Somewhere in town
"Jack!" came a shout from outside.
The front door burst open, making Jack jump as he almost dropped his glass of water.
A town guardsman stood in the door opening, breathless, struggling to catch his breath. It was as if he had just run 10 laps around the village. Jack glanced at the guard with surprise and curiosity to why the man looked to be in such a rush.
Jack had lived in the town for years and the townsfolk knew that Jack's door was always open for anyone in medical need. This, however, was a situation he had yet to experience.
"Jack!" the guard called out again, panting. "You have to come to the hospital." The man breathed in deeply before continuing.
"We found 2 Ignisari, near the entry of Dewgate Forest." He took another deep breath, slowly getting his composure back.
"Slow down man, catch your breath first," Jack said as he approached the guard.
The guard shook his head. "No time!" he said with a stern voice that surprised Jack.
"The 2 are at death's door. You must help them, quick."
Jack's eyes shot open after hearing this and immediately ran for the door. His house was located next to the river that ran through the town, and as Jack moved into the street he spotted a familiar face on the other side of the river.
Realizing he might need all the help he could get, he ran to the top of the riverbed. On the other side of the river lay an elven boy. He wasn't doing much by the looks of it, making it easier for Jack to call out to him.
"HEY! LUCIAN, I NEED YOUR HELP!" He shouted as hard as he could.
He worried that Lucian might not have heard him from this far away, but his worry went away when he saw him looking up and nodded. He started running towards the central plaza where the bridge connected both sides of the village together. A few moments later, Lucian came running into the plaza ready to help his friend out.
"What is going on?" he said somewhat alarmed, and worried after hearing his shout for help.
"2 Ignisarians have apparently been brought in. They told me they were in a life-threatening state. I could really use your help." Jack's face did not hide the urgency and Lucian didn't question any further.
"Lead the way then. We have no time to lose" He answered as he motioned for Jack to get going.
---
A few minutes later Jack and Lucian ran into the hospital. The receptionist, knowing the situation, immediately pointed in the direction where the 2 Ignisarians were.
"Room 2!" she shouted.
"Thanks!" Jack replied as he ran down the hallway with Lucian closely behind him.
Almost ramming the doors out of their frames, Jack burst into the room where 3 nurses were already investigating the wounds and trying to stop the bleeding where they could.
"Ok what do we have here?" Jack asked in an urgent, yet professional voice.
"We have a male and female Ignisari. Both are unconscious and heavily injured." She quickly walked in between the 2 Ignisarians.
"Both have lots of injuries, but I'll go over the most important ones for now." She spoke fast and precise. "They both seem to have injuries resulting from some sort of explosion. They were hit from the back and they both have burns, cuts, and bruises all over their backs. The female though, is worse off in this case. The worst injury for the male is his lower rib. It seemed to have been broken by a forceful impact that might have caused internal trauma. The female is a different story. She has lots of cuts and bruises but mainly has an open wound that is probably caused by a branch or something similar. We can see there are still pieces of wood inside the wound and she has lost a lot of blood from that wound. She probably has a head injury though that might just as well be the case for the male."
The nurse turned to the female while Jack took a quick moment to instruct Lucian to begin his healing on the male.
"Lucian, can you start healing him? Seems like you should be able to fix most of his wounds. Leave the rib to me, it seems that needs more specialized care."
Lucian nodded and started his healing magic as Jack turned back to the nurse.
"This one though is a different story. She has lots of bruises, scratches, and burns on her back. Again probably from an explosion. Her side seems to be have been pierced by something, most likely a branch, based on the pieces of wood and leaves around the wound. It went all the way through and she, most likely, has severe damage to her organs. She has lost a lot of blood and though she seems to still be breathing, if we don't act quickly, she might not make it."
Jack gave a side glance to check if Lucian was doing ok with his healing. It took him no time at all to spot the male Ignisari was in good hands for now and focus fully on the girl.
---
"Zeph"
Slowly my eyes opened. The world spun before me. My head was throbbing and the light from the window was blinding me. I groaned in discomfort as I tried to move my arms but could hardly move them away from me. Almost like something was holding me down.
"Ugh... Where am I?" I tried to say, but only an inaudible whisper faded into the air.
My head spun wildly as if drunk after a good night out with friends, but my body felt completely drained. I tried to make sense of it all, but my daze was covering parts of my memory and I just felt lost.
I took a deep breath... and again... and again. My head calmed down a little. I started looking around as much as I could, my vision slowly adjusting to the bright window light but still spinning. I could make out white walls, a white ceiling, and a large window to my right, and there was a door on the left with a small sink next to it.
This almost looks like a hospital, I thought while trying to take it all in and trying to work out where I was exactly.
Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. Come one Zeph, you can do it. The mental gymnastics seemed to work a little as my vision got clearer as if sobering up. My experience with mindfulness from Earth suddenly came into play here.
Who would have thought that it would actually work. I chuckled in my head.
