elves who had ventured out with your sister to help her find you."

Ryan simply gave a pained filled smile towards her as Maralyn continued, "Understandably, you are in great pain, the soul eater can be bit brutal, though I commend you surviving it."

Ryan's frowned at that as he spoke, "' Soul Eater', sorry I do not recognize that name."

Maralyn gained a sheepish look on her face as she spoke, "Ah sorry I once again forgot that you might not know it by its name.", she composed herself as she spoke while pointing towards his leg, "The creature that not only caught your leg but if I am not wrong it broke it as well."

Ryan was suddenly reminded of the creature that was actively hunting him, the creature that threw a bike at him, and most importantly that face, the grin, and the voice, making him gain a haunted look as he visibly began to shake.

"I am sorry, so sorry that I ended up reminding you of that I am so sorry."

Maralyn quickly grasped his hand while she was speaking in soothing tone towards him, while Michlina glared at her as she spoke, "What was that?"

"Something nightmarish to look at, and unfortunately your brother had a rather close encounter with it."

"There were two of them."

Ryan's voice was shaking slightly as he began to speak, "There were two of those creatures, it was so horrifying to look at, they were mimicking human voices it was so creepy, and its smile it…"

As a shudder went down his spine Maralyn placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as she spoke, "It is alright you are with us, you are safe."

Ryan shook his head as he spoke with distress in his voice as he tried to sit up, "No no, you do not understand it is a tier ten creature, it is very strong."

Michalina quickly went by his side, she wanted to hug him and make him feel safe but his injuries prevented her from doing so as such she tried to calm him without manhandling him much.

"Ryan, look at me."

As Ryan looked at her she cupped his cheeks with her hands as she spoke, "Brother, I am here, we all are here and soon we would travel to back to our base, safe from any harm okay."

Ryan only nodded at that as he spoke, "How far are we from the base?"

Michalina gained a contemplative look on her face as she spoke, "Well we moved as fast as possible so we are three days away from our base."

Nikita frowned at that as she spoke, "I do not think the return journey would be that much faster with Ryan injured like this, it is not feasible."

"We could use the 'Goliath', it can easily do over a hundred per hour."

Michalina's face scrunched up for a moment before she spoke with a sigh, "I do not know but it is badly damaged."

Ryan ran his fingers through his hair as he spoke, "It will run, I know it is badly damaged but it would run."

Nikita's looked towards Michalina as she spoke, "I do not think riding goats and spending nights on top of trees would be advisable for him in his current condition."

"I concur with Nikita, we must make our way back as fast as possible, having an injured in such situations would be dangerous."

Michalina sighed as she looked towards her brother as she spoke, ��Bother do you know in what condition your car is?"

Ryan sighed as he spoke, "Most of the front lights will not work, and the suspension is all but gone."

Michalina winced at that as she spoke, "That is going to hurt a lot though I would like to ask you about the interior, it seems that you have customized it heavily and I have a problem recognizing a few things."

Ryan nodded as he spoke, "Fair enough."

Maralyn stood up as she spoke, "Then please help me carry him, he needs his sleep, and the faster we get everything done, it would be better."

Ryan's stomach rumbled as he spoke with a blush on his face, "Umm, Sis, do you have something to eat? I am starving."

Michalina's eyes widen as Nikita immediately left in a hurry to bring him something to eat since Ryan had regained his consciousness they had been busy speaking with him and as such has completely forgotten that he might need sustenance.

Michalina smiled as she spoke, "Do not worry she will be bringing you something to eat."

Ryan gave her a weak smile as he spoke, "I had nothing to eat for the last few days except a packet of chips and biscuit, and forget about water, I survived on soft drinks until I made a way to gather water through condensation using the AC of the car."

"About that, I believe it is not working, whatever you did is broken, that jar is now filled with pale yellow liquid, not water and I do not think that it is safe to drink."

Ryan sighed as Michalina brought out her canteen which she then held against his lips as she spoke, "Here have a drink before Nikita brings something for you to eat."

Ryan simply gobbled up the entire contents of the canteen as he spoke with a content sigh, "Thanks, sis."

"There is no need to thank me."

A few minutes later Nikita brought him some food, food that he simply inhaled with how fast he ate.

Nikita looked at him with a smile as she spoke, "You must be starving like crazy to finish it so fast."

Ryan gave her a small smile as he spoke, "You do not know half of it, though I would like to mention that you make a killer food."

"Why thank you, Ryan."

Ryan beamed at her before he spoke in a serious tone, "Well since I have finished eating perhaps I can show you how to drive, and then we can leave, I do not think we should waste the daylight."

Michalina nodded as she spoke, "A wise decision, tell us how to drive it and we will leave as soon as possible."

