A force unlike anything I'd ever felt tore through my body.
Then I was airborne.
Then I hit something soft at full speed.
A bush, apparently. My back and head were screaming. I couldn't move.
The Razboard's growl reached me from somewhere close.
It wasn't getting closer, though.
I opened my eyes carefully. The Razboard was retreating. Taking a hit that size to the face, even something like that couldn't just shake it off. It turned its back on me and Teok and crashed away into the forest.
"No way — you actually did it, Yohei!"
Teok came running over.
…I couldn't get up.
Everything hurt. Every single part of me.
This felt like multiple fractures. Everywhere.
Oh, this is bad. I might actually be dying. That wasn't a dramatic thought — it felt completely literal.
"You went flying something spectacular. Here, drink this."
Teok produced a small bottle and tipped the contents into my mouth.
An indescribable bitterness spread across my tongue. Vile enough to make me want to spit it back out.
"You crazy idiot. You saved us."
While Teok's voice was still settling in my ears, the pain began to recede — slowly, gradually, like a tide going out. Still significant, but nothing like what it had been a moment ago.
"I can move…"
Every motion came with a grinding ache, but movement was possible again. Actually possible.
"First time using a healing salve, right? Asteno's brew works two ways — drink it or apply it. Popular in town too."
A healing salve. My appreciation for Asteno went up another notch.
I tried to push myself upright. Teok held out a hand; I took it and managed to get to my feet.
"I genuinely thought I was dead."
"Dramatic."
I tested my body carefully, moving one thing at a time. The pain had faded considerably. Still stiff, but I could walk.
"Let's head back before the Razboard changes its mind."
"Yeah. I'm exhausted."
We started walking. Then Teok spoke, unprompted.
"For what it's worth — sorry."
"For what?"
"Nothing. Forget it."
He probably felt responsible for the Razboard encounter. I didn't push further. Just followed along behind him.
As we walked, the blue tinge gradually faded from the forest around us, giving way to the familiar, ordinary woodland we'd passed through before. About twenty more minutes of that, and we came out into a clearing.
"Wait — this place is…"
I recognized it. The large stump at the center.
The clearing where I'd first arrived in this world.
"Yeah. That's where I found you sitting."
It connected here. Only a week had passed, but it felt oddly distant — like somewhere from much longer ago.
I walked up to the stump. The softly glowing blue flower was still there, right where it had been that first day.
"Spirit flower," Teok said, looking at it.
"Spirit flower?"
"This place is called the Spirit Clearing. Story goes that a spirit used to live here, a long time ago. This flower only blooms here. Might be the spirit's doing. Feels calm here, doesn't it?"
Now that he mentioned it — yes, actually. I couldn't explain why.
"Though you were so panicked when you first showed up that you started swinging a club at me, so maybe 'calm' is a stretch in your case."
"Can we please let that go…"
Teok hadn't spread the story around, as far as I could tell, but he brought it up himself every now and then. It had been a genuinely embarrassing moment.
A spirit. I wondered if that woman — the one from before — had something to do with this place.
…Probably not worth dwelling on.
"Magic beasts never come near here, so the villagers use it as a rest stop when they're out this way."
"Sun's still up for a while. We could take a break before heading back."
"I'd appreciate that."
Teok sprawled out on the ground. I sat down on the stump.
I'd built up considerably more stamina over the past week, but today had been something else. A deep, full-body heaviness had settled into every muscle.
"I didn't expect that club magic of yours to come in that useful."
"Neither did I."
In this world, my ability to summon a club was apparently classified as magic. Over the past week I'd used it experimentally a few times, and I'd worked out three rules.
One: when a new club is summoned, the previous one disappears.
Two: a club too large or heavy for me to physically handle cannot be summoned.
Three: the shape can be varied to some degree, but anything that clearly isn't a club cannot be summoned.
The one I'd swung at the Razboard had been right at the limit of what I could call up, as far as I understood it. That was probably part of why the impact had sent me flying.
"Man, I'd take even club magic if it meant I could use something."
Teok apparently had no magical ability at all, and even this counted as something worth envying. Personally, I could think of any number of more useful spells than summoning a blunt weapon — but I kept that to myself.
"If I could choose, I'd want something that shoots fire."
"That would be a disaster. You'd burn the whole forest down."
Teok laughed — a low, rumbling sound.
We rested there for a while, talking about nothing in particular, letting the fatigue ease. Then we set off on the path back to Asteno.