47: Star Child: Dunes of Tolapo XIII

I woke up feeling as though my mind was in a fog. I opened my eyes and was met with unfamiliar ceiling. It took me several minutes for my mind to wake up enough to comprehend that I wasn't back home in the states or in his dorm, I was in some sort of hospital bed. I blinked several times and tried to move only to realize I couldn't. I looked to my right and saw Jane asleep in a chair next to my bed with half her body slumped onto my bed. Iris was asleep in a similar position on my left side. They both looked like they had been there a while.

"They refused to leave your side…"

I jumped and looked up to see Elder Luna and her attendants were standing in the door frame. She smiled softly at me then waved her attendants away. They both nodded and stepped back, disappearing behind the doorframe.

"They truly care about you." Elder Luna said softly in Torapos. I smirked and replied in kind.

"We argue a lot but we trust each other. We can't afford not to at Andromeda."

Elder Luna walked up to the foot of my bed and looked me up and down, slightly concerned.

"How are you feeling?" She asked. I wiggled out of my covers as carefully as possible so not to wake up Jane and Iris then sat up and stretched. I felt a few things pop but no pain or discomfort anywhere. I cycled mana through my entire body and sensed no problems anywhere.

"I'm good, just a little groggy still." I replied. Elder Luna nodded.

"That's to be expressed. You've been unconscious for three days while your mana recovered."

My eyes bugged out of my head and my mouth dropped.

"Three days!" I hissed quietly so I didn't wake the girls. "The longest I've ever been out before was a day and a half! Why was I out for so long?"

"You were injured, though thankfully not bad. While you were resting your body was allocating mana to healing your injuries. Because of that you were constantly losing mana and tiring out your body further." Elder Luna explained. "In the end I had to supply you with some of my mana in order to help you heal."

"You can give someone your mana?!" I gasped. Elder Luna nodded.

"I understand it's considered a rare ability for outsiders according to Baset but to the people of our tribe it is as common as flies. Though it is much easier for someone to transfer mana to someone that is a blood relation to them."

"I see…" I muttered. Jane grumbled softly next to me, showing signs she was about to wake up. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times before she looked up at me and her eyes grew wide with excitement.

"Chase!" She exclaimed and jumped to her feet to hug me. Iris jolted awake and saw Jane clinging to me but didn't shout at me to 'keep my hands off!' this time but instead looked as overjoyed as Jane.

"Thank Osiris you okay!" Iris cried put as she squeezed me as well.

"Can't breathe!" I gasped. Iris and Jane both let me go but Iris added her signature are slap after she let me go.

"Asshole!" she growled.

"What did I do Tri-clops!?" I demanded. She slapped me again and glared at me.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack! Three times!" she snapped. I rolled my eyes.

"Drama queen, its not like I was dead I was just unconscious from excessive mana use." I replied.

"I'm not talking about that!" She exclaimed rollong her eyes. "I'm taking about that giant black hole spell you cast that nearly crushed us along with those flying handbags! What the hell would possess you to even think about making a spell like that! We're you dropped on your head as a baby?!"

"I didn't think it would work that well!" I retorted. Iris groaned and threw her hands up.

"That's just it with you! You don't think!" She snapped.

"Kept us alive so far…" I said with a shrug.

"I'm going to kill him Lady Jane." Iris said looking to Jane.

"Calm down Iris." Jane said with chuckle then motioned to Elder Luna with a jerk of her head. "Chase had a visitor while we were asleep."

Iris looked over at the foot of my bed and her eyes grew wide.

"Elder Luna!" Iris gasped and stood straight. Elder Luna smiled and shook her head.

"Don't mind me. I'm just happy to see that my sister's grandson is cared for." She said. "And to hear that he is all healed up." I immediately translated for Iris and Jane.

"He's our teammate. We have to look out for each other." Jane replies with a soft smile.

"Even if he almost gets us killed with his stupid spells…" Iris said. I translated what they said then froze and glared at Iris.

"Hey! They aren't stupid! They're extremely effective!" I snapped in universal standard.

"Don't start you two." Jane said. I rolled my eyes and looked over at Elder Luna who looked to be chuckling softly to herself.

"How bad was the attack?" I asked. Elder Luna sighed and shook her head.

"Not as bad as it could have been. We can thank the three and that Astrid girl for that." Elder Luna said. "In the last three days we've had to bury twenty men, fifteen women, and nine children. The entire village mourns their loss."

"I'm sorry we couldn't have done more." I said, looking down at my lap.

"Raise your head child and be proud! You did a lot more than most would have done in your position. You singlehandedly stopped the attack on the village." Elder Luna said. I frowned and shook my head.

