Chapter Text
Stopping in his tracks, Yuder inspected the training grounds where many cavalry members were currently sparring and testing their limits. Among them were Ever, Gakane, and Devran. Gakane and Devran were sparring with each other, and Yuder closely observed their movements.
‘Devran has improved.’
Since his return from Hartan, the young man had been determined to improve his ability, and in just a few months, he has proven himself worthy of that promise. Even Gakane is getting better. Although he would mostly specialize in stealth with his shadow clone, it’s no surprise he holds well against Devran with the training he commits to.
The loud noises continued. It was always chaotic on the training grounds where everyone took their schedule seriously and fought wholeheartedly. Fireballs crashed into walls, rubble forming from uneven grounds, and swords swinging in the air.
Yuder, being accustomed to such a sight, wasn’t surprised when a broken wooden sword shot right in his direction. Luckily, he caught it easily with his own wind, preventing it from hitting him, and it dropped to the ground.
“Fanny, watch out! You almost hit Yuder!”
“Ah! Sorry, Yuder!” The panicked Cavalry member shouted towards him.
He quickly dismissed it with a casual wave of his hand, watching how the girl let out a sheepish smile and eagerly went to get a new sword to continue their match. However, he was broken out of his thoughts when he heard his name from behind him.
“Yuder! There you are.” Kanna came up to him with a grin. “The criminals have all been locked up and searched, but we couldn’t find any information so we’ll have to wait until they wake up.”
At her words, Yuder recalled what had transpired just earlier that day.
“Yes, I suppose we will wait.”
When Yuder, along with Ever and a few people from his group, were having a discussion while walking back to the Cavalry’s headquarters, a group of awakeners had suddenly jumped out of their hiding spots. They were a total of 12 disguised awakeners, and despite outnumbering them, they were no match for Yuder and the others.
Unfortunately, when the attackers noticed they were fighting a losing battle, they began to flee, and more than half of them bit down on a prepared poison, killing themselves in the process. If it hadn’t been for Yuder’s quick reaction to knock the rest unconscious, the remaining 4 would have also died.
“That reminds me, do you know what their abilities were?” Kanna had gotten a short report to be wary if any of them woke up, but Yuder supposed it was okay to explain it to her in person too.
“One could create sharp pins of metal and throw them accurately, while the second one could form threads of a solid shadow.”
“Like Gakane’s shadow clone?”
“It’s similar, but this man could only create ropes to tie their opponents with, or use it to destroy their surroundings like a whip. The third one mostly fought with a sword, but I believe they could enhance their movements because of the speed and force they were swinging with.”
Before going over to the fourth person, Yuder paused. He remembered that the fourth person was a woman, but her behavior was different from the other ones. She knew how to fight with a sword, but showed no evidence of an ability. Yet, Yuder could tell she was an awakener because of the energy around her.
At first, he thought her ability might be related to stealth considering she was quite skilled in that area, but it was only because of how much she tried sneaking around instead of fighting head-on.
Yuder had been watching her from the corner of his eye as he battled with the other attackers, and from his observations, she actually refrained from using her sword, but preferred to get in close and fight hand-to-hand combat instead. However, what really made her different was what happened the last moments before Yuder knocked her unconscious. Unlike how the other people had struggled under his hold, trying to either escape or die, that woman had laid still as if giving up.
Yuder tried speaking to her to get some information out of her, which is why he failed to be prepared by her unusual strength. But instead of trying to kill him, which is what he thought she would attempt, she simply laid her hand on his neck, and it was also at that moment that she fainted due to Yuder’s reflexes.
“….I think the fourth person might have an ability related to touch.” It wasn’t that unheard of to only be able to activate one’s ability through touch. It would explain why she tried to only fight with her hands, and why she did what she did. “However, I’m not sure what her power does.”
It was true. She must not have had the time to activate her ability, because Yuder felt no different from before. In addition, neither Ever, Devran, Gakane, Hinn, or Finn showed any abnormal symptoms, so he supposed it was alright for the meantime.
