***

As soon the game loaded up Blake started looking around and nearly tripped in his disorientation. He caught himself soon enough and went to the place the monster crashed into. His steps got slower and slower as he approached until he stood right at the spot with wide eyes and a puzzled expression.

(Gone?)

He ducked and examined the ground. There were no blood traces that went from the crash place so the Gar’rac didn’t walk away. Blake slowly closed his eyes and bit down on his lip in frustration.

(Did it die? It died for sure. And with me not present no items were dropped. Splendid…)

He opened his eyes after a second and once again ducked and examined the nearby ground to make sure.

“...ke...ake…”

Confusion spread on Blake’s face, but then he noticed that the sound wasn’t coming from the game and took his headset and goggles off.

***

“BLAKE! Get over here!”

Caleb’s yelling resounded from outside and shocked Blake who momentarily shot up from his chair and yelled back.

“COMING!”

“Get the first aid kit!”

Blake practically flew down the stairs, got the first aid kid from the cupboard and stormed outside not even daring to think what could have happened.

Seconds later he was in the garden and saw Caleb kneeling on the grass and holding the hands of an unmoving woman. Her clothes were dyed deep crimson and blood was dripping from her sleeves, she wasn’t moving.

Blake’s heart froze. Stopping dead in his tracks, his eyes widened from terror.

“Give me the kit, then freeze if you want!”

Caleb’s yell helped him snap out of it and he immediately got to him. His father kept the woman in an upright position and tried stopping the bleeding with rough bandages he made from his shirt, but it seemed to be too bad for that. He tried getting the woman’s attention, not letting her completely lose consciousness, but she only reacted in a minimal way and then went motionless again.

Caleb grimaced and quickly gave Blake commands.

“Get the bandages out and press down when I remove my hand. We’ll start with the right one. Also ready a cloth and tape for binding.”

Blake hurriedly did as he was told and took care of the wounds as well as he could. He then turned to Caleb who looked at the woman with concern.

‘’The ambulance?”

Caleb lifted his gaze.

“Called them right away. The police too.“

Blake nodded but he wasn’t relieved in the slightest.

“What happened?”

Caleb shook his head helplessly.

“I don’t know. She was just here, lying. Maybe a street assault? Or attempted murder at a neighbor’s house? But these wounds are just… barbaric.

Blake just caught a glimpse of the woman’s upper arms but shuddered at the thought of the slashed tissue.

He suddenly noticed the approaching sound of sirens and ran to the street.

“I’ll get them.”

He waved at the ambulance and soon the woman was transported away. The police also arrived just after the ambulance and brought Blake and Caleb in for the necessary paperwork.

Blake was sooner done and Caleb told him to go home. The latter had to get some more done and decided to then go by the hospital and check how the woman was doing. Blake complied and went home while being lost in thought about the incident and the possibilities. Everything that happened weighed heavily on his shoulders and he decided to walk the last two bus stops to catch some fresh air.

When he got home the sun had already gone down and a light was burning in Rose’s room. He entered the house and headed to her.

(Right, did dad tell her? I’m not sure.)

He went up to her room and knocked a few times. Seconds passed and she didn’t answer. He knocked again with a strange queasy feeling from everything that had already happened that day.

(Maybe she has her headset on…)

Blake opened the door, entered and had his blood freeze up right in his veins.

Rose laid in the middle of the room, with a cut going from her thigh to her shoulder and blood underneath her.

His eyes tore wide open and he screamed while falling next to her.

“Rose!”

He took his t-shirt off and quickly pressed it against her side as hard as he could. His thoughts were racing yet also on a complete stand still, barely managing to keep him functional.

(Ah… Um… Stopping the bleeding. Tape! Wires! )

He left one arm pressing on the shirt and turned quickly with the other, plucking a nearby cable and rolling it up. After looking for her pulse he found that it was very weak.

(Water? Should I do that? Ah damn I should have taken up first aid…)

His gaze raced through the room and stopped on a nearby water bottle. He quickly grabbed it and decided to quickly wash the wound before pressing the shirt down hard and securing it with the cable.

Blake lifted the shirt abruptly away and poured water over the whole area. He immediately started pressing the shirt down again and got the cable ready but suddenly froze on the spot. Her wounds stopped bleeding and gradually healed.

Blake’s hands slowly fell to the ground with the shirt and the cable while he just stared at the spot where the wound previously was.

His head started feeling very light and it felt like he lost the ability to process information.

Blake reached for Rose’s arm and felt her pulse.

(It’s better than a moment ago…)

He sat in silence with his left hand on her pulse.

*SMACK*

He swung his other hand heavily, slapped himself and nodded.

(It’s no dream… Am I losing my mind?)

Blake shook Rose lightly, but she was unresponsive.

(What is happening?! I can’t even call an ambulance now with all the blood and no wound!)

His head suddenly shot up and his thoughts cleared up.

(The water! It must be the water!)

He took the bottle into his hand and examined it. It didn’t look like any bottle type he ever saw before. There was no label and the material also didn’t quite seem like plastic.

(Where did this come from..? But this is what caused that… healing? It has to be.)

