How are you, Ray?

Looking at Thea's always smiling face, the guy sat down on the bed and replied:

- I can walk now. Thanks for taking care of me.

Smiling even brighter, the girl began to scold him:

"I told you you can't get up just yet." Such wounds do not heal so quickly.

As you can see, you are wrong.

Ray spent only three days in the forest people's hospital, but his condition almost completely stabilized, and this morning, overcoming the responses of pain, he was still able to get to his feet.

Another achievement was the almost complete mastery of the language, but only at a conversational level. He still could not read fluently, but even the fact that in such a short time someone was able to learn a completely unfamiliar language was simply incredible! Now the guy did not feel discomfort at all when talking with Thea, and there were not so many words left that he did not know the meaning of!

Another surprise for him was that the wounds in the forest healed about three times faster than in humans. Of course, Ray couldn’t name the exact figure, since he was using drugs, the effectiveness of which was also not very clear to him, and if you consider that in these three days he managed to break almost all the stored souls that he spent mainly on treatment, then could not be more precise.

- Lie down, change the bandage.

Ray didn't argue. Over time, he managed to get used to the local order.

Gently removing the fabric covering her stomach, the girl opened her eyes in surprise.

“Actually, much better than yesterday.

Now the wounds weren't covered in the gray goo that Rei didn't know the name of, but they still looked rather ugly. The girl sitting in front of him did not seem to be very frightened, and the guy himself did not care even for a moment.

“So you really are one of the marked Tian'Areth…” Thea's thoughtful muttering brought Rey to his senses.

"What is it? She didn't talk about anything like that."

In those few days, besides the language, Ray had learned a little more about the life of the children of the forest, and although this information was not very important, it cleared up something.

- Marked...? Thea, explain...

“Sorry,” the girl smiled, “I can’t get used to the fact that you only remember your name.”

Ray himself was surprised at first why he was so easily believed, but he already managed to find out the reason.

The forest people lived incredibly unitedly. Perhaps the reason for this was not the simplest living conditions, but it is impossible to know for sure. This people had no such thing as betrayal. Everyone, to the best of their ability, contributed to the development of the settlement. At first, the guy thought that this was caused by a strict leader, but it turned out that everything rests on the personal consciousness of the inhabitants. It would seem that such a system is doomed, but now, the history of several hundred generations has proven the opposite.

“There are very, very few people like you, but you are easy to identify. Saying this, the girl took a strand of her light green hair in her hand. “We are all born with green hair, but those chosen by the Goddess,” she continued, turning her gaze to Rei, “are special. For example, my brother has hair, like yours, of a different color. And the eyes too.

Rei didn't understand what exactly the Marked Ones were unique for, but didn't show it as Thea patiently continued:

My brother was born with gray hair. It has long been known that this is the mark of Tian'Areth and that the brother will become great. Mom told me ... When he was very young, he was no different from an ordinary child, his parents were even delighted, hoping that he really differed from everyone only in hair color and gray eyes, but the older he became, the clearer it was that they were mistaken . The girl's voice was sad and solemn at the same time. Ray was a little embarrassed by this contrast, but he continued to listen patiently.

“When he was taken on his first hunt, he said that he could hear the beating heart of the beast, which was almost two and a half hundred meters away from him.

Ray was very surprised, but did not say anything.

– This concerned not only hearing... Vision, sense of smell and even reflexes of the brother are sharpened to insanity. Thanks to them, he became one of the strongest, if not the strongest warrior even in the capital.

Listening to Thea, Rei slowly understood why she was speaking so strangely. Her brother ran into a problem he was already thinking about. This perception is very useful in battle, but in everyday life it becomes a serious burden.

Deciding to end the story here, he asked her a question:

“Are all Goddess marks like this?”

Raising her head, Thea saw understanding in Rey's eyes.

- Yes. There are at most five people like my brother in one generation, and in fact even fewer. In our city, there have never been two marked ones before.

Do you think I'm different too?

The girl tilted her head slightly to the side when she heard him say:

“Your hair is white, and considering how fast your wounds heal, the answer is obvious. But…

- Something is wrong? - Thea suddenly fell silent, so Ray had to ask again.

“The gift of Tian'Areth cannot only be useful. If you have received something, you must give something back. At first I thought it was vision, because your eyes look like that, but you can see, and your body is much stronger and stronger than anyone else, so I ... - noticing that he says it directly in Ray's face, the girl stuttered. Sorry, that's not what I meant...

- Do not worry. the guy waved his hand, trying to calm her down, but Thea only lowered her head, seemingly ashamed of her behavior. Ray needed to know more. Something had to be done to distract her.

- What about my eyes? - this question really interested him, he knew that his hair had turned white, but he had not yet had the opportunity to look at his eyes.

– Oh… Wait, I'm here!

The girl ran out of the room, but returned almost immediately, holding a large plate of shiny metal. Ray immediately understood exactly how it was being used.

- Here look.

When she held the plate up to his face, Rey, though not very clearly, saw that his eyes were completely white, not a drop of another color.

“It looks strange…” the guy muttered this quite quietly, but Thea, taking it as a self-flagellation, decided to cheer him up.

- Not at all! It even suits you, it matches your hair color.

Trying to support him seemed so clumsy to Ray that he didn't even know how to react. Forcing himself, albeit forced, but to smile, the guy turned to the girl:

Now you see that I'm fine. May I go outside?

- This is ... - Thea did not mind, because she saw that Ray's wounds had almost disappeared, but there was a problem. If the senior mentor finds out that she allowed him not only to go outside, but even just get out of bed ... The girl even got goosebumps. But she forced herself to smile anyway. - The weather is too cold, first you will fully recover, and then I will give you a tour.

Ray did not insist and spent the next two days in much the same way. With the help of souls, he no longer healed wounds - they were already barely enough to drive away sleep.

***

“Look, this is the headman’s house… And over there, a training ground for warriors. - the girl walked ahead of Ray, scattering puffs of snow with her slender legs. The guy listened to her attentively, trying to remember the layout of the village as best as possible. Well, or the town, it does not matter.

- Can I become a warrior? I also want to be useful, if only to repay the treatment.

“You don't have to worry about it. We are all one family.

Thea's words had no effect on the guy, so he asked again:

– I still want to become a hunter, I think this occupation suits me.

The girl obviously wanted to say something, but after a moment her look changed:

“I will ask my brother to teach you. I'm sure he won't refuse me.

Hearing her words, Rei was pleased, because that's what he wanted to ask her. Now he had everything he needed to master the art of combat and, even if he didn’t really like the prospect of fighting in a humanoid form, it made sense, since the fact that he could turn into a trump card was his main trump card, once again revealing which was stupid.

At that moment they came to a large building built around a tall tree.

“This is the temple of Tian'areth. - Thea's words were slightly strangled and, although Ray did not care too much, it was necessary to portray politeness:

- Something is wrong?

The girl, realizing her mistake, again became as cheerful as before.

"Looks like I'm not the only one pretending." - While Rey was thinking about this, Thea told him that her second brother had recently disappeared into the forest along with his detachment. The guy thought it was too ironic.

A joke of fate, nothing else. It was not difficult to guess which detachment the young daughter of the forest had in mind.

But Ray, of course, did not say anything, and together they continued to bypass the city, which dragged on for almost two hours.

- Well that's all. I'll talk to my brother today, so don't worry.

- Yes. Thank you. Ray spoke a little coldly, though he tried to control himself. The girl, it seems, was already used to this, so she did not show it.

After saying goodbye, Thea ran off somewhere, and Rei returned to the hospital, where he was allowed to spend a couple more days.