My First Second Chance

Chapter 5: Potential Untold; The Story Unfolds...

As slow as the tense final moments felt, the altercation had ended just as fast as it had started. There was a blinding flash, averting all eyes. And as it disappeared and vision returned, all that was left was Eli who had put down the now passed out man as Liz cradled a similarly passed out Pheo with a motherly look of concern. Eli glared at the man on the dirt and spit on the ground next to him. Liz gently motioned for him to stop as she sighed and muttered:

"C'mon, let's get out of here, don't waste time on someone so lowly."

Eli, visibly angered, huffed and looked at the crowd, "May this be a message to all of you out there, don't get cocky just because you worked hard. I don't care if you bare fist fought God! You are in no place to disrespect people simply out of your own personal jealousy, nor are you inherently superior to anyone." his glare intensified tenfold, as mana began to flow off of him, "Got it?"

The crowd awkwardly and timidly nodded, Liz sighed as she glowed with magic and a magic circle appeared under her and Eli, "As I said, we don't need to waste our time teaching, let's go." With that, the magic circle glowed a bright blue before teleporting the three of them away...

...

Every day that Pheo had been in this world, had been an absolute dream, wrapped up in an angelic fantasy and surrounded by such genuine people, and his nightly dreams reflected just that; even when passing out on cold hard dirt, every night was heavenly. However, this time he was confronted by a scarily familiar experience, a nightmare:

The first thing he saw after being knocked out mid-fight was horrifying. Alone on top of a pile of corpses sat Pheo, in black armor, coated almost beautifully by scarlet blood. In his right hand was a sword, its original color was silver, yet the blade was completely painted in red, he could hear the sound,

Drip, drip, drip,

As it slowly bathed his foot in another man's, no, many other men's vital fluid, the fluid of life... Stolen, and on display on his blade.

As horrified as he was, his body had no reaction. He could not move or yell, he could simply look: he was surrounded by a sea of lifeless bodies as a blazing forest encaged him in his own personal hell.

And so he stood, and he stared, unable to do anything. However, through everything: the sickening sight, the terrifying flame, his absolute helplessness; the scariest thing of all was the one action his body could muster, one he could not stop.

He simply could not stop smiling...

His senses snapped back to him as he quickly arose from his sleep. With no time to take in anything around him or make sense of his surroundings, his eyes were filled with tears. Yet through those tears, he easily identified Liz, who had a concerned motherly look sitting on his bed. With zero hesitation, he immediately wrapped his arms around her and buried his face into her shoulder, as he then proceeded to sob violently without a word.

Liz was taken aback, however she had observed him as he tossed, turned, and sobbed in his sleep, so she was not too surprised. She soon adapted and wrapped her arms around him in kindness as she whispered gently, "Shhh~ it's okay, it was just a nightmare. We're all here for you, alright?"

As odd as it was, she reverted to her strategy for crying children, but this wasn't to say that she saw Pheo as a child; rather, when one was emotionally vulnerable, reminding them of such childish comforts was often the quickest way to calm them. Liz wasn't merely analytically smart, but emotionally as well.

Pheo let out a long sigh as rational thought began to return to him, he gave a somber smile, "I feel really dumb, immediately falling into someone's arms, crying, after a bad dream."