Suddenly, a person flew by them, rolling onto the ground and looking quite messy with his disheveled hair and dirty attire. Still, he quickly got up and smiled once he met Kanna’s eyes.
“Oh! Hi, Kanna! Are you joining us for training?”
“Haha, not today, Winston.” She replied with a smile even though the young man didn’t spare much time to hear her answer before he ran back to his sparring partner.
Kanna turned back to Yuder. “Then I’ll make sure to prioritize finding out their ability when they wake up. I’d love to stay for a bit but Lusan requested that I would go get some medical supplies and return quickly, but I thought I’d make a quick stop when I saw you here.”
Yuder nodded his head. “Alright, I will see you later.”
“Bye, Yuder!”
He followed her retreating figure as she spun around and began walking, but his eyes slowly traveled to a new person appearing around a corner. Kanna also stopped in her tracks, greeted the tall man who responded with a light smile, before continuing.
Yuder watched as the tall figure, dressed in a white and elegant attire with a beautifully decorated cape, walked towards the training grounds. Kishiar’s charming smile widened even more once he caught sight of Yuder, who stood by the sides of the training grounds.
“Ah, I thought I’d find you here.” The man chuckled and stopped in front of Yuder. His golden hair shone even brighter as the daylight sun reflected on it like a halo, and for a temporary moment, Yuder felt captivated by the red eyes he hadn’t expected to see so soon.
“Commander? The commander is here!”
“Huh? The Commander?”
“Ah!”
He was snapped out of his trance as multiple voices echoed around the training grounds. Everyone abruptly paused when they noticed their leader, and each gave their greetings. A few looked sheepishly at each other, embarrassed for their messy state.
The man only gave a bright smile in return, not bothered by their appearances at all. “Hello, everyone. Please continue with the training like usual. I wouldn’t want my dear assistant to think I’m disrupting your schedule.”
The greetings eventually calmed down once Kishiar spoke, and once everyone resumed fighting with their sparring partner, Yuder finally parted his lips.
“Commander, what brings you here?”
“Can’t I come visit my adorable assistant? I wanted to see you.”
“…”
Yuder was momentarily stunned by the open statement. Had this been said in the same manner, around so many people, back in Yuder’s past, he would have probably turned his back to the shameless commander and sent an icy gaze to anyone looking in their direction. However, instead of such a reaction, a tingling warmth bloomed inside his chest instead.
Looking rather amused, Kishiar spared him from answering and instead spoke of something else. “I heard you were unexpectedly attacked just an hour ago.”
“Yes, it was nothing we couldn’t handle.” Yuder gave a summarized report, fitting for the situation. “We still don’t know of their goal, but while there were 12 attackers to begin with, we unfortunately only managed to capture 4 of them. The rest died from self-poisoning.”
“I see. Have you visited the infirmary yet?”
“…I am not injured.”
Kishiar didn’t respond this time, but instead let his red eyes travel up and down Yuder’s body. His intense gaze caused a shiver to course through Yuder’s spine, but he suppressed it and kept his expression neutral. After what felt like a long time, Kishiar finally closed his eyes with a smile, seemingly satisfied at having checked Yuder over for any hidden injuries.
“Very well. I noticed Kanna Wand is already on the case, so there’s hopefully no need to worry.”
Yuder also nodded as he looked up at the man in front of him. A warm gaze met his dark eyes, and Yuder felt himself relax his muscles. The red eyes held a reassurance in them. Yuder hadn’t even noticed his shoulders were tense from the recent incident, but seeing that calm expression that told him everything would be okay, he felt like he could finally breathe out a breath he was subconsciously holding.
Unfortunately, the quiet eye contact and silent communication between them were interrupted by multiple people raising their voices. Both men turned back to the training grounds and saw how everything had come to a stop. Ever was surrounded by many noisy cavalry members, so Kishiar quickly approached to assess the situation with Yuder following closely behind.
“Ever! Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
“You’re bleeding!”
“What? Did Ever get injured?”
“What happened?” The crowd parted and made way for their commander and his assistant.
