tbate | The Storm Gods Chosen [Dropped]

Ch 97 Wounded Paladin's

"You took such careful measures to make sure everyone would be safe that I never even thought how dangerous this war would be for you." Tess lifted her head, gazing upward at me with her brilliant teal eyes. "Seeing you like this in a bed full of injuries, it was a cold reminder that you're only human and not some indestructible mage and warrior."

I chortled. "Is that how I look to you most of the time? Some indestructible figure?"

"With the emotional maturity of a toddler," she finished with a wide grin.

"Is that any way to talk to a general?" I scolded, trying to keep a serious face as she struggled to do the same.

"My apologies, General Arthur," she replied, laughter in her voice. as I twiddled our matching necklaces I gave her back in Xyrus.

Suddenly, the door to my room burst open. Stumbling inside was Virion Eralith, the commander of the entire Dicathen military and his son Alduin Eralith, followed by his wife, my younger sister Eleanor, Sylvie, Elijah, and a couple of guards. Behind them was Eleanor's eight-foot-tall bear casually chewing on a slab of meat with disinterest in his eyes at the turn of events.

The room turned silent once more. Tessia's parents and my own sister feigned ignorance of the situation, refusing to make eye contact with us. The guards awkwardly shuffled away while Virion coughed uncomfortably as he straightened out his robe.

The commander of Dicathen cleared his throat, his gaze wandering around the room as he tried to keep a dignified demeanour.

"Grandpa?" Tess exclaimed, dumbfounded.

"I see you haven't spent much effort furnishing this room, Arthur," he noted, still unable to look us in the eyes.

"he never does, Not here, not in xyrus, not in the Typhon." Elijah shook his head in a disapproving manner.

"You guys were eavesdropping?" Tess's face was beet red while she raised an accusatory finger at her family.

Virion wagged a finger in denial. "Of course not, dear. We were simply overhearing the well-being of Arthur, a prized general that had been tragically-"

The commander was unable to finish his excuse as he dodged a book Tess had picked up from the nightstand and thrown at him, Sadly Elijah's reflexes weren't as sharp leading to him throwing out yet another pair of newly broken glasses.

I let out a chuckle, sitting up on my bed as my gaze fixed on my sister awkwardly holding onto my bond.

'Your sister has been patiently waiting for you to wake up,' Sylvie informed.

It hadn't been that long since I had last seen my sister, yet it felt like only now that I noticed how big she'd gotten. I couldn't call her my baby sister anymore.

"Come here, Ellie," I said gently.

My little sister's lower lip trembled as tears began flooding down her face. Letting go of my bond, she bolted into my arms, nearly knocking the wind out of me.

"I was so worried!" she said angrily, her voice breaking down into sobs. "What would've happened if you had died?!"

"I'm okay, El," I coaxed as her face remained buried in my chest. I reached up to stroke my sister's brown hair when I noticed that the injuries I had gotten from the witch-like retainer and that cackling clown of a retainer were both still there. My expression darkened at the sight of the ugly red scar that spread all over my left hand up to my wrist as if the skin had been burned off. The injury had diminished greatly and appeared as if it were a few years old thanks to Sylvie's vivum abilities, but my entire hand had turned a shade of sickly pink at least the rotted flesh on my other arm had returned back to normal, That Clown like retainer's Black mist made it extremely hard to fight the two of them from its burning of my lungs.