Wound

Chapter - 40

Several hours later, dusk around four o’clock, Zavi was still struggling to make his way out of the forest and the threat of the coming night. He hoped someone would find him, or take him to a crowded place, as he had been traumatized by the silent type Chalog.

Meanwhile, blood continued to seep through the cloth bindings torn from his coat. Pain. Fatigue. Anxiety. Those sensations made Zavi’s chest pound harder than before, each breath triggering adrenaline to keep him alive and push him forward.

“Calm down… just hold on a little longer,” he muttered, his voice barely audible.

He kept trying, crawling forward with all his remaining strength, refusing to give up before he could leave this forest. After everything that had happened, he realized that pretending to be strong like most people did not suit him. It required effort and sacrifice.

A few minutes later, he reached a fork in the road, then chose the path ahead because it had been marked with chalk scratches before he went deeper into the forest, and that road led to the forest’s edge, a shortcut between two cities.

“Finally…”

Zavi let out a calm breath, his feelings mixed between satisfaction and relief. Then he tried to stand, despite having lost half of his leg and suffering bite wounds on his right leg.

After considering that crawling was not an efficient method, he decided to look for a piece of wood that suited his body and would not break easily.

Not long after searching, he found one, although the length and diameter were not entirely what he had expected. It measured two meters in length and thirteen centimeters in width.

Zavi was one hundred sixty nine centimeters tall, a height that was not considered common in that city.

Even from childhood through his teenage years, Zavi was often warned by the people around him to eat more, sleep regularly, and exercise routinely.

However, he no longer wanted to try. He had followed all that advice, yet still failed. At the age of sixteen, his height stopped at around one hundred sixty two centimeters. Yes, four years only added eight centimeters.

“Doesn’t this look unusually neat? Did someone deliberately throw it here?” he muttered, pondering something that sounded trivial.

The sky grew darker, making Zavi hesitate at the thought of encountering a group of Chalog, with no weapon other than his revolver that had already run out of bullets.

Even in a situation like this, he remembered Albert, who had given him the bullets and the revolver now in his hand, and he wished that Albert would come and give him more. Thinking about that made Zavi smile faintly.

After moving forward for several minutes while lifting one leg, he finally reached the edge of the forest, the road he had passed the previous night.

Fortunately, that afternoon several people passed by and stared at him when they saw his leg dripping with blood, though they did not dare approach to help. Still, it made Zavi’s heart feel a little calmer than before.

After entering the residential area on Road Number Five in Luand District, Zavi hurried to the man’s stall to inform him that he had obtained one of the ingredients among the potion materials.

Yes, earlier he had asked Moreira along with Esvalen to look for the other ingredients that could be obtained on the black market at a fantastic price, pleading while bowing his head so that the two of them would agree to search for them, because tonight was the full moon and he did not want to waste the opportunity.

They went southeast to Minehold, purchasing the remaining two ingredients there, crystal particles and blue mint leaves five grams, for a price of seven hundred Zen.

At that time, before paying for the fine powder purchase, Zavi was shocked by the stack of thousands of paper bills Esvalen used to pay. Even the shop owner was stunned, his mouth hanging open, wondering whether he was dreaming and gladly accepting it.

But that happiness did not last long, when Moreira firmly grabbed the man’s hand with a serious expression. He did not know how Esvalen obtained that much money, and he was not convinced she was an evil spirit, but Moreira disliked anyone who tried to take advantage of her innocence.

In the end, the man felt guilty and only took a few bills according to the amount previously stated.

The other potion ingredients were easy to find in any city market, and the stall owner would purchase them and wait for the remaining important materials.

The clock showed eighteen thirty five. The night air was colder than the previous night, and each breath carried a fragrant scent that refreshed the mind.

The full moon was perfect, the stars glittering beautifully in the night sky, making that night different from the one before. But behind that beauty, something was lurking, something that would emerge and destroy everything, including this world.

“Sir, how do you know the potion ingredients and their compositions?” Zavi asked curiously, tilting his head and supporting it with his hand.

For a moment the man looked surprised, his eyes widening before blinking twice. He chuckled softly before speaking in a serious tone.

“Because I am not from here. I was born and raised in the kingdom of Yasseka, located to the north of this kingdom.”

