Aster woke up from a knock at her door. Damon was calling her name from outside her room while she still felt groggy. Damon called for her one more time and waited a few more minutes before going outside the inn not wanting to disturb Aster.
Meanwhile, Aster is still trying to wake up and shouts in a sleepy voice. “Five more minutes!” even though Damon already left her door. When she finally wakes up and gets herself ready she opens the door. “Oh no,” She is worried that Damon might have left her so she hurriedly went down stairs. “Um. Hi! Did you see the man I’m with?” Aster asked the receptionist.
“Yes I did. Actually he said to me to let you know that he was at the town center and you can find him there.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, where is the town center?” Aster asked shyly.
The receptionist directed Aster on where to go. She thanked the receptionist before leaving and went to the town center where he saw Damon talking with a knight. She got closer to Damon and can now hear their conversation.
“My lord. It’s best if we leave now, let’s just leave the person you are with. The road back to the capital has become more dangerous now, especially at night. Please my lord,” Aster was shocked when she heard what the knight said. She can’t believe they want to leave her.
“No. Let’s wait for Aster. It would be rude if we don’t”
“But my lord-”
“I said NO!” Damon said in a commanding voice. The knight can only stay silent.
Aster awkwardly greeted Damon, “Good, morning. Sorry if I made you wait.”
“Good morning. It’s alright, you must be really tired when you get to this world so I understand,” Damon smiled gently.
“Thank you,” Aster bowed at Damon.
“No need to bow. I understand your circumstances. Before we leave, let’s eat first. You're probably hungry.”
“But, I don’t have money and you don’t have one as well.”
“Don’t worry, I have my money now. I will be the one paying, and since you just got here so it’s understandable that you aren’t carrying any money,” Aster felt embarrassed and guilty. Even though they just met last night and he was already being kind to her.
“How do I repay you?” She really wants to do something in return for his kindness.
“You already did. When you healed me, you saved my life. Without you I would be dead by now.”
“What? What happened? When?” The knight was shocked.
“Last night. I was attacked by a beast and almost died. Thankfully Aster was there and that is why I owe her my life and would do my best to assist her,” Aster blushed when he said that.
“Who are you then? You know that only a few people are able to heal. Do you have a healer essence? Did you come from a holy family or are you a Purkvla?”
“I. Uh. I came from another world.”
The knight looked at her with doubt. “Really? Are you sure you’re just not making up stories? You don’t feel like you are from another world but some random nuisance to my lord,” he said mockingly.
“Don’t be rude to the person who saved me. Without her you wouldn’t be talking to me right now. I don’t want to hear anyone trying to disrespect her. Do you understand?!” Damon glared angrily at the knight.
“Yes, my lord. Please forgive my rudeness,” he bowed deeply at Aster.
“Don’t worry, I understand. I would think the same.”
Damon looked satisfied. “Now that everything is okay, let’s eat first,” they both ate at a pub before leaving the village and rode in the same carriage on the way to the capital while the knights rode on the back of the horses.
“Why are we riding a carriage? Can’t you just summon a serpent again?” Aster was looking forward to riding a serpent again.
“As much as I want to, I can’t. You may have healed me but my essence is still weak from that encounter,” Damon sounded like someone just scolded him.
“Essence? But didn’t you say essence is spirit or something like that?” She was confused.
“Essence is connected to someone's life, soul, body, mind, and magic. If someone is dying their essence is preparing itself to depart the body by compressing itself into a spherical shape, then it will leave the body. Since I had a near death experience my essence started to compress and I will need the help of a high priest or priestess to decompress my essence,” Damon explained while there seemed to be something that was bothering his mind.
“So, you can use magic for now? Does having a compressed essence mean you won’t be able to use magic?”
“I still can, but now that much since my essence is probably almost nearing compression and yes, you can’t use magic if your essence is fully compressed,” as he explained more, he got even more worried.
She notices his discomfort, “Is there something wrong? Is compressed essence a big deal to you?” She wants to know if Damon will get in trouble for getting his essence compressed.
“Yes. It is a big deal,” he started to look serious. “Do you remember the emblem I showed the Inn keeper last night?” Damon took his emblem out of his pocket and showed it to her.
“Oh yeah! You said you were gonna tell me about it in the morning. What’s so special about it?”
“Well. This emblem symbolizes our family, the Ironheart. Everyone knows the Ironheart family,” he said seriously with a hint of sadness.
“Are you guys famous or something?” She is now intrigued.
“Something like that. The Ironhearts are a noble family of Grandmaster knights. A knight who does both martial duties, serving the monarchs and doing holy duties. Grandmasters are the upper nobility in our world. And I am expected to become one,” Damon pauses for a moment “But I don’t want to. I want to go on an adventure, traveling the world. Free from the responsibility of being a noble,” Damon said wholeheartedly and looked at Aster.
“Can’t you convince your family to let you follow your own path?”
“I have tried multiple times. Although, it might seem like he is letting me do something I want. I can tell that one day I will have to follow what THEY want,” he looked heart broken to the thought of not having his freedom.
Aster didn’t ask more questions. She doesn’t want him to get even more upset. The ride to get to the capital was quiet. It seemed like Damon was thinking of something. Then the silence suddenly replaced with a loud roar.
“What was that?!” Aster said in shock. They both looked outside the window and saw a beast attacking the knights far behind the carriage they were in. They both got out of the carriage. “Is that the beast that attacked you, Damon?!”
“Yes, it is. It’s a Herasti but corrupted. And there’s two of them!” His face looked serious and stressed.
“
So those are the beasts that attacked him! They looked scary. They have really long and sharp nails. I think they looked like a lion with stiff looking fur. But they also looked like they fell into a pool of tar,”
she observed the beasts with both fascination and fear. “What do we do? I don’t know how to fight!” she asked nervously as she doesn’t have any fighting experience.
“Just stay behind me,” He said while in a protective stance trying to cover Aster.
“But, isn’t your essence weak right now?”
“It’s alright, I can still fight even with limited essence.”
Aster was afraid for Damon’s safety. Not only he has weak essence but she herself can’t fight. One of the beast charges at both of them. Damon shields Aster from the beast's attack by casting a barrier around them. When the attack landed, the barrier was immediately destroyed and Aster screamed in fear.
“MY LORD!” One of the knights saw that one of the beasts was attacking Damon. He charges at the beast and swings his sword. Other knights attacked the beast who was going after Damon.
Despite their effort, the knights are no match for the two beasts. Damon, despite being weak, still casts powerful spells. This obviously drains him quickly and Aster can only watch helplessly.
“My lord please just run away while we distract the beasts!”
“NO! I can still fight!”
“Damon, maybe we should listen to them,” Aster tries to convince Damon as she was shaking in fear.
“My lord, this is not the time to be stubborn. Please, just leave and save yourselves!” The knight was pleading for Damon to just leave.
“No! I won’t leave. As the son of the grandmaster knight, I will not cowardly run away!” Damon still continues to charge at the beasts and casts spells. He starts to breathe heavily, and stumbles a bit but he still continues to fight.
This breaks Aster’s heart, she feels useless. Damon is sacrificing himself to save others while she just stands there watching. They all are focused on defeating but one slipped out and charged at Aster.
“ASTER!” Damon can only watch as the beast was about to hit Aster.
Aster could only look at the beast about to kill her and felt like the world got slower.