He looked at it with a troubled expression and then slowly turned towards a nearby cupboard.

(I’ll need to check.)

He got up and opened the cupboard, taking a pair of scissors out with still shaking hands.

(Now, no need to overdo it.)

He opened the scissors and ran the inner side of a blade against a small place on his palm, leaving a thin red line. Blake then brought the bottle to his hands but hesitated a few seconds before pouring a few drops over the cut. As soon as the drops landed the cut faded like a bad dream.

His hands started shaking again while he stared at the bottle with eyes wide open from the fact he just confirmed.

(Magic… Impossible, a healing potion just randomly laid in Rose’s room after she got slashed open!)

Everything around him seemed like a really bad fever dream, making him accept the facts at face value for the moment for Rose’s sake. She still laid unresponsively on the floor despite her wound perfectly closing up. Blake squirmed in worry, trying to figure out what to do.

(She lost a lot of blood, but if it everything was healed she should be all right? Ugh, I have no clue what to do. Is the wound even fully healed?)

He lightly scrubbed off the remaining blood but it didn’t seem like any trace of the wound remained.

(Did it heal from the inside or did it just patch up the outer part?)

He poured a bit of the liquid into his hand and applied it over the healed cut but nothing seemed to happen. Blake bit into his lip as tried to determine what to do.

(Ah damn it all!)

He brought the bottle to his lips and took the smallest sip he could.

A refreshing feeling spread inside him, washing the fatigue away and also helping him focus a little bit easier.

(Okay, it’s safe to use like this too.)

Blake then went on to lightly lift Rose and very carefully made her drink a bit of the potion.

(Come on, don’t you choke!)

A second passed and some color returned to Rose’s face. Blake heaved a sigh of relief when he noticed the change but his grim face expression remained.

(What in the world is happening here? Okay, I’ll take a step back from the problem first. )

He breathed in deeply to gather his thoughts and tried to go through everything that happened today.

(So… The weird part of the day started with the appearance of the wounded woman. I’ll just go ahead and say that her incident and Rose’s are connected. So what could have caused them? )

Blake gently carried Rose over to her bed and then went to inspect the window.

(There are no signs of breaking in. The entrance was also locked when I came in.)

He quickly ran out of the room and peeked from the staircase to the yard entrance and returned to Rose.

(There was also nothing wrong there, so let’s say nobody broke in.)

He took a look at all the blood on the floor.

(What caused this then? The traces in the direction of her table... and her chair is far from its place. Did she play the game before that? Wait…)

Blake slowed down and went through all the things that happened as if gradually booting his mind up.

(The game… The Gar’rac injured its front legs with stone carving and there was also a torso injury from the crash afterwards. The woman had horrifyingly slashed up arms and upper body injuries. So… those two are connected? Somehow? )

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His own thoughts started to feel alien and strange as he slowly continued his line of thought and stared at Rose.

(Rose played the game and also somehow ended up with a horrible injury. So she might have the same connection with something like the woman had with the Gar’racr? But why? The potion also fits in I guess? I did fiddle with them but why are they in Rose’s room?)

His brooding over the problems got interrupted by rattling that came from under stairs. Blake heard the door open and soundlessly crept to the staircase to check who it was.

He recognised the silhouette of his father in the dark room and searched for what to say. A few moments passed and he finally managed to press a few words out as his father finished taking his shoes off.

“Hi dad.”

Caleb turned to him with an absent minded expression.

“Ah, hi. Come on, get down. I’ll tell you what happened. Tell your sister to come down too.”

Blake awkwardly paused before replying.

“Um… I want you to listen to me as calmly as possible now.”

Caleb’s face immediately tensed up and he nodded curtly after which Blake continued.

“Rose is not in immediate danger, but she was injured. It isn’t as it looks.”

Caleb held his more or less neutral face expression but Blake knew very well what was boiling beneath.

“Is she in her room? Tell me what happened, immediately.”

Blake started to answer.

“She is in her room b…”

And with that Caleb stormed right past Blake and rushed to Rose’s room. Blake caught up immediately but his dad had already opened the door.

All color drained from his face and his eyes were wide open as he saw blood on the floor and Rose laying on her bed, motionlessly, smeared with blood and her clothes torn.

“Rose! So much blood... What happened?! Can you hear me Rose?”

He went straight to Rose and checked her pulse when he saw that she was unresponding. Blake tried to get his attention.

“The wound is healed, listen to me!”

Caleb looked up for a split second with an incredulous expression and immediately turned to looking at the big tear in her clothes and searching for a wound.

“Are you mad?! Did you call the ambulance? What happened here?! The attacker from before?”

(How to explain the inexplicable?)

“I already did all first aid when I came home, listen to me! I poured this over her wound and it just closed, from this bottle here!”

He pointed at the bottle after Caleb stopped inspecting Rose for a short while but what he got was a look of pure disbelief.

Blake clicked his tongue and got the scissors that were still nearby.

“You don’t believe? I’ll show you right now, just watch.”

Caleb watched for a second as he took the scissors, readying his hand. A moment later Blake was pinned down on the floor, held tightly by his father. Blood was gushing from his palm as Caleb was a second too late and the fall just made the cut go deeper.

