Rolling Roy onto his back, she winced at the sight of him. He was covered in blood, his face was swollen and discolored, and his left arm dangled uselessly at his side.
“Roy, you have to wake up,” she said, shaking him.
When he didn’t respond, she began shaking him harder. If he wasn’t conscious, he wouldn’t be able to do what was required.
“Roy! Wake up!” she yelled, slapping his face.
She felt his body beginning to stir, and she hit him again. He coughed, sending a spray of blood-flecked spittle across her cheeks, but far from being disgusted, Aika was relived. He was still alive, and so long as he was, he could still be saved!
37
The warm feeling that had been enveloping Roy’s body deserted him, as he felt the sharp sting of something across his face. He tried to turn, to go back to the warmth and the oblivion of unconsciousness. The waking world was filled with pain and suffering. Why would he want to go back?
“Roy!”
He heard his name being called, as though from a great distance. He wanted to tell them to leave him alone, to just let him sleep, when he felt another sharp slap across his face. That slap, along with the feeling of pain, brought a sense of clarity that he’d been missing so far.
It took his addled brain a few seconds to figure it out, but when it did, he gasped, trying to take in a lungful of air through his ruined chest. He choked, coughing up a lungful of blood. The pain was sharper now, and Roy fought to stay conscious. Now that he could think, he realized how close he’d come to dying.
“Good, you’re awake,” a relieved sounding voice said from above his head.
With a monumental force of will, Roy cracked his eyes open. His vision was blurry, and it took a few seconds for the figure crouched over him to become recognizable.
“Aika?” he tried to say, but all that came out was an incomprehensible croak.
“Don’t try to talk, just listen,” Aika said in a rush. “Do you understand? Squeeze my hand if you do,” she said, taking his hand in hers.
Roy coughed once again, pain wracking his entire body, but he squeezed her hand nonetheless.
“To qualify for the test to Yellow-Belt, you have to find the beginning of your own Path. Power Essence is only a basic Path, but those that make it to Green-Belt can begin expanding on that Path. Now, all you have to do is answer this question: What does Power Essence signify to you? You don’t have to say it out loud, just think it, and if your answer is satisfactory, you will be deemed worthy of testing.”
Roy stared at her for a few long moments, his mind working sluggishly to process the information.
What did Power Essence signify to him? That was what was holding him back from advancement? A simple question?
He groaned again as his entire body throbbed in pain, and he attempted to cycle his Essence to lessen it. But nothing happened. His Essence refused to obey, staying stubbornly in his core. His vision began to fade, only for a sharp slap across his face to bring him back to the waking world.
“Come on, Roy, stay with me here. Think! What does your Path mean to you?” Aika’s insistent voice asked yet again.
Why did it matter what it meant to him? Even if he figured it out, he was on death’s door. There was no way he would be able to pass whatever test he was given to advance to Yellow-Belt. But Aika had come after him, showing that she really did care. So, Roy decided he would try, if not for himself, than for her.
What did his Path mean to him? Roy had never really thought of that before. It obviously meant that he would no longer be weak, but that didn’t feel right. Maybe that he could finally take his revenge? That didn’t feel right either.
His left arm twitched in an involuntary reaction, and Roy could feel the shock and blood loss fighting to take him. Gritting his teeth, Roy scoured his mind for what his Path meant to him. Then, in a moment of clarity, it came to him.
Freedom.
It was something that he had lacked his entire life. The freedom to choose what he wanted to do, to be able to go where he wanted, and do what he wanted: the freedom to make his own mistakes and discoveries, and the freedom to actually live.
A shudder ran through him as he made that realization, and he felt the same sort of resonance as he had when he’d first come into contact with Power Essence during his trial. He was ready!
A yellow Torii gate materialized from thin air only ten feet from where he lay, and Roy felt a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Even if he would never get to test, at least he now knew that had he had the chance, he would have been able to do so. He wasn’t a failure, after all.
“Sorry for this,” Aika said, sounding apologetic.
Before he could ask what she meant, Roy screamed in agony as he was hoisted bodily off the ground, then hurled through the air, right through the glowing yellow gate!
Heart pounding with adrenaline, Roy felt himself pass through the portal, a sharp tingling running up his spine as he did so. Then, he landed on the other side, falling face-first into a small stream.
He spluttered, dragging himself to the surface and gasping for air. His body felt like it was on fire! He could see a shoreline just a few feet away and pulled himself through the water as quickly as he could manage. As he pulled himself along, he could feel bones popping and muscles writhing beneath his skin. It was one of the most uncomfortable feelings he ever remembered having, like spiders were crawling all over the inside of his skin.
Finally managing to drag himself onto the shore, Roy lay there, breathing hard as he tried to calm his racing heart. The pain slowly faded, the burning and itching subsiding, until he felt nothing at all. He wondered if the shock had finally gotten to him and robbed him of his senses, but, when he looked down at himself, was stunned to see that his skin looked to be whole and unblemished.
Sitting up quickly, Roy did a double-take, running his hands over his torn and bloodied robes, searching for the fatal injuries he’d suffered at the hands of Koya. But they were all gone! He kept staring, wondering if this was some sort of dream, or if he actually was dead and this was the afterlife.
“Welcome, Herald Leroy!”
Roy jumped as an indistinct figure made of golden light flashed into existence.
“You have found the beginning of your future Path and have therefore been deemed worthy of testing for your Yellow-Belt. All you must do is follow the path before you and complete the task at the end. May you pass and advance.”
Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the figure vanished, leaving a dirt trail to appear right before him. Trees began sprouting from the ground, and soon, he was sitting in a forest glade.
Slowly getting to his feet, Roy checked himself one last time, just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. It appeared he wasn’t. He really was in an alternate world, testing for his Yellow-Belt. It also appeared that the trial had healed him as he’d entered. Maybe that was why Aika had been so insistent he test.
Roy felt the crushing despair of death lift off him in that instant, and he took in a deep breath of the surrounding forest. It smelled oddly familiar, though he couldn’t quite guess as to why. Shrugging to himself, Roy headed off down the path, his steps lighter than they had been in weeks.
As he walked, Roy soon began to pick out familiar details, and after that, it didn’t take him long to realize where he was, or at least the landscape that the trial was imitating; the Waterwood near the Shah clan village. In fact, this was the same path he’d taken the day his life had changed forever.
“Well, took you long enough to get here, freak.”
Roy started, hearing the all too familiar voice of Shah Koya. What shocked him even more though, was the voice that answered.