The Elixir

Both of them wanted to reject the soup that was passed to them but knowing how they have been scaling the mountain for long without having anything thing to eat before they passed out, they didn't waste much time before drinking from the soup as the leader just sat there watching them drink to their heart content before getting up with the bowl in hand as she prepares to leave, but before she could take a step, Alden suddenly called out to her.

"Excuse me ma'am, but can you tell us where we are and who saved us from the mountain, since it would be ungrateful of us not to thank whoever did"?

"You are in the ironwood fortress territory and about your savior, the both of you were found lying unconscious outside the entrance of the clan" replied the lady with a smile.

The two of them had a confused look on their face when they heard her say they were found outside the clan. Seeing the look on their face, the lady spoke up, since she already knew what they were thinking about.

"How about you rest up and make a complete recovery, the clan head would like to have a word with you" she said before leaving the room and closing the door behind her but before leaving, she didn't forget to open a little space in the wall to allow light into the room.

With the lady gone, they now have time to talk to themselves with Ethan questioning how they were able to get out of the mountain if no one from the ironwood fortress clan didn't help them.

"I think it's better we forget about it since it won't make any difference as we won't be able to find whoever saves us from the mountain. But the good thing is being able to arrive at a safe place and not just any place but the ironwood fortress clan" reply Alden as he begins to observe their surroundings.

"I think you are right about that, but still, what do you think they are going to do to us next?" This was the next question that came out of Ethan's mouth.

When Alden heard this question of his, he couldn't help but quiet down and the happy expression he once heard on his face suddenly disappeared as he began to wonder what would become of them now that they are in the ironwood fortress.

There was silence in the room as the two didn't know how to respond to how the situation had turned with them being in a strange land with no guardian to protect them. Later that day, the lady came back with a little bottle and a bowl of roasted meat.

"Drink from this to get rid of any issues that cold might have done to your body" said the lady as she placed the bottle before them.

The two just stare at the bottle cautiously, which didn't go unnoticed by the lady as she was forced to laugh out loud at their behavior.

"Come on now, if I wanted you dead, I would have done that while you were still unconscious, and I can still do that if I wanted to so why resort to poisoning the both of you" she said as she quickly moved her hand as a faint blue light escaped her finger before picking up the bottle from the ground and was left suspended in the sky.

When they saw this trick of her, they became a little scared of the lady with a warm smile on her face as she just stared at them. They knew straight away that there was no reason for her to stick too low as to poison them.

"Do you still think it would be troublesome for me to get rid of you if I'd like to?" she asked, still keeping the smile on her face.

Instead of replying to her, Alden quickly took the bottle that was still suspended in the air as he uncorked it before drinking from it. The moment the medicine went through his throat, his body jolted as he could feel himself grow stronger and full of energy compared to how weak he was after waking up.

Seeing the reaction he made after drinking from the bottle, the lady let out a wide smile before turning to Ethan who still had the fearful look on his face as he stared at Alden who was all smiles after drinking from the bottle.

Since he was okay after drinking from the bottle, Ethan decided to drink from it as well as he took it from Alden before drinking from it. Just like with Alden, his body jolted as well as he could feel himself getting stronger.

"What did you just give us to drink ma'am?" Ethan was forced to ask after witnessing the miraculous power of the content inside the bottle.

"What I just gave you is what we all called body purification elixir, and it helps to cleanse the body of all impurity just as the name implies and at the same time helps to strengthen the body and spirit" replied the lady with a smile on her face.

They were left with a confused look on their face after hearing what she just said, and all she could do to this was to wave her hand as she asked them not to think too much about it since they are new to it.

"In time, you come to know about this elixir and others, but first you need to get a good sleep since you will be seeing the clan head tomorrow" she said.

"Ma'am, what is he going to do to us?" the timid Ethan could not help but ask.

"Worry not little one, nothing bad is going to happen to you two this I can promise you, but please do try to answer the clean head's questions alright" reply the lady while giving Ethan a pat on the head before leaving the room.