I tried to pull my arms up to my side, though still feeling like they would hardly move. After some more tries, they arrived where I wanted them. With all the energy I could muster, I tried to pull myself up into a sitting position. It wasn't soon after, that I wished I wasn't so keen to get up.
A bolt of pain punched through my side and rocked my body. The pain caused me to spasm as I dropped back which caused a second jolt to make me cry out in pain.
"AAAGGGGHH!" I cried out while pain kept rushing through me as each painful stab made me move causing a cycle of ongoing painful stabs in my back..
The sudden shock reminded me of what happened before I passed out, and my heart rate skyrocketed. I felt my heart starting to go mad with fear when the door burst open.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
I noticed two women rushing into the room as I tried to bite through the pain. They observed for a fraction of a second when a blond-haired woman ran to the window on the opposite side of the room. Meanwhile, a brunette ran to my side and slowly pushed against my shoulders.
"Sir, please remain calm!" the woman ordered urgently with a professional yet shaky voice. "You are in a hospital and you were seriously injured. Stay still, or you will only feel more pain."
I heard what she said and tried my best, but the pain was unbearable. The moment I made any movement, something struck my back as if a knife was thrust in and twisted. Through the pain, I saw the blond woman make hast with a glass of something. She turned around and ran over to give me some, what I assumed, medicine.
"Sir, drink this. It will help with the pain." her voice was soft and gentle and it helped me relax enough to drink whatever she was giving me. There was no space in my head to doubt what I was given.
Slowly, my pain started fading, and my body calmed down. The world around me slowly returned to what you could call normal. Looking around I saw the two women smile in relief.
They were both wearing the same uniform: white skirts that fell to their knees, white shirts, and a small cap that kept their hair away from their face.
Damn, seems like the all-white attire isn't just on Earth. The thought put a slight smile on my face.
"Sir, are you ok now?" the brunette asked. "Please relax, ok?" The two women looked concerned as they awaited my reply.
"Yeah," came a broken voice. "It feels much better now." My throat felt like sandpaper when I spoke or swallowed. "Could I have some water?".
The blond nurse immediately got up and walked over to the sink. She filled a cup with water and walked back. This was the first time I noticed she had a very slim figure, and her height was about the same as the brunette. And I noticed they were both human.
"Here you go," she held the cup just in front of my head with her right arm while helping me raise my head just enough to drink something.
"My name is Anya," she said as she carefully placed my head back. "And this here is Miranda."
Anya placed the cup back on the sink while Miranda started explaining what happened.
"Yesterday the town guards found you and, what we assume, your sister, in a terrible condition. You have a broken rib low in your back. That is also why it hurts so much. So please be careful ok? Don't move if you don't have to."
I nodded. "ok, I won't"
"You also hit your head really hard. You will probably have a serious headache for a few days. Apart from that, we healed all other injuries but your body will feel sore for a bit as well, as it tries to recover. So please take it easy for a while."
Miranda's voice was just as soothing as Anya's was earlier. I felt a lot calmer now that I knew I was safe again.
"We also want to apologize for the inconvenience but our medical supplies were running low and our Luminary couldn't help you recover fully. So he went to get some medicine in the next town. He should be back by tomorrow. He will surely get you back on your feet in no time at all" She smiled as she stood up, about to leave.
"Anya," Miranda said, in a more serious tone. "Shall we check on the other patients as well?"
Anya nodded and looked back at me and came a bit closer.
"We will be out for a few minutes but if you need anything please use this." Anya put a purple stone on a small table to my right. "If you have any problems or pain, take the stone and just squeeze it." She grabbed a stone from her pocket and squeezed the stone she gave me. The moment she put pressure on the stone, the stone from her pocket lit up.
Well that is fancy stuff. Didn't know they had the equivalent of a pager here. I grinned.
"Thank you, If anything is amiss, I will use the stone," I said with a still shrill voice.
The women said their goodbyes and walked towards the door. Before Miranda could grab the door I overheard them saying something. It was hard to understand correctly, but three words brought on a full panic attack.
"I... yo... ch... ...n the gu... fro... ...oom two, tha... ... ...ill ..ec... this guys sister."
This guy's sister?
Heart rate increasing, mind racing, body slowly started shaking.
"Sis!" I called out suddenly, scaring the nurses who turned around and responded immediately at the sight of my drained face and panicked expression.
"Anya, quick, we must sedate him."
The daze having subsided, the pain subdued, and thus my mind clearer. It paved the way for those 3 words to bring back the memory of my dying sister. Her face and body covered in blood. No connection between us. No movement from her limp body. My body being just as limb, no way to reach out. No way to help her. No way to save her.
The panic grew, my senses crashing at all levels. A hand grabbed my shoulder and it made me flinch, as my body tried to move. A sudden jolt of pain rushed through me again as my movement caused the pain of my rib to punch through whatever they had given me earlier.
"My sister! Where is my sister!" I almost shouted as the thought of losing her made even the pain from my rib feel like a slight inconvenience.
