The path is not long, arriving at the training spot quite quickly. The first thing I notice about this place is the smell, a pleasing fragrance from the flowers around the training spot, the trees stand tall behind the training spot, decorating the scene in fitting vermilion shades.

A building stands close to the right of the training zone, armored and guarded I assume that must be the barracks or something among those lines.

"Welcome, Xavier, to the Upbringing Fields, our training grounds for soldiers who wish to protect these lands and those they love. We bring people up to stand for what they believe in and fight for what's right."

I take a deep breath through my nose to enjoy the fragrance before responding

"It is my pleasure to be here, the Light Beacon is quite a beauty and so are its facilities, I really like this fragrance in the air, it makes me feel focused"

Jathorn points out to the trees and the flowers

"These wonderful stationary life forms surrounding us are what give this place the unique smell, we have the flowers planted to blend in with the smell of vermilion trees. Research yields results that these flowers and the trees produce a fragrance that allows people to focus and learn easier"

Impressive, using nature to our benefit.

"huh, a smell to produce a state of focus, how did people come to find out about this reaction?"

Jathorn turns towards me.

"im not sure really, im not an expert in biology or fauna, i deal more with technology, but maybe sometime we could-"

From the distance, a call comes our way

"Jathorn!"

Jathorn turns to see who summons him. His expresion changes to a more serious one, shouting as he notices who it is.

"Yes, Laven?"

Laven... that name I've heard him call for while i was at the infirmary, now that i can see them, they appear to be a female in what looks to be decorated armor, she runs towards us and stops to pant for a few seconds.

"What's wrong?"

Jathorn asks as she stops

"We have a catastrophic void affliction upon our soldiers, sir, many of them have stated seeing things that aren't there and some have been seen with the Void's Roots sir!"

Jathorn's expression changes to a worried one, putting his hand on his chin

"Dammit, the void is already striking, call a Light Apothecary, we will need their help"

Laven snaps into a military salute pose

"AYE SIR!"

she yells out before rushing towards the Light Beacon

Jathorn looks at me

"Tch- I'm sorry, Xavier, But we will have to delay the training untill we have this situation dealt with-"

He stops for a moment thinking something up

"Wait, i think i got an idea, Xavier, i will need your help and i belive you can learn from this aswell"

"better than sitting idly by, im willing to help"

i assure him of my coaperation, anything that will help me learn more about what this arm is capable of should help me regaining my memories in the long run.

"Great. We will be going in the barracks, they are likely held there, we will bring them to the infirmary where we will deal with their affliction"

"got it"

Jathorn rushes to the barracks where the door is being held shut by guards, how didn't I notice them from afar?

Jathorn gives the order of a standby mage to create a light blessing on him, the guards, and on me

The mage has glowing runes of what seems to be the Light Beacon in symbol representation, the runes extend a line from his back palms onto his fingers which then spew out strings of light that surround us, they then implode, which I suppose is from us absorbing the blessing.

Jathorn then orders the guards to open the door, he has his hand ready on a whip from his belt, as soon as the door opens the soldiers under afflictions rush towards us as if to tackle us, Jathorn uses the whip that lights up its end, flowing swiftly and precisely hitting each of the soldiers behind the head making them fall.

The mage upon realizing what Jathorn is doing, makes light chains to hold each of the soldiers on the ground, there is a total of 15 soldiers bound with these chains. Jathorn then looks at the mage

"Bring over the light carrier, we have to get them to the infirmary before it spreads"

The mage nods

"Yes sir!"

As ordered, he goes into the barracks and comes back with a device that looks small for something supposed to carry people, it has a transparent tube with some sort of chips like a coin but thicker.

Jathorn takes some of the chips and the mage does the same, putting them onto the soldiers.

The chips stick to them easily, beginning to emit light.

After a bit of time, the emitted light forms a sort of cloud below the soldiers connected to a chain that Jathorn uses to pull them towards the infirmary, he gives me and the others some of their chains so we can help him reach faster.

The clouds make the weight of the fallen soldiers feel at least a few times lighter, we hurry up to the Light Beacon where Jathorn stops us as a group of people exits the Light Beacon.

They come to us and inject every single one of the soldiers with a needle which remains into their skin, from the part out of the skin smoke and black liquid spew out.

