52nd Fall 511AV
Serrif was beat, he had been up for a full day now, not even able to take a break at night. He had spent all of the night finding things to create the daggers that Ildin said he needed. And once they were made it was daybreak meaning that he was due at the Suvai Pavilion. And even before all this mess Ildin had run him hard almost up until nightfall that same day. And now he was due at Lym’s lab to help her as he always did. His body ached incredibly now and all he wanted was some sleep. But he could do that after he finished up his day in the lab with Lym. He would be able to just go to his tent and lay down; something that he had wanted to do all day. But he wasn’t going to skip on Lym especially since he was going to be leaving the Isle here in almost no time at all. So knowing this he knew that he would have to do everything in his power to keep himself learning. Because he didn’t know what would await him when he left the isle. But he knew that he had much still to learn; and he would stretch himself this once if he had to.
He stretched some as he walked from the Suvai pavilion to the Opal Temple. The walk helped him gather himself and gain focus even though his body ached. Every step felt like it was pained, and his hands were still bleeding a little from the climbing he did on the rocks to find those shells. But he had gotten the work done and in the end that was what mattered to him the most. He had a pair of daggers that would forever remind him of Mura. And that was well worth what he paid for them and more. The craftsmanship poured into them was magnificent and he appreciated the work that was put into them. But that didn’t stop his body from feeling like it was lackadaisical. He was tired, there was no denying it. But he knew he would have to just push on and hope he could keep himself from burning down something or killing someone. This was relatively uncomfortable but the rising sun warming his skin helped him feel a little more aware. He was slowly gaining motion as he reached up and ran his hand over his face every now and then to help stimulate his nerves to keep himself from falling asleep while walking.
While walking along the winding path towards the Temple he caught glimpses of sunlight from between the trees leaves. He smiled and knew he would miss all of this terribly. He didn’t know if beauty like this existed outside of Mura, and he doubted that it did. But he also knew that he could come back eventually. But just how long this eventually was well…who knew. But he was going to appreciate all of this as long as he could. As he walked back into town he passed several other Konti students heading the other way, ready for a day of sparring. His morning was finished he had things to tend to. They would shoot him glances as he walked mostly because they could see the blood seeping from between the gaps in his fingers. He didn’t care it was all part of the healing process. And now that he wouldn’t be breaking the scabs open every ten seconds he believed they would finally get some healing done. Or maybe Lym could help him with this, maybe some herbal remedy for his pain? Maybe something to help him heal? He was sure Lym knew of something one way or another that could aid him on one of the many facets he was struggling in right now.
But the beauty of the isle was helping to keep his mind from going completely blank and him just passing out on the ground to sleep. He wasn’t that tired yet…was he. He could not be sure when or if he would just doze off. His feet finally met pavestones and he smiled. This meant he was finally in the town’s main center. He knew how to get to the Opal Temple from here, he had walked this route so many times he could do it in his sleep. And this may be the perfect test of that. He was almost walking on autopilot now. Is this what the undead felt like? Just walking around on autopilot all the time, that brought up an interesting set of questions in his mind but in all reality he wasn’t sure if he wanted to really know what the undead felt like. The sunlight was really the only thing keeping him aware at this point. The fact that it was gently soothing his cold skin. It was interesting how at night he had to try so hard to keep himself awake, yet during the day it was like his body wanted to keep himself awake and aware. Like he had things to do…maybe that was because he actually did have things to do.
Every step was almost punishing to his tired body. He felt distant but he was indeed still here walking on the cobblestone street toward the Opal Temple. Soon enough he found himself passing through the iron gates and his feet on the stairs. It was almost foreign to him, like a dream that he was living out in his head. His feet hit the inside of the temple and he knew where to go…He knew where Lym’s lab was, he had walked the path hundreds of times in all kinds of circumstances. He knew where he was going well. So he just walked trying to keep his eyes open so he could see. Because there was always a chance of running into things you couldn’t see when your eyes were closed shut. And he hadn’t yet gotten down the skill of being able to navigate busy hallways with his eyes shut. That was a skill he feared he would likely never learn correctly. And did he really have a use for it anyway? He didn’t think so.
He finally got to Lym’s lab door and he pushed the familiar wooden door open and moved inside. Like many mornings before she was sitting at the table reading a book. Likely another exercise for today of some kind, as she looked up she noticed how off Serrif looked. More than he had ever looked before now. But she also saw that he had acquired himself a pair of daggers hanging on a weapon harness. He brought a backpack in with him and well his hands….they were bleeding. She stood and observed him as he sat his pack down against a wall then took a seat. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something then didn’t…what was going on with him? He seemed fatigued, no he was past fatigue she could see it in his eyes. He was hardly awake at all.
“Hold on there while I brew you something Serrif.” She said as she then took some long full tea leaves and heated water. She poured the hot water in a large teacup then placed the long leaves inside the water. They seeped for a good five minutes before she took a small spot of honey and put it into the tea as well. She then walked over and handed the tea to Serrif. “Here you are drink it slowly.”
Serrif didn’t say anything he merely nodded his head and slowly started sipping on the warm liquid. The honey made it enjoyable for him, and the taste was pretty strong as well. He looked down into the white tea cup and noticed several things about the tea. It was much darker than any of the other teas he had ever had. It was a deep dark reddish orange almost black with how intense the color was. The smell was strong as well telling him that it was indeed a very strong tea. He kept on sipping the tea and slowly as the warm liquid settled in his stomach he began to feel a little more alive. His stomach quit churning over and well it settled down. His energy level slowly rose, but slowly. He was coming to and well the tea felt good in his stomach. He breathed more evenly and slowly got his composure back. He closed his eyes for only a moment and didn’t sleep; no he didn’t even really feel all that tired any more. He opened his eyes and nodded.
“Much better.” He said as Ildin smiled and nodded.