"You're up." A voice cut through Zephyr's grogginess. He blinked his eyes as the figure slowly came into focus.
"Jet?—" Cough, cough. His voice came out raspy and dry. The enhanced healing had taken almost every ounce of energy to bring him out of critical condition, so his body sorely lacked nutrients and liquids. His lips were dry and chapped, caked with his dried-up blood.
He wheezed, taking in shaky breaths as he tried to sit up. His body had never felt so weak, not even during his nanite transformation.
Jet watched with a noncommittal look on his face as Zephyr struggled feebly. There was a moment of silence where they both just stared each other in the eye, Zephyr lying limply on the ground, and Jet looking down at him.
Eventually, Jet stretched out a hand and pulled Zephyr into a sitting position, squatting down to shove a small flask of water into his mouth.
Zephyr drank greedily, gulping down every last drop.
"That's all you get." Jet shut down the expectant look on Zephyr's face. He still wanted more.
Jet pulled out a slab of raw meat, roasted terribly. It was as if the cook had simply thrown it into a fire to burn. Zephyr didn't care either way. He snatched the meat from Jet's hand with strength he didn't know he still had, devouring it like a savage beast, not at all caring about his image.
He chewed the last bit of the tough, blackened meat, swallowing it down with gusto. It had tasted raw, with only the outsides cooked. The insides were still deep red with traces of blood in it.
He burped, feeling strength flow slowly back into his arms. He looked up and caught Jet staring at him intently with a sick grin on his face, looking at him like he was watching a successful experiment. Zephyr's face tightened. Now that he thought about it, he felt surprisingly full for just one meal.
"What kind of meat was that Jet?..." Zephyr dragged the question in a sharp whisper.
"Heh! Interesting." Jet chuckled, standing up from his squatting position. "Don't worry. It's good stuff. I had a bit of it too." He patted his stomach as if to reassure him.
Zephyr searched Jet's face for any sign of malicious intent, but all he found was a very satisfied, content, if somewhat excited expression. He couldn't read the guy anyway — he always acted like he had a screw loose somewhere, and he probably did. But after a few days of being here, he seemed to have toned it down, even keeping to himself. He and Kathelyn. So right now, the guy felt more like a stranger to him instead of an acquaintance, which brought up the question... Why did he help him? How did he even help him? What about the Alpha Skarnid? How was he able to survive?
Jet saw the question in Zephyr's eyes and answered before he asked. "Just call it your luck. I did it on a whim. There's nothing to it... Maybe aside from curiosity." He shrugged.
"Curiousity about what?" Zephyr muttered hesitantly.
"What do you think?" Jet rolled his eyes. "Of course your body! Nobody heals that fast!" He leaned down to stare at Zephyr pointedly.
"...How did you find me? What about the Alpha Skarnid?" Zephyr returned with a question of his own.
Jet chuckled, leaning back. "Diverting the question. It's all good. Though, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Alpha Skarnid? You'd have been dead two times over if there was actually one." He snorted.
Zephyr looked away, not at all believing Jet. The smirk on his face told him otherwise, but he didn't want to push further. He had secrets of his own too, so he was content to leave things as they were, with both of them knowing they were lying through their teeth.
'The most he would know is that I have insane healing capabilities anyway... and he doesn't seem like one to run his mouth. He was usually too caught up in his own world to care so much about others.'
"Where are we now?" Zephyr asked, looking around at the burning woods surrounding them. The dim light the gray sky offered shone clearly through the burnt section of the overhead canopy. He could see around more than thirty steps in each direction, and the fire still ate at other trees, spreading slowly. This had to have drawn some attention from nearby beasts and even the exam coordinators by now.
"Obviously still in the forest." Jet remarked sarcastically.
"We need to get out of here. This will draw attention." Zephyr made to stand up, his strength now enough to at least stand and walk on his own, and it was still rapidly increasing back to the normal range.
"I'd chill out if I were you." Jet chided. "Beasts are the least of our worries right now. There's something else going on around here. Someone cast some world-shaking spell a few moments ago. There's no way that could just be training, so I'm thinking we've got rift thieves or invaders of some sort..." Jet deduced.
Zephyr's brows squeezed in confusion. "Rift thieves. In a Ryvelin-owned rift." He stated sarcastically.
"Yeah, that's why I'm leaning more towards invaders. And even that still seems far-fetched. Who'd have the guts to invade a Ryvelin-owned rift. And one right in the heart of their territory too..."
Zephyr stood fully, hand resting against the lone tree stump not burned in the clearing.
"Still, we need to get out of here. If you're right, we're in even more danger staying in this place—"
Zephyr turned sharply to a section of the distant woods, followed very shortly by Jet, who noticed the fact that Zephyr spotted the presence before he did.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"The Ryvelin family's reputation for breeding good soldiers is not without cause." A masked man walked out of the woods, stepping into the surrounding fires like they weren't there, his body glimmering with a barrier spell. He walked out of it unharmed, stepping into the clearing with a nonchalant stride, his body language not at all matching the praise he gave. He even cancelled the barrier spell immediately, like the two kids weren't worth it.
'Shit. Not now!' Zephyr thought anxiously. His body wasn't fully recovered. The injuries he sustained were too grave to have fully healed, even his previously bent out of shape spine hadn't righted itself fully— he could still feel it throb with pain as he moved. At least his legs could work. He estimated at least a whole day or a day and a half before he could be back in top shape.
The masked man was strong. Zephyr could tell. The aura he gave off was at least tier three. He halted his train of thought for a second, catching himself.
'Wait... How can I tell so accurately and with such surety?' He frowned.
"Well, it seems this job has gone to shit. Tsk... Smiling Devil! I knew he shouldn't have been given command of this operation." He squeezed his fists in anger before breathing out slowly, calming himself down.
"So since I'm sure to die now, might as well just have fun and take some bright young seeds along with me!" He announced loudly with an eerie tone.
"You guys are in for a—"
"Urgh!!" He quickly raised his arms up, coating it in a mana barrier, barely blocking a fire spell that came at him from nowhere.
With a roar and a swing of his arm as the quickly cast, feeble barrier shattered, he cleared the smoke from the aftermath of the spell around his face.
"It seems you guys wanna—" His eyes behind the black mask instantly narrowed in shock and disbelief.
Up to ten fire arrow spells were floating around the blond-haired kid— Jet. He had a look of madness in his eyes, with a sick grin on his face, not at all daunted by the fact that he was facing a higher-tiered awakened. In fact, he looked like he was looking forward to the challenge.
The smile irked the masked man. He knew the only explanation for how the boy was able to cast so many spells near instantly. Even he had been struggling to grasp the Word that enabled that capability, but all to no avail. He knew two parts of the Word, but he had no understanding of it. He was sure even if he got the whole Word, it wouldn't make any difference. But here was this... this kid, doing what he couldn't, and with great proficiency too.
"ARRRGGGHH!!" He yelled as he parried and dodged the rain of fire arrows, starting up the process for his own fire spell. As he came out of a roll, he expected a short buffer before Jet would be able to cast again, even if he knew that Word that enabled quick spell casting. But how wrong he was.
The glow of another rain of fire arrows right up in his face reflected off his narrowed pupils as his mouth slowly opened in disbelief and anger.
"NO FUCKING WAY!!!"