CHAPTER 26: back pain

Anew I was tormented by nightmares and memories of wat happened that night.

With cold sweat my eyes shot open. After a few seconds of forcefully calming myself down, I sat up and looked over the small open field where we had decided to spend the night. I saw a small light brown bunny hopping in between the tents. Its eyes were so black they could even rival a starless night. Yet they still shown with an incomparable curiosity as the bunny investigated the tents.

It sniffed on a tuft of grass before it silently hopped away.

Now I was left alone in the darkness in which I could see clearly. The cold night wind blew through my hair and I closed my eyes to prevent my hairs from falling in them.

("Wat the hell is going on with me? Why can I at one point slash a deer open and eat it raw and at the other enjoy watching a bunny hop by?")

I looked at my chest, tough my shirt covered it I was still aware of the mark that was engraved in it.

("Does it have something to do with this?")

I deeply inhaled the fresh air. I wasn't that tired anymore, but we were now in a relatively safe place. otherwise there wouldn't be a village nearby. So, I could just sleep like the rest.

("It is probably the best decision to try to fall asleep again. Who knows when I get a chance like this again.")

I laid back on the grass. closing my eyes. The wind blew I's melody les song trough the leaves that were slowly falling to the ground.

When I opened my eyes again the others were nearly done packing.

("Wait, I slept for that long.")

I sprung up but was held back by an agonising pain. Confused I looked if I saw Gwen somewhere, but she was sitting on a stone close to where her tent was last night.

I tried to move again. At first just my legs, then my arms. But when I turned, I was hit with the same painful feeling on my back close to my shoulder blades. I sighed, it had to come at some point.

I took of my shirt; the movement released a nearly unbearable wave of pain.

Alex had noticed my behaviour. "Gustave is something wrong?"

I shook my head. "I think my wings are coming."

"Really that's great!"

"No, it hurts. Like a lot! Plus, I can barely disguise my arm. How am I going to hide wings if we encounter other humans?"

Alex rubbed his chin. "You have a point. Maybe you can wear a cape or something so no one can see them?"

I smiled. "That's actually not a bad idea. If my whole body is covered, I wouldn't have to waste magic on that. Maybe I should disguise parts that would be suspicious if not shown like my face. But would definitely safe me some energy."

With another careless movement a wave of main spread over my back once again. I clenched my fist. ("For how long is this going to last?)

"Hey, does anyone have a cloak or something I can borrow?"

Yohan who had overheard our entire conversation was already looking through the luggage. He pulled out a black cloak with a hood. It was long enough to even drag a little over the ground if I were to wear it.

He handed it to me. I carefully put it on so my back wouldn't hurt, but that was inevitable. I pulled the hood over my head and used magic to make my face look like that of a human.

"How does it look?"

"it looks really good!" Allenya cheered. While she was almost jumping up and down. Her hair was a lot more messy than usual and this didn't make it better. But she still looked beautiful.

"Wow that's amazing. You really look just like a human."

I tilted my head and smiled. ("One step closer to becoming me again!")

"But the rest of your body still looks the same as usual right?"

I pulled out my hand from under the cloak. So, she could see my still red scaled hand with black claws.

"Yes, I have to, to save energy. But I can keep an illusion on this scale up for nearly five minutes by now!"

I saw that Elisa was putting the rest of her tent by the luggage. She looked up with a slight smile.

"good job. It looks amazing."

I let go of the illusion to not waste al my energy before we even started walking.

"Hey Elisa. For how long can you keep an illusion like what I just did?"

She stopped with wat she was doing and stared to the ground for a few seconds.

"I think twenty minutes. Maybe thirty if I stretch it hard enough."

"Really. I get the feeling that I would die if I go beyond fife minutes. And you can make it op to thirty?"

"you only just started using magic. You will get better at it over time."

Yohan seemed to be enjoying listening to our conversations. It was rare that Elisa was as actively taking part in it as now after all.

When we were done packing, we left the camp. I wasn't carrying any luggage because of the pain; however, I still wore the cloak. Gert and Gwen both stayed far away from me. She could walk on her own not that Elisa had healed her rib a bit further, so Gert could carry his own stuff.

Along the way the road became clear again and even had some sand on it to distinguish it from the forest. It was clear that we really were approaching a village.