FIFTY-NINE: The golden aura

Congratulations

The mad king of the ice bear has been defeated.

Rewards;

Three puzzles to the Grand Quest of the Cold Lands (4/200)

You peered into the mind of a deadly foe;

Rewards;

The eyes of solace 

As I watched the notification slowly vanish out of sight my mind was filled with sadness.

We had defeated the mad king of Ice bears but still, it felt like we were the ones defeated. Hassan did most of the job and he paid the highest price for it.

At least he was still alive. I knew that because his chest and abdomen were moving outwards and inwards and his pulse was still being felt.

Sky was already next to him with her hands hovering in the air some distance above him as she poured her golden healing aura into his body.

The reward I received wouldn't mean anything if our main source of security was so close to death.

"Please don't die. " I repeated severally, mirroring Sky's gesture from moments earlier.

I had forgotten to check the description of the second reward, but that didn't matter at that moment.

Hassan's body lay eerily motionless, his eyes closed and his face peaceful, as if he hadn't just fought a terrifying battle with a tremendously frightening creature.

"Shouldn't you remove his winter clothes for better access to his body? "

I asked 

That wasn't the only reason. We all knew that Sky could work her magic even if there were a thousand layers of clothing between her aura and the person she was trying to heal.

Another important reason was to check for any skeletal damage. This way, Sky could see if she had any leaves to address that kind of injury. Hopefully, she would have those in her shop.

Swiftly, she carefully opened the cloak at its fastened points, and when I lifted him to the side, she removed the cloak from underneath him.

Before she could resume her task, I said, "Wait," and I carefully turned Hassan's body to check for any visible fractures or injuries, but thankfully, there were none.

How was that even possible? He had received the hit directly and even lost consciousness immediately.

I had a hunch that his dark aura might have played a role in shielding him from the full physical impact of the blow. However, it couldn't protect him entirely, as he was still knocked out cold.

Despite the chilly atmosphere, Sky had beads of sweat sliding down from her eyebrows to the sides of her cheeks.

This wasn't the first or even the second time that she had demonstrated her deep concern for Hassan.

As I watched, it seemed like there wasn't much improvement, and I started feeling anxious, hoping for better results to come as soon as possible.

The forest had been nearly empty of dangerous creatures, but who could be certain that these creatures wouldn't return to see if the monstrous threat hunting them or the ice bears was still alive?

But what could I do about it? I didn't have healing powers so I couldn't do anything to help Hassan's situation.

I had wanted to say "Hurry up" so much but I couldn't because I knew I shouldn't.

Even though Sky's power didn't appear to be working, I wasn't able to help either, so all I could do was hold onto hope, hoping that it wasn't completely lost.

I watched as the golden aura flowed from Sky's hand into Hassan's chest, and it felt like an eternity. However, I couldn't even tell the time because the moon remained stationary, and there was no sun to indicate the usual day-night cycle.

Sky's arms began to tremble since they had been in a hovering position for a long time, and her sweating intensified, even though we were getting rained on lightly by snowflakes.

We had been silent for a while, and my anxiety was through the roof. Just as I was about to ask if there was any sign of improvement, I noticed Hassan's eyebrow twitch slightly.

"Did you see that? " I yelled.

Hassan had been completely still since the battle with the mad ice bear king, so even a slight twitch was a significant sign of change.

Sky didn't reply but fell to the ground beside Hassan with a heavy thud. Her arms lay limp by her sides as if they had lost all their strength and function.

"Did it work ?"

I inquired of the visibly exhausted girl, her audible breaths echoing so loudly it seemed they could be heard for miles.

"Yes, it did," she eventually replied, after taking several moments to catch her breath, which felt even longer due to the tension in the air.

"I can sense his life force now. It's no longer slipping away," she said, finally releasing her legs that had been folded beneath her the whole time. "This is different from when the parasitic plants were draining our life force. It happened much faster this time."

" I'm really glad that he's alright," I said as I leaned on a tree, some distance away from the two.

" You can feel his life force?" I asked 

"Yes, I can. "

I refrained from asking more questions because I knew none of us truly understood how these abilities worked, even with the knowledge of mind transfer that was gifted to me.

"I don't know how it happens, but I can just feel it," she reassured me, as if sensing the curiosity within me.

"Why isn't he waking up?"

"He's unconscious but he's fine. Let's just wait for a bit then we'll keep on checking on him"

'We? ' I thought because I knew I had nothing to check his health status with.

"What were your rewards? " She asked me. That was when I remembered the rewards. I didn't have time to check if the second one was cool or not.

"I got a puzzle and an amulet. What about you" I said

Congratulations

The mad king of the ice bear has been defeated.

Rewards;

One Puzzle to the Grand Quest of the Cold Lands 

As she read the entire message to me, I noticed that our rewards were not equal. It became clear that we were being rewarded based on our contributions to the quest.

I could only verify this when Hassan eventually woke up. I took out the puzzle piece from my inventory and noticed that it had grown slightly larger. When I examined it in the inventory, it displayed the number 4/200 beneath it.

We still had a significant journey ahead, and the idea of encountering more monstrous creatures left me feeling quite uneasy.

"Maybe we're rewarded according to what we did during the fight," Sky said 

Sky handed me her puzzle piece, and it seamlessly joined the other puzzle pieces, bringing the total count to five.

"Five out of two hundred?" Sky said mirroring exactly what I was feeling. She was then dressing Hassan with his winter cloak.

"That's going to be so tough" she continued.

"Exactly. " this was the only single word that managed to come out of my mouth.

"Hey. Why do you think this is happening to us?"

Sky asked, giving me a serious look, indicating that she wanted us to have a discussion and not avoid the topic.

"I don't know. But I guess that some insane and powerful people or beings put us here"

" I doubt humans have the capabilities to pull this off," She said this with her typically cheerful expression so serious that she almost appeared to be a different person.

"Maybe it's a punishment of some sort. " I said. I had thought through all these options before. I was only then sharing these thoughts with a second party.

"if I didn't experience this I wouldn't think that any of this was even possible. " She uttered these words while turning her face to gaze into the inner forest and the darkness that lay beyond it.

The area wasn't well-illuminated by the moonlight. The moonlight could only penetrate certain spots, mostly the trees encircling the clearing where Hassan had fought the mad king.

"Whatever this is... I don't want to die. Even though I had been hoping for that not too long ago"

I sat there, observing as she let go of the facade she had been trying to maintain. It became evident that we weren't as different as I had assumed. We both had lively personalities, although she was more cordial than I was.

Deep down, we both felt out of place and uneasy, and most notably, dissatisfied with the world. I could sense that from her single statement.

Right after making that statement, she shifted to her side as if she had decided not to delve deeper into the subject and was now seeking some rest.

I too felt that same way. Even though the majority of the fight was done by Hassan I was exhausted which was majorly due to the mental strain I had felt.

As soon as I noticed that Sky was fast asleep my eyelids became heavy with sleep and I was no longer concerned that we could be suddenly attacked by a creature.

'At least the mad king would probably buy us some alone time in this forest' I thought as my eyes closed and I was eager to dream a nice dream, as nice as the last one; and hopefully never wake up from it.