Fragarach

Purple Madness

[Back to present time]

“Hey, are you guys okay?” he repeated.

Raven saw both of their conflicted expressions as he turn towards them. His eyes calculated the damage that their body had receive during their one-sided struggle with the beasts. [Both of them are in critical condition, but the older one is a lot worse than this guy.] he thought after he studied their status.

“Did you- do th-at all that k-kid?” the older man said as he pointed to the javelin on the ground with a pile of dead beasts.

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

The father forces himself to confirm what he saw after coughing a few mouthful of blood.

“Most of it.” Raven answered after looking at the javelin behind him. “We need to get you to a medical practitioner first. Both of your conditions are not good, especially you. Most of your ribs are broken and some even pierced your insides. If we leave you for half an hour you would not see tomorrow.” He explained with a concerned face.

“Forget me, please help my son first. He needs it more than I do. He is still young and he can accomplish more.” He begged as he pointed at his son.

*Huff!* *Huff!* *Huff!*

The bull breathed heavily and its eyes turned crimson again after seeing the other beasts get killed in an instant. Their sensors tells them that it’s dangerous to even continue with their attack so the beasts retreated except for the bull and the great grey wolf.

*GRRRRRR!*

*AWOOOOOOO!*

The great grey wolf growled and then howled revealing its cave-like mouth filled with blade sharp teeth. Both bull and wolf are enraged and decided to take on the human even with their senses telling them not to.

*STOMP!* STOMP!* STOMP!*

The bulls stomp the ground continuously and pointed its horns towards Raven.

“I have some medicine that might help lessen the pain.” He said as he take out a bottle of elixir from his side bag.

[Elixirs can be used in various ways and has different effect depending on the nature and the purpose of the said elixir. One might strengthen a person’s overall strength, increase the speed of a person, grants healing abilities, lessen the pain in the body (Painkillers), and help with the manipulation of mana, etc. but since elixirs are so rare that a single bottle of elixir cost so much for ten gold coins regardless of the effects. Alchemist and other family practitioners of potions and elixirs are gone after the war three hundred years ago.

Only a few remnants of the said families remained and are considered to be one of the kingdom’s treasure because a lot of people tried a hundred times to imitate the elixirs that they produce but failed with their experiments.]

“Here, drink this. It might help with your injuries.”

Raven took out an elixir that doesn’t have a color, most of the elixirs have different colors indicating its purpose. But most of the elixirs have a special property, and that is their light color. If an elixir has a green color and it is very light like it is almost transparent then the elixir is effective that even a drop of the said elixir can fulfill its purpose.

[A white elixir? I have never seen such elixir that is almost transparent, no wait. It is transparent!] the father thought as he have conflicting feelings about accepting the elixir or not since he is a guild master and he knows what is a good elixir and what is not. He can tell that the elixir is more valuable than his own life and a stranger is casually handing it to them.

He and his son is looked embarrassed to have receive such a precious item from someone they do not even know.

[Wait did he just say that it might lessen the pain? Didn’t he know a single drop of a light colored elixir is enough? A single drop alone costs five times as much as the regular one but telling us to drink a bottle?! Is he crazy?!] his son thought as he eyes widened and sweat started to drip from his cheeks.

The son look at his father who had the same thought as him. They both know how valuable an elixir can be and hesitated to drink from the precious bottle.

Raven sees their exchanging of glances to each other. Raven did not know of this fact and is ignorant of it since Aranx told him that elixirs are just so irrelevant to the immortal beings like him and are very simple to make that he even taught Raven how to make simple elixirs of different kinds.

This memory pop out of Raven’s mind and remembers how simple it really is. But since he is still in his mortal body, he needs elixir to help him with his purpose.

“See? [You see?] its really [ fairly easy to make] to make. But this elixir [trash] might help you [not really] since you are still mortal. “

Raven fully understand that there are instances that an elixir is really needed in very special and dangerous circumstances.

[So that’s what their exchanging glances for, a bottle of elixir is not enough?] he thought as he took another one from his bag and handed it to the son. “A bottle of elixir is not enough right? Here is another one.” He said with a smile on his face.

Taking out another bottle of high tier elixir and just handing it to his son made both of them speechless. With Raven’s ignorance of the true worth of high tier elixirs they almost forgot about the beasts that are still a few meters in from of them. When the son tilted his head and saw the angry beasts, he remembered the terror he and his father had gone to and immediately drank the elixir without hesitation.

