'Who would've thought? Something so bright and colorful turned out to be poisonous?'
Ash would've smiled wryly at himself if he had the strength, alas, his mouth was busy coughing up blood.
'Is this it? I killed a mutated wolf with my own teeth, but died at the hands of colorful berries…?'
His heart kept beating faster, and the pulsing pain on his shoulder became more and more pronounced as his blood flowed faster.
But in this moment, Ash realized something.
From the wolf's poison or venom, he didn't know, he felt a weight strapped to his limbs.
It took several times the effort just to drag his feet to move.
But now, even with blood kept trickling down his shoulder and coming out of his mouth, he felt strength in his body instead.
With one last bloody cough, Ash forced his limbs to move.
To his surprise, the weight attached to his limbs disappeared.
He moved them with ease as if he had just drunk a full cup of strong coffee.
'The berries… Their poison acted differently from the wolf's. It helps me counteract the wolf's venom!'
Ash moved deeper into the forest, his eyes searching for more questionable things that he could ingest.
'There must be more poisons in this forest. One that could stop my bleeding and my cough!'
Any sane person wouldn't agree that Ash's head was working properly right now.
But Ash didn't give a damn, he realized that another poison could help him fight against the symptoms of the other poisons.
He just moved about ten steps from the berry bush when Ash found it.
On top of a dead tree trunk, a colony of black mushrooms grew abundantly. Covering more than half of the dead tree trunk.
Ash had heard stories about addicts from his friends.
He remembered that one of the most popular drugs around was processed mushrooms.
They said the mushrooms could help people calm down and forget about their problems.
And Ash had more than enough problems right now.
He wasted no time. Tearing a handful of mushrooms from the trunk and shoving them into his mouth.
They surprisingly tasted good, filled with umami.
Ash happily swallowed them and waited for their effects.
Ash stood still and focused on his body.
At first, nothing happened.
But the mushroom didn't betray him.
His wildly beating heart started calming down, his muscles that were uncontrollably tensing before also relaxed.
Ash didn't know what happened to his bleeding shoulders, but he seemed to have forgotten about it.
His body just felt so relaxed and comfortable that Ash even willingly sat down and leaned against the dead tree trunk.
The whole colony of the black mushrooms accompanied him in his rest.
'This doesn't feel so bad…'
Ash enjoyed the moments of peace. The dead tree trunk felt like the most comfortable bed he had ever lain on.
There was no urgency in his mind, his heart also didn't want to achieve anything, and his body just lived in this moment, free from any forms of shackles.
The leaves high up on the tall branches seemed to sing and dance, their beautiful voices calmed him down even more.
Ash smiled as he saw a few of them wave at him like meeting an old friend.
He looked around him, the black mushrooms that lay beside his head all smiled at him and playfully poked his head, their faces looking like small children back at the orphanage.
The wind gently whispered to him, 'Don't think about anything, just lie here and rest.'
The grasses on the ground bowed at him, telling him to trust them.
They all faced outward from Ash, their hands ready to throw punches to anyone who dared to disturb his rest.
Ash nodded back towards them.
"Alright, I will rest here, just for a little bit."
Ash closed his eyes.
The cute black mushrooms all smiled at him, the leaves sang and welcomed him, and the tall grasses protected him.
With so many people caring for him, how could Ash not finally rest?
He finally got what he wanted.
'I want this moment to last forever…'
The voices of the leaves singing and the wind telling him to rest kept playing in his head even when Ash closed his eyes.
They pulled him deeper and deeper into the embrace of sleep.
Ash could feel his body had completely lost all of its strength.
A thought that he might not be able to wake up from this sleep occurred to him.
But Ash didn't do anything.
Who would want to wake up from this?
If he woke up, he would need to drag his body to move. He had to endure the constant stinging pain in his shoulder. He couldn't even breathe properly like now as he coughed blood several times in a minute.
Why in the hell would he want to wake up?
"Are you sure? You are going to prove them right. You are just a piece of trash that they could throw away. A plague that needed to be exiled."
A voice, a foreign one that Ash had never heard before, woke him up.
He tried opening his eyes, but he was surprised to find that he couldn't even move his eyelids.
His limbs also refused to move. It felt like his mind was stuck in a frozen body.
'What happened to me? Why can't I move?'
But then another thought appeared in his mind, 'Why do I need to move? I just need to rest.'
Ash began falling asleep again.
But the voice appeared once more.
"All the people who abandoned you when you needed them. The ones who used to beg, now turned their heads from you. They sent you away to die and kicked you down."
The voice was gentle, yet firm. It didn't shout at him, but it reminded Ash of what was important.
Ash tried waking up once more and moving his body, but no matter what he tried, he just couldn't.
"Your body couldn't handle all the poisons you've ingested. At least not yet.
Your body is now as perfect as it is. You just need a little help.
And I can help."
Ash didn't know who the gentle voice belonged to, but Ash could feel the warmth and strength coming from it.
Just hearing the voice talking to him reminded him of what he wanted to do.
The city that had thrown him out, the man who had betrayed him, Ash couldn't give them the satisfaction of succeeding.
He couldn't die here.
Ash turned his mind to the gentle voice.
For the last, final time in his life, Ash spoke,
"Help me…"
"I shall, my child." The voice answered him, not letting Ash wait even for a split second.
Ash's eyes finally jerked open.
From his chest, power burst out to fill his being. The invisible cage holding his body down disappeared.
Ash could move his limbs again, even better than before.
His shoulders still bled, and his mouth still coughed up blood, but Ash didn't find them to be a sickness he needed to heal.
Instead, every time his shoulder stings and blood came out of his mouth, Ash felt more alive.
Instead of agony, he felt comfort from his pain.
Magic, something that was supposedly impossible to manifest in a null like him, kept pouring out from his heart.
The green aura filled his whole body with power.
And once Ash regained his full strength, even gained more than before, the green aura coalesced into his arm.
From the masses of green aura, a book, seemingly half rotten, with holes, molds, and barely stitched up, landed in Ash's hand.
Letters, one that Ash had never seen before, yet he understood the meaning of, appeared on the cover of the book.
"May the plague, sickness, and rot envelop you with love."