Chapter 33: Dreaming
Murmurs slowly drifted into Duarte's ears, his body felt like it got pressed down by a ton of bricks, and his consciousness came and went like the wind. He tried to hear, to understand, but it was useless. He could only get comfort in sleep, letting his worries wash away. When he wasn't, he could only see a vast ocean of darkness. He couldn't move, speak, or even make a sound. It was emptiness.
He wasn't alone, however. A string connected him with the blackness beyond. If he tried to reach into it, the faint cries of Thunder came back to him. Duarte sighed in relief the first time it happened, letting him know that his partner didn't die in the clash.
His memories of the event were fuzzy. But as time slowly passed, he began recollecting fragments of what happened. The most surreal part of it was when he executed one of the techniques in the Spiritual Beasts Codex. It required a deep connection with the companion and complete trust in one another.
The result of doing it right would temporarily transfer the spirit core from the beast to the tamer. This act would increase the tamer's power tremendously, as well as obtaining several animal characteristics. The downside was that if the tamer died or the core shatters, the beast would meet its demise.
It was a risky move, but it paid off. Duarte managed to execute the technique for the first time without a problem and defeat the assassin. But he couldn't remember what happened after he dispersed the transformation.
Finally, the whispers grew louder and clear enough. Duarte heard someone calling his name, sobbing, discussions, and a soft lullaby. His consciousness began returning to his body as he centered his attention on that melody. Then, Duarte woke up. His vision was fuzzy, and bandages covered his face's left side. He took some moments to focus and scan his surroundings.
Samantha was by his side, holding his right hand and softly singing a healing technique. It was the same that she sang for him and Isaac to sleep when they were babies. It brought him back several good memories about the past. Duarte clenched her hands, startling her for a moment. When she saw her boy staring at her with a smile, she couldn't hold her crying.
"Welcome back, my son..." She gently kissed his forehead and caressed his cheek. "We were so worried about you..."
"Don't worry, mom." He tried to wipe her tears with his left arm and noticed that it wasn't there. Duarte stared at the stump that was just before the elbow and sighed. "Well...I guess i overdid it. Did i lose anything else?"
Samantha had a pained expression while looking at him. Tears continued to stream down her cheeks, and her lips quivered when she tried to say something. She took a couple of seconds to calm down and wipe them with her own hands.
"Your left eye too." She took a deep breath and sighed. "And you're back at Foundation establishment. Your Astral gate suffered a lot of damage, and your uncle had to break it to save your life."
"Well, that sucks." He dropped to the bed for a moment and closed his eyes to think. As realization struck him, he sat upright once more. "Wait! Where's Isaac? And Thunder too! Is he ok? What about the Mann boy?"
"Don't worry." She shook her head. "They're ok...mostly." She trembled for a moment but didn't lose her composure. "The boys were deaf for a couple of days, but they recovered. The Dancing Adarna stance does wonders in healing, you know?" She chuckled for a moment, but her sad expression returned soon after. "Thunder lost his right leg and right eye. It's the same as you."
"Must be the technique..." He murmured to himself, frowning. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds and dropped once more on the bed. "I guess my time practicing the Sun splitting saber is over."
Regenerating limbs isn't an easy feat, but it's not impossible. The small fortune that such a thing costs are affordable for the Leigh family, but Duarte and Thunder's injuries are worse than they seem. Consuming life force for spiritual power is commonly a last-ditch effort because the consequence is losing parts of the body. Starting from eyes, arms, legs, and finally the torso until there's nothing.
Such injuries can't get regenerated by any means known to man. Any effort put into it, any millimeter of skin, bone, or muscle reconstructed will turn into ash. The only solution is replacing the parts with artificial means.
"Well, at least I can adapt the Spirit guardian to work with only kicks. Not everything is lost." He nodded and gave his mother a big hug. "Thanks for being here with me, mom. I love you."
"I love you too, sweetheart." She embraced him with all of her love and care. She teared up once more, but due to happiness. She was happy that her oldest son was ok and that his spirit remained unbroken. "We'll get through this..."