"Your sister is fine! Please calm down, sir!" Miranda pressed to no avail.
Dark particles started to float around me. For some reason, they got my attention, even through the panic. The particles became more abundant as the seconds that felt like hours passed.
The last thing I heard was Anya's voice.
"Niriva!"
The world went dark, my senses shut down, then nothing.
---
I heard a door open. There was chatter. I could hear one male and two female voices.
I recognized the female voices as Anya and Miranda; the male voice was new.
My hearing turned on as my mind slowly woke up but the body stayed frozen. There was no such thing as lifting even a finger, but it did not bother me as much as I thought.
I am safe. I am cared for. I will get better. These were the only thoughts that occupied my mind.
After a few minutes, I started to wonder what the nurses and this new guy were doing. My eyes were still shut but I could hear someone pouring something into a glass or cup.
"Miranda, could you please wake him up? He should be fine by now." The male voice asked.
As an Ignisarian, my horns acted like antennas for Aether in the air, allowing me to notice Aether amassing at the end of my bed and making me curious about what they were planning
"Disriva!" Miranda called, as my eyes opened and my body unfroze.
Small light particles dissipated around me and my body was, once more under my control. For a second I thought of getting up into a sitting position, but before I acted on it, I was softly held down by the man in the room.
"Hey, please stay still. Your ribs have not yet fully healed and I don't want to take any chances ok?" His voice was calm and I nodded as the painful memories of... of... … before came back.
"How long was I out for," I asked, surprised by my much-improved voice.
"I heard you woke up yesterday. That was not really what I intended, but you Ignisari have remarkable regenerative properties." He said with an almost jealous smile.
"But in total, you have been out for 2 days, which is amazing in and of itself. But that doesn't mean you are all healed up. Your rib was fractured pretty badly and We managed to manipulate it back into place. We can't use healing magic to solve this one completely, so we ask that you stay in this position for a bit longer. Given your speedy regeneration, we should be able to heal your rib by tomorrow morning."
This was good news and I was thanking the gods for my race having this little perk to it. But even though I was looking forward to my speedy recovery, my face must have shown the worry for one other thing.
Miranda walked up to my left and held out a cup. It was the same cup as they used yesterday with which they gave me some medicine.
"Here, please drink this. It should help calm you down. That way you can rest a bit better."
She held my head up again, just enough to drink from the cup.
The moment I woke up, I felt an emptiness, a hole in my soul. As Jack talked I remembered the small hints that the nurses gave, that my sister was ok. But I felt uneasy, worrying they were only saying that to calm me down yesterday. I currently could not feel anything she felt, I could not hear or see anything she heard or saw. Was she alive? Was she nearby? Where is she?
"My sister," I stated. "How is she?"
"Ah," Jack said surprised. "So she was indeed your sister. Can I ask what her name is?" his voice casual as if nothing happened.
"Zephyria" I answered.
"Now that is a good name." He smiled and sat down on a chair next to the bed to my right.
"I can tell you that she is going to be just fine. She was indeed heavily injured and on the brink of death. Your little racial trait, however, healed her up just enough to keep her alive long enough for us to do our magic. So don't worry about her. She is in the next room and we are keeping her in a very deep sleep for now." His voice was caring but a little hint of his professionality shone through as well. "We just want to make sure the wound heals fully before waking her up."
No wonder I couldn't sense her. She is in a magically induced coma. My head calmed and this was visible on my face.
"So what is your name, mister..." he trailed of questioningly.
"Zeph"
"Hmmmm. Interesting." He stroked his chin with his index finger.
"Well, mister Zeph. It is a pleasure to meet you. You might not have noticed but during our little talk, I did some light healing for your back. You have been in this position for a while now. We don't want you to get any complications from just laying around, do we?" He laughed and stood up.
"Ok, well, if you have nothing to add, I will be taking my leave. You still have the stone right? Use it if you need anything. I will drop by tomorrow and we will heal you up to full health."
"Thank you, .... uhm?" I trailed off questioningly.
"Oh, yeah. I haven't even told you my name yet. You can call me Jack. I am the head and only Luminary in town. And you probably also want to know where you are. You are currently in the small hospital in Birchbridge. It's about a week's walk from Stonebridge."
"Thank you and nice to meet you too, Jack." I smiled.
Jack waved and walked out of the room, followed by Anya and Miranda who also said their goodbyes.
"Damn, A luminary in this place. Seems I'm really lucky."
Luminary are rare healers that usually can be found in just a handful of towns and villages. The often prefer to stick to the big cities as they can earn a good amount of coin for their services there. In a small town like Birchbridge, I'm a lucky guy.
The interaction just now seemed to have taken a toll on me. The relief that my sister was okay and that I was going to be fine caused a wave of tension to release, leaving me tired.
Well, time to rest a bit more. I promised to protect you Aria, and I am not about to let that slip through my fingers. Not again. I thought to myself.
"Time for a new start," I whispered to myself as I slowly fell asleep.