A few hours later Ryan winced a pained gasped escaped from his mouth, the effect of the pain killers had worn off some time now, and not to with the suspension the car was an exceptionally uncomfortable ride, especially when the constant rattling sound was driving them insane.

Jessica had taken over the wheels as others simply sat inside with Ryan laying at the middle, Dasyra looked towards Ryan before she winced as she felt jolt travel through her spine as Jessica shouted from the front, "Sorry I missed the pothole, with so little light it is difficult to drive properly."

Dasyra waved her off before she spoke while looking towards Ryan, "So Ryan what happened after you got kidnapped."

Ryan took a deep breath as he began, "Well a few minutes after the Eagle kidnapped me I woke up and…"

"….after that I stumbled upon you."

Everyone listened to his tale with bated breath, no one stopped him as he regaled his tale of his experience during the last few days, when all of a sudden Jessica shouted out at the top of her lungs, "Wait a minute you destroyed The Dam, the pride of our nation 'Navalach Dam,', you destroyed it."

Her answer came in the form of painful grunts and curses as everyone was flung from their seating position with Ryan shouting out in pain, which then led to Michalina to shout at Jessica, "Eyes in the front."

"Sorry! Sorry! I am so sorry, but still the dam."

Celanna looked confused at that before she spoke, "Why some of you looked so shocked at that? Was this dam really special?"

Ryan gained a guilty look on his face as he spoke, "Well the Dam was a big project by our country, and it was big enough to place it at the top ten biggest dams in the world."

"And the Dam being broken would have caused a massive flood that would have displaced not only millions of people but causes many to die as well, the property damage would be enormous, not to mention the loss of prestige of our country and you would end up being acknowledged as one of the greatest terrorists till date."

Ryan visibly wilted at that as the Elves had their eyes open wide as Michalina continued, "But despite all that I do not see any reason for you to be angry, in fact, I was sure that the structure would have collapsed after the quake, and most people are either dead so no harm was done and if there is anyone to fault at, it is the government's fault."

Nikita nodded as she added her two cents on to the matter, "You are absolutely right, who told them to build the Oil Terminal so close to not only the Dam but the heavily populated area, politics simply politics and nothing more."

"But I created the explosive rounds and they are kind of illegal."

Michalina simply snorted at that as she spoke, "Illegal because they would cause disproportionately severe injuries, like grenades and RPGs do not do the same to a certain extent, but I am not going on moral debate though I would like to point out the most important thing in this situation, Ryan, do you know what?"

As Ryan shook his head Michalina continued, "The point is no Government exist anymore and the entire world is in chaos so who is going to enforce those rules, and at the same time those illegal and unethical means are very much necessary to maintain and recreate our safe Heaven, now tell me without those rounds did you have any other good alternative to deal with them."

Ryan shook his head as Michalina smiled as she spoke, "Remember Ryan the world we are living is only for the fittest, the strongest and the smartest to survive so what you did is beyond miracle and just because at the end of the day you are alive and safe."

"You know Ryan, despite the poor condition of the car, it is a great one."

Ryan beamed upon hearing that as he spoke, "Yes, it is and that is why I chose it despite having other options because it is sturdy, even after it had suffered so much it is still moving."

"I believe it is time for you to rest, I will be giving him some potion that would help him to sleep for tonight."

Ryan smiled back at Maralyn as he spoke, "Yes please I would love to have some, and at least I will not have to feel the road bumps and the beautiful rattling noise anymore."

"Damn so lucky."

Ryan looked towards the speaker and saw Dasyra sporting a look of envy on her face, which made him laugh as Dasyra herself cracked a smile.

A murky turquoise colour liquid entered his mouth as he fell asleep soon after, as Michalina spoke, "What are those potions that you fed him? Are both of those sleeping potions?"

Maralyn shook her head as she spoke, "No only one of them is sleeping the other I used was to prevent him dreaming, I believe sparing him from nightmares caused because of the Soul Eater is a wise decision."

Jessica turned her head slightly as she spoke, "Does the soul eater really feed on souls."

Celanna nodded at that as she spoke, "Yes it does."

Jessica felt a shiver down her spine as she spoke, "I so do not want to face one."

The trio of Elves simply smiled at her as they spoke in unison, "Trust me no one does."

It was around just past noon when the car finally lumbered near a fortress created by wooden poles, as it neared the gate it stopped as Michalina hopped out of the car as she spoke, "Hey open the door we are back."

But instead of welcome all she received was blank look couple with their weapons trained against the car, a few tense seconds later Ylerias arrived, but instead of the welcoming and happy face, hers was full of a frown, not to mention every elf that was inside that fort had arrived on top of the wall with their bows drawn.

She looked towards Michalina as she spoke, "Why have you brought one of them here, Michalina?"

Michalina was taken aback at her question for a moment before she spoke with a confused look on her face, "What?"