Chapter Text
Deruth sat at his son's bedside, staring down at both of his hands clutching desperately at one of Cale's. He couldn't bring himself to look at the son he had failed so utterly.
Cale had lain in his bed for a day now, pale skin littered with purple and blue bruises. Scattered across the bed with him were countless empty potion bottles.
It hadn't mattered how many they had poured down the teen's throat, Cale refused to heal.
The magical healer had said it was a god's doing. That there was a divine aura surrounding his son and keeping him from healing.
Deruth just could not understand why. Why would a god want his son to suffer?
Deruth himself felt completely useless. The perpetrator of his son's assault was a teen around the same age as Cale who had just survived a massacre. Stronger men than he had broken in grief. As much as Deruth as a father wanted to throw the boy into a cell to rot for the rest of his days, the territory lord in him had let the boy return to Harris Village with some of his men to bury the deceased.
He could not heal his son because of a god and he could not get revenge for his son with a clean conscience.
The household was in a flurry as dozens of healers and doctors came and went, each as useless as the last.
The Count could only blame himself. He had thought that there would be no one within his territory that would touch a hair on his son's head. But of course his son's vicious tongue would find someone who wouldn't care of his status.
The only action Deruth could take now was to stay by his son's side. Ron, the servant who had cared for Cale since his birth, had not been seen since he had shown up at the mansion holding a hurt Cale in his arms. He and his son both had seemed to disappear. No other servant was comfortable around his son and Deruth had almost lost his temper more than once at a servant's skittishness or barely hidden disdain for his son.
Violan had visited every few hours and Basen had came and sat with him for a bit. Only little Lily hadn't come to see Cale and that was only because she wasn't allowed to. Deruth didn't want her to see her brother like this.
The doctors and healers had it set up so that they could monitor Cale's vitals. The scariest moments of Deruth's life was when his son's heart would falter.
Like it was doing now.
Deruth clutched at his son's hand as a flurry of activity arose around him, doctors and nurses flitting around to check on his son who was fighting for his life.
And then it happened.
Cale's heart stopped.
And Deruth's whole world ended for a moment.
Before the horror could truly set in, however, something new happened. Every occupant of the room was besieged by a heavy pressure the like they had never felt before.
Though they had never encountered one before, everyone knew the presence in the room.
A god.
As the pressure rose, something miraculous was taking place on the bed. Every bruise and cut was slowly but surely healing until Cale's pale skin was as good as new.
And then the presence was gone.
And Cale was left, completely healed and a peaceful expression on his face.
Deruth wept.
Kim Rok Soo was a light sleeper. When your entire life is one in which you are constantly on edge and in danger, it is hardly surprising.
The point, however, is that Kim Rok Soo can tell a difference in his environment even while unconscious.
And his environment was very different than when he fell asleep.
For one, he had fallen asleep in his rather uncomfortable armchair after finishing the fifth A Birth of a Hero novel.
But now, Rok Soo was the most comfortable he had ever been. Whatever he was lying on was so comfortable he never wanted to get up and it felt like he was getting a hug on a spiritual level.
And then of course there was the weeping.
As Rok Soo lived alone, the sound of multiple people around his unconscious form was immediately unsettling and the crying was even more so.
He opened his eyes to get a better idea of his situation.
Before he could take in his surroundings however, the figure next to him (the one who was crying he was fairly sure) lunged at him and suddenly Rok Soo had a physical hug to go along with his metaphysical one.
“Cale!”
The cry was both elated and despairing, sobbed right into his shoulder.
Rok Soo would really like to know what was going on, please and thank you.