Through the Eyes of the Dragon

Chapter 25

Chapter 25 - The Dragon’s eyes

‘... Where... am I?’

A low moan escaped him and he grimaced as wave upon wave of agony washed over him at every muscle twitch. He tried taking in a deep breath, but even that was too stressful on his broken body.

He sputtered, and then began to cough violently. Curling into a tight ball, he felt his innards convulse, and out came an unpleasant clump of crap.

Shit, this was bad. He could hardly move, and now his body was shaking uncontrollably. What was happening, why was he reacting like this?

‘... Tatsu... w-where-’

He heard something come near where he was retching.

“... Ahh... Masamune-sama, you’re awake...”

The person sounded familiar... and totally unfazed by the fact that he was spewing sticky black stuff. Though, as much as he wanted to reply, the painful roughness of his chest and throat made it hard enough to just breathe.

Something cool was pressed onto his forehead once the convulsions stopped, and he was rolled back onto his back. The person said nothing as they carefully cleaned and re-dressed his wounds.

“... You must be wondering where you are, One-eyed Dragon,” the man spoke again, this time his voice a lot deeper, “Somehow, you managed to travel from Aeros to Herba... on foot. Does that sound about right?”

Masamune willed his neck muscles to twitch a ‘no’.

“... No? Then someone assisted you... Yes, that makes more sense. I’m sure you’ll tell me all about it later.”

‘Yeah, right,’ Masamune thought, scowling in his mind ‘I don’t even know who the hell you are!’ Though, considering that he was apparently in Herba now...

As the fogginess of his mind began to clear, he realized the man’s voice sounded awfully high in pitch, kind of like a deeper woman... Or to be more specific, like a certain ball of energy he liked to call Tōdō  Natsuki. ‘... Huh. Could it be that this is her brother...?’ That would be kind of weird. Wasn’t he supposed to be in Ignis? … Oh right, Ignis got overthrown.

The cool cloth on his forehead was suddenly replaced. “... Riichi, Ginchiyo, Daichi, and the others made it here safely, thanks to the pirate’s decision to change routes. Had they gone with their original plan and headed south for Acquan seas... well, no matter. They are all anxiously awaiting your recovery. As for Aeros...” He fell silent soon after, but Masamune didn’t need him to finish. He already knew.

He must have passed out at some point, for when he regained consciousness once more, he was able to crack open his one eye and peer around his living area tiredly.

It was a small yet sturdily built tent, and he was its only occupant. A table piled with new and used bandages and other medical stuff was just in front of his sleeping futon. Near the entrance was a rolled-out blanket with his knife, broken katana, and charred clothes carefully rested upon it. No one else was in the room, and no sounds of particular interest reached his ears.

Slowly, he tilted his head upward to stare at his bare chest, frowning at the scars and bandages. Though his muscles were strained and his skin felt tight, he was no longer in as much pain as before. Even so... he really did look to be pretty beat up.

‘Damn, those Herbans really know their stuff though...’ There were a bunch of bandages wrapped around his body, but at least he healed enough to be able to heave himself into a sitting position.