As the elf distanced himself from the vine, it began to rapidly expand. It grew from the size of a child’s wrist to that of an adults leg, then grew even bigger. Big enough to engulf a person.

  Anthony watched in wonder as the tip of the vine split open and an elf shot out, rolling gracefully along the ground before coming to a stop standing. The elf dusted herself off and turned to look at the vine.

  The vine had shrunk back down in size, and in fact looked even smaller now. It had also lost a bit of its colour, as if it was beginning to die.

  “Rest well,” she said, as she released a bit of her mana into the vine and allowed it to disappear into the ground for a while.

  “Elder!” Anthony hurriedly bowed, not expecting Elder Aerin to appear here so suddenly.

  “At ease child, I had a feeling that it had something to do with Lucien when I heard the message. Looks like my feeling was correct. Now take me to him, we must not delay.”

  She had a gentle presence about her, which made Anthony feel less worried about what was going on. It made him feel that Lucien would be able to pull through.

  “What kind of injuries are we dealing with?” she asked while they walked.

  “There’s a lot. Some sword wounds. Some bruising. I’m not sure what did it, but he had chunks of himself ripped out. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a few broken bones as well, but I can’t say for certain. I hurried back as soon as we found him like that.”

  They walked at a hurried pace to the village centre, and it wasn’t long before they reached the clearing where everyone was.

  “Out of the way please,” she said, walking past the group and crouching beside Lucien. She gritted her teeth the moment that she saw how bad the injuries were. “Really doesn’t know how to take care of himself. What would Uther think if he saw you like this?” she muttered.

  She checked his injuries and almost immediately realised that she did not have enough mana to heal it all in one go. Maybe she could have been able to if she hadn’t participated in the battle at all, but that was hardly an option. She had to do something if she wanted to make sure he’d at least be able to live to see another day, that way she would be able to keep up the treatment when she was in a better condition.

  A small trace of mana leaked out from her fingertips and shot into the ground. Less than a minute later, a vine shot out of the ground near her feet. This vine was a powerful spell requiring the cooperation of several elves, with her as the leader. It acted as a network through which elves could communicate over large distances, and played an important role both in battle and in day to day life. It could even act as a tunnel allowing elves to quickly move from one node to another, albeit at the cost of that node withering.

  Although it functioned primarily as a supportive spell, it was quite versatile, able to be used to ensnare and even attack enemies. All of this caused it to be a substantial drain on the caster’s mana reserves, especially the leader’s. This, along with the soldiers she had healed were why her mana reserves were so low.

  “Lend me your strength,” she said into the vine before calmly controlling it to pierce into her own body.

  Elves, as products of the Inner Sanctum of the Eternal Forest, had a unique trait not found in most other races. The ability to share mana with one another. Either through direct contact, or through spells such as this.

  This did however come with a few caveats. The mana absorbed into the body was, in most cases, around half of what had been donated by others.. The mana received from others was harder to control, and even had the chance to go berserk and destroy the body of the person receiving it. This however could be handled more easily by those with more experience and who were better at controlling mana.

  All across the village, vines shot into the bodies of the elves free and willing to lend their support. Some, having finished tending to the injured around them, lent the rest of their remaining mana before finding a place to rest. Others, that were still taking care of the wounded soldiers, looked at those around them and gave the vine what little they had to spare.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Mana travelled through the vine from different points in the village, and trickled into Elder Aerin’s body.

  Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she placed her hands on Lucien and guided her mana through him, using small parts of her own mana to rein in the other elves’ mana. Slowly but surely, the mana passed through his body and began to heal him.

  She worked meticulously for multiple days in order to heal him. On the first day, she repaired and set his broken bones back in place, healed his punctured lung, and dealt with any internal bleeding. Only then, drained and exhausted, did she rest.

  On the second day, she got to work on the areas that had been ripped out of him. These parts were incredibly difficult to heal, as she had to work from the inside out, healing it layer by layer, creating new flesh as she went.

