537: I WANT TO STAY IN MY BEDROOM

I WANT TO STAY IN MY BEDROOM

As a warrior, Joel had his own bedroom in the warrior quarter, this was one of his pride and joy to occupy this little bedroom, which could only fit with a bed, a table, a drawer and a chair. 

However, this room would always look clean and comfortable, as Joel would find time among his busy training schedule to keep it neat. 

Yet, if he was no longer a warrior of this pack, he was required to leave this room. This was the rule, and this would break Joel even more. 

"Joel, I bring you this." Iris entered the room because she didn't hear anything from inside after knocking for ten minutes and found the young warrior was staring at the window. As luck would have it, his window showed a training ground for the young warrior, in the age of twelve to fifteen. 

Not so long ago, Joel was part of them before he started his training with the older warrior and was given this little bedroom, a symbol that he was capable enough to defend his pack. A testament that he would be a great warrior one day, like he always dreamed of. 

But, everything crumbled and shattered. Without being able to use his legs, he wouldn't have been able to defend himself, let alone anyone. 

"Joel?" Iris called him. She had a book in her hand. She promised to teach him how to read and write, but because of the situation, they had not yet started. "Joel?"

Joel startled and then turned his head to look at Iris, he was surprised to see her inside his bedroom. It seemed, he really tuned out the whole world, until he was not aware of his surroundings. 

"Lu- Luna Iris…" Joel stuttered. 

"I have knocked for a while before, but you didn't answer me, so I came inside." Iris gave Joel an apologetic look, as she stared at the sickly wolf spirit. His wolf was so young and it was the color of brown. The spirit looked almost like the black wisp that came from Cane, only this had a shape. 

"It's okay, luna… I didn't hear that." Joel tried to look cheerful like his usual self, but Iris could see how he struggled to even keep his smile and this broke her heart. "Please, have a seat, luna. I am sorry, I can't get out of the bed."

Iris waved her hand to dismiss that and then showed the book in her hand. "You told me that you want to learn how to read and write, right? Why don't we start it before I go to the Silver River pack? After that, Hanna will help you to continue with your study."

Iris tried to be excited with it, but she could see Joel was not as enthusiastic when he asked her to teach him.

"Okay," Joel said. He smiled softly, but Iris knew it was out of politeness. 

It hurt her even more to see how life slipped away from his eyes. He looked like he was about to breakdown, but as a man, he couldn't do that. It was a weakness for a warrior to show that side of them, almost like a sin. 

Iris stared at the young wolf spirit. She was not sure how to do it and was even more afraid if she ended up hurting him instead. 

However, Iris still could feel the thrill of killing Mason and how his spirit struggled in her grip, but at the same time, she felt connected with the spirit as well, as if she could feel every inch of it. 

The pain, the emotions, the injuries… she felt everything within such short time. 

It was a weird feeling, yet she was familiar with it, as if she had done it a few times before. It came to her naturally, almost like when she could sense the magic stone and the black magic. This must be the feeling that came from the first Serafim. Na. 

"Oliver came to visit a few hours ago, before he left for the Silver River pack," Joel said when Iris didn't start with her lesson. He knew the luna only came to cheer him up, but he couldn't help this feeling of helplessness. "He said, he had prepared a small house in the town for me and I can live there as long as I want." His voice started shaking when he continued to speak. "He said, I will love it. The house has a fireplace and nice bed. It is bigger than this room."

Iris knew immediately what it meant, let alone Joel. It was a nice way to tell Joel that he was no longer part of the warrior of the pack and for him to give up his bedroom in the warrior quarter, it was the final confirmation. 

"Or, I can live in the pack house. He has arranged a nice room, bigger than this and close to the kitchen, so I will not have a hard time if I was hunger in the middle of the night. I used to get hungry and wake up to find something to eat after a long training…" 

This time, Joel couldn't hold back his tears, his shoulders were trembling as a rush of emotions hit him so hard to think there would never be a training for him now. He wouldn't be able to do something that he loved the most, something that he took pride of. 

Words wouldn't be able to describe what kind of turmoil that raged within that young body. 

"Oliver said I can choose and both places are better than here." Joel sobbed softly, his jaw clenched tightly. "But, I like this small bedroom. I don't want to move out," he whimpered and started to cry. 

"Oh, Joel!" 

Out of instinct, Iris sat down on the edge of his bed and hugged him, she caressed his back, while he rested his head on her shoulder, crying so hard. The sound of it was akin to a stab in Iris's chest. His whole body was trembling and she couldn't help, but cry as well. 

"I don't want to move from my bedroom…"

It almost felt like Joel was saying, it would be better if he died in the mountain with all of his friends than to live this worthless life. 

Joel was a talented and a promising warrior, but then he was still a fifteen years old boy, who only started to see the world and find his own way of how to live his life. 

However, everything came crushing down now and his life looked so bleak to say the least.  1

Iris hugged him a little bit tighter, as if she was trying to prevent this young man from falling into pieces. She felt his pain and the dept of his emotions and it completely crushed her. 

But at the same time, she could feel his wounds. The spirit was so close, she could only raise her hand and touch it. 

Still holding the crying Joel in her arms, Iris could see the tip of her fingers exuded white light. This was the same light that consumed those spirits of the fallen warrior. 

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