TTT Vol. 1 pt. 34

My eyes shot open the moment I regained consciousness.

Excruciating pain filled my body and made me curl up into myself, but that didn’t help at all.

I didn’t even notice I was somewhere I’d never seen before until after a few minutes of dealing with pain so bad that I struggled to breathe.

And when I did notice I was someplace new, I noticed that I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t alone in the slightest.

Lada and Niko were side by side on chairs next to the bed I was on, using their own arms as pillows as they slept.

Then there was Granny. Granny was in the farthest corner of the room with her arms crossed over her chest as she snored. She looked pissed off even when she was sleeping.

Niko’s parents sat against the wall. The mom used the dad’s shoulder as a pillow while they held hands in their sleep.

Then there was Kresimir. He took three chairs and put them next to each other so that he could sprawl out across them to make a bed out of them.

It was kind of obvious why they were all in there around me… and I couldn’t have felt happier about it.

Everybody was safe.

Even me.

I couldn’t have felt more proud if I tried. It was all thanks to Niko, too. Well, the fact that I survived. So, as much as it hurt me to do so, I reached forward with one of my tentacles to pull the blanket around his shoulders up some more since it was starting to slip off.

Good job, kid. I’m still mad you didn’t leave like you were supposed to… but thanks. I’ll have to pay you back someday.

I gave him a few pats on his head before pulling my tentacle back just in time for the door to open.

In came an older man with a bushy, white beard that matched the frizzy, white sweater that he wore. A pair of glasses sat atop his nose, and he smiled when he saw that I was awake. Though, when he noticed that everybody else was asleep, he held a finger up in front of his lips as if to tell me to be quiet.

I guess he hasn’t heard about the whole me-not-talking thing yet.

Quietly, so as to not disturb anybody’s rest, he walked over to the bed and sat down next to it on the only empty chair in the room. “Good morning, hero. How are you feeling?”

I reached for my board and…

And… my board… that Lada gave me…

It was gone.

A wave of depression washed over me.

I broke it. Not only did I break it, but I broke it for an ineffective attack. I would have been fine just tossing the board aside where it would be safe. Or I could have written a message on it and told Niko to run back with it. Well, he didn’t go back anyways. Doing either of those things would have protected the board and I would still have it.

But what did I do?

I wasted it.

I destroyed the first thing that Lada ever gave me. For nothing.

I’d be better off dead.

Not actually, of course, but I did kind of feel that way in the moment.

The man still asked me a question, though, so I needed to give him an answer. I nodded.

“Good. Everybody was incredibly worried about you. Ah, would you like some coffee? I usually hoard it to myself because of how rarely traders bring it out here… but you deserve it,” the older man said.

Coffee?

Coffee.

Something about that… almost made me fall in love with the man in front of me.

Coffee. He was going to give me coffee.

How… how long has it been since I’ve had coffee? It feels like it’s been lifetimes… I—I need coffee. I need a cup of coffee.

It must have been important to me before. I never nodded as quickly as I did in response to his question, and nodding so quickly made my whole body hurt even more.

“A fellow man of culture, I see. It takes a quality person to want coffee with so much excitement. One moment, it should be done brewing. I’ll pour us both a mug,” he said and left.

I don’t know who you are but you’re my new best friend. I want you to be my best man at my wedding with Lada.

A couple of minutes later and he returned with the mugs. He set mine down on the small table next to my bed and said, “Ah, sorry. I just realized I didn’t put anything in it. I prefer mine black, so I assume everybody else will, too. Would you like me to put some milk or sugar in it?”

I shook my body. Black coffee was the best coffee.

“You prefer it black as well?”

I nodded.

“I already thought you were incredible after everything I heard about you, and now you have managed to exceed my expectations. A man like you—I would never mind sharing a cup if you ever find yourself in the mood. You likely won’t find anybody else in the village with coffee beans.”

