THE LOST GOD OF CHAOS

Chapter 14 – Hard Decisions

AWAKEN with the sensation of a gentle touch to his wounded back. Jie felt it was soothing, yet he couldn't move his body.

“Ouch!” he grunted.

“Stay put. Izora is healing your injuries.” Kafle held Jie’s shoulder to prevent him from moving.

“Thank god, I'm still alive.” Jie let out a sigh of relief. But he grimaced in pain with just a slight movement. He was lying on a thin mat on the cold floor.

The three of them were inside a small cell, and scent was tolerable compared to the first chamber he was brought into.

“You’re barely alive,” Kafle faced his daughter. “How's his healing progress?”

The little elf shook her head. “Not good. But the healing orb I have is enough to stop the bleeding.”

Jie gaped at the child. “You got a healing orb and didn't surrender it to the guards?!”

The young elf glared at him and whispered. “Ungrateful bastard!”

“Hey, kid! Watch your mouth. I'm older than you.” Jie again felt the searing pain in his back.

Izora rolled her eyes. “Dimwit!”

“Kafle, teach your daughter some manners.” He’d not tolerate a kid disrespecting him.

Kafle scratched his head. “Izora is like that. Please bear with her. She's just fifty years old.”

“F-Fifty years old?” Jie was taken aback.

“Well, our race has a very long lifespan. Anyway, we have a healing orb kept in secret in cases like this. That's why we survived for three years. We cannot use our magic, so we rely on the raw capability of a magical orb,” Kafle explained.

Jie looked at Izora. “My apologies and thank you. Shall I call you… Grandma?”

Izora gave him a death stare, so he kept his mouth shut. Jie realized that despite the young elf's look, the way she expressed her disgust seemed like an adult.

“Next time, I'll let you bleed to death.” Izora got up and looked around. “The guards are not here. Probably they are at the arena again.”

“Arena?” Jie tried to get up, and Kafle immediately came to his aid. “Thanks, Kafle. I'm really grateful for your help. I owe you a life debt, I'm sure I'll repay it sometime soon.”

“Don’t mention it. My daughter and I rarely interact with anyone here. But among everyone who came here, you have a distinctive scent that makes you different.”

“Scent? What do you mean?” The line on his forehead deepened.

“Elves have a strong sense of smell. We can determine anything—humans, monsters, and any living being—by just their scent. But you smell different, like I never knew before.”

“Really?” Jie wondered as well. But he concluded that maybe it was because he came from a different world.

Kafle nodded. “My instinct is telling me you're something else.”

Jie chucked. “It doesn't matter. All we need is to escape this hell hole. My sister needs me.”

Izora came at them. “I can hear the cheers. I bet Veris has been replaced by another warrior.”

“Poor Veris, he fought hard to gain his freedom. Only to be slaughtered in the end.”

Jie tried to grasp the conversation between the two. “What the hell is going on?”

“Those who fight in the arena chose their fate to die. No one wins there; they are just the mere entertainment of these bored guards and some orb hunters.”

“That's why you advised me to be whipped instead?”

“You need to mine an orb, Ethros. No matter how hard it is to find.”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “I was just born unlucky.”

Jie thought about his life. Was he transmigrated only to suffer again? Maybe the deities had a deep resentment toward him. They wouldn't let him be happy and have a peaceful life. 

Even in this world, I became a slave. He silently chuckled in disbelief.

“Izora, can your magic fully heal him?” Kafle turned to his daughter. “He may be the key for us to leave here.”

Izora gazed at him as if lost in her thoughts. “What makes you think he’s the one we’re waiting for? A magical orb as small as this can’t do much, even if we exhaust its power. His injuries are nearly fatal. If only we could remove the impeding shackle.”

“My instinct never betrayed me. Besides, haven’t you noticed that he is healing faster than an ordinary human?” Kafle appeared puzzled. “Ethros, which ethnicity did you come from again?”

“A-Ardhians.” Jie lowered his gaze. He thought that this boy’s body was stronger than he initially imagined.

“Now that you mention it, I wonder about that, too. What are you?” Izora sauntered toward Jie and studied his face intently. “You look like a human, but I’m sure you are not.”

“Am I not a human?” Jie was dumbfounded. “Do I look like a monster to you?” he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Ardhians, it does not ring a bell.” Kafle shook his head. “Anyway, you can rest for the night. But expect to work in the mines again tomorrow; your wounds are not an excuse.”

“I understand.”

FOR the next three days, Jie was fortunate that he found magical orbs that somehow helped his wound heal. The elves were right, his body had such an amazing regeneration ability that, in just three days, all his wounds were nearly closed.

However, the more he wasted time in the mines, his hope to save Nyssa was slowly fading. Worse, it appeared he was already out of luck after seven days because Jie could not find an orb. It was also the same day when they overheard the conversation between two guards.

“The high mage is currently extracting the Luominen! Soon, the Terra Kingdom will be ours!” one of the Dreqin guards exclaimed.

“Yes, I heard. I hope we'll get our chance to be part of the Helios. The empire's elite army is my dream!” said the other.

Ethros stood frozen upon hearing them. He almost attacked the guards, but Kafle was quick enough to stop him.

“What did they do to Nyssa?”

“Ethros, calm down! Your wound might look healed on the outside, but we are not sure if it is fully cured. Take it easy! I don’t know much about extracting the power of the orb, but one thing is sure, your sister is still alive.” Kafle reminded him when he noticed the young man’s impatience.

“We are not sure about that, Kafle! I have a plan.” Jie gritted his teeth.

The elf's forehead creased. “What plan?”

“I will fight. I can't find an orb anyway, and I don't want to be flogged to death. You can’t always be saving my ass every time. I am not your responsibility, and I can’t always rely on anybody.”

Kalfe gazed down at Izora, who seemed uninterested in their conversation. “That's very risky.”

“I can't be idle here for a long time. My hand-to-hand combat will somehow give me an advantage,” he said confidently.

“Think twice, Ethros. Don't give away your life.”

Jie’s jaw tightened. “I've made up my mind.”