"Yes..." Duarte nodded, enjoying the warmth of his mother. A couple of tears escape from his eye, but nothing more than that. He still looked forward. "By the way, mom." He separated from the hug and looked at her, a bit concerned. "How long was i out?"
A knock on the door interrupted their little moment. Samantha waved her hand, and it unlocked, revealing Isaac and Dustin. They seemed a bit taller, and their muscles much more defined than before. The older of the two approached and ruffled his head with a smug expression.
"There there, get better soon, Duarte." Duarte laughed in defeat and let him get a little revenge.
"A-are you feeling ok, Mr. Duarte?" Dustin approached hesitantly.
"Don't worry about me, kid," Duarte smirked and went to ruffle his hair with his left hand. HE flinched after noticing what he was doing and wryly laugh. "U-Uhh..."
"D-don't worry, Mr. Duarte!" The boy went forward and grabbed his hand. "Thanks for saving us! I'm sorry for..." The boy sniffled, preparing to cry too.
"Hey, no need to do that." Duarte warmly smiled and patted the boy's head. "I did it because i wanted to. And well, they would kill me anyway, so might as well save everybody, no?" He laughed out loud, but Isaac slapped the back of his head.
"Don't say those things to a kid, young man." Isaac looked at him sternly.
"Yeah yeah, I'm sorry," Duarte smirked and rubbed the spot that Isaac hit. "You're getting stronger."
"A lot happens in two months, you know?" Isaac crossed his arms and sighed.
"Yeah...Wait, TWO MONTHS?!"
---
After catching up with Everyone about what happened while he was sleeping, Duarte stepped out of his room. It was still dawn, so the temperature was still a bit chilly. He tried to warm himself with spiritual energy, but he felt empty. With a small sigh, he began walking through the mansion.
The fields in the backyard didn't grow a lot in size but did in diversity. He could see the flash of several spiritual fruits and vegetables basking in the firsts rays of the sun. The coop expanded, and several red and blue chicks waddled through the ground, pecking the multicolored grass. An orange rooster stood on the highest part of the roof, looking over its sons and daughters. Several chickens slept inside, releasing small waves of spiritual energy from time to time.
He also noticed several places got repaired, walls, parts of the roof, even some decorations. Assassins were the primary suspects in his mind. The kitchen doubled in size, too. He saw the chefs running around preparing weird concoctions with a fruity flavor, and his aunt was supervising together with Marco.
After several minutes, Duarte arrived at his father's office. He gently knocked on the door and waited a couple of seconds before it opened by itself. He smiled after seeing his dad and hugged him tightly. They spent time together, talking about the business and that they were about to be ready to kickstart the company. With a small hug, he said goodbye and went towards Thunder's room.
That surprised him too. His family built a room for Thunder. It was near the backyard and was considerably big. Inside, the blue hawk rested in a comfortable bed, had a plate with half-eaten food nearby, and its armor rested in a perch on a corner. When Thunder noticed his partner entering, it flapped its wings and cried in joy.
"Yeah, buddy, i missed you a lot too..." Duarte approached and hugged him with his remaining arm. "Did my family take proper care of you?"
Thunder cried, pointing at the plate with its beak.
"Thought so." Duarte chuckled and scratched Thunder's head. "They wrecked us good, huh?" He said after noticing that Thunder missed one of its eyes and probably a leg too, coupled with lower energy than before. They split the price between the two. "Don't worry. We'll get to our peak in no time. And of course, get our revenge..."
A fire burned in their eyes, thinking about their assailant. Duarte stored that inside his heart to be a driving force to get stronger in the future, to repay the favor against those who wronged them.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Jaxer30
Jaxer30 Look who's back!
I didn't want to leave the I'm sorry week like that, I'm sorry :(
Well, I had to go to the hospital and got surgery. I'm currently recovering from it!
Worry not, I'm back at writing, hours without end in a bed isn't a lot of fun after all.
- stay say and have a great day!
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