"His wounds are finally starting to heal."

  Darkness, it was all Ray could see around him, but faint voices could be heard coming in and out. It was impossible for him to make out who they were coming from, and they didn't really make sense to him as he tried to connect them.

  Still, his body felt weak and he didn't know what to do.

  "What do you think happened to him?"

  It was reminding him a little of when he first came into this world. When he had been reincarnated into a human. How he had heard his mother's and father's voice for the first time.

  "What type of beast do you think was fused?"

  "They're finally starting to heal. Let's just wait."

  There would be an unknown amount of time before he heard each sentence and then finally they had just stopped, but he was still covered in the darkness.

  'Was this death? Have I finally died?' Ray thought.

  However, a few moments later after these thoughts, strength started to return to his body. His eyes started to slowly open, and the first person he could see by his side, was Martha.

  "Hey, you're finally awake," Martha said. "Guy's he's up!" She shouted.

  Through the door, Kyle, and Harry came rushing in, "Hey he's okay". Looking around, and slowly lifting his body up, Ray still felt a little groggy. His arms and legs felt asleep compared to his mind, but he wasn't in pain.

  They were in one of the rooms at the inn, Martha was sitting in a chair by his side on the bed, and Roy, was on the other end of the room, sat in a chair. He had no reaction to Ray's awakening and simply looked away.

  However, that wasn't the most shocking thing. When he looked down, he could see his arms were showing. Not just any arms but his real arms. In a panic, he quickly activated his transform skill covering them up.

  "Ray, that's a bit pointless," Kyle said. "You do know we've all seen them by now, besides Slyvia already told us all what you looked like. You were infused with a beast just like us right. Our guess is you're not just at the basic tier level. Which is why you need to use magic to hide it. While we have to transform to show any beast features."

  "What we were confused about was what type of beast you were infused with?"

  Harry gave him a nudge, barging into his shoulder. They had agreed not to ask him that, especially after hearing the answer he gave Slyvia. But Kyle ignored it as always.

  "Slyvia, where is she?" Ray asked.

  "I think it's best if we explain what happened. After you came and saved us. You collapsed on the ground, you had passed out. Then the Empire and his men had come. They fought off the beast and allowed for everyone to escape. When we left we saw Slyvia's brother there. It turned out that he was the one that had informed them of the place.

  "The empire claimed they knew nothing about it. Which was why they had agreed to invade it and get rid of the beasts and capture everyone involved. Whether that is true or not, we really don't know.

  "We were meant to stay with the people who were freed and go in for questioning, but of course we weren't going to do that, so during the chaos, we took the chance to escape while bringing you along."

  "Slyvia is currently talking to her brother trying to get more information about what was going on there. Why they even had the vials of the shadow liquid in the first place."

  "What happened to you man?" Kyle asked. "You were bleeding, we were debating whether to take you to a hospital or not. We know your body usually heals from these things but they take a little bit longer."

  Ray, was silent for a little while before replying, and eventually said.

  "I was looking for you two idiots, and got into a little scuffle."

  The others were starting to think about who could possibly even do such a thing to Ray. And whether or not they were still alive. If Ray looked like this, they would hate to see the other person. Eventually the wounds had healed though and he was fine.

  "Ray is it? Or should I call you Nes?" Roy had been looking over at Ray constantly this whole time as if he wanted to say something's and now he finally had his chance.

  "Tell me, were you the student at Roland academy. Were you there as a student named Nes?" Roy asked. He had been waiting, for this whole time, if he was going to lie to him, in front of his face. Roy was going to get him to confirm it was him no matter what, he knew it was him.

  He would get proof of what had happened that day.

  "Yes." Ray replied.

  "I knew you wouldn't admit it, One day I promise I will…." Roy paused for a second. "Yes?"

  "Yes, it was me. Do you remember the incident with the shadow? I was there for a few reasons. Originally my goal was to talk to the Divine being. But the shadow had unexpectedly appeared."

  Roy was a bit stunned, he didn't think it would be that easy for Ray to admit it. "Why…Why did you set it up, so it looked like I killed you. You ruined my life."

  "And you hurt one of my men. Do you not remember coming out on the field. You hurt one of the members of the Redwings."

  "Oh is that who this guy is," Kyle said. "The teacher that hurt Jack, well it makes sense if one of the king's men is hurt in front of his very eyes, he would have to do something."

  Hearing Kyle's words, it was a reminder of what the group had told him before. Due to Roy helping them, he had come with them, they agreed to pay for his stay at the Inn. They decided to explain to him why they were in the empire and how they were part of the Redwings. Slyvia also offered an official invitation to join.

  Roy didn't decline, but he didn't accept, for he wanted to hear Ray's explanation of why he did what he did.

  "It's more complicated than you think," Martha said nervously, trying to calm the tension in the room. "Ray take it easy on him. He helped and possibly saved mine and Slyvia's life. And Roy, we were there to help fight against the shadow. Ray's situation is far more complicated in this."

  "As you can see, even now we are doing everything we can to go against the shadow." This was as much Martha could explain without scaring someone. If they were to tell them that Ray was a fated one, and the divine being was at the Redwing base. They would have thought they were a bunch of liars.

  'I guess, I was a bit hot headed in those days.' Ory thought, but didn't say it out loud and wouldn't admit it.

  Just then, Sylvia had come into the room. "Oh, he's finally awake," Slyvia said.

  Looking at her, she was currently wearing an eye patch over her right eye. Ray thought that maybe she had gotten injured while he was away but something felt off.

  "You're eye what happened?" Ray asked.

  "Oh, this, don't worry it will heal I just hurt it a little," Sylvia replied.

  Using his Dragon eyes, Ray could see the truth. Her aura was mixed with some of the Shadow plague.

  "You are infected." Ray said, coming out from the bed and going to her side.

  "I told you I'm fine." Sylvia protested.

  But Ray, lifted his hands and snatched the Eye patch off. Showing a black filled shadow infected Eye.

  "Go back to the redwing kingdom now. Go see Bliss and tell her to try to remove it." Ray ordered.

  "No, Ray. I'm fine. Look I'm talking to you fine right now aren't I? I'm talking to everyone fine, and my body isn't being hurt. I know myself better than you. It isn't affecting me."

  "Just like it didn't affect Gary?" Ray said. "Eventually even he was taken over. If it happened to him, then it will definitely happen to you."

  Ray was deeply concerned, everyone could tell. It had been a long time since he had mentioned Gary's name. And seeing Slyvia like this, everything had come back to him. He couldn't let it happen again. He couldn't let another one of his people get taken over by the shadow.

  Maybe Bliss could do something to get rid of the infection. If she got it out from the land, then she should be able to do it with a person, was his thought. Still, he was unsure.

  "I'm not Gary. Me and him are different Ray, and we don't even know if this is the same. I already went to my brother. We tried to remove it like we did with those men, but it didn't work, and it seems like the people they took in are all fine as well. Maybe this is different, besides if I leave now or later it won't make a difference. And I need to be here right now."

  "What do you mean?" Ray said.

  "Ray, you've been out for a few days," Martha replied. "The all kingdom tournament. It starts tomorrow."

  *****

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