Chapter 11

The strange elf looked as Aricia fought the rest of the beasts to protect those behind her. Unlike when the battle first began, the numbers had dwindled to a major extent, however the pace at which Aricia dealt with them was also reducing. 

She was burning out and he knew it, but he could only watch without being able to help out, just like he told Alex, it wasn't real, at least not right now. But while the brain knew it, the heart was unwilling to follow.

He sighed and turned his face away to look at Alex.

'What really happened to me?'

He thought to himself before looking to the sky once more and sighed.

***********************************************************

Young Alex looked in confusion, nothing made sense. How could the elf in front of him, the one hiding the younger siblings behind him as he held on to a plank be him?

Then what about the previous images he had seen previously, the one in the pastry shop, the one reading with Master Eric and most importantly?

Who was the strange elf that looked just like the older version of him?

His head throbbed, his headache returning in full force before the cry of the silver woman attracted his attention.

The silver haired woman swung the sword in her hands, clearing out the last set of opponents she faced before she fell on her butt. The older Alex shouted as he moved towards her.

"Miss are you alright"

His hands moved across her body to examine her, while he stood beside her, providing her support. Young Alex didn't know why, but he could tell the results of the brief examination Older Alex made.

Her temperature was far higher than normal, so hot that Older Alex felt a burn when he touched her, but he endured it and continued to support her, continuing his inspections.

Her pulse was faster than normal and she had cuts and injuries all over her body. But even in that condition, the lady didn't stop channeling the bit of energy she could and chanted.

"INSERT TEXT"

"What are you doing? "

Older Alex tried asking, but his words were cut short as a giant magic circle appeared above them and a bright light flashed. Young Alex and the strange elf watched in silence as the group vanished from the spot.

"A teleportation spell"

The voice of the strange elf rang out as he walked towards Alex's location.

"Even while fighting the horde, she had 2 objectives. Protect the ones behind her and send them away with a teleportation spell."

Alex nodded as he recalled the battle he saw, many times she had almost completed the teleportation spell but they ended up being interrupted, but she fulfilled her objectives.

He turned around to face the strange elf before he asked him a question.

"What about Aricia, how is she?"

The strange elf watched in silence before he sighed. He had been sighing a lot more often, afterwards he walked past the young Alex and spoke 

"Follow me then".

As they walked, the location changed once more. Alex was used to it at this point, not to mention his mental state wasn't really at its best so he just ignored the changes and looked around trying to find the nearest being.

This time around, they were in a forest. This wasn't a location he knew from any of the set of memories he had so he could only follow after the lead of the strange elf. The elf led on, but this time, it wasn't in total silence, albeit a little he informed Alex about the situation.

"After she performed the spell, the group found themselves in a forest in the middle of nowhere, but she paid the price for continually pushing herself to exceed her limits"

As he spoke, phantom images of the group appeared on the same path the two walked

The older alex held on to Aricia, his body turning red from the heat her body emitted, but he gritted his teeth and walked at the forefront, guiding the ones behind him 

"The first thing that happened upon teleporting was her coughing blood, it wasn't a small amount mind you, then she fainted.

You had to offer first aid treatment, thankfully Liv was with you and could help with her mana. It wasn't much but you were able to clean her up to an extent and you decided to find shelter.

Young Alex followed after the phantom images while listening to the story the strange elf told. He could sense the feelings of fair, anxiety, grief and despair the group radiated as they walked, but they kept following after the older version of himself, a bit of hope bloomed in their hearts as they watched him carry their savior on his frail body.

Soon enough, the images vanished and Alex found himself at the entrance of a cave. The strange elf had stopped walking and moved to the side of the cave, he sat down with his legs crossed and motioned his head towards the entrance.

"If you want to know what happens next, go in yourself"

And after those words, he shut his eyes and remained silent. Young Alex could only watch for a short while, his gaze alternating between the strange elf and the cave entrance as he contemplated his options. 

But the answer was clear, he wanted answers, he couldn't let the fair of the unknown take the answers away from him, so he walked in. but perhaps he should have let the fear consume him, never would he have imagined what would happen as the first step he took towards the entrance left him in a panic and he blacked out.

**************************************************

Pain, despair, sadness, there were a lot of emotions Alex felt at that moment, but amidst it all was confusion and genuine worry.

'Oh what a fool, what sorta person worried about his killer'

He thought to himself as he looked at the beautiful woman who had him suspended in the air as he hung by the neck from her outstretched hands.

He didn;t bother trying to escape as he knew of her strengths, after all he had watched her take out every being in the cave in a flash before she attacked him, his grip was stronger than stone and he felt his neck burn as she held onto him.

Tears fell from his eyes as he felt his consciousness blur, only for a sharp pain to jolt him back awake. He had fallen on his butt and the assailant was holding her head while screaming.

Alex took deep breaths before he scrambled back, how sweet the air was to him even if it carried the filthy smell of earth and dung. Upon getting to the edge of the cave, he watched as the woman cried out and stomped her feet against the floor before falling down.

He wanted to approach her and find out what was wrong with her, but the pain he had previously experienced forced him to stay away, his body was trembling and he was bleeding from his left arm, perhaps his left arm was also dislocated as he couldn't move it. He felt intense pain as his body spasmed but he bit his lower lip, trying his best to keep the sounds to himself.

Before long, the fallen woman raised her head and looked around her before she called out in a weak voice.

"Just what happened?"

She pulled herself up and looked around but upon discovering the state of the cave and its occupant and the traces of mana that had been embedded everywhere, including the bodies on the floor, she held her head down and sobbed.

"So it has finally begun. I did all this, didn't I?"

Alex closed his eyes, but he couldn't get the scene that had just occurred out of his mind.

.

Upon finding a cave with the small group, they laid the woman on the floor after using some of the outer layers they had to form beddings. They didn't know how bad the injuries were as they hadn't made any thorough inspections but they still know the wounds shouldn't get infected.

Alex and Liv, the only awakened in the group if the injured woman was excluded, took off her outer garments and started treatment using Liv's mana. 

Well Liv performed the treatment while Alex ust assisted her from the side, but even after probing and circulating her healing art and skills, they were no different causing Liv's brows to stiffen.

"Alex, we can only wait for her to heal on her own. For some reason, her body keeps rejecting even the tiniest of mana I try to use on her.

Even the bit of mana that gets into her body gets broken down and destroyed before it can have any effect. The best I can do is perform basic treatment with herbs, but that will require us entering the fo..."

She wasn't able to complete the statement as the lady with the silver hair opened her eyes and sent her flying with a single wave, Liv didn't even get the chance to gown or shout before her body crashed into the wall and she passed out.

Alex blinked, unable to understand or believe what he had just witnessed, but in that split second, every other person in the room had been knocked out and he was now in the grasp of their savior.

She who once saved them from death was about to send them over Sansu river.

.

The sobs eventually quietened and Aricia raised her body from her crying position. She took a deep breath before channeling the mana in the atmosphere.

Alex watched in horror as she performed the bizarre actions, not even bothering to ask why he knew she was channeling the mana and how he could keep up with her actions.'

Soon she was done with her preparations and as Alex screamed she made a chant

"Insert text"