Spirit's Ascension-Chapter 45—Unexpected Savior

Srggh! Srggh!

Cole could hear the sound of rustling leaves from somewhere beside him.

He tried moving or even blinking, but his body refused to heed his command.

The sound got closer and closer until it was just beside him.

"Cole!" He heard a familiar voice.

"Could it be Bryan?" He thought as his consciousness began fading again.

After an unknown amount of time, Cole’s mind regained a tiny bit of clarity.

A while later, he could move his body slightly.

Even later, Cole was finally able to open his eyes. He opened his eyes to see the canopy formed by interconnecting trees above him.

The filtering light was greatly reduced, a sign that it was getting late.

"Ohh yeah, someone came to my rescue," Cole remembered while trying to sit up.

Although it took a while, Cole was finally able to get into a comfortable position. From his position he could see everywhere around him.

He saw someone sitting in a lotus position with his eyes closed not too far away from him.

"Bryan?" Cole called out.

Triggered by the sound, the person opened his eyes to look towards Cole.

"Cole, you’re awake," Bryan said as he hurriedly stood up and headed towards Cole’s location.

Seeing the face much closer and hearing the voice, Cole was really sure it was Bryan.

"How did you find me, Bryan?" Cole asked.

"Ummm, I was just passing by, and I found you lying on the ground," Bryan replied while trying to avoid Cole’s gaze.

Cole didn’t do much of it or maybe even didn’t notice at all. Instead, he looked down at himself while trying to assess his injuries.

Your injuries aren’t too bad actually; they should all heal in about a night you mostly lose consciousness due to over draining your Life energy.

Cole felt kind of skeptical.

"My injuries should be worse than this, I am sure," he thought.

But since he didn’t have any way to confirm his thoughts, he could only take his mind off the topic.

Cole’s mind suddenly jolted.

"Won’t they flag us for teaming up?" He asked Bryan.

"We can stay together for a while, as it might appear as if we are in combat if we stay a certain distance," Bryan responded.

"Ohhh, is that why that lackey can stay with Cain?" Cole thought.

While he was thinking, he suddenly noticed silence permeating the air; it was eerie and heavy.

He looked up at Bryan, expecting some words from him. But he got nothing but silence.

Bryan’s face was currently heavy, and his expression was grotesquely contorted.

Cole immediately realized something. Something must be very, very wrong.

He looked up at Bryan, expecting answers or even anything.

"Like we previously thought, Cole, the danger has arrived," Bryan said with a dark expression.

"It is even worse than I expected,"

Cole’s heart skipped a beat when he heard that, but he quickly composed himself.

"I have been going all round the forest, and I have seen..." Bryan continued.

"I have seen multiple dead students, maimed in very awful and inhumane ways,"

The resting Cole already sat up as he wore an even heavier expression. This might be due to his experience with one of those guys.

"I think I have met one of the attackers," Cole said before Bryan could continue.

"I and another student worked together to try to take him down, but he ended up self-exploding," Cole said.

Bryan was even more shocked by Cole’s words, even taking a step backward.

"You met one of those guys and survived?" Bryan asked.

"Yes, I did, but I wasn’t left unscathed; he..."

Cole was about to say something when he suddenly stopped. He wondered if he should tell Bryan about his internal state or not.

In the end he decided not to. For both of their sakes.

"The dark miasma-like energy is obviously connected to something big; it’s best if he doesn’t know about it now." Cole thought.

"What did he do?" Bryan asked impatiently.

"Umm, he didn’t do anything," Cole finally responded.

Bryan wasn’t buying it though; he knew Cole was hiding something, but he decided not to press further.

"There must be a reason he doesn’t want to tell me," Bryan thought.

The two of them continued their conversation on the dangerous intruders.

The conversation was mostly Bryan explaining what he saw and Cole listening.

"We can’t stay together any longer," Bryan suddenly said while checking his Academic watch.

"We might be flagged for teaming up,"

Cole, who was heavily absorbed in the conversation, didn’t realize that fact, but Bryan calling out snapped him to reality.

"I will be leaving first," Bryan said while turning to leave.

He moved quite a distance away with heavy steps before turning around to look back at Cole.

"Stay safe," He muttered before sprinting away.

Cole watched his only academy friend sprint away while he was still seated.

He was currently wearing a very serious expression as he thought back to their conversation.

"That guy has a partner that seems to be even stronger."

"Things are about to get really dangerously frightening."

He proceeded to stare blankly into the empty forest while he was restructuring his thoughts.

Cole sat like that for about thirty minutes before he began chanting the World Absorbing Mantra in an attempt to reconsider.

****Bryan’s Location****

A little away from where Cole was currently seated, Bryan was sitting on a tree branch with a dark expression.

"You guys have the guts to even come to the academy; wasn’t the monastery enough for you?"

"Wasn’t stripping away my happiness enough for you?"

"I won’t be letting you guys take anything from me again; I don’t mind relinquishing peace."

"I don’t mind becoming a monster to stop you."

At that moment, something shifted. Something large, Something important shifted in Bryan.

The shift might be for the better or for the worse; no one could tell except the future.

Bryan stood up with a new expression on his face while he looked back in Cole’s direction.

"Be safe, friend; I will be needing your help in the future."