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When they got to the bottom of the mountain, the blazing sun showed the duo that it was about midday. Leo had a body strong beyond belief, but the fight with David the Draco lich alongside a lack of rest had left him feeling tired. This point in the journey, all he wanted was to have some good food and rest, but he knew that resting wasn’t an option.

Leo knew that even if he wasn’t actively talking about it, Koram still had been badly injured in his fight on the mountain top. He had enough experience to tell the feeling of blood spilling onto him and the slowing pace of Koram’s breath and heartbeat over the course of their journey. Leo had lost one friend today, he would not lose another.

“Koram hold on tight, really tight, I’m about to get us back to Irontree fast,” Leo said, projecting confidence in his voice to try and assure Koram of his idea.

“If you say so,” Koram responded, holding on as tight as he could.

Leo had found a long stretch of land giving him enough space for a proper running start. Each beat of his legs was more powerful than the last, as he quickly gained speed with each passing second. By the time the stretch of land was running low on even ground, Leo had gained enough speed, as he launched himself forward.

Leo felt Koram’s grip tighten even stronger as they made airway, moving far faster than what Leo could have done on ground. He didn’t have any experience landing with someone on his back, but Leo felt confident that even if things went bad, he could make his body take the brunt of the force.

Looking at the grand forest below, Leo was able to hear a shocked wow from Koram who was likely having his first bird's eye view of the entire forest. Once they hit the apex of their flight, Leo prepared himself as he aimed at the large path he had left during his previous attack in the forest.

Making contact was easy, Leo simply used his legs to land as he slid at an angle to avoid crashing violently. What was a lot harder was doing this with a guest on his back, but Leo was able to move his body in a way that avoided spreading Koram throughout the entire ground.

By the time they came to a stop, they were both breathing heavily over the shock of how crazy what they just did was. Koram broke the pattern of breathing as he started to laugh, calling Leo insane for trying that as Leo couldn’t help but laugh with him.

Koram got off Leo’s back as the two kept laughing for a bit, seeing the long marks in the ground that spanned most of the new forest pathway only helped reinvigorate the laughter between the two. They laughed at the absurdity of the situation, and the fact that they were alive after everything.

When the laughter started to die down, Leo noticed Koram started moving as if the world was spinning. Before he could ask what was up, he saw Koram seem to fall unconscious and then fall forward. Leo reached out and grabbed him before he hit the ground, realizing that while the shortcut got them there faster it may have exacerbated his injuries.

Leo picked up Koram and started his run into town, not caring about damage to the ground as each step sent bursts of dirt and rock flying behind him. Once he entered the town, he began to scream as loud as he could.

“PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP ME, MY FRIENDS INJURED, I NEED A DOCTOR, OR HEALER, OR MAGE, OR WHATEVER!” Leo shouted, quickly drawing the attention of the crowd within town.

Thankfully people from a nearby medical clinic were close enough to hear, as they rushed over to see what the commotion was. When they saw Koram, they quickly started shouting out commands, primarily for Leo to lay him down flat as they activated their healing magic to stabilize him.

Leo felt a ringing in his ears, as the shouts of the doctors and the talk of the crowd faded into the background as he looked on at Koram’s body hoping he would not need to bury every friend he had made today. He looked on as he saw some people carrying a stretcher approach, as they loaded up Koram and started to take him somewhere.

His mind went blank, as without Koram to laugh with, he went back to the thoughts of Buddy and how he died because Leo had him go to the mountains, and how he probably had killed so many people in his fight with David. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, Leo snapped out of his trance as he saw a man start talking to him.

“We’re going to take your friend to the clinic, he’s beaten up and tired but should recover soon, you should probably check in too,” the man said, looking at Leo’s scratched and scarred body alongside the clothes that were nearly falling in tatters.

“I’ll be fine.” That was all Leo could say, as he started walking. He didn’t have anywhere in specific he planned to go, but he just wanted to walk and hopefully clear his head. The town of Irontree was the perfect town to go walking in, as the paths were sprawling and everywhere had the scent of joy.

Leo felt happy to know that Koram would be okay, but he still couldn’t help but feel as if he had let down his goal to not get innocent people hurt. Before he knew it, Leo had found himself at Koram and Buddy’s home, as he walked up the pathway to the door.

Despite his common sense telling him not to, his exhausted mind and body told him to go in, even if he had a minor roadblock such as not having a key. Leo didn’t want to destroy their house just to get in, so as gently as possible he took down the front door by pushing it off the hinges.

Leo was impressed by his ability to do it with minor cosmetic damage, as he set the door back into place he did note the inability to make it function as normal. Though he felt confident that as long as he was there, it’s not as if anyone could rob the place anyway.

Leo saw the blanket and pillow he rested on so many nights before folded neatly on a nearby seat as if it was inviting him to take a rest from the difficulties he had faced. Leo spread out the blankets and the pillow, falling asleep faster than he had during any other night here.

This time, his dreams were peaceful, a nice break from what he suffered through before. Leo saw himself relaxing upon a beach, as he looked to his left there was Buddy laid back and having a drink. While looking at his friend, Buddy returned his gaze and gave him a smile.

“You can do great things Leo, just remember to be the good that the world needs,” Buddy said, his stoic face being given a grin that was out of place yet right at home.

Leo wanted to respond to him, but as he opened his mouth to respond he found himself awake on the floor of Koram’s house. There was no light as Leo seemed to have slept through the entire day, as he now realized that without electricity night time really is much more annoying.