*GULP!* *GULP!* *GULP!*

He chug the elixir down his throat like a beer forgetting the worth of the elixir that he just drank.

The moment he drank the elixir, the wounds on his body started to disappear.

“That tastes a lot different than other elixirs. Thanks lot for helping us.’ He said as he bowed down. Then he felt a sharp pain from his broken ribs and shoulder.

“Ah!” he groaned in pain as his broken ribs and shoulder went back to their original place. They can see his bones moving in his body like maggots inside a rotting flesh.

“AHHHH!” he fell on his chest as the process ended. “My body feels so heavy and out of energy and it feels like the pain in my body is no longer aching.” He added.

His father’s eyes widened as he saw the effects to his son that made him hesitate to drink the elixir but Raven is watching him so he drop a few droplets of elixir in his tongue.

[Huh? Will that be enough?] he looks at the son and looks at the father again. [His son drank the whole bottle, how come his father only took a few drops? Was he perhaps thirsty and thought it was water?] he thought as he tries to solve the mystery of his ignorance.

After taking a few drops of the elixir he returned the bottle to Raven. The same thing happened to the father.

“The moving of my bones back to their original place feels a bit icky, it feels very uncomfortable but the pain really fades.” He said as he tries to move his heavy hand.

By this time the beast are no longer patient and charge towards the recovering humans.

*HUFF!* *HUFF! *HUFF!*

*KUUUUUUUU!*

*GRRRRRR!*

*STOMP!* *STOMP!* STOMP!*

The ground shook like heartbeat as soon as the giant beasts started top charge towards them.

“They are coming!” the son yelled as soon as he saw the beasts charging towards them.

Raven almost forgot about their existence and face their direction. “I almost forgot about you, I guess I will have to end my hunt a little early today.” He smirked.

Raven’s eyes glow as he points his finger to the giant bull and the ground shook even harder as giant spikes made of earth emerge from the ground and pierced the hide of the bull beside its legs where the hide of the joints are soft. The giant grey wolf leap over the incapacitated bull after it got stuck.

*KOOOOOOOOO!*

The bull groaned in pain after Raven immobilized it with huge spikes. Raven extended his right arm as the sand-like minerals form a long rod that resembles a javelin, it instantly hardened and turns into a real javelin in Raven’s palm.

[What the heck?!] the father thought as he saw what happened to the bull after only a single move. [Is this kid even human? That’s the bull that nearly turned us into food you know?!] His son can only see what is in front of him since he can’t move his head because of the effect of the elixir.

[Raven manipulated the earth to form a javelin and then he manipulated fire with his mana to make the javelin solid and lastly he used the air to cool it down. He did it in an instant.]

The leap of the great grey wolf is so high that it gave Raven a lot of time to finish making the javelin in his hands. Everything around them slowed down as Raven move his left foot forward and extended his right arm backwards to throw the javelin with a stronger force.

*FWOOOO!*

Raven’s eye glowed as he threw the javelin towards the great grey wolf with so much force. “Bye” he said as the great grey wolf whimpers as it got hit in the stomach and dragged back to the bull piercing also its skull with the head of the javelin, killing both of them at the same time.

The witnesses stood in shock and awe and left eyes and mouth wide open after seeing the fearful sight of a kid younger than the son to one handedly killing the beasts that almost wiped their entire guild and guides out.

“That accuracy and prediction- this kid is not human.” The son mumbled as the hair on his whole body stood up and his heart beating faster than normal when he turned his eyes towards Raven.

“I almost forgot about them, sorry about that. He he.” He laugh as he scratch the back of his head.

After a few minutes of laying on the ground like a log, they slowly regain their energy. While they are still on the ground, Raven went and tie all the meat that he could bring home with him for his mother to sell in the market.

Raven is pulling all of the edible meat with him. He saw the father and son stood up while stretching their bodies.

“You are all up, so how do your bodies feel.” He ask as he put don’t the large ropes used to tie the hunter beasts.

The father and the son instantly grovel after seeing Raven which surprised the young man. It is a first time for him to be thanked except for his mother.

“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us with the beasts. How can I ever repay you?” the father ask while still bowing to their savior. “We will do our best to give you anything you want.” The son added.

