Elias could feel himself on the verge of bursting out his pent-up emotions, the atmosphere being so quiet. It finally made him stop as he saw himself walk away. Not while hearing the master's words, "I too, learned things through my own journey together with the teachings of the people that came before I," he said, whose face was now revealed.
When he turned to look, everything made sense now. "You.." Elias muttered, recognizing the wrinkles on the man's face. The realization of regret quickly hit him like a ton of bricks, leaving Elias speechless right before waking up from the neighboring rooster's crow.
Despite the chilly morning, Elias found himself a little soaked in his own sweat. Feeling the urge to take off his upper clothes and lay them on the side, only for it to not be there in the first place. Then, he tried to move his body, just to stop and realize, 'Weird..' Lifting his left arm up, down, and side by side before taking a brief moment to process what's going on.
Elias immediately began to do the same for his right arm while standing up to jump five times, and upon perceiving them to be in good condition, 'No way..' how am I not sore all over?' Elias with his pounding heart rejoiced over this scenario, but that smile and feeling of wonder soon reignited a new form of despair.
'This is.. not a dream, is it?' He accepted that this reality may not be real at all. Something so great and grand couldn't be that easy, Elias just plopped his ass there on top of his bed. Grasping a single piece of straw, his vision started to bubble up as tears dropped.
Wiping it away immediately before seeing what's behind him, 'This is better at least..' the sight of his parents who are awake and are preparing their meal, Elias took a few deep but silent breaths. 'Did I not promise myself to make this life a better one?' Casting off the gloomy expression, Elias quickly went to help them do all sorts of things.
Oats, honey, eggs and later on, as the family had finished their meals. "Are you sure you'd wanna go back again, little Eli?" Manuella said, "Why not rest, as your body needs it to grow." Patting her son on the shoulder, "We can take care of our own, we've lived this way since."
Elias always smiled, even at his mother's beckon before shaking his head, just to say, "I want to and need to go, Ma, so please allow me to tag along with Pa." She thought hard, staring at her son being so energetic, which made Eliam say in response, "Well, if you feel okay, then I guess you could."
Glancing enough for him to see in his field of vision, the furrowed look on his wife's face, shrugging that there's nothing more he could do. A sigh, right as a hand extended over Elias's hair, caressing it so gently. "You don't need to go there, little Eli." The touch of my mother's hand, together alongside the warmth on her body when she hugged me.
A shame that I will never forgive myself for taking advantage of, the love of a parent. It is precisely for this very reason that I must go, careful not to show it. Her son's silence left Manuella with no choice but to agree, nodding slightly on the surface, Eliam knew deep down that Manuella didn't want to have their one and only son overexerting himself.
'Do you want to go now, Eli?" Eliam asked, while rubbing his eyes as he yawned, whereas his son simply responded with a nod. Making a groan upon standing up on his feet, the two met eyes for a moment together with a gentle pat on her shoulder when Eliam passed by.
Manuella knew she could trust her husband, nonetheless, she let out a deep breath after seeing the father and son leave their home. The day goes by accordingly for Elias, working together with his father. Speechless by his son's explosive growth, yet Eliam continued to support whatever he did.
Collecting another batch of firewood along the way, the both of them went straight back to their home very early, further irritating the old farmers from yesterday as their shifts were yet to be done. Elias rested until it was dark as the family ate just like the day before.
Right after his parents had retired themselves to sleep, Elias chuckled upon hearing his father's loud snore before going out secretly, where the darkness swallowed his figure. Although the moonlight illuminated his path, making his way to the edge of the trees, Elias found solace in the stillness of the night.
His eyes had begun to adapt from the night's embrace and with a deep breath, Elias closed his eyes. Witnessing the gentle sways of grass, all while the crickets make their cheeps within. Elias struck his clenched right hand forward, the same for his left. Chuckling at the lightness of his fists before grabbing a wooden stick and twisting it prior to snapping the other protrusions it had.
'A spear might actually be better because at the end, the enemy just needs to be dead.' Moving just about a few steps of distance against a tree, Elias held it tight. Feeling the familiar roughness of the wooden shaft, Elias immediately extended it from behind while focusing on the tree stalk.
Once he made a wide range swing with his weapon, he instantly made use of the momentum as he turned and stabbed its trunk. Rendering the stick to break, leaving splinters on his right hand which only increased his heart rate more.
'It feels out of practice, but definitely something that I could work on in the coming days.' Elias unawarely thought before shaking the splints on his right, making him furrow his brows in a moment, while almost yelling out an insult. "N-Nevermind that, my own body for some reason seems to heal every time I lose consciousness.'
Elias sighed before releasing a snort as he continued in his thoughts, 'Imagine sleep being a superpower.. will that not make me unstoppable then?' Despite wanting to resume his proficiency in handling such a far reach weapon, Elias tried to pry out the splinters and after being successful at it.
He continued with much more fervor in spirit this time. Elias wanted to be sure of it, 'God, please let it be true..' Gradually, the sky had started to become a little more visible as the night was nearing its end. Running back home feeling exhausted, Elias seemed unaware nor did he have the time to celebrate that the same tree he constantly struck was left with a lot of marks.
In conjunction to his jerking hands and unstable breathing from moving so hurriedly, Elias was at least happy with his training. He arrived home quickly so that he could have some time to sleep, but his throbbing arms and pounding heart prevented Elias from doing so as he naively thought.
Sitting a few inches away from his bed, Elias contemplated before taking several deep breaths, testing himself again to feel and try to gather the energy towards his body. Although his perception had improved compared to yesterday, Elias had a.. somewhat successful progress from inserting out a single miniscule of energy, which inevitably rendered him unconscious at the same time.
As an hour passes by, and indeed, what Elias thought of earlier was true when he woke up. Bold enough to stretch those sore muscles to be completely fine and his strength renewed. "Ishn't it vood that he'sh finally restin thish time?" His father said, right when before noticing Elias to be awake while blankly staring at him.
The two gazed long enough, as Eliam took his time to chew the food in his mouth, right as soon as he swallowed, "Guess who's awake now?" A smirk on his face before chuckling at Manuella. "Well, what are you waiting for, dimwit?" Eliam immediately avoided a strike from his wife, laughing as he continued, "Greet your mother already so that you can eat because you're going to be joining me again later this time as well."
Sitting down together, Elias thought about addressing the problem with his small body. Figuring to himself that eating a lot would definitely be the answer, so Elias started stuffing his mouth with whatever food his mother had prepared.
Regardless of how often it was every single day, Eliam and Elias seemed to be looking forward to it every time as the first had 3 servings while the latter had only 2, not because Elias didn't want to eat more but because his stomach could no longer hold more food.
Rendering Elias to sit, while processing the unpleasant feeling of being full to the brim. Maybe he shouldn't have done that, either way, there's nothing more he could do to change it. Manuella thought it was cute to see her son like this, but Elias believed otherwise, 'How embarrassing.' Upon seeing his own belly sticking out like a pig, unable to help himself from moving his hands to caress it prior to making a few taps.