Anna"s whole body was shaking as if it was on the verge of shattering. Her mind nearly went blank from the pain. She wasn"t a cultivator so suddenly having foundation energy flow through her was devastating. Blood trickled from her mouth and nose. Her arm was broken and her leg muscles torn. She couldn"t stand anymore falling to her knees covering her son."Mommy!" Franklin hugged his mom making her wince in pain. However, Anna still smiled at her son as she gently hugged him with her only working limb.
Perhaps this is fate Anna thought as she heard the angry demonic beasts all around. However, at this moment, the area surged with suppressive force. Joe had finally arrived though he hadn"t hurried to the humans he was like a blur flying into the forest.
Joe smashed into the fox demonic beast with agility you wouldn"t expect from his large size. His hooves smashed four foxes before they even knew what happened. Their internal organs turned to mush as they became part of the ground. Another two were blown away by Joe"s large gut flying towards the sun.
The foxes morale was annihilated and they fled in all directions. The situation changed so fast that everyone felt whiplash. Joe just snorted as Arron arrived with a shocked expression he looks on in awe at the aftermath of this demonic bulls rampage.
His eyes soon filled with worry as he spotted Anna. "Anna!" he ran over as more villagers arrived including Melisa.
Melisa ran over and scooped up her daughter who had yet to recover from her fright. Laurel gripped her mothers back and couldn"t stop crying soaking Melisa"s dress with snot and tears. "Mom, mom, I"m sorry!" She wailed between sobs.
Joe seeing that he was no longer needed lumbers slowly away back to the hill. As he went past the villagers they gave him a wide birth. Joe gave a big yawn ignoring these weak ants.
"This isn"t good," Arron said inspecting Anna"s broken body.
Gregory came over and frowned as he saw the young mother"s torn body. "There"s nothing we can do here. Let"s take her and the kids to safety first." He said shaking his head.
They had no stretcher so they were forced to carry her by hand. Anna, however, had already pa.s.sed out sparing her even more pain. Once she was laid down in the village Gregory took a closer look. He was, however, no doctor so he could think of nothing they could do to aid her.
He pulled Arron aside leaving the crying boy to watch over his mom. "I doubt she will live much longer." He sighed with a frown.
"Is there really nothing we can do?" Arron lamented.
"I think even if we had a doctor at best she"d be extremely crippled. What can mortals like us do for such wounds?" Gregory diagnosed.
"Perhaps the great demonic bull could help?" Arron pondered.
"You"re grasping at straws. We are already lucky he intervened as he did." He said glancing at the hill. "h.e.l.l, he already does enough to let us live here… Why would you think a bull would know how to heal anyways?" Gregory reasoned with the broken-hearted man.
Franklin could see the pity in the eyes of the adults. Yet all he could do was cry and hate himself. He grasped his mother"s good hand tightly hoping for a miracle.
"Come let"s move her inside so she can rest," Gregory said while patting the boy on the shoulder.
The men brought her into their small hovel laying her on a few furs and hay. "I"ll stay here with you tonight," Arron told Franklin covering his own despair. Franklin eventually cried himself to sleep while Arron watched Anna trying to keep her as comfortable as he could.
"well aren"t you down in the dumps?" John said floating around in Franklin"s dream.
"Go away!" Franklin screamed, "It"s all your fault."
Raising his eyebrow in surprise John smiled at the boy. "Oh, blaming me? That"s fine. Yes, I quite clearly remember telling you to take a girl on a date in the forest. Yes, that was part two of your training." He teased the boy.
The young boy looked at the old man with burning eyes. "If it wasn"t for your stupid training..." But Franklin couldn"t continue. Really he was only mad at the jovial nature of the old man. After faltering he again looked at the old man. "Is there any hope for my mother?" he mumbled.
"Hmm, your mother is it?" John began to pace rubbing his chin as he continued. "Indeed I believe she overstressed her body with her bloodline. Still, hope isn"t completely lost. Though there is little hope in this abode you have here."
A shocked boy swallowed hard processing what his teacher said. "What! Is there truly a way to help?"
"I won"t say for certain that she can fully recover. Yet, death I do believe can be turned away at least." A pondering old man looked into the distance as if trying to see the future. Shaking his head he"d become absent-minded.
After a few minutes of silence, Franklin was unable to hold it in any more. Looking at the old man that seemed to have forgotten that he was in the middle of an important conversation. "Well, what can I do to save my mom!?" Franklin implored the old man.
"Oh yes, that. Sorry kid I was just a bit distracted." Shaking his thoughts away he proceeded to recreate the town in the dreamscape. "Just bring her to the top of the hill. It"s quite easy. But I wouldn"t rely on this too often you understand?"
Franklin"s eyes flittered back and forth he couldn"t understand. "Why would putting my mother on the hill help? Will the demonic bull save her?" He questioned.
John was annoyed by these questions harrumphing and waving his hands he ranted "What would a stupid animal that can"t even speak know of healing? You"re really quite dumb aren"t you." Finally, he looked at the boy with pity as if to say you are as dumb as a rock.
Looking at his hands he was completely lost. "Then why would the hill heal my mother?"
"Use your brain d.a.m.n it! Do you think a powerful beast sits on a hill all day for fun? Do you truly think that it"s normal for weeds and plants to grow so quickly? Clearly, there is something else to the hill. Anyone with eyes could see that." John rubbed his forehead as if having to explain something so simple had given him a headache.
The boy"s eyes gleamed with understanding and shock that they hadn"t considered this before. Perhaps the adults had contemplated it without us kids he thought. He didn"t know what miraculous treasure lied there but if it could help his mom that was all that mattered now.
"Alright, I"m off." The boy waved as the dream faded away.
"Sure boy have fun." The old man laugh shook the dream world shattering it away waking Franklin up with a jolt.