Now getting a more clear look, Yuder could see the red color that drew a thin but deep line in Ever’s forearm. She was holding her own wrist, careful not to touch the wound.
“It’s nothing, Commander.” Ever was quick to brush everyone off, saying it wasn’t anything major. “It’s just a small cut, I don’t even feel anything.”
Her tries to reassure only calmed down the group a little bit, but her sparring partner looked worryingly pale.
“E-Ever, I’m so sorry. I don’t understand what happened, I swear.”
“Arthur, it’s fine, okay? It’s not your fault. Even I don’t understand where it came from…”
As the commotion continued, Yuder inspected the bleeding injury that was visible because of the rolled up sleeve. It was a rather long cut that looked like it came from a blade, but Yuder knew that today, the cavalry members would only be sparring with wooden swords. It didn’t explain where the cut came from, but he supposed it shouldn’t matter. What was important was getting it treated.
“Hm.” A low hum came from beside him, and with just a simple but elegant gesture, Kishiar managed to gather everyone’s attention. “I understand it was an accident, so there’s no need to be anxious. The injury can be treated by our healers. Sir Arthur, do you mind accompanying Deputy Commander Ever to the infirmary?”
“Ah, Commander, it’s really fine. I can just wrap it up quickly. There’s no need–”
“An injury must be treated quickly no matter how small or dangerous it is.” Kishiar skillfully cut her off with a blinding smile. “Don’t you agree, my dear assistant?”
When the attention suddenly shifted to Yuder, he had not been prepared to be included. He snuck a glance at the man beside him and saw the corner of his lips curl upwards. At first, Yuder had just thought it was one of Kishiar’s usual antics, but perhaps…
‘Was he hinting at what happened earlier?’
No matter what hidden meaning that smile held, Yuder composed himself and began speaking. “Yes, it is important to avoid infections by treating an open wound as early as possible. Therefore, I don’t suggest avoiding proper treatment.”
“Yeah! It’s okay, Ever!”
“I agree with Yuder, you can continue training once you’re healed.”
As if a dam broke, everyone began giving the embarrassed Ever encouraging words to try and convince her further. Any tension had disappeared, and the atmosphere turned back to normal.
A low chuckle rumbled from beside him, Yuder felt his fingertips tingle the moment the low rumble reached his ears. Kishiar slightly turned his body and looked into Yuder’s eyes once again. “It does remind me, have you taken a break recently, Yuder?”
“...I do not need to take a break.” Struck by the sudden question, his answer was a bit delayed, but the taller man didn’t let the beautiful expression slip from his face.
“You’ve worked hard recently with monitoring the training grounds.” Kishiar tilted his head to one side, showing an elegant yet playful manner. “Especially after the incident today, I believe you are deserving of having some… rest…?”
However, the words suddenly paused mid-sentence. Yuder looked up at him questionably, but stopped when he saw how the usually calm expression morphed into one he couldn’t describe. Red eyes slowly widened with color slightly draining from his face.
Yuder was just about to open his mouth to ask what’s wrong when two large hands hastily grabbed both of his shoulders.
“Yuder? What—?”
Surprised by the sudden outburst, Yuder jumped when Kishiar suddenly raised his voice. The shout no one had expected made everyone snap their heads to their direction, an uneasy feeling settled on his chest.
“Yuder?!”
”Are you okay?!”
"How—"
Soon enough, the chaos returned tenfold, everyone at the entire training ground dropped their weapons and began asking if he was okay. Yuder, not understanding why everyone acted this way, furrowed his eyebrows, however, he was met with a new shock when a hand gently grabbed his chin, turning his head from side to side.
Yuder felt frozen in his place. He knew Kishiar would not do something like this if it was not for a reason, but the touches that were usually shared in a private room were now being openly shown to anyone around them. Oddly enough, no one seemed to react to it, because they only continued looking at him with wide, concerned eyes.
Slowly regaining his composure, Yuder blinked when Kishiar suddenly began to dig in his pocket with the hand that had been holding his chin, the other hand remained on his arm, never intending to let go.
