Chapter 4: Apprentice
The smell of herbs lingered in the air. It was faint but enough to stir Azel from unconsciousness.
He groaned softly, head heavy like a rock, and slowly blinked his eyes open.
Warm light filtered through white curtains, swaying gently with the breeze.
The ceiling above him was made of polished wood, clean and refined.
No longer stone. No longer the damp darkness of the slums.
He sat up.
His arms trembled slightly, but he pushed through it.
He was on a bed — an actual bed with clean sheets and a soft pillow under his head.
A small pain pulsed behind his temple, and when he raised a hand, he felt bandages wrapped carefully around it.
He looked down at himself. Gone were the ragged, dirt-covered clothes he had woken up in when he first arrived in this world.
Instead, he wore a blue linen robe, warm and comfortable, tied with a simple sash at the waist.