Garion let out a long breath and finally relaxed his shoulders.
"…Alright," he muttered. "That's done."
The road was empty now.
He stood there for a moment, letting the feeling sink in.
Then his gaze dropped.
His right arm was gone.
The empty space where it should have been still felt strange.
Garion flexed his left hand slowly.
"…Yeah," he said quietly. "That still feels bad."
Atlas' voice echoed in his head.
[What? Feeling sad because you only have one hand now?]
Garion nodded without hesitation.
"Of course," he replied. "I don't exactly enjoy missing a hand."
There was a brief pause.
[Then why did you hold back earlier?]
[You let them cut it off.]
Garion snorted.
"I was playing around," he said. "I never thought I'd lose."
He glanced at the ground where the fight had happened.
"I wanted to see how far they'd go," he continued.
"And I wanted to see what they could really do."
He clicked his tongue.
