Arin was filled with rage, and even more so, sadness as he fell down to the many insects surrounding the tree. He had not been able to survive even a single day in the moonless grassland, all because of Renota Ishogi.
Well, it would've be easy and logical to pin his death on Renota. However, strangely, Arin didn't do that. In fact, Arin wasn't even thinking about how much he hated Renota as he plunged further towards the glowing white dots filling the darkness. Instead, his unsavory thoughts- Or rather, his unsavory shouting was focused on himself.
"Damn you! You pathetic bastard!" Arin braced himself to be cut into a hundred bloody pieces, allowing tears to form in his eyes.
'What...?'
For some reason, one that Arin was currently unable to understand, he had not yet fallen to the insects.
He felt like he was floating, until he realized that he was being held up by the collar of his shirt. The strange force holding him up then began to pull, quickly throwing him into a small wooden room. Although he couldn't see anything, he could hear a yellow grin conquer the lower half of the 'strange force's face.
For a very brief moment, he was able to think a couple rational thoughts before being completely drowned in a storm of racism towards the man who just saved his life.
'His yellow flame wasn't ignited... So, he not only was able to swiftly react to me slipping, but he was also able to pinpoint the exact location of my collar within absolute darkness. The ability to perform such a feat requires significant skill...'
Finally, his typical train of thought regarding Renota took over.
'Skill that Ishog doesn't possess! That 'feat' was nothing more than dumb luck!'
Thoughts akin to these were now what filled his mind.
Although he could no longer audibly hear this thought over the cacophony of hatred, it was still able to linger in the back of his mind: How could Renota possess technical skill of that caliber?
Renota then ignited a dim flame on his index finger, illuminating the small room that was at the top of the tree. And now that it was visible, Arin hesitated in calling it a room.
The 'room' was made of branches, all varying in size, and all somehow naturally lined up next to each other. The strange growth of branches resulted in an unnaturally square 'square', possessing four walls and a floor. The roof above them, or lack thereof, consisted of leaves, branches, and air. The branch box was also incredibly tiny, probably only four feet long, wide, and tall.
Arin didn't want to think about how terrible it was going to be spending an entire night in such close proximity to Renota. Luckily, he didn't have to. Because right then, the adrenaline that had been coursing through his body suddenly ceased its flow.
Replacing the adrenaline was an incredible pain. Combining every single moment of pain in Arin's life leading up to this moment would barely be a fraction of the pain he felt sitting in the dimly-lit branch room. The foundation of his pain was an immense soreness, followed by almost every single muscle in his body becoming engulfed in a terribly painful cramp. An internal organ or two were injured, causing blood to consistently leak from his mouth. His first-ever broken bones, lightly cracked ribs, were now probably shattered from his over-exertion. The gash across his chest from the elder insect was still leaking blood.
Arin was covered in blood. Not just the azure kind from the beasts, but also the crimson kind from his own veins. His hair was somehow more disheveled than it had ever been, and his clothes... His clothes were surprisingly intact, aside from the blood dirtying them and the cut on his shirt from the elder insect.
It took a while for Arin to adjust to the incredible pain, and once he did, the first thing he heard was Renota's voice.
"At least there's still some light in your eyes." Renota, who was no longer grinning, rubbed his eyes with his fingers and sighed. "You're gonna bleed out soon, but... Well, just so you know, this'll hurt like hell."
Arin wanted to stop Renota from doing whatever he was about to do. But in his current state, he couldn't even say a word. He could only clench his eyes and hope Renota wouldn't harm him further.
The dim flame on Renota's index finger grew in intensity and also began to burn a lighter shade of yellow. Renota placed this finger on Arin's chest and whispered an incantation to himself.
"Ekor watom, itokone getan. Ekor mona ashtafi."
Instantly, Arin was engulfed in the light-yellow flame, and with the fire came two new painful sensations. The first, more tame feeling was similar to what one would feel when they were burning alive. A few seconds later, the second painful sensation came, and all the other pain in the world felt inconsequential compared to this.
The pain was indescribably terrible. Arin couldn't even think as it overcame every stray thought in his mind. Being chopped into a hundred pieces by bone scythes would look appealing compared to this. Arin almost instantly passed out because of the pain's overbearing intensity.
***
It was around mid-day when Arin woke up, he was able to tell since orangish sun was directly above him. He sat up in the branch room and braced himself for a sudden rush of pain...
The rush didn't come. Arin had recovered from the pain overnight.
He looked down at his bloodied and battered body, but was amazed to see that not only his blood, but also the azure blood of the insects was no longer staining his white shirt. He felt his face to see if blood was still leaking, and it wasn't. He reached his hand down to feel his shattered ribs, but they were now intact. The only evidence that Arin was even in a fight at all was the little bit of dirt on his shirt, and the slash in that shirt, which had a large scar under it.
'I'm able to recover from injuries that quickly?! Maybe I am a prodigy after all!'
After getting over his amazement from his own incredible recovery, he noticed that Renota wasn't anywhere to be seen in the tiny branch box.
'Did that Ishog really light me on fire and leave me to die?!'
Arin quickly exited from the 'doorframe' of the 'room', then swiftly climbed down the tree. Before he noticed Renota standing at the great maple's base, he focused on the lack of evidence that a fight occurred just last night. All of the azure blood was gone, and there was no sight of the two severed legs of the elder insect. The only things that indicated there was even a fight at all was the scar on Arin's chest, and the two X-shaped slashes on the tree.
Another indicator was that some of Renota's own blood was staining his fists.
Now having caught sight of Renota, Arin stood before him, rage filling his blue eyes. Renota looked down at Arin, chuckling and grinning.
"Told you it'd hurt like hell. But now, you're good as new!"
Unsurprisingly, Arin didn't possess a mystical talent for overnight recovery. Still, for some reason, he was disappointed that it was Renota who healed his body instead of himself.