“Commander, what—”
“Here, hold this to your eye.” The man said almost hurriedly while he pulled out a rather nice handkerchief. It had a beautiful silk material with an expensive-looking embroidery on it. Seeing it moving to his eye, Yuder felt both uncomfortable and confused.
However, any reluctance in pulling away the hand left him as soon as he looked into Kishiar’s eyes. The man was searching his face, looking everywhere as if seeing something odd. It felt weird seeing the usually composed commander in such a frantic state, and Yuder’s heart squeezed in his chest. Slowly, he put up his hand to hold the handkerchief to his eye, intending to let Kishiar’s hand let go, but it stayed no matter how much he tried to silently signal him.
“Commander, I don’t understand…”
“Don’t you feel it, Yuder?” Instead, it was Gakane who spoke up. He, like everyone else, also had a worried expression on his face. He looked grim and tense, but Yuder’s frown only deepened.
“Feel what?”
This time, multiple people’s eyebrows also tangled together. Even Ever, who was still present, had stopped holding her wrist in favor of observing Yuder. They looked at each other for a moment of silence before Kishiar parted his lips.
“Your eye is bleeding.”
Yuder paused, only for a moment.
‘My eye…?’
He hadn’t noticed anything at all. In fact, nothing was irritated, nor could he feel the red liquid that supposedly ran down his face. However, everyone’s reactions made him unable to doubt their words.
Yuder looked back at Kishiar without responding. Now that the panicked shouts were gone, he felt his head clear a bit, but looking closer, Yuder couldn’t help but swallow when he saw Kishiar’s eyebrows furrow upon observing him.
With an urge to look at himself without having a mirror available, Yuder carefully tried to pull off the handkerchief. However, Kishiar’s hand, that never removed itself from Yuder’s eye, was reluctant to move, but after another small tug, he finally complied.
Looking down on the handkerchief he expected to be soaking in blood, Yuder was once again taken aback. The white cloth remained perfect. It did not have a single stain of blood or anything else that dirtied it. The only thing ruining it was the wrinkles caused by both Yuder and Kishiar’s hands.
But horrified gasps suddenly echoed around him, and the hand on his arm tightened.
“Y-Yuder!”
“Your e-eye!”
For the one at the center of the chaos, these reactions were confusing. Not even a drop of blood had stained the handkerchief, so it must not be that serious?
However, for the ones looking at him, the image they were seeing was nothing but terrifying. Where a healthy eye should be was now replaced with a gruesome and bloody mess.
His eye was gone, they all realized with dread. Ever, who had been frozen in shock, subconsciously raised her hand to her mouth at the sight.
“Does it not hurt?” Kishiar, with his hand still holding Yuder’s arm tightly but rather gently at the same time, expressed serious concern. “No, you must go to the infirmary immediately. We need to find Priest Lusan.”
“Commander.” Yuder tried once again when the hand began to pull. “I’m not bleeding.”
Devran frowned deeply. “Yuder—“
“Look.” He cut him off and quickly held up the handkerchief. The ones who managed to snap out of the shock turned their trembling eyes to the cloth. “It’s clean.”
And it was true. Everyone had seen how the cloth pressed against the wound that was clearly bleeding. None of them understood how Yuder’s eye just suddenly disappeared in a matter of seconds, but it also didn’t change how the cloth, that should be a mess, was completely clean. The sight made everyone thoroughly inspect the white fabric before slowly looking back at Yuder, but most turned away almost instantly. The frightening view of a missing eye was nothing anyone could get used to.
‘There’s obviously something wrong with my eye, but I don’t feel any different.’
Thinking it through, Yuder couldn’t come up with a reason for this to happen. Since his fight with Pethuamet that left him temporarily blind, both his eyes had recovered completely, one even more than the other.
‘Could this be something related to the power of the red stone?’
It was still a mystery around everything that was connected to the red stone. They didn’t know much about it or what it was capable of. Right now, this was the best theory Yuder had.