“You are crazy! What is wrong with you?”

Blake struggled as Caleb was trying to immobilise him and determine what is happening here.

“Pour the water over the wound! Just do it! Water won’t do anything except clean the wound in the worse case. Do it!”

Caleb reluctantly released Blake’s wounded arm, carefully got the bottle and poured the liquid over the injury. As the two times before, the slash closed up nearly immediately and left just a petrified Caleb.

“Now get off of me!”

Caleb got up, released Blake and was just standing there flabbergasted. He caught himself after a second and spoke up.

“What is going on?”

Blake shook his head in frustration.

“I wish I knew. She had a deep slash going from her thigh to her shoulder when I came home. I started doing first aid, getting a bandage, stopping the bleeding and such. I was totally terrified and panicked. I just took the water to quickly clean the wound and wanted to bandage it up but when I started doing it the wound was nearly completely closed already.”

Caleb was sitting next to Rose, holding her hand and listened in utmost silence to Blake.

“So… you also have no idea who did this?”

Blake hesitated before continuing.

“I don’t. The entrances were closed, the windows too. No signs of break in. But… I do have a theory. It’s quite a mad one.”

Caleb rolled his eyes and raised his voice in exasperation.

“I’m pretty sure I can handle a bit crazy right now.”

Blake cocked his head for a moment and continued.

“The woman from earlier today had wounds on the same location a monster from Alteration had too. The time also checks out. There has to be some connection. It seems also like Rose played Alteration before getting into this state so the same thing might have happened to her too.”

Caleb’s face turned into a stone mask as he listened to Blake and contemplated about his theory.

“And the potion? Why was one in the room?”

Blake shook his head as he answered.

“I have no idea about that one. I did transfer a few potions today, but I don’t know if that is also connected. I just suddenly found it here. This whole situation is pure madness!”

Caleb nodded.

“Quite so… Try searching for more.”

Blake stopped in surprise.

“What do you mean?”

Caleb urged him on.

“Look around, if you randomly found one maybe there is also another one, or some clue at least. Meanwhile I’ll call the ambulance and get Rose changed.”

Blake looked at him with a shocked expression.

“What will you tell them? There is no wound nor can you tell them what happened!”

Caleb grimaced while hurrying Blake on.

“I’ll just tell them that she suddenly collapsed. She won’t be in her bloody clothes and I’ll carry her down and put her on the sofa. I certainly won’t put all my trust in that bottled miracle over there, she might need a transfusion. Now go and search while I do that.”

Blake nodded understandingly and started inspecting the room closely.

The ambulance came very soon after Caleb carried the changed Rose down. He told them exactly what he told Blake and after the examination the paramedics left saying that she was fine now and that rest was all she needed, pinning the unconsciousness to anemia and the summer heats. She now seemed just to be sleeping.

Caleb showed the paramedics to the door and thanked them for the quick response.

He then turned back and called Blake down.

“They are gone. Did you find something?”

Steps came from above and Blake started descending the stairs.

“I certainly did. Look at this.”

He held four full bottles that looked the same as the first one he used to heal Rose.

Caleb’s eyes widened upon seeing them and he urged Blake to put them on the table.

They were examining all the bottles, but there were no clues nor brands that could help them. Caleb was the first one who broke the silence.

“We can’t know for sure if these are the same as the first one.”

Blake just nodded while still carefully examining a bottle so Caleb continued.

“They do look the same but we won’t take any chances. We have no idea where these bottles came from and there is no need to take risks thankfully.”

He threw a glance in Rose’s direction.

“The potion saved her, the paramedics said that she’ll be fine after a good rest... What in the world happened here? Nothing makes any sense!”

Blake placed the bottle back on the table and spoke up.

“The only lead we have is my theory I guess. The woman did have wounds in the exact same position as the monster. With everything that happened I wouldn’t even be surprised if it’s connected. We need to speak to her, how is she?”

Caleb’s brows rose as he remembered again.

“Oh, right, I didn’t tell you. She made it through the operation, she’s out of life danger.

Blake visibly relaxed and continued.

“Good, we need to speak to her as soon as possible. She is the best lead we have.”

Caleb sighed and nodded.

“I agree. We’ll go to the hospital first thing in the morning and check what her status is. It would be best if you go to sleep now. Brooding over this won’t do us any good. We don’t have enough information.”

Blake didn’t seem happy with his father’s decision.

“What about Rose?”

“I’ll stay up and be close if anything happens, don’t worry. Now go to sleep, you really look like you need it.”

Blake obliged and went to his room while grumbling. He tossed and turned for a long time before finally managing to fall asleep.

***

He was woken up the next morning by rustling noises that came from downstairs.

******

The next chapter will be the last of the batch ('"season"). I will be gone after it for around two months due to studying and exams.

I'll try to ready another batch first though so I can make regular releases like I did now.

I'd be quite interested in hearing some feedback so do feel free to leave some comments on the chapter/reviews.

For info about the releases check out the author's note in the first chapter. In case you want to ask questions first check the tags and the synopsis. I'm just mentioning this due to past experiences