Chapter 83
The first thing Elijah became aware of was the pain, a deep and pervasive ache that seemed to occupy every corner of his body from his skull to his ribs to the tips of his fingers and toes.
The second thing he became aware of was the ceiling above him, a familiar ceiling of wooden beams and plaster that he had stared at many times during the weeks he had spent in this building, and he realized that he was in one of the bedrooms above the bar in the 9th District.
He tried to sit up, and his body screamed in protest, the broken bones and torn muscles and bruised organs all reminding him at once that he had pushed himself far beyond what any normal person should have been able to endure.
His ribs ached with every breath, his nose throbbed where Jack's forehead had shattered it, and his chest felt tight and heavy as if someone had placed a weight on top of him and left it there.
A man was sitting in a chair beside the bed, and Elijah turned his head slowly to look at him.
The man was middle-aged with gray hair at his temples and a face that was weathered but not old, and his eyes were a pale blue that seemed to see more than they should.
He wore simple clothes, dark pants and a dark shirt, and his hands rested on his knees with the stillness of someone who had learned patience through years of practice.
His aura was dense and controlled, and when Elijah's Ki sense reached out to touch it, the response that came back made Elijah's eyes widen because the man was at the Advanced Knight Stage, Peak Level, which meant he was stronger than anyone Elijah had ever faced except perhaps Jack.
"You're awake," the man said, his voice calm and professional. "That's good. I was starting to worry."
Elijah tried to speak, and the effort sent a spike of pain through his chest. "Who are you?" he managed, his voice rough and barely above a whisper.
"My name is Doctor Ben, and Jack called me to look after you," the man replied as he leaned forward to check the bandages wrapped around Elijah's chest and arms.
"You've done a number on yourself, young man. Broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, a hairline crack in your skull, and enough bruising to make me wonder how you're still conscious."
Elijah closed his eyes and let out a slow breath, and the Healing breathing of the Eternal Grounded Tree technique began to move through his body, knitting the damage as best it could.
The relief was immediate but small, like pouring a cup of water onto a fire that had been burning for hours.
Doctor Ben watched him with those pale blue eyes, and his expression shifted from professional detachment to something closer to curiosity. "That's a powerful breathing technique you have," he said. "I can feel it working, even from here. But it's not going to be enough."
Elijah opened his eyes and looked at the doctor.
"Your body is too damaged," Doctor Ben continued.
"Even with a technique as strong as yours, you're going to need at least two days of rest before you can breathe properly again. Your ribs need time to knit, and your lungs need time to heal, and there's nothing any breathing technique can do to speed that up beyond a certain point."
"Two days," Elijah repeated, and the words tasted like defeat.
"Two days," Doctor Ben confirmed. "No fighting, no training, no running. Just rest and sleep and letting your body do what it needs to do."
Elijah nodded slowly, and the movement sent a fresh wave of pain through his neck and shoulders. "You're not going to tell Kai, are you?"
Doctor Ben smiled, a small expression that did not reach his eyes. "I'm not going to tell anyone anything. My job is to heal people, not to report on them. But if you try to get out of this bed before those two days are up, I will knock you unconscious myself and tie you to the frame."
Elijah believed him because the man's aura was dense enough that he could probably do exactly that without breaking a sweat.
Doctor Ben stood up and gathered his supplies, packing them into a black bag that sat on the floor beside his chair. "There's water on the table next to you, and there's food in the kitchen downstairs if you feel up to eating. But honestly, I'd recommend sleeping for the next twelve hours if you can manage it."
He walked to the door and paused with his hand on the handle, looking back at Elijah with those pale blue eyes. "You're lucky to be alive, young man. The person you fought must have been holding back at the end, because if he had wanted to kill you, he could have."
Then he opened the door and left, and the room was silent except for the sound of Elijah's shallow breathing.
The door clicked shut, and Elijah lay there for a long moment with his eyes fixed on the ceiling and his mind turning over the doctor's words.
Jack had been holding back at the end, and that knowledge sat in Elijah's chest like a stone because it meant that even at his best, even with everything he had, he had never truly been a threat to the man who had beaten him.
He turned his head to look at the small table beside the bed, and his phone was there, sitting on top of a stack of papers that Rena must have left there during one of her visits.
His arm screamed in protest as he reached for it, and his ribs burned with every movement, and by the time his fingers closed around the phone, he was breathing in short, shallow gasps that did nothing to fill his lungs.
He pulled the phone back to the bed and checked the time, and the numbers on the screen told him that only five hours had passed since the fight with Jack.
Five hours since he had stood in the cage with his red aura blazing and his fists raised, believing that he might actually win.