It took only a minute for the King and the Micma house to have the streets flooded with hundreds upon hundreds of guards and even dozens awakened shikari.
Bekker and his two accomplices had no luck locating the Totem but… They certainly did find something.
Ragnar and them got into a spat about it.
Axion, on the other hand, clinged in the space between life and death. His right arm entirely gone, a scar on his chest and insane amounts of blood loss.
"Axion, sweetie, come here!" he heard a voice in the distance, being located in literal nothingness, walking towards the faint glimmer of light.
"Baby, come here!" he heard the voice again.
It was a voice he had thought he'd forgotten.
The voice of his mother.
'Mom?'
He continued walking, picking up the pace.
His steps sounded as if he was stepping in puddles.
Eventually, after another few callouts to him, he felt closer and closer.
~Kwoop~
It sounded as if a droplet of water hit from his right. Nothing was there.
Axion chose to walk, hearing it again.
~Kwoop~
As he continued, more and more simultaneously were ongoing.
After reaching the light, he went to touch it but it corroded and turned dark.
~Sssssuish~
The image of his mother faded and was replaced with something that made him back up.
Her nails grew into large claws and she went to strike him down.
"Wait!" he exclaimed, placing his hands up to defend
It was pointless.
Instead of being cut down, he saw a white light.
It flashed in his eyes.
~Snap~
Axion opened his eyes and saw a white ceiling, sitting up and seeing surroundings of a hospital room. It was bright outside too.
'I'm alive…'
He used his left arm and checked his right one, seeing that it was still gone but now was wrapped with bandages and such.
The dent on his chest, he could feel it. It wasn't that different but he saw a scar there.
'How long have I been here?'
Axion stood up and walked over to the window to gaze down. It was Panor City for sure. But not any hospital where the average bastard would or even could end up.
He heard faint voices approaching the door. A woman entered. A doctor-healer. "A surprise to see you awake already! How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, thanks.. But how'd I get here?"
She raised her eyebrow, instructing him to sit down. "5 days ago you were brought here in the arms of a friend of yours, I think. You were bleeding out to the point of death."
"What then?"
"He paid for the treatment and stay, so we took you in and started to patch you up the best we could but…"
She was hesitant to say.
"Unfortunately… We couldn't reattach your arm back. My sincere apologies."
"It's fine. I'm glad to be alive." Axion said with a very slight smile.
"So are we."
"When can I check out?"
She seemed surprised at his question "Check out? Well… Not so fast.. There have been some setbacks to everything as the number of rifts has increased."
"What do you mean? Why can I not leave?"
"Uhm.. They've grown to appear 1.4x more than usual, increasing by 40%."
She didn't say why he couldn't go.
'I need to get out of here.' he thought to himself.
"We also found something in your blood, and it's quite odd." she said abruptly. "It had to be reported so in about 2 hours time, the results will reveal themselves."
Axion had no knowledge of anything. His breathing intensified unnoticeably as he listened to the doctor speak. His sense of hearing seemed weird, making him unable to hear specific words the doctor spoke.
"-So in conclusion - the fact that you were able to survive and have already woken up is a miracle." she said consolingly, standing back up and heading to the door "But be sure to take it easy."
Axion nodded with a light smile he forced "Of course."
She returned the smile and left the hospital room. Axion felt that his right arm wasn't there anymore. It was unbelievable. Sighing, he went up to the window and opened it. The breeze of the wind felt easy. He saw people with money walking below. Homeless and the poor on the street, sleeping in the mud and dirt.
This was the life he knew. The way he grew up as well. Axion intended to climb down but realized that he's quite high up and with one arm… It wouldn't go well.
'Dammit.. Seems like I will have to wait.'
Axion backed away from the window and chose to sit and wait for the results of previously mentioned blood tests.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
After what occurred in the Micma House 5 days ago, Ragnar brought his best friend to the hospital where he paid for his stay so they could save his life. After that, he left to deal with something he truly had to.
Ragnar's thoughts dwelled for a mere moment as he was punched in the face and thrown aback to stumble in the dirt.
"Haven't had enough, have you, giant?" Bekker provoked him further with a grin on his face, surrounded by his minions who simply laughed to please him.
Ragnar regained his balance, grabbing onto a rusty pipe on the side of the wall in Panor Alley as the other bastards, homeless and ill individuals gathered around.
"Just tell me why, Bekker.. WHY?!" The expression on his face made it obvious he was angry as he gripped on the pipe, ripping it out the wall.
Bekker smirked and looked down at Ragnar "Because filth such as them deserved it. You wouldn't get it anyway."
"Wouldn't GET IT?! I was there! I saw it all! Killing other people mercilessly like a… a damn butcher! And a child too!"
"Yeah well that little sonuvabitch cost us everything. We were SO close and THAT happened!" Bekker spoke coldly. His true nature revealed itself. He didn't care about human lives, especially no one else's aside from his own.
Ragnar threw the pipe at Bekker's face directly when suddenly he placed his hand up at it and caught it perfectly.
"Wha… How did you…" Ragnar was at a loss for words.
Bekker simply smirked "As you said… You saw everything."
"No one will believe you anyway."
"Axion was right. You were never to be trusted again." Ragnar spoke down on him, noticing Bekker's smirk fading as his shoulders tensed. "You're nothing more than a rat. And truth be told, I hope you eat mud."
Despite being a slightly bigger guy, he didn't like the disrespect. So he started to walk over towards the giant teenager with his goons, cracking his neck, standing barely a meter away from him and looking him straight in the eyes with a serious look on his face. "Don't think I'll stop. I know exactly what to do, where to go and who to see. You, giant, can either join us or get the beating of your life. Your choice."
6 of them surrounded Ragnar. Although he may not be the smartest, he knew not to pick a fight with a full group alone. He just sighed and went to turn away to leave. "As I thought, that pathetic whore mother of yours truly raised a weak coward." one of the goons said mockingly. He didn't realize that it was the switch point which Ragnar needed. He turned around in a fit of anger. Provoked. His fist clenched as he punched the goon in the face with his full strength, shattering his jaw with his overwhelming strength and sending multiple teeth flying out of his mouth.
"Get him!" one of the goons exclaimed. The others resting on the sidelines began to charge at Ragnar whilst the ones right besides him aimed to attack him.
"COME ON! I'll take all of you!" Ragnar yelled as he took a stance, raising his hands to fight.