Aravel

Chapter 45

When Kaze came to, he found himself lying on a bed.

The first thing he felt was the pain that came from his nose. Wincing in pain, Kaze forced himself to sit up and explore his surroundings.

He was no longer at the graveyard area. Instead, the room he was in was small, isolated from any form of contact around him. There wasn't a window, only a firm door on the other side of the square room. By his bedside was a table with some notes and medical equipment, most likely from treating him.

Kaze looked down to examine his body. Generally, no other injuries were sustained since he didn't really get hurt in the fight other than getting kicked in the face.

"Lunaria...."

That was what Kaze mumbled as soon as he recalled the last thing he saw.

His head ached at the thought of watching Lunaria being taken away by the man so effortlessly. What even happened to him was unknown, especially since the man made no movement to immobilize him.

Kaze felt useless in the fight earlier. The advantage and space Lucentia had presented to him was wasted. He let the man get away with Lunaria.

Adrenaline pumped through his system at the thought of what would happen to Lunaria. Stumbling out of bed, Kaze dragged himself to the door. When he tried to open it, he found it to be locked from the outside.

"Hey! Is anyone outside?! Let me out!!" Kaze shouted, thumping on the door impatiently. "Hey!!!"

No response came from the other side. At that moment, Kaze assumed he was taken along by the enemy to where they were head and held prisoner, but then it came to him that no one would heal their enemy's injuries. This must mean he was rescued at some point.

The question was why, unlike the previous time where he was helped, that he was in such a room. There wasn't even anything he could do in this room, nor was there his belongings like his sword with him. He was dressed in his previous attire at the event, except without his outer coat and dirtied shirt from rolling across the floor.

Pounding on the door several more times, Kaze's fists started to ache from how hard he was hitting against it. The door itself wasn't made out of wood, but of stone, so it made sense that it hurt to hit it.

Kaze didn't care, feeling more worried as time passed without any answers being heard from the other side. As much as he knew, every second passing was more time lost for rescuing Lunaria.

After several minutes of relentless pounding, Kaze fell to the floor and sobbed.

His emotions had exploded. All the guilt and pain of being so useless that he couldn't even protect Lunaria came to him at once. The things he had bottled up, trying to ignore from his weakness of unable to do anything to counter the enemy, it came all at once.

"W-Why am I so weak...?" Kaze cried, pounding the floor helplessly now. "Why can't I... help anyone?"

More time passed with Kaze being left in isolation until signs of life could be heard from the other side.

When the sound of footsteps was heard shuffling from between the gaps of the door, Kaze looked up at the door with tears running down the side of his face. He was still on the floor, making it a rather weird pose for him to be in when he was right in front of the said door.

As soon as the door was open, Kaze jumped up and rushed out of the room. His body wouldn't allow him to wait for a second as to why he was there, only wanting to rush out and save Lunaria.

The guards who opened the door found Kaze shoving out all of a sudden, forcing them to try to pin him down to prevent him from escaping.

"H-Hey, you!"