  The army had stayed in the village for a few days, scouring the area for any signs of more bandits or the loot they plundered. They also took this time to heal the seriously injured and to give the soldiers a break before they set off for the fort.

  Captain Vernon and the rest of the squad took turns watching over Lucien, while the rest went about their duties in the army.

  It took her two days to fully heal these wounds, but by this point, all of the most troublesome injuries had been solved. His breathing was now back to normal, and his body would eventually be able to heal the rest of the injuries on its own, given enough time.

  Throughout this entire thing, Lucien remained firmly asleep, not waking for a single moment. And he remained that way even up to the point that the army left the village and got back on the road. Due to his, as well as others, conditions, the elves travelled alongside the army for a few more days until everything was settled.

  It wasn’t until a few days into their journey that Lucien began to stir.

  His mind felt like it had been pulled apart and stitched back together. His memories of recent events were hazy, and his entire body felt uncomfortable and exhausted. He couldn’t even muster up the strength to open his eyes.

  Slowly, he began to feel the world start to form back around him. The sounds, the smells. The feeling of the wagon jolting up and down as it made its way down the road. It was uncomfortable, and it made his bones ache, but someone had laid down a lot of padding for him, so it could have been worse.

  His memories started coming back to him. Of the battle, of seeing Roddy, and facing Adam. That last moment of seeing Adam fall to the ground with a hole in his chest was seared into his mind, and along with it came an overwhelming feeling of emptiness.

  Almost every waking moment over the past couple months had been spent either thinking about, or working towards his revenge. And he had got it. The bandit group had been wiped out, and he had killed Adam himself. He didn’t know how exactly it had happened, but he knew that he was the one that did it.

  He should have felt happy, and in a way, he did. He had avenged his family and friends. They could all finally travel the stars in peace knowing that. But he felt so empty now, like the wind had been taken out of his sails. He had done what he had set out to do, and now there was nothing else left for him to do. His mission was complete.

  But was it? Lucien tried to shake off the haze in his mind, scrambling for something else he needed to do. Something that would give him purpose. Roddy! An image of Roddy appeared in his mind, and it cleared away the fog and the suffocating emptiness in an instant.

  The last he had seen Roddy was when that bandit was holding him. Roddy was kicking and screaming, tears streaming down his face as he tried to escape. Then there was nothing after that. What happened to him? While he was getting beaten down, he remembered hearing the voices of the surrounding bandits getting quieter, more distant. Did they flee? Did they take Roddy with them?

  Lucien tried to move, to see if Roddy was okay, but he still couldn’t even open his eyes. It was just too difficult for him at the moment, too exhausting. All this thinking had taken up too much energy, and he slowly found himself drifting off to sleep.

  The next time he woke up, he found that the wagon had stopped. He wasn’t sure if they had just stopped for the night, or if they had reached their destination. Either way, it felt nicer than travelling, so he wouldn’t complain.

  He tried to open his eyes, and after a little while, he succeeded. He looked up with blurry eyes and was able to see the fabric roof of the wagon. Slowly, little by little, he began moving the rest of his body. First the tips of his fingers, then his hands. It was a struggle to sit up, but he wanted to at least be able to do that today, even if it meant he would fall back asleep the very next moment.

  Pushing himself up, he managed to sit up just a little, right as the flaps to the wagon opened, and someone entered.

  Anthony, holding a bowl of porridge and a waterskin, looked at Lucien in a daze for a moment before almost dropping everything in his hands and shouting out in excitement. “He’s awake!”

  Lucien heard the sounds of footsteps rushing over as several familiar faces all popped in, making the wagon’s entrance instantly feel crowded. They all stared at him for an uncomfortable amount of time, relieved that he had finally woken up.

  A little head squeezed in between them, and when Lucien saw Roddy, he smiled, the strength left his arms, and he fell back down onto the makeshift bed and fell asleep, relieved.