Seriously, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Maybe not as lovers, but as best friends. Actually, give me enough coffee and I might change my mind on the lovers thing.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t into men. But if I was—if I was, he would absolutely be my target even if he looked like he was in his sixties at least.

A man in good shape, with a handsome look, a deep voice that would make anybody swoon, and a love for coffee, who looked good in a sweater? I was going to be surprised if he didn’t have at least ten lovers already.

More importantly, coffee.

Coffee!

I held the mug up in front of my body and opened up so that I could dip some of my tongue tentacles into it.

“Ah, be careful! It’s hot!” he warned me.

But I was alright. My tongue tentacles were able to handle the heat no problem. It was also the only way I could actually taste the coffee. If I drank it by just dumping it into my pit, I wouldn’t have tasted a single bit of that beautiful flavor.

And oh was it beautiful.

The sensation that filled my body after having a taste of that brew was similar to the sensation I felt after Lada’s morning present to me. I really didn’t want to compare the two, but… if I had to pick one or the other…

No, I can’t do that. Instead, why not combine them? Why not drink coffee while Lada does that for me?

Now that sounded beyond perfect.

“By the way, I’m Leon. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the bringer of coffee said.

Leon? He sounds different than the people around here and his name doesn’t really fit in. Wonder if he moved here. I wouldn’t be surprised if some travelers decide to stay here after seeing how nice this place is.

I nodded and took some more coffee.

I couldn’t help but to notice Leon leaning in closer to get a look at me at the same time. To be more specific, to get a look into me.

“Interesting. I opened you up when dealing with that hole in you, but that ‘mouth’ of yours was closed at the time. That is your mouth, right?” Leon asked.

I nodded.

“And those tentacles your tongues?”

Another nod.

“Interesting. Do you mind if I get a closer look? I know that might not sound appropriate, and rather invasive, but you’re one of my patients now. I want to learn more about the way your body works in case there are ever any issues.”

That’s perfectly understandable to me. I nodded.

“Thank you.” He took a sip of his own coffee before setting it down and getting real close to me. Like, real close. He was almost putting his head inside of my torso. “Looks like… a pit of liquid. Stomach acid? Does your mouth connect directly to your stomach? Interesting. I see nothing in the way of organs, either. How your body processes nutrition… I have no idea. Does your body even need nutrition?”

I poked his shoulder with a tentacle to get his attention before looking around for something that I could sacrifice. I wanted to teach him even more about myself, and he struck me as the kind of similar mind who wouldn’t care about losing something material for the sake of gaining new knowledge.

Once he pulled back, I noticed a pair of scissors on the table and picked them up, brought them into my body, and dropped them into the pit.

He looked concerned, but he still leaned back in to watch in real time as my acid almost immediately dissolved the scissors.

“I would say that it can’t be healthy to eat scissors… but if that acid dissolves whatever it comes into contact with, I doubt you’re getting any nutrition whatsoever from anything you eat,” Leon said.

I nodded. I more or less came to the same assumption as him. And considering that I never felt hungry aside from the few times where I gained something from it, I was pretty sure that I didn’t need to eat nor drink to survive.

Of course, I still did just because I felt like I was supposed to. And for the social aspect of it.

“Your body is fascinating. Ah, I just thought of something. Do you know how to read and write?”

I nodded yet again.

“Excellent. One moment.” He left the room and, a moment later, returned with a notebook and pen. “Can you write with this?”

I flipped the notebook open, wrapped a tentacle around the pen, and wrote,

YES.

I never saw an old man look as youthful as he did when he read my writing. “That means you can teach me everything about yourself! Ah, I need to keep my voice down. Wouldn’t want to wake anybody up. They were up all night while I worked on you and demanded that they stay in here. Well, those two did, anyways,” he said, looking at Lada and Niko. “Then his parents weren’t going to leave him after what happened, Kremmy there said you deserved a guard until you were all better, and Granny… well, you probably know how she is by now. I’m sure she’s dreaming right now about how she’s going to yell at you for being a reckless idiot for getting as hurt as you did.”

