“How long has it been?” I asked her once she managed to calm down.

“Three weeks. You've been inside that room for three weeks” Faye answered, sobbing slightly.

The enormous hunger with which I had woken up had already led me to believe that I had remained in that state for a long time, but I never imagined I had been hovering between life and death for such a long period. For days and days my body had been destroyed and rebuilt, yet I had survived.

“Have you heard anything unpleasant these days?”

Faye turned to me, her eyes red from all the tears shed.

“Please don't make me think about it. Just recalling the sound of breaking bones…”

Her face had turned pale. It seemed I had subjected her to an unpleasant experience, very different from mine but still difficult to endure.

I spread my arms wide to show her my bare body.

“It's all over. Look at me, I'm fine, see?”

Although my head, eyes and ears hurt, all in all I was feeling fine. There was not a single wound on my body

“ ... I can see it ... “

Faye blushed slightly. Although I had lost some weight due to the long period of being without food or water, my body had changed dramatically for the better. My bones had gotten bigger and sturdier and my muscles had gotten much more defined. Even my skin had improved as every single blemish was now gone.

“Put on some clothes!” Faye urged me, covering her face with her hands but still spying with her eyes from between her open fingers.

I took a change of clothes and headed for the room I had recently left. I closed the door behind me and put on the new apparel, before stepping out again and speaking to Faye.

“How soon will Marnie be here?”

“There are still a couple of days left to go. For now do not think about it, just rest... and get a bath, you smell terrible!”

Sniffing around, I realised the source of the bad smell that had invaded my nostrils since I had woken up was none other than me. I finally noticed my skin was covered in a thick layer of blood, sweat and dust.

I left the building and headed towards the creek. I took off the clothes I had just put on and plunged naked into the freezing water. The cold didn't bother me, on the contrary it reinvigorated me. I felt more comfortable like this rather than wearing clothes, but in order to avoid being considered a savage, I knew I had no choice but to bear with it.

I rubbed myself thoroughly, wiping off all the dirt which had accumulated on my skin. I took the clothes I had worn and cleaned them up too, since I had already got them dirty by putting them on. Once I left the creek, I wore them even if they were still wet. After all, I highly doubted I could still suffer from hypothermia.

Faye seemed to be of the opposite opinion, since she scolded me severely and forced me to stand by the fireplace with the fire burning to warm me up and dry myself.

I spent the days we had left resting and consuming all the food I hadn't eaten in the previous weeks. For some reason I couldn't fall asleep even once, although I still managed to enter a state of numbness comparable to it.

Faye spent these last few days very differently from me. Far from being as relaxed as I was, she spent every single waking hour keeping an eye on me, making sure there were no complications or side effects following the surgery. What had happened these last days seemed to have been quite traumatic for her. Anyway, she was glad my chest had healed perfectly, with no signs of stitches left. This helped her calm down at least a little bit.

The time for departure arrived. We collected the few things we had left and set out to leave the peak of the mountain. Although I offered to load on myself all of our belongings, exactly as I had already done at the start of our "vacation", Faye refused and took it upon herself to carry everything. Soon afterwards, however, she had to give in and allow me to carry at least a portion of the weight, since it was too much for her alone.

The descent took longer than the ascent. Although I felt better in comparison to the days before, I was still a little unstable as I walked. My eyes didn't seem to want to show signs of improvement and the continued buzzing in my ears continuously bothered me and made it difficult for me to focus on the path. To prevent me from falling off the mountain, we decided to proceed at a slow but steady pace.

We reached the base of the mountain. We had left early in the morning and it was now well into midday. There was no sign of Marnie. We sat on the suitcases, waiting for her arrival.

After a couple of hours, I could hear a familiar noise. Soon a vehicle appeared on the brim of the horizon. I focused my gaze on the car. My peripheral vision was still blurry, but the central part of my field of vision cleared and, even though she was still far away, I could clearly distinguish the driving Marnie.

A short time later, the car stopped in front of us.

“Hi guys~, I hope you had a pleasant ... “ Marnie said cheerfully, before stopping off abruptly.

She took off his signature sunglasses and stared intently at me.

“What happened to you? “ she asked me.

Her gaze had turned serious and her posture had stiffened. It was clear she had sensed a change in me.

“I grew up” I replied with a neutral tone. I was no longer a newborn arch.

For a few minutes, we remained silent. Marnie was the first to speak.

“I understand. You Faye, what about you? Everything fine~?”

Marnie had seemingly shifted her attention to Faye, but I could easily notice the looks she sent in my direction at regular intervals. Although she had sensed something, apparently she was still trying to figure out exactly what had happened to me.

Marnie started the car and we headed for the city. When it became visible, Marnie waved at me to catch my attention.

“Listen John, I tried to postpone it as much as possible, but the best I managed to get was to make sure the choice of the representative to be held after your return. The duel is the day after tomorrow, do you think you are ready?” he asked me.

“Yeah, I think so. I just need to gather my thoughts and confirm a couple of things” I replied.

With each passing minute, I became more aware of my new state. Whoever my challenger was, I strongly doubted he could cause me any problem.