“Huh, just as I thought. I can tell from his eyes, the same as mine,” Zavi thought.

The man took a deep breath before continuing. “Like the news of strange deaths spreading across the southern continent, Chynoria, reports of humans dying because of Chalog are common in Yasseka, especially in cities and villages near valleys, rivers, and lakes. Yes, the killer and curse types are behind all of that. When I was young, my parents did everything they could to protect me and my two older siblings from the terrifying threats of the outside world. Until I was fourteen, when something horrible happened. My second older sibling encountered the curse type, causing his flesh to turn dark purple and black and spill out of his body, making him unrecognizable. All of that happened just by meeting the monster’s gaze, and not long after, he died as his flesh scattered everywhere.”

“My parents said my sibling died because the curse entered through his nose, ears, and open mouth the moment he saw it. The process took only a fraction of a second, destroying his cells from within, stopping his blood flow, and causing his flesh to turn dark purple and black before exploding. After that explanation, my parents told me and my other sibling to move to another city, and as you can see now, I married the person I love. Isn’t that right, Carla?” The man turned back, looking at his wife with a happy smile.

Zavi felt sympathy after hearing the story, feeling guilty that his question might have forced the man to recall such memories.

Still, it made him aware of the existence of his own parents, filling his mind with confusing questions.

“I am sorry, sir, may I ask something else?” he asked. “Sorry about earlier, I did not mean to—”

“Ah… do not worry about it. Besides, I do not want to be angry at my customer, hahaha,” the man cut in quickly.

Zavi frowned. He did not believe it, yet he was impressed that the man did not make an issue of it.

“Alright…” The man sat down, ready to listen and answer according to his knowledge.

“About the blue eyed race?” Seeing the man nod, Zavi continued. “Am I actually not from this city? Are the events written in that library book truly real?” he asked, staring at the man without blinking.

The man touched his chin, pausing briefly before answering. “I do not know about that, but one thing is certain. You are probably not from this country.”

“So that is how it is,” Zavi said, letting out a breath, disappointed that he had not found the answer he sought.

Suddenly, the man’s wife appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. “Oh, what are you talking about? It sounds interesting,” she said gently, her gaze falling on the bandage on Zavi’s leg that was slowly soaking with blood.

“Are you injured?” the woman asked anxiously, hurrying past the stall boxes and approaching Zavi as he sat there.

“… What do you mean?” the man muttered in confusion, then realized that several centimeters above Zavi’s ankle down to his foot were gone.

“Why did I only notice this after talking to him for so long? How can he act so normal after suffering an injury like that?” the man thought with concern.

Meanwhile, the stall owner’s wife went into the house behind them to fetch equipment to treat the wound, preventing infection and stopping the bleeding. The bandage was removed and thrown into the trash, then replaced with a new sterile one.

Both the man and his wife advised Zavi to go to the hospital immediately to have the wound stitched. What they could provide was only first aid. Without stitches, his body would lose too much blood and lead to death.

However, Zavi did not know whether stitching techniques existed in this world. After asking further, he learned that such techniques were already available in general hospitals, among medical staff, and in hospitals established by disaster response foundations.

“Carla, watch the stall. I will take him to the nearest hospital.”

Hearing her husband’s words, she responded with a nod.

“Come on, let me carry you,” the man said softly, filled with concern.

Seeing that, Zavi scratched his cheek and replied with a single word, “Alright.”

Two hours later, after enduring the agony of stitches on his leg and with the bleeding finally stopped, Zavi was able to breathe calmly.

Two hours passed after enduring the suffering of stitches on his leg, allowing his breathing to become steadier than before.

However, the pain still echoed clearly in his mind. He thought that his cooperation with Moreira might end once Moreira learned about his condition, now moving with two wooden crutches. He did not know how his mother and Isabelle would react when he returned home. Would they scold him? Of course.

For now, he chose to recover his physical condition and his mental state.

That worry did not last long after he and the man returned to the stall, seeing that the others had already arrived, aware of his condition from his leg and engaged in conversation as if discussing him.

Sensing someone’s presence, Esvalen turned her head through the fabric tarp covering the stall, partially torn by age.

“Excuse me…”