The room was dark when Gaius woke up. A faint purple light was the only thing illuminating whatever the boy could see of his temporary lodgings, and as he sat up, the last bits of radiance faded away. He instinctively caught the crystal, which had lost whatever mystical power that had supported itself as it healed Gaius’ body.

Unlike its original, diamond-like appearance, the used Crystal now looked like a perfect sphere of pure shadow. Gaius trembled as he handled it in his left hand, and his right hand snaked out instinctively to retrieve the velvet-lined box that was used to contain the original Crystal. That black bead was something that Gaius probably didn’t want to touch, let alone ingest — he had the feeling that the thing was something inimical to the concept of life itself, somehow. It was a novel feeling, but the boy had utter faith in his instincts and gut feeling.

He wiped his left hand on the bed sheet. Gaius wanted to rid himself of that disturbing sensation on his skin, and only after a few seconds of rubbing himself on the seemingly-clean bedsheet did the boy finally feel comfortable. He looked outside, where the sky was still dark, before bundling up the offending bedsheet to send for a wash.

Placing the velvet box into his backpack, he left the room by jumping out of the window. His body felt lighter than he remembered, and the chronic pains that had been ailing him every so often had vanished entirely, a fact Gaius celebrated by flying in weird ways and swinging an imaginary weapon around.

People only missed the feeling of a healthy body when they didn’t have it.

After flying around and behaving like his age for around fifteen minutes, Gaius finally calmed down. Oddly enough, lots of people were already awake, from the elites who slept in the tower to the foot soldiers who manned the defence lines a bit further off. Most of them had apparently grown accustomed to waking up at dawn, because that was when the Lifespring’s armies would start marching on them.

But there wasn’t any attack.

Breakfast had not been prepared, and as more and more people started waking up, grumbles about food had forced cooks to fire up their stoves. Smoke rose into the air, a steady stream that brought along the aroma of food. Gaius’ stomach rumbled, and he joined the steady stream of Knights and Lords who had just woken up to queue for their food.

It was the first time that the God of Water hadn’t attacked in the past two days or so, and most of the people sitting around the long tables were discussing this new event fervently while savouring bowls of warm, savoury porridge.

“Gaius.”

A voice called out to him, and the boy turned to face the newcomer…an act that everyone followed a second later. Paragon Ying Xin was the one who had called out to him, but she was evidently more famous than the boy expected, as the others began to greet her heartily.

A little hubbub broke out as the Paragon responded to their greetings, and it took fifteen minutes before the conversation finally turned back to the absence of an attack by Conrah. Gaius, who had taken advantage of the distraction to polish off his porridge, looked up as the Paragon occupied the seat directly opposite him.

“I see you’ve used the Crystal. Feeling better?”

Gaius swallowed the porridge in his mouth and nodded. “It turned into a black bead, though. It felt dangerous, so I sealed it up in the box you gave me.”

“A black bead?” The Paragon blinked. “I’ve never heard of that before…but again, I never used a Crystal before either. Maybe it’s something like the impurities that used to be in your body before, like the aftermath of an ablution that’s just less messy.”

“That’s…possible.” Gaius looked at his empty bowl, and briefly wondered if he should get another helping for himself. “It felt like poison to me now, so maybe I can sneak it in an enemy’s food and see what happens afterwards.”

“You should read up on the laws of the Eastern Territories before you do that,” Paragon Ying Xin murmured.

Gaius cleared his throat. “Is that all you wanted to find me for?”

She nodded. “I just wanted to make sure that you’re fine. After all, we gave you the Crystal in exchange for a month’s worth of service.”

There was something worth admiring about how straightforward this particular Paragon was, which was refreshing for Gaius, after he’d grown used to the mysterious, secretive style that Nexus liked to speak in. At some point in time, he’d grown used to being roundabout, so to hear someone well-informed speak so candidly was a rather nice experience.

“I’m fine,” said Gaius. “Don’t worry, I’ll try my best to earn enough points for another Crystal of True Restoration by pulling my weight on the battlefield.”

The Paragon’s lips twitched at the boy’s words, but Gaius had made sure to put on his most disarming smile possible. Not matter what, he was still a child, which meant that his honest words were most likely going to be taken at face value. Making use of the disturbance he’d created in her mental state, the boy asked, “How long do you think this war will last?”

Paragon Ying Xin took a step back from his unexpected question and replied, “A month or two — we’re negotiating…”

Her voice trailed off, and she rolled her eyes. “No point hiding it from you, I guess. We’ve sent envoys over to the extreme east, where we can hopefully negotiate an end to this pointless conflict. We’re trying to find out what the Lifespring wanted when he attacked us, and if we can provide it…”

Gaius glanced at the Paragon. “As long as you don’t hand over the guy who killed the most enemies on the battlefield.”

“We have standards, young Gaius.” Paragon Ying Xin laughed, the sound drawing the eyes of everyone around her. “Don’t worry about being handed over — if we did that, no one’s going to help us in the future. We’ll be hoisting ourselves on our own petard.”

Gaius smiled, and indicated the empty bowl on the table. “Want some porridge?”