Did I break every bone in my body? Every part of me ached. With each breath, each minute movement, pain lanced throughout my body. I had taken care of so many people who complained of pain, but now I finally understood what that could mean.

Something pressed on my head and chest. "Help," I croaked. Just that single word sent spasms and hot lances through my head, neck, and chest.

I opened my eyes. Blackness, save transient pinpricks of white. Was I blind? Something was on my head, but I couldn’t move my hands to touch it. The pain…

A subtle murmur, then warmth. It was like being dipped in warm butter. I had heard a patient describe IV hydromorphone like that once.Was I that bad? Tears welled up in my eyes as the agony began to recede. I didn’t care. Give me more of those sweet, sweet narcotics.

A deep exhaustion took root, growing as the warmth increased.I let the darkness take me. I didn’t fight it.Better dead than this much suffering.

I woke again, this time to darkness rather than a crystal-blue sky.My breath caught.I didn’t dare breathe.I couldn’t take that pain.So much already. The memory was so fresh, and I shuddered involuntarily.I tensed, expecting pain, but nothing came. I forced myself to let go of the air I was holding. It didn’t hurt. I moved my arm. The pain was still there, but not excruciating.

I focused on the ceiling. It was not the night sky. I was inside a room. Had someone found me? Was I in a hospital?

It couldn't be. Where were the lights? There was always a light on in the hospital. There should also be sounds. IV pumps, ventilators, SCDs. I had to be in an ICU. I had fallen over a waterfall.

Had I?

As if in answer, images flashed in my mind.The man in the scanner. The blue and purple lightning.The rabbit.The dinosaur.Each was in perfect detail, and each kindled a burning in my head.

“What is happening to me?” Nobody heard my whisper.

Sweat beaded on my forehead and then ran down my face, first as trickles, then as rivers. My body shivered.My muscles ached with each twitch. Except I couldn't be cold, not with the way I was sweating.

Fever? Infection? Just those two single thoughts drove a spike deep into my brain.

I thought I called out for help, but no one entered my room. Only voices, then arguing, came from the other room. Why weren’t they coming? I needed antibiotics if I had infection and antipyretics for my fever. My head was on fire.

Ignoring the pain, I stripped off the sheets and staggered towards the door. My vision swam. The world spun. My head pounded. I couldn't stop. That door was freedom from this misery. I strained to take steps towards the only light in the room, the crease that surrounded the door. The light at the end of the tunnel. They had to help me.

With each step, the voices grew louder and clearer, but it wasn’t English. It reminded me of Spanish, musical and quick, but none of the words were familiar.

“Help,” I cried. A pause, then gibberish. I took another step. “Help.”

"… Human…" My brain somehow started to make sense of the foreign words. "… Unmarked…"

Each was a hammer to my skull.I wanted help, but I didn’t think I could take hearing another word. The voices stopped.

Sweet silence. Push through and possibly face more pain or retreat?

The throbbing in my head decided for me. It spiked. I staggered into the door, only to bend over and retch from the intensity of the pain. Nothing came out, but I gagged from the terrible, acidic taste filling my mouth.

"… awake!"

A bomb exploded in my head, and I collapsed to my knees. The door opened, and bright light flooded the room. It was too much. I screamed and closed my eyes, trying to escape the pain.

A hand pressed on my head. “Rest.”

Warmth filled me, and I complied, welcoming the blackness.

***

"You saw how he moved. He's possessed."

"Master, you know that's not true. I have checked. We have checked. He is pure.”

Was that her?The physician from the hospital?

Memories of forests and mountains and monsters clashed with the ICU.The conversation with the doctor started slipping away. I groped for the memory.It had seemed so…important, but no matter how I tried to hold on to them, they slipped away like sand through my fingers until only hazy flashes remained.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

What was real? Even the fragments of memory caused my heart to ache at the familiarity.

A touch at my temple brought me back. “Master, look.” A palpable frustration leaked from her voice. “He is no longer Unmarked."

I had to focus. Neither voice was from the woman with those mismatched eyes, but these voices were familiar…

It clicked. They were the people talking from before I passed out. They spoke with the same rhythm and cadence, but now I understood every word.

“You forget yourself, apprentice,” the older-sounding voice snapped.“I have eyes. I am still not convinced.You are too invested. Don’t expect my support in this.”

I tried to move, but all the pain that had disappeared returned tenfold. I groaned. I opted to open my eyes, but the brightness of the light was a dagger.

“Keep them closed."

While it lacked the gravelly tone of the older voice, I complied with the command. She spoke like someone competent and seasoned. I didn't resist when a hand slowly lifted my head and wrapped something around my eyes.

"Am I blind?" I pressed my reserves just to get out that sentence.

"I doubt it. You're just…adjusting." I sighed in relief, but adjusting? Adjusting to what? "It will take time. You're in no position to move anyway."

"He will need water. And don’t you dare use any healing tonics or potions. We will apply the same rules as we do for those children who are delayed.”

"Of course. I'll go get some, Master,” she replied in a tone that verged on making a mockery of the title.

The soft sounds of footsteps didn’t mask the quiet growl of the older woman. There would definitely be words later between those two. The hierarchy here sounded far more formal than between an attending and a resident. Was one a doctor and the other a nurse? But in which hospital would using ”master” be appropriate? And the things about tonics and potions…? Where was I? Even if it hurt, I had to know.