However, that view changed the moment Ever suddenly gained back everyone’s attention.
“What? Ever, what are you doing!”
The deputy commander was angrily scrubbing at the bleeding wound she still had on her arms, but when she pulled away, only the remains of irritated skin made a difference to before. The cut, like an unmoving illusion, had not changed at all. No blood was smeared, and it didn’t open any further either.
Seeing that nothing changed, another shout came from within the crowd.
“My hand?”
“Devran!”
The cavalry member, whose hand began to bleed out of nowhere, rolled up his sleeve to reveal multiple healed cuts slowly reopening and starting to stain his arm a crimson red.
The injuries were appearing without explanation.
He also tried cautiously smearing the blood, but just like in Ever’s situation, nothing happened.
“What the…”
“Does it hurt, Devran?”
“No… I didn't even notice. It looks like my old scars.”
“Then what is this? Why is everyone suddenly bleeding?”
Yuder began to doubt his theory regarding the red stone. It had been one thing if this weird anomaly happened to only him, but now other people started to get affected. Where did the cuts come from? And why now?
Truth be told, even with everyone reacting strongly, a deep part of Yuder had not believed it because there was no evidence to the injury. However, seeing how Ever and Devran both had wounds on their bodies that refused to change no matter the interference, he pressed his lips tightly together.
Mumbling, Yuder slowly brought up his hand, intending to touch his face. “Is my eye really injured…?”
However, he didn’t get very far, because before his fingers even grazed his cheek, a larger hand gently caught his own. Slightly startled, Yuder looked back into Kishiar’s troubled eyes.
“Don’t touch it. It's best to leave it alone for now.” They held eye contact for another moment before Kishiar let out a deep exhale. “We still need to find the pharmacist and priest, so please go to the infirmary immediately.”
“Commander, it doesn't hurt—“
“I know.” The man smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “But we can at least try and see if this is something that can be healed.”
The moment Yuder stepped into the infirmary, he watched how Enon almost fell out of his seat as soon as he turned his head to him. Priest Lusan also remarkably paled in color and froze in his steps.
Yuder, uncaring of their reactions, turned back to the cavalry member who followed him here, and gave them his thanks. He watched how they smiled awkwardly at him and soon left.
During that moment of silence, both men seemed to finally snap out of their shock.
“S-Sir Yuder!”
“What did you do?!”
While one expressed panicked concern, the other one roared in anger with lingering disbelief on his face. It didn’t take long before Yuder was forcefully pushed to sit down on one of the beds with Lusan frantically inspecting his face by turning it from side to side.
“Please calm down. It’s not real.” He tried to explain himself.
“Not real? Not real? Are you hearing yourself right now?” Enon immediately shot back.
Yuder sighed and thought over how he could explain this. Well, it’s not like he knew much to begin with. He didn’t even know what he looked like right now, but it had to be serious.
“I really mean it. I’m not sure what happened or why I look like this, but the injury is not real. Look.”
“Ah! W-Wait!”
Before Lusan could stop him, Yuder rubbed the area beneath his eye with his hand. Just like before, no blood stained on his gloves, which also meant it didn’t smear on his face either. Fortunately, he was proven right based on both men’s reactions to his actions.
Enon and Lusan looked at him with wide eyes, staying silent for a few minutes. Eventually, Enon pushed Lusan out of the way without looking away from Yuder’s eye and grabbed a cloth from a table near. Having already gone through this once before, Yuder was prepared for the fabric that touched his face in a repeated gesture.
With each rub, Enon’s eyebrows furrowed even more deeply.
“What…” A mumble left him as he looked at the clean cloth. Instead, he threw it away and used his own hand to caress the supposed blood underneath Yuder’s eye.
He felt a bit odd being in this situation. It had been a long time since so many people touched his face.
“Enon…”
“Why doesn’t it smear? It’s like it’s not there, but the injury looks too real for it to be fake.” The older man looked at his own hand and then back at Yuder. “What happened.”