SOUNDS LIKE GRANNY.

Leon smiled and sighed before drinking some more coffee. I took another sip as well. “Oh, I should also mention in case you haven’t noticed it yourself yet.”

WHAT?

“Watch.” Leon took the pen from me and held one of my tentacles down against the bed. It was one of the ones that got severed and reduced to less than a third of its regular length. The tip of it was wrapped up in bandages that looked like they would probably need changed soon going by the blood slowly spreading through them. That aside, he held the tentacle straight down against the bed and used the pen to draw a line in front of it on the bedsheet. “I probably could have put the notebook there. Oh well. Look closely.”

I looked as closely as I could. The line that he drew was just beyond the tip of my tentacle. Yet…

My tentacle was getting closer to it despite me not moving it.

“You have extraordinary healing capabilities,” Leon said. “I’m not sure how long it was before, but I believe it should be healed and back to normal within a couple of days. The hole in you should seal up by then, too. But even then, do be careful of it. I stitched it shut as best I could, but your skin was incredibly resistant to that and difficult to push together. It might tear apart with anything but the gentlest of movements.”

I’LL BE CAREFUL. THANK YOU.

One of the perks of having a notepad and pen was that I could write a lot more down on a line than I could on the board.

But I still missed my board.

WAS EVERYBODY ELSE OKAY? AND WHAT HAPPENED? I REMEMBER NIKO PICKING ME UP, BUT I’M GUESSING I LOST CONSCIOUSNESS SHORTLY AFTER.

Leon nodded. “Niko told us that you passed out right after telling you to hang in there. The poor boy’s eyes were as red as could be from crying. He thought you were dead, but he held in there and carried you across seven islands before the guards found him. He’s lucky that he didn’t catch the attention of any beasts since he was screaming and shouting for help.”

I guess it’s a good thing I killed that sleeping beast. It’s possible neither of us would be here if I didn’t.

“The guards set up temporary bridges which helped them take Niko back, but Korova was the one who brought you back here after meeting up with Niko.”

KOROVA DID?

“Right. She might be a big woman, but she’s deceptively fast. She ran back here at full speed, jumping from island to island. Even broke my door down when she came shouting in here demanding immediate help. Let me tell you, that woman is one hard worker. She already had the door repaired before I was done operating on you.”

Korova carried me back here jumping from island to island? I can’t imagine somebody as big as her doing that, but I’m going to have to thank her for it later.

“I doubt you would be alive if it wasn’t for her. And Niko, of course. The two of them worked together to bring you back here.”

That makes me… really happy.

“Oh, right. She wanted to know the moment you woke up to know if you’re alright or not. She had to go take care of her farm, so she couldn’t stay here with everybody else. Never had a chance to sleep.”

Sorry, Korova. Please make sure to get some good rest as soon as you can.

Leon leaned over to Kresimir and poked him, causing him to groan and open his eyes. “Something happen?” Kresimir asked. As out of it as he looked, he woke up pretty fast. Made sense for a seasoned guard to be able to do that and get right to action. He looked even more awake once he saw me awake and fine. “Thank the creator… you’re alright. You had all of us worried. Also, incredible job." He yawned. "You’re still new around here, but you’ve already put your life on the line for one of our own.” Kresimir held his right hand out to me. “Whether you like it or not, you’re one of us now. You’re an official member of this island’s family. He-hey, are you crying? You’re supposed to be happy, not sad.”

I didn’t even know that I could cry but hearing all of that opened up the waterworks.

THANK YOU. I’M CRYING BECAUSE I’M HAPPY. NOT SAD.

“Ah… well, in that case, cry as much as you want,” Kresimir said.

THANK YOU.

“Kremmy, go let Korova know that he’s alright, will you?” Leon asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Kresimir replied. “What time is it anyways?”

