an unfortunate change in genre

Part 56

"You're an idiot, Roksu."

The now familiar insult didn't get much of a rise from Roksu. Of course, he probably wouldn't have had much of a chance to react even with the willingness to. Cale's arms were wrapped tightly around his younger brother, voice muffled by his shoulder. If that wasn't enough to trap Roksu's body in place, there was always the two cats pressing against him and the dragon clinging to him as well.

Apparently they'd all been quite worried about him as he slept.

Roksu considered that it would be a good time to stop worrying them all so much.

He wasn't dumb enough not to comprehend the hell that his injuries were playing on his loved ones frayed nerves. He thought he'd learned his lesson after seeing Cale get so injured but apparently old habits were harder to break than he thought.

He never wanted to see any of them in such a ragged state again.

'I'll have to find a way to deal with my condition. Quietly.'

Roksu didn't want to imagine their reaction if they found out he only had about a year to live. He didn't want to put them through that.

As though sensing that Roksu's no-good-scheming-brain was already up to it's old tricks, Cale pulled away from the hug and glared at him chastisingly. "Why don't you ever think things through properly?"

Roksu felt wronged. He thought about things rather thoroughly! It was just that the world tended to throw ridiculous curve balls at him left and right. How the hell could he have ever anticipated a sealed god having an incomprehensible grudge against him? One would have to have a supernatural grasp of events across dimensions and a certain level of clairvoyance to predict that! Even after experiencing it, Roksu still wasn't sure about most of the contributing factors and frankly he didn't want to know.

Cale flicked his forehead and sighed, sitting alongside his brother while he allowed the others to greet him.

Choi Han was hanging back while Rosalyn joined the group fretting over him.

It was peaceful.

Choi Han leaned against a nearby wall, his body still tense with the hypertension brought upon by everything that happened. When he closed his eyes, he could still see Roksu-nim being pulled into the flames that he himself created. His ears could still hear the echoes of the horrible rotting noises as the sealed god tore Roksu apart at his very seams.

It would haunt his nightmare for a long time to come.

He noticed how much more gingerly Roksu moved. His actions lacked his normal nonchalance that were characteristic to his dependable aura. Unlike every injury before, there was something so distinctly fragile about Roksu's every gesture.

He wasn't the only one who noticed either. But it made Choi Han hesitant to approach.

His destructive strength that hadn't been enough to protect his liege felt dangerous now. Terror built up in the pit of his gut that Roksu would break if Choi Han so much as touched him.

It was a good thing that the Cat-tribe children. Beacrox and Rosalyn were all here. It caused a general hesitance to bring up the matter of Roksu's memories. They'd have to discuss it but it wasn't the time. Not while Roksu looked so brittle.

Choi Han clenched his fists.

Roksu-nim had been right beside him and he'd been utterly powerless to protect him.

He needed to get stronger.

Yet all he wanted to do was pull Roksu into his arms and hold him until this shuddering fear dissipated. It was a pathetic weakness to have as a swordmaster who ought to be protecting his liege. To desire such a trivial comfort when he ought to be honing his strength so that Roksu would never face such danger again.