It sounded more like a demand than a question. “We don’t really know, but Ever and Devran also had injuries appearing out of nowhere.”
“Their eyes also looked like they were taken out?”
“No, their wounds were on their arms…. hold on…?”
Had… Yuder heard that correctly?
Apparently seeing Yuder’s shocked look, Enon scoffed. “What. Have you not even looked in a mirror?”
Stunned, Yuder felt like cold water had splashed on his head. His eye… was gone? But that didn’t make any sense. No wonder everyone reacted so strongly, it must look horrible.
Swallowing harshly, Yuder mumbled. “I can still see, though.”
“Hah?”
“You said it was gone, but I can see through both of my eyes. It doesn’t get completely dark if I just close one of them.”
This whole situation was weird. Yuder recalled what he had seen happen to Ever and Devran, and had honestly thought it looked like an illusion. The wounds looked very real, but didn’t affect the person since both of them claimed they hadn’t felt it at all. In addition, they had watched in real time how more injuries began to appear on Devran’s arms even if they hadn’t been there seconds ago.
‘It really is like an illusion…’
Was this the power of an awakener? Yuder couldn’t help but try and reach up to his eye once again, feeling the urge to confirm it was really there.
“Don’t touch it!” Enon hissed and slapped his hand away, unknowingly repeating Kishiar’s words in a more aggressive manner. “We don’t know anything about this and your first thought is to touch it?”
“But it doesn’t hurt at all. And I can still see perfectly.”
“You— Haa…..” Instead of continuing to argue, Enon let out a heavy sigh, filled with exhaustion.
Lusan, who had been anxiously standing beside the bed, was ordered by Enon to go and find some bandages. They continued to speculate and theorize what happened and why Yuder is missing an eye while the priest dug in one of the drawers. Lusan had insisted on trying to heal him even if none of them expected anything to happen, but in the end, Enon had to forcefully stop him because of the unhealthy determination that the priest had.
Seeing no change even after divine healing, they decided to bandage his eye instead. Before they covered it up, Yuder asked for a mirror and got a small handheld mirror to finally see his reflection. It was only at that moment that he really understood why everyone had looked at him like that.
The sight was truly gruesome. With splattered blood surrounding his entire eye, the inside of it was horrific to look at. Yuder was used to such a sight, but for others, it might be quite hard to stomach.
The weird part about it all is that it looked so real, yet he can feel himself blinking and look through the injured eye without problems. It was like the blanket of an illusion had draped itself over his eye.
Even as the two healers worked together to bandage his eye, Yuder still couldn’t get the image out of his mind. He wasn’t afraid to lose his sight, it’s something he has already said once before when there was a chance he wouldn’t recover from his fight with Pethuamet. However, having actually seen it for himself, it reminded him of a moment in his memory that he did not wish to think of. But even then, it should be too far of a stretch for it to actually be connected.
“You said you might think it’s an awakener’s power?”
Enon’s sudden question seemed to succeed in getting Yuder back to reality. “Yes?”
“Then give me your hand. We need to check the mark too.”
Lusan nodded in agreement with Enon, and Yuder was reminded of the mark on his hand. It hadn’t struck him before, but maybe it’s worth checking. Reaching his hand into Enon’s outstretched one, the older man gripped it without much force and began to pull off his glove.
However, Lusan suddenly sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes began to shake uncontrollably. A tense silence washed over them the moment the glove came off, the room dropping in temperature. Enon stared daggers into his exposed hand.
Three of his fingers were gone.
Yuder was missing parts of his fingers.
His middle finger was severed from the first knuckle, while his ring finger was missing from the second knuckle, and his pinky was completely gone. It was like someone had cut them off diagonally with a clean blade. It was an injury Yuder was painstakingly familiar with.
He breathed out a shaky and quiet sigh. This confirmed it. He hadn’t wanted to believe it at first, but now he knew.
These injuries came from his past life.
With this realization, Yuder felt his whole body sag with exhaustion. He never thought something like this would happen, and it couldn’t even get healed.