“About noon now.”

“Dang it… I didn’t plan on sleeping that long.”

“It’s alright. It’s given your apprentice an opportunity to see how he does when in charge for once.”

“How’s he been doing?”

“Horrible. He’s as clueless as ever.”

“That boy just doesn’t learn. Alright, I’ll go let Korova know that the hero is alright and make sure that boy isn’t burning something down by accident. Again.” Kresimir turned to look at me again. “And you. Make sure that you rest up. We’re not going to let the island’s newest hero be in bad health, so we’ll hold you to it if you don’t take good care of yourself.”

I WILL. THANK YOU.

Kresimir stood up and walked over to the door, but he stopped to look at me and said one more thing. “Also, I know you might not want to relive what happened last night… but I need details on everything that happened. Niko told me that a giant beast was involved. A soaring wolf. Only, soaring wolves aren’t supposed to talk, and he said that it could talk. If we’re dealing with a hostile soul beast on the loose, then we need to know everything possible to prepare for it. School has already been indefinitely canceled and all children are to stay in doors at all times unless they’re with an adult. Everybody is to walk around in pairs and to look out for anything suspicious.”

WILL WRITE DOWN A REPORT DETAILING EVERYTHING. AND THOSE ARE GOOD IDEAS.

“Thanks. You went above and beyond for us, so now it’s time for us to pull our weight around here. We have to show that us guards are actually good for something. Besides, after what you did, we’ve got a fire burning in us now. We want our own shots at being heroes, and that means taking down that soul beast to make sure that it never thinks of touching you or anybody else again.”

YOU’RE ALL AWESOME.

Kresimir actually blushed a little when he read that. “Thanks. A-anyways, I’m gonna get going now. Let Korova know you’re alright and keep the others in line.”

TAKE IT EASY. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU DIDN’T GET MUCH SLEEP.

“Worry about yourself, hero. I might be old, but I’ve still got it in me.”

Kresimir left after that. Me and Leon took synchronized sips of our coffee before getting back to the medical side of things.

“Do you think you could tell me everything that you know about how your body works?” Leon asked. “I would love to—”

“Tenta!” Niko shouted, jumping up onto the bed and tackling me.

“Niko! Be careful!” Leon shouted.

He wasn’t the only one who shouted. Niko’s dad jumped up into action and yanked the boy off of me. “Niko! Look at what you’ve done! You opened up his stiches!”

“I—I’m sorry!” Niko cried. “I’m just… I’m so happy… I didn’t think that Tenta would ever wake up again… he didn’t answer me while I was carrying him and it scared me…”

IT’S FINE. HE CAN’T HURT ME AS MUCH AS HAVING CLAWS IMPALE ME CAN. THANK YOU FOR BRINGING ME BACK, NIKO. YOU SAVED ME. YOU’RE MY HERO.

“Nuh-uh! You’re the hero!”

THEN HOW ABOUT WE SETTLE FOR BOTH BEING HEROES? I’LL LET YOU CALL ME A HERO IF YOU LET ME CALL YOU A HERO.

“I… fine. Deal. We’re both heroes!”

Niko’s dad sighed and rubbed his boy’s head before coming up to me with his wife. “Thank you. If it wasn’t for you… Niko and who knows who else might have been killed by that thing.”

His wife was next to speak. She might have been trying to hold it together last night, but she didn’t hesitate to cry now as she held one of my tentacles in her hand. “Thank you! You saved my boy! I—if you’re ever in trouble, we’ll do everything we can to help you!”

DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT. I WAS ONLY DOING WHAT ANYBODY WOULD HAVE DONE. WAIT. THERE’S SOMETHING YOU CAN DO FOR ME.

“What? Please, let us know what it is.”

KOROVA WANTS MORE FRIENDS. AND SHE HELPED SAVE ME. SO CAN YOU PLEASE SPREAD GOOD THINGS ABOUT HER? MAYBE GIVE HER A PIE.

