Lost Fantasy-The Flowers of Stelis (Arc 2) [Hiatus]

Chapter 11

Loganel summoned his water flask from his storage ring and took a sip from it. He could feel the cold water flowing down his throat, clenching his thirst and providing a much needed refreshment. He was seated on the ground with his back up against the trunk of a tree. He looked up at the cloudy sky, huffed out a white mist from his mouth, and pulled his muffler scarf close to his face. He pulled his legs closer to himself, trying his best to conserve his body heat.  

He looked around at the small camp that they had. Sheriel knelt before the small camp fire, heating up some water in a small kettle, and when the water boiled, she poured it into tin cups and added some crushed tea leaves into it. She then got up from the fire, handed a cup to Tetsuya and Kaz, then made her way back to the fire to retrieve a cup for Marilin, and finally, she walked over and handed the drink to Loganel.

"Thanks," Loganel smiled as he accepted the cup from Sheriel.

"No problem."

Sheriel returned back over to the fire and proceeded to start a brief conversation with Tetsuya. What they were talking about, Loganel could not hear clearly. However, he could tell that the topic of their conversation must be light-hearted based off of the smiles on their face.Loganel then realized that Kaz has been staring at him, so he shifted his gaze over to him.

"I've been wondering," Kaz said upon noticing Loganel's gaze. "Why do you have two swords? That's the sword you got in the ruins a year ago right? I've never seen you use it."

"This?" Loganel felt the handle of Zweilgr. "I try to use my original sword, but if things get too rough, I switch to this sword."

"That sword does have a tremendous amount of power," Tetsuta chimed in with a smile on his face as he sat down by the fire in a relaxed manner. "I can still remember how destructive it looked when wielded by that armored figure."

"Yeah..." Loganel stared at the ground with a nostalgic look as he recalled the brief conversation he had with the original spirit that inhabited this body of his. "That was a life changing encounter."

To Loganel, that encounter solidified his doubts that something was amiss about him. It made him sure that his soul doesn't belong in this body of his. However, from the start of his memory he has used this body, so the experiences, memories, and emotions felt by him weren't fake at all. Instead, they were all very real. Loganel had accepted himself to be who he is, and decided to not dwell to much on this fact. Even this body's original soul has told him to continue on with his life, and that he is now the true one and only "Loganel".

"That battle you had with that armored figure sure was spectacular," Tetsuya said as he took a sip from his cup, recalling with a sad look at the past. "I wish I could do that."

"I'm sure you can as well!"

Sheriel did her best to cheer up Tetsuya, yet it seemed to not have the desired effect. Instead, all that her encouraging words did was elicit a forced smile from Tetsuya as he pretended to be fine. 

"Thanks," Tetsuya said with a forced and bitter smile. "But if you would've seen that battle...you would know."

"How was the battle?" Kaz asked. "You two never told us."

"Well..." Tetsuya looked over at Loganel, and after seeing that Loganel had no intent to interrupt or tell the tale himself, Tetsuya continued on. "It's kind of embarrassing to say, but the Flora and I were both paralyzed. So it was Loganel doing all the fighting."

"For real?" Kaz exclaimed. "Against that thing? That suit of armor looked strong as hell!"

"That's so awesome," Marilin smiled and looked over at Loganel.