The three men stared silently at the bloody hand. It didn’t look healed at all, and even a piece of a broken bone was sticking out. The room was thick with tension, but perhaps the two healers could sense what Yuder was feeling, because they remained quiet when another minute passed.
Enon was still holding onto his hand, but it was now in a gentle hold compared to before. Slowly, he brought his other hand up and tested touching the area where his pinky should be.
The area was invisible, not even hinting at a shadow, but Yuder could feel the touch. Despite what it looked like, his finger was still there, albeit not visible to the eye. Enon gently continued feeling Yuder’s fingers, his lips pressed thinly together.
After another moment of silence, he let out a sigh and closed his eyes. “Hey kid, why don’t you go and find that Ever and Devran who Yuder mentioned? I think they were also exposed to a situation similar to this.”
“H-Huh? Oh… uhm………okay.” It wasn’t the first time Enon had sent Lusan out when Yuder came to the infirmary, but he really did sound hesitant this time. Still, the young priest knew what to do, so he followed his words and obediently but reluctantly left the room.
A stillness descended upon them. Truthfully, Yuder felt numb. He didn’t know what to think about all of this. However, it seemed like the silence was too much for Enon.
“Ugh! You look a bit different right now, so what? You’ll probably be back to normal soon enough. I mean, you still have all your fingers even if it might not look like it. Does it hurt anywhere?”
The older man, with a tint of awkwardness, pitifully tried to cheer Yuder up while gesturing to his hand. If it weren’t for the situation, Yuder might have said something else, but he still appreciated the attempt.
“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt.” He turned his head back to the mirror that had now been put down on a table far away. “Brother Enon.”
“Huh? What?”
At his dumbfounded answer, Yuder looked back to the older man who had just grabbed a new set of bandages in his free grasp. In truth, Yuder thought it was a waste of money to use bandages on a wound that wouldn’t change. He might as well pull back his gloves on his hand since the blood wasn’t staining any of his clothes either. But… the reassurance of hiding the injury behind bandages did comfort him just slightly.
“These injuries are identical to the ones I got in my first life right before I died.”
His words caused Enon’s work on the bandages to screech to a stop, he snapped his head up and wide eyes met tired black ones. Enon’s expression soon morphed into a troubled one, furrowed eyebrows and chaotic irises darting from place to place.
“You—…“
“…”
Yuder supposed Enon could probably guess where they came from, it was too obvious with how violent but also clean they were. The fingers were cut diagonally like someone had aimed accurately with a blade. Even the missing eye showed signs of a tool having been used, rather than a scratch from a monster.
After a while, Enon asks a question of his own. Enon wasn’t stupid, he could feel the tension. To Yuder, he always knew what to say and what to leave out. They could talk about this at a later date, when Yuder had calmed down properly and didn’t feel so distressed. Even if he wasn’t showing it, he was sure Enon could tell.
“How did the other two get their injuries?”
Getting something else to focus on, Yuder let his mind wander to Ever and Devran. Ever’s had appeared out of nowhere, but had no logical explanation. Devran, on the other hand, did have an explanation that caused Yuder’s thoughts to swirl.
“Devran got captured and treated badly when he visited Hartan…” Yuder didn’t need to specify what happened for Enon to understand. “He still has scars from what happened there, and I actually saw some of them reopen on his arms.”
“They reopened? So this anomaly reacts to old injuries?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
Many awakeners with physical powers are easy to identify. Especially those within the shin and sul division. Jung, however, circulated around mental abilities and those that could usually not be used very well in combat. Kanna was the deputy commander of that department, and had a mental ability.
Throughout Yuder’s years as a commander, he has encountered countless awakeners, and there were those within the jung division that did not have a power to help themselves, but rather affect others. There wasn’t a limit to what kind of abilities one could get, so the chance of there being a power that could connect to past injuries and make them appear as illusions wasn’t truly impossible.
However, to think it was even able to reach beyond this time of age…
With a different kind of dread, Yuder pondered.
“If these appear because they are past wounds, how am I going to explain this…?”
“…”