“That… that’s what you want us to do?”

YES, PLEASE.

“Well,” the father said, “aren’t you just putting the rest of us to shame? You sacrifice yourself for our boy and then you want rewarded by asking us to be friends with somebody else. No wonder Granny likes you so much.”

“Watch your tongue,” Granny said, making every single one of us jump. “I’m already in a bad mood havin’ to wake up and hear all your blabberin’.”

“Ri-right. Anyways, thank you. And you’re right, we should try being nicer to her. I guess… a lot of us just felt distant because of what happened, but she proved that she cares about us last night. We’ll do our best to make sure she feels as welcomed as everybody else.”

THANK YOU.

“Leon, Tenta isn’t gonna die, right?” Niko asked.

“He’ll be fine,” Leon answered. “Between his healing and my tending, there’s nothing that can kill him.”

Niko nodded and looked at me again. “I’ll come check on you every day until you’re feeling better, Tenta!”

THANK YOU. I WOULD APPRECIATE THAT.

“Now,” his mom said, taking hold of the boy’s hand, “let’s give him a chance to rest. He deserves it. And I’m sure that he would like a moment of peace with his biggest fan.”

“But I’m Tenta’s biggest fan,” Niko said.

“Now, now, son,” the dad said. “Let’s get you home. No school means that you get to help your mother around the house.”

Niko sighed and whined. “Alright… bye bye, Tenta. Thanks for everything, and please feel better soon!”

I’M ALREADY FEELING BETTER. I’LL BE BACK TO NORMAL IN NO TIME.

Niko smiled and waved as his parents guided him out of the room.

“She had a point,” Leon said, looking over to Granny. “I’m sure they’d appreciate a moment together.”

Granny groaned and got up while stretching her arms out. She then looked at me and said, “You’ll have to work twice as hard for every day you skip, so ya better get better soon or else I’ll work ya so hard that ya end up right back in here.”

I’LL DO MY BEST.

For the first time… I saw Granny smile. “Good work. But don’t get cocky.”

Granny left with Leon after that, leaving me with only one person in the room.

And that one person was patiently waiting her turn while staring at me.

SORRY. I BROKE THE BOARD YOU GAVE ME.

Lada shook her head before wiping her tears away. “The board doesn’t matter… only you matter. Thank you… thank you for coming back.”

I THOUGHT ABOUT YOU. THINKING OF YOU WAS WHAT SAVED ME.

That made Lada cry even more. “I was so scared…”

I’M SORRY. PLEASE DON’T CRY.

“I can’t help it… there’s no way I couldn’t cry after that…”

I’M OKAY. I WANT TO SEE LADA SMILE AND BE HAPPY.

Lada smiled through the tears and nodded. “I… I love you. But… you never gave me a name to call you. Can you tell me what to call you?”

What to call me? Right, I never gave anybody a name. I still don’t have the slightest idea what my name was before, and I feel like it’d be weird to give myself a name. But that kid… Niko was calling me Tenta. So, what about that?

TENTA IS FINE.

Lada nodded and took one of my tentacles into her hands, kissing it before looking me directly in the eyes to say, “I love you, Tenta. And thank you for coming back to me.”

I thought I was happy when hearing those things that Kresimir told me, but that feeling could never compare to how Lada just made me felt. Not even coffee could compare.

I’LL ALWAYS COME BACK FOR YOU, LADA. AND I LOVE YOU TOO.

“Also… I really want to do all sorts of lewd things to you to reward you for what you did… but I’m going to hold back until you’re feeling better. Leon already has to fix your stiches…”

IT’S FINE. IF IT’S JUST MY TAIL IT WON’T BE TOO MUCH MOVEMENT.

Lada shook her head. “I have to restrain myself. No more lewd things until you’re fully healed.”

…

Suddenly, I felt far more motivated than before to heal up as immediately as possible.