"What hospital am I in?"

"You'll need to speak Common if you wish to be understood. But you may as well save your breath. You'll need it. I fear you may not have long to recover."

The older woman did not give me time to answer before walking out and leaving me alone in darkness. I waited for someone to return. With each passing second, the urge to pull off the wrap around my eyes grew. A list of reasons not to populated my mind, with the first and foremost being the pain.

Instead, I forced myself to sit up. The ache in my back was worth it.I had memories of walking, but I also had one of falling over a waterfall. My arms and legs contained a strength that exceeded antigravity. At least 4/5 if I had to grade it. Not full, but far better than being paralyzed.

“This was new to me.It took longer than I had expected to ready it.”

I turned my head towards the voice from the other side of the room and nodded at the implicit apology from the younger woman. A hand cupped my own. It was warm. The touch was cautious yet with clear purpose. "Here." I didn't resist her guidance as she placed both of my hands around a cup. It was cool and rough. Not steel or plastic. Ceramic?

I didn’t care. The cup unlocked my thirst.I gulped down the cool, sweet liquid, relishing it to the last drop. A warmth spread from inside my stomach to my entire body. Aches and pains began to diminish.

"Thank you. What is this stuff?” Its effect worked as I would expect a narcotic, but far faster.It also cleared away some of the fogginess in my head.

"I'm sorry, I do not understand that language.”

“But you speak perfect English.”

“I know this is strange. It was for me too, but you need to speak Common. It just takes some focus."

Common? She was speaking...

I replayed her words in my mind. They were never English. My mind had automatically translated every single word.

How? Another question for another time.

“Is that--”

No. I tried again, this time focusing on the sounds I had just heard. My lips and tongue started to move in a strange way. I didn’t fight it, even as they produced utterly foreign sound. With effort, the words I wanted slowly spilled out. “Is…that…better?”

She answered, though I didn’t need the confirmation. “There you go. I know it can be strange especially if you grew up speaking a different language than Common. You'll get used to it faster than you think."

She took the empty cup from my hand. A thousand questions filled my mind, but a subtle clink and the sound of liquid filling the cup indicated that they would have to wait until later. I was not done with my medicine, but I had time for one question at least.

“Where am I?”

She gave the cup back to me. “Drink,” but she added, “you are in a…let’s just call it a mining camp. I found you in a river nearby. Do you know how you got there?”

“I remember a waterfall and…”

“The falls?” Almost as much to herself as to me, she added, “That river is not for swimming.” She paused long enough to nudge the cup back to my mouth. “You have the Gods’ own luck. You survived the falls, the trip downstream, and still had enough luck to be found by me. Few would have been able to help you given the severity of your injuries."

My muddled mind finally put two and two together. “Wait. You found me? Saved me?”

“Yes. Now drink.”

I did as she asked. Each sip brought warmth and ameliorated the pain. Had the waterfall not been a dream? Each ache and pain corroborated her words, but if I had fallen into the river that meant that I had seen a dinosaur. A sickening feeling filled my stomach. I was in a mining camp, but where was that?

I brought the cup to my lap. "This might be strange, but--"

A loud bang cut me off. A harsh, guttural yell—no a roar—followed in Common. "Is he awake?”

As soon as he had spoken, the woman next to me hurried into the other room. Even if she hadn’t rushed, the ferocity and malice infusing his words made it clear that the newcomer was no friend.

If someone had responded, I missed it in the sounds of movement. Either way, it did little to mollify the newcomer. “How many more resources do you intend to waste on this Human? He better be in the mines tomorrow or he will be cast out."

"He will not be--"

A crack, then a stifled cry. My savior went silent. She had saved me. I should say something, but I couldn’t, not when every bit of my survival instinct screamed that doing anything to make myself known would be death. Instead, I gripped the cup hard enough that my hands hurt.

“You forget your place, girl. You may be her student and gifted, but you will still listen to me. I gave you leniency, but your failure yesterday ended that.”

The older woman stepped in. “Enough. She is mine to punish, but know that I agree with you even if not for the same reason. She would have failed to heal him even if she had the energy."

“Somehow I doubt that. He enters the mine tomorrow no matter what shape he's in. He owes a large enough debt, and your debt does not extend to the likes of him.”

The door slammed. A second later the older voice hissed, "You fool. Now you have me wrapped up in your poor decisions. You should have just let him die. It would have been a greater mercy than what is about to happen."

The door slammed again.

Another set of footsteps approached. "Gods, I left the door open. You heard it all?"

I nodded.

"I am a fool."

I wanted to reassure her, but nothing in that exchange sounded good for me.

"Here."I took what she put into my hand. This one was cooler and smoother. Glass? "Drink."

I did what she requested, but this time the cool liquid was a bitter substance. “What is this—“

“Just drink it. All of it.”

I owed my life to her. I tipped it back and finished it in one swig.

Warmth followed by nausea spread from my core. My arms grew heavy. "What did you give me?" My words slurred. I struggled to stay sitting up.

She put a hand on my head. "I'm sorry, but I don’t see another option." Before I could say a word, something pulsed in my head. It pulled me towards slumber. No. Not again. I needed answers, not sleep. "You have proven stronger than I would have expected for your level.” The pulsing grew stronger, and an unpleasant tingling spread across my head. It beat down my resistance, and once again I fell into darkness.