Atop a mountain, within a ramshackle cabin barely holding itself together, a grotesque and terrifying scene unfolded. The faint light of dawn barely pierced through the windows, casting dancing shadows upon the walls of rotting wood.
In the center of the room, on a simple bed covered in rags, lay a young man in his twenties, his body marked by disease and despair. His blinded eyes, bloodshot and filled with pain, suddenly opened, revealing a gaze of confusion and terror.
The young man tried to move, but the pain that ensnared him rendered him immobile.
"Aaaaahhh!" He screamed, a cry filled with anguish and desperation, a lament that reverberated within the cabin's walls and dissipated into the desolate silence outside.
His trembling hands groped around, seeking something, anything that could give him a clue about where he was and what had happened to him. But all he found was the cold dampness of the decaying wooden walls. The sticky sensation of blood and pus clung to his skin, while the boils covering his body constantly reminded him of the illness consuming him from within.
The young man tried to recall how he had ended up in this state, but his mind was clouded by pain and confusion. He could only grasp blurry fragments of his past: images of ruined cities, screams of terror, and the roar of unknown beasts. He attempted to remember his name, but even that slipped away from him, like a dream fading in the morning light.
Amidst unbearable suffering, he writhed on the bed, feeling as if his body was crumbling from the inside out. Every breath was torment, as if the very air was filled with razor-sharp blades tearing at his lungs. His veins, once conduits of life, seemed to burst one by one, releasing a flow of pain that threatened to drive him mad.
Clutching his teeth so tightly that the stabbing pain of his bitten gums mixed with the overall agony, he tried to contain his screams. But the pain was overwhelming, a primal force seizing his being and forcing out a gut-wrenching cry that echoed in the cabin and dissipated into the mountain's icy air.
Each passing second felt like an eternity of suffering, his body trapped in a downward spiral toward death.
In a desperate attempt to find relief, he bit his lower lip harder, tasting the metallic tang of blood filling his mouth. Yet even this primal tactic proved ineffective against the tsunami of pain enveloping him. His strength was nearly depleted, his spirit on the brink of collapse.
And then, in the darkest moment of his agony, the cabin's door swung open wide. A voice, strange yet strangely familiar, floated in the stale air. A voice that resonated with comforting warmth, a voice that brought a sense of hope amidst the chaos.
"Calm down, Kael," spoke a voice as soft as a whispering breeze through the trees. "I'm here to help you."
The newcomer, a robust young man of contemporary age, swiftly approached, moving with a surprising agility for someone of his build. His hands, skilled and steady like those of a seasoned healer, found the agonizing Kael's shoulder with a touch that carried the promise of relief.
"I don't know who you are," murmured Kael hoarsely, his throat rasping like sandpaper from his earlier screams. "But thank you... thank you for being here."
The sturdy young man let a smile slip across his face, though unseen by Kael, the reassuring warmth was palpable in his tone.
"Have you forgotten me already?" said the young man, his voice carrying the weight of years and wisdom. "Or perhaps my voice has matured enough for you not to recognize it?"
His question hung in the air, tinged with nostalgia and a hint of sadness, as if time itself had woven a cloak of mystery around his identity.
Frowning, Kael tried to match the voice to any memory in his pain-clouded mind. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a face or a name to associate with that voice. He was adrift in a sea of confusion and suffering, without an anchor in reality.
"I can't remember you," he murmured, feeling a lump in his throat. "Everything is so confusing. What is happening to me? Where am I?"
While Kael struggled to comprehend, the robust young man kept speaking, his words flowing like a tranquil river seeking its way through obstacles.
"It doesn't matter who you think I am at this moment," he said calmly. "What truly matters is that I'm here to support you, Kael. You're in a sorry state, but there's something I can do to alleviate your suffering."
He moved purposefully toward a small bag he carried, his nimble fingers untying the knot with precise gestures. With skillful hands, he extracted a special ointment, a meticulously crafted amalgam of mystical herbs and healing energy. The salve glowed with a faint and comforting light, as if it were the elixir of hope amidst darkness, a promise of relief in desperate times.
In the broken stillness only interrupted by the groans of pain filling the tiny cabin, Kael let out a raspy, confused voice, "What are you doing?"
Although his eyes were blinded by his condition, he sensed the robust young man had retrieved something from his bag and was preparing to apply it.
"Shhh... calm, Kael," Elias murmured gently, as if sharing a delicate secret. "This ointment will help you heal faster and alleviate the pain. Endure a little longer; you'll soon feel better."
He applied the ointment with gentle strokes over Kael's body. The energy emanating from the salve, warm and curative, penetrated the wounds, the sore boils, and the inflamed veins.
Kael, in turn, initially experienced a heightened sense of pain, as if the very forces that had afflicted him for so long were stubbornly resisting the healing touch of the ointment. However, with each application of the salve, that resistance began to give way, like shadows receding at the arrival of dawn.
Gradually, the acute pain blurred, replaced by a sensation of relief that slowly seeped into his being. The salve seemed to meld with his skin, working its magic at a cellular level, repairing and regenerating what was once damaged. Kael closed his eyes, surrendering to the wave of warmth and well-being enveloping him.
Suddenly, a thunderous uproar shattered the calm. Voices filled with venom resonated in the distance.
The shouts, like blades of hatred, bounced in the frigid air, piercing the silence that had enveloped the cabin. Despite his weakness, Kael straightened on the bed, his senses alert to the cruel symphony unfolding outside.
"Elias, you fat and disgusting pig! Get out of that damn cabin right now!" The aggressor's voice cut through the distance with tangible hatred, each word like a whip slicing through the mountain's cold air.
"Come out of your hole, useless fatso," another spat, his voice rough like that of an enraged beast. "You don't deserve us to come up here. You should be grateful someone bothers to take care of this pile of misery that is Kael."
"It's humiliating that the miss makes us come here just because of you," added a third, resentment dripping from his words like acid.
"Pick up your damn supplies, fatty," another sneered with contempt, his tone sharp as broken glass. "You're not even worthy to touch what the miss sends."
Elias, the robust young man whose name had already been dragged by the waves of insults, displayed an enviable serenity as the slurs and provocations continued. It was clear he had faced this kind of treatment in the past and possessed the calm of someone familiar with dealing with adversity.
He straightened with palpable determination, his eyes, though filled with concern for Kael's situation, gleaming with a spark of courage. "You must stay still and silent," he urgently urged, his voice, though low, resonating with unshakable firmness. "They mustn't know you've woken up. We can't let her know."
Without waiting for Kael to respond, Elias moved with unexpected grace toward the cabin's door, his posture radiating tension and resolve. Before disappearing into the threshold, he cast a look at Kael, laden with seriousness, as if in that simple gesture, he was depositing all his determination and strength of will.
"Trust me," his voice barely a whisper that glided through the air like a shared secret. "I'll take care of this. Stay quiet and don't make a sound. I'll be back soon."
