adagar

"I think he's trying to say something." Ezer puts his ear close to the man's babbling mouth, unable to understand the meaning of what he heard. Seconds later the man falls unconscious.

"He's delirious, there's no point in trying." The old man had finished mixing the new medicines that Gretka brought him with the ones he already had prepared. "You can stop putting pressure, from now on I can manage on my own." To Ezer's surprise, the old man approaches and inserts his hand into the man's wound, pulling out the blood-stained guts.

“What are you doing!?” Ezer observes how the man does not even respond to the pain, surely he had already fainted.

“Dirt got into his wound and that's why I can't close it so easily. Dirt, dust and even the hairs of the beast that attacked him... this man fought even with his stomach open..." The old man's yellow hands, from the medicine smeared on them, went over every inch of the man's guts cleaning them.

“Will he live?”

“I'm not sure. No matter how much you clean, there is always a chance that there will be leftovers, only time will tell.” He begins to close the man's stomach by sewing it up and then cleans the traces of blood on his skin, being satisfied with his work.

“Follow me.” The old man goes down the stairs reaching the end of the hospital through a corridor and crosses the only visible door followed by Ezer.

"Were the beasts...? The ones that attacked the town?” An obvious question, but Ezer uses it to break the awkward silence.

“It happens every year. However, this time it was more intense than usual.” The hallway door opened into another room with a different air, Ezer soon realized that he was now in a house that had a direct entrance to the hospital.

The house had a strong herbal smell as well as papers with incredibly detailed drawings of plants and animals scattered everywhere in a way that they wouldn't get in the way.

The woods that made up the house and its dark hue made it clear that this building was much older than the hospital. After crossing a few rooms, the old man takes Ezer to where Lyaria was resting.

"Grandpa." She regained consciousness and speaks weakly as she hears the door open.

"Girl, how are you feeling?" The old man places his palm on Lyaria's forehead.

"Weak, would have preferred to remain unconscious a little longer."

“The medicine will work.” The old man withdraws his palm and uses it to grasp Lyaria's sweaty hand.

“No, it will not. Better save it for whoever needs it... I can put up with something like this.” She smiles confidently.

A few seconds pass before the old man sighs and begins to work.

"Boy, hold her tight." He decides not to discuss knowing the character of his granddaughter, starting to work immediately.

“Ezer put a piece of cloth in my mouth please.” She says it with her eyes closed tightly as the old man ties a strap around her legs and arms.

Ezer places between Lyaria's teeth a piece of leather of considerable thickness that was surely used for cases like this. At the same time, the old man prepares his tools.

Ezer can only put the weight of his body supporting his hands on Lyaria's shoulders holding her down at the moment when she can't help but writhe in pain, the sounds of her screams are being drowned out by the piece of leather as the old man removed the putrefied flesh from the wound with unbeatable precision despite the movement.

At some point she loses consciousness, stops moving and Ezer cease pressing, noticing the marks his fingers left on her skin and how his jaw hurt from clenching his teeth so much without noticing it.

Weariness weighs heavily on him forcing him to sit on a nearby chair, before he knows it, he falls asleep from exhaustion.

He wakes up not knowing how much time had passed, maybe it was a lot or a little, he couldn't be sure. But what his eyes see when they open makes everything else less important. The wound on Lyaria's leg that was originally black with violet and reddish tints was replaced by a uniform white, although this was too pale to be the skin and what definitely ruled out the idea was the fact that that white thing moved.