"I wouldn't say singlehandedly. I had Iris, Jane and Astrid all help me. It was a team effort really." I said in Torapos then translated for the girls.

"That is not how those girls told it to Baset." Elder Luna said motioning to Jane and Iris. I translated what she said then narrowed my eyes at the girls and switched to universal standard.

"What did you two say?" I asked in a very low tone.

"Nothing! We just told Baset about all the Sonic Vipers you killed, how you saved a troop of Tolapo soldiers using a new spell and nearly killed us with said spell. Astrid was the one that said you saved the village single handed." Iris said.

"Astrid!" I exclaimed. "Why would she say that?"

"Well you kinda did…" Iris said. "I mean you did cast that massive meteor shower spell didn't you?"

"Yeah I did…" I replied.

"That spell apparently killed every single one of those sonic vipers in the village after the ascended summoned them for help." Jane said.

"As well as sent the ascended packing." Iris chimed in. "Astrid made sure that Baset knew about that."

"Why would she do that?" I asked.

"She's conceding defeat in the duel. She's using all your feats a few days ago as well as your connection to the village to justify her accepting the loss." Jane explained.

"Are you fucking shitting me!" I exclaimed. Iris, Jane and Elder Luna all looked at me confused.

"I thought you'd be happy to hear that." Jane said. I frowned and threw my covers off.

"If she freaking gives up before we had the freaking duel then that means we calm all the way out of here for nothing!" I snapped as I stood up put of the bed. Thankfully I had a pair of pants on similar to what the warriors wear.

"Chase is something wrong?" Elder Luna asked.

"I'm going to kick a heiress's privileged ass!" I replied in Torapos then stormed past Jane and Elder Luna.

"Yep that's Lulu'nala's grandson…" Elder Luna said shaking her head.

"Chase where are you going!?" Jane and Iris asked running after me.

"Where do you think?" I asked as I walked out of the room past Elder Luna's attendants. I was halfway down the hall when it suddenly that I had no idea where I was or where Astrid was. I stopped and turned around to see Jane, Iris and Elder Luna behind me.

"Where am I exactly? This a hospital or what?" I asked Elder Luna in Torapos. Elder Luna laughed and shook her head.

"Just like your Grandma…" She said. "This is a house near the front gates. Originally you were in the healers hut but after it was obvious you weren't going to die from your wounds you were moved here so someone else could have the bed."

"I see…oh shit! Damon and Alberto!" I exclaimed in universal standard. "I completely forgot about them! Did they make it through the attack?"

"Yes." Jane said "Lady Baset and the other healers managed to complete the spell during the attack. Both of them are okay."

'That's good. I might not like the assholes but I don't want them dead." I said.

"Last we heard Damon was still in critical condition and being monitored. Alberto is stable but he hasn't woken up yet." Iris explained.

"Shit…" I gasped then translated everything that was said for Elder Luna and her attendants. She just nodded and motioned us to follow her.

We all followed elder Luna to the living room of the house and from there outside into the village. The village or at least this section of the village looked better than I expected. There were some damaged buildings and partially rotted Dr'idi'saiyo corpses lumped into piles on the side of the road, there were only a few villagers out and about but all of them were trying to clean up the mess left in the attacks wake.

"Well it's not as bad as I thought it was…" I said softly in Torapos then again in universal standard for the girls.

"It never should have happened in the first place." Elder Luna said then walked put into the road. "For almost three thousand years this village as been here and not once before has it ever been attacked. Jane and Iris told Baset that when you tried to take control of the ascended Dr'idi'saiyo you felt another presence already controlling it."

"I did. Whoever it was is a extremely strong splicer. They forcibly shattered my connection to the ascended and then actively controlled it during the rest of our fight. I've never met anyone who was better than me at controlling evos." I said.

"You didn't say that the splicer severed your connection!" Jane gasped when I finished translating.

"We kinda were in the middle of a fight Jane." I said.

"Can you tell us anything about the splicer?" Elder Luna asked. I shook my head.

"Sorry but no. I only felt their presence and only for a split second." I said.

"I see…" Elder Luna said. One of her attendants coughed to gather everyone's attention then turned to Elder Luna.

"Elder, don't forget about the Elder council summons." She said. Elder Luna curled her upper lip at that.

"Elder council summons?" I asked. Elder Luna nodded and let put a exasperated sigh.

"The elders of Tolapo village requests an audience with Jane Yearwood, Iris Stone,, Astrid Folders, Baset Paragon and Chase Kingston the star keeper." She said sounding more ceremonious before muttering something to herself. "What is that jackel's ass Dwarm'moo up too..."