Mystic Call: The Journey

The mysterious man looked at the scattering remains of the beast, and slightly bowed to show respect to his opponent, "You have fought a good fight, now rest and scatter, let the wind guide you to your place of rest."

"The sky's clear... How did that happen?" Azumi curiously looked at the sky as she saw the mysterious man approaching them.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it as he sighed, "Are you kids okay," as he walked into the veil, "Hmm... seems like the veil's healing factor has reduced."

"Y-Yes we, I mean I'am doing just fine, Jason seems to be slowly healing from the claw's effect, but the claw marks on the other hand are taking time to heal and he is still unconscious." Azumi stated.

The mysterious man looked at Jason and said, "Hmm I see, it's great to hear that you are doing okay," while checking for Jason's pulse, "His heart beat is slightly becoming stronger."

Although the Devourer's earlier attack had knocked Jason out, he was starting to slowly regain consciousness, his eyelids flickered as his eyes were barely open, he saw a blurry and hazy vision of the mysterious man whom was checking for his pulse. His vision was brief, lasting only a fraction of a second, after that his eyes closed.

The mysterious man then thought to himself, "Hmmm... he was barely conscious, but that's evident enough to tell me he's recovering. I don't sense anything from him, in this world many are born with mystica, some have too much making it hard for them to control while others have too little making them unable to create or develop their own techniques thus not making them suitable to become a mystic. Well most are born with normal or average mystica, letting them develop and grow in each battle... but he's different, I sense no mystica emanating from his body at all, that should be impossible in this day and age. Wait... this kid is-" 

Azumi interjected as she called the mysterious man to reality, "Mind getting out of your head for a sec...?"

The mysterious man looked at Azumi and started smiling, "Yeah, sure thing kid."

"By the way, you being here means that you have finally defeated the Gorvorth right?" As Azumi asked curiously.

"Yes, I did, don't worry about having to encounter a beast of that level here." The mysterious man answered in subtle tone. The mysterious man then looked at Azumi, "Azumi was it? Please do give this to your friend Jason." As he took out a crystalline vial filled with a shimmering sliver blue liquid, giving it to Azumi.

Stretching her hand as she accepted the item, "What is this?" Azumi asked.

"The Gorvorth's claws have a deadly effect, and that is once you get slashed... your life force starts to dissipate. And Jason here was slashed twice correct?" The mysterious man stated. 

"Yeah, he was. I-I didn't think it was this bad." Azumi answered in a subtle tone.

The mysterious man looked at Pandora's box as it grew dimmer, "He's one tough kid, since his life force is steadily coming back, this elixir will help with the restoration of his life force so take this."

Azumi's eyes widen as she was unsure of what to make of the situation, "

"Wait, why can't you do it yourself?" Azumi asked.

The mysterious man got up and said,"Well I have somewhere I need to be, and things I need to attend to. If you want to make it out of this forest, head east from here, there is a city in that direction. Safe travels I really need to go now."

As Azumi was about to say something, in that instant he mysteriously disappeared, "What! He just vanished," She sighed, "Off he goes, hmm seems like I didn't get the chance to properly thank him... no matter, we will meet someday."

Couple of hours later...

Azumi stood beside Jason, lost in her thoughts, as she had a lot of unanswered questions about the mysterious man who had saved them, "That man... was pretty strong and yet the power I sensed from him did not seem to be enough to rival the Devourer."

A few moments later, Jason slowly began to gain consciousness. Lackadaisically opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Azumi standing right by his side.

Jason struggled to sit up, his head still pounding with a headache, as he felt his body heavy and hard to move.

Azumi quickly rushed to assist him, "You're finally up, are you okay?." Azumi said as she helped Jason sit up straight.

Jason replied, his voice slightly shaking, "Yeah, I think I am. What... what happened? The last thing I remember seeing was... the beast, where is it!? And who or where is that man?"

"Relax, take a breather will you? Everything is fine now, I'll explain the rest of the story a bit later but first let me fulfil my assignment." Azumi boldly stated. 

She reached the far ends of her pockets taking out the elixir that she was entrusted to give Jason, she opened it and quickly gave it to him, "How are you feeling now?" She asked.

Jason's face turned green as he was struggling to swallow the elixir, "Uhm... Jason?" Azumi asked.

"What did you just f-feed me? Is your assignment to kill me? I knew it. You monster." Jason asked as tears ran down his face, his taste buds unable to comprehend the bitter taste of the elixir.

"I did what had to be done you loser, and why would I waste my time trying to kill someone as pathetic as you? Hmmm, you whining like this means that you are doing just fine." Azumi stated.

Jason nodded his head, and began taking a few deep breaths to clear his mind, "Geez, what did I do to deserve this?" Jason questioned himself.

"He never takes anything seriously huh?" Sighing her annoyance away, "But I'm glad he's okay." Azumi thought to herself.

 "Hey Azumi, so who was that man?" Jason asked as he was standing up.

Azumi's facial expression changed as she thought about the mysterious man, "To be honest I don't know either... all I know is he saved us Jason. He defeated the beast in its final form called the Devourer after that he... he just disappeared."

"He disappeared? But how?" Jason asked.

Azumi looked up in the sky, "I dont know. He just vanished into thin air. But before he did, he said that east of here we will find a city. If we start moving now, we will probably get there before dusk.

Jason turned and looked towards the east, "Great then, let's start moving east." with his voice suddenly calm and serious. He then remembered the dream he had when he was still unconscious, "What... k-kind of a nightmare was that." Thinking to himself as his hands were shaking.