His father is a little surprised when his son decided to speak up and thank the person who save them. He thought that he will be the one to thank Raven for the both of them but he was wrong. His son is not the kind of person who would ask the person he had a favor on, he will wait for that person to give a demand, but this time he deliberately ask Raven.

Raven scratch his head for not having any demand to them since he does not need material things to fulfill his purpose. “First can you please stand up? It’s a little embarrassing to be seen like this. He he he.” He said as he let out an awkward laugh.

“Embarrassing? There is no such thing as embarrassing in thanking someone who did a huge favor for you. We owe you our life, so groveling like this is not even enough to pay you for what you did for us.” He explained with a dignified voice. “It’s just as my father said, this is nothing.” He agreed in a stern tone.

Both of them continued to grovel which struck Raven in awe for their dedication. But the problem is still there. He doesn’t have anything in mind to demand to them that left Raven scratching his head like crazy.

[What the heck? How hard headed could they be? I don’t really want anything! Wait, did I say I don’t want anything?] he thought as he tries to recall everything he said. [I did not!! How idiotic can I be!? I was expecting them to understand something that I did not even tell them. I’m such a disgrace.] He buried his face in his palm as he remembered that he did not.

He shake his head as he look up in the sky. [If you are looking at me right now, please don’t laugh. It hurts” he thought if Aranx is looking at him from the heavens while laughing at his idiotic mistake.

“Can you please stand up? I feel really uncomfortable having someone grovel in front of me.” He beg while grabbing their arms to lift them up.

Raven saw their uncomfortable expressions as he lift them up. [Did I hurt their pride?] is the thought that cross his minds as he saw them.

“I know that you are thankful for me and I appreciate that but I don’t want people to thank me by embarrassing themselves.” He explained to the both of them.

Both of them look Raven in the eye, the father and the son smiled in reply. And idea pop out of Raven’s mind as soon as he saw their smiling faces.

“You guys said that I can have anything I ask right?” he reminded.

He got of them by surprise, they hope they can give anything he wants. Sweat started to drip from their cheeks as they wait for the thing that Raven wants from them. [What does he want? A manor? Gold? Precious jewels? Status?] both of them brainstormed everything and anything that is possibly his demand.

“Can you keep what happened here today a secret? I don’t want other people-“

His demand left them speechless that they could not hear what Raven is saying because his demand for the both of them to keep everything a secret echo inside their heads ling a song.

[That demand is too simple! I was hoping he want gold or anything fancy! But keeping what happened today as a secret?! Even a rock can do such a thing!] the son had a very hard time dealing with what he want internally as he mask it with a smile on his face.

[This young man is really interesting. I thought he might want something valuable and demanded this instead.] the father thought as he massage his temples.

As Raven continued to explain the details of his demand they felt and got their hopes up to suddenly fluke after hearing his very special and ordinary wish.

“If that’s what you want, then we have no choice but to comply to your wishes.” The father said as he bowed again to Raven. “As you wish.” The son did not dare to question Raven’s ridiculous demand and held his internal tantrum to himself.

“Thank you very much for understanding my situation, then I will be going first. See you!” Raven smiles as he bid farewell to the father and son.

“Same here, thank you very much.” They said as they bid farewell to the person that saved them.

Raven was leaving the ruins when suddenly the father remembered all of his guild members that are still wounded so he went to catch up to Raven who walks really fast for someone who carries a few bodies of large beasts on his back.

He ran towards the exit to call on to Raven but as soon as he went outside the ruins he saw that the wounded ones in his guild are laying on the ground like logs, just as what happened to them.

“Thank you very much.” Tears are falling down from his eyes as he saw them well.

Raven had already treat them with his high grade elixir. This made the father and son smile but some lives are lost and it cannot be helped since their lives are almost as lost as the deceased.

[So he treated them while we are out.] the father thought as he nods his head in agreement to Raven’s actions. [Wait- how much elixir did he spend on the entire guild?] he thought as he tries to estimate the bottle of elixir his guild had consumed when suddenly a bottle rolled on his feet and when he traced where the bottles came from, his eyes widened and his temperature suddenly drop drastically after seeing a pile of empty elixir bottles.

“AH!” he shouted his lungs out in surprise.

[I am in you debt again, young man.]