"These are the apothecary, Xavier, their job is to cleanse the body of infectious properties to allow them safe passage into the infirmary without risk of further spread to other people and delay the spread from their bodies, they will also help in keeping the patients in stable conditions"

I suppose this infection spreads rapidly from their host

"I see, good thing it just spread to these 15 soldiers and not more

I see Laven coming out of the Light beacon with a similar device to the one I used to get down the staircase, this one seems to be for those in an unconscious state as they appear to be just about long and wide enough to strap in a person.

The apothecary continues their work while aided by a mage from their squad and the mage who cast the blessing, they seem to be purifying the individuals removing as much of that black liquid as possible and gathering it into a vial.

"Jathorn? Why are they collecting that strange liquid from them?"

I ask

"That liquid can be used to combat the void, it can be purified in such ways to allow a user to use light magic who otherwise was not able to cast it. We use this liquid in emergencies to strengthen our defensive power and as a bonus, some of these liquids have a variant that can't be noticed until processing, this variant allows us to build weapons of solid purified light."

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solid light? That's rather interesting, I wonder what such a weapon looks like. Hmm, could Jathorns whip use such material for their whip? After all, it does have a white gradient towards its end.

One of the apothecaries approach Jathorn

"Sir, the purification process is unable to be finished, we won't be able to bring them inside the Light Beacon, we sent Laven to call for Purgers to help us to contain the infection, meanwhile we will purify the surrounding to keep it controlled, sir"

Jathorn nods

"Good, thank you for acting fast on the Purgers, ill have Xavier to stabilize their conditions"

The apothecary returns to their team who set up a circle on the ground enough to fit all 15 of the soldiers, the circle glows and creates a form of barrier around them

I look at Jathorn with a confused look

"How am I supposed to stabilize them? I don't know how to do something like that yet"

Jathorn looks at me with confidence

"I believe you can do this without knowing too much about the process, I shall guide you on how to use such an ability"

Well, I suppose this is what he meant by learning from helping. Worth a shot.

"Okay"

Jathorn moves towards the soldiers and signs me to come closer to them,

he then grabs my right hand

"You have used your had atleast twice now, you should have an easier time with this. Now, to help them we will need a specific type of fire you can emit from your hand, think of a wound healing, of a sickness cured, of an infection removed, something to involve the indivuduals getting better, but you have to be carefull with this technique, if your mind drifts from the initial intention the effects can be reversed or made worse"

Anxiety creeps within my spine and crawls down in the form of a chill from the added possibility, but i'll have to try despite the risk, i cnat stand and watch them die.

"Understood-"

before i could finish what i had to say Jathorn cuts his palm

"Heal this first to make sure you understand how this works"

he dosen't seem to trust me that much, but i cant blame him, i dont remember much of my past let alone how to controll my powers, i don't want to have these soldiers die by my hands on a mistake.

"Alright..."

I close my eyes and focus, taking a deep breath and thinking of a wound getting healed, i point my right hand forward towards Jathorn and realease a jet of flames, in my mind i see the wound getting hit with fire that makes the wound close up and heal, i hear suppressed groaning, making me start thinking of something else so i stop the jet of flames before my mind drifts from its purpose.

I open my eyes to see Jathorn holding his hand infont of mine with the cut nowhere to be seen.

"Did it work?"

Jathorn nods

"it did indeed, now, focus on them and imagine your fire going within them stoping the infection from spreading further"

I look at my right hand

"Very Well"

I clench my right hand into a fist and approach the soldiers, i point it towards then, close my eyes and focus again.

I let my imagination crate rootsthat symbolize the void, i see my right hand as if it was made of fire, i see fire going from within my right hand twards the roots as i release jets of fire towards the soldiers, the fire works its way around the roots which cut off new spreading branches, controlling its growth and even cutting off some of the deeper roots.

I imagine the fire take the form of a humanoid chest, hands, and head that works on the roots.

And so, i open my eyes to a fire Elemental that towers above the soldiers which moves from soldeir to soldeir, going within them then to the next to the purpose of stopping the growth of the infection.

I feel someone patting me on the back, Laven appears to have arrived with Purgers while i was focusing on stabilizing the soldiers.

"Ata boy! I'm glad to see you still got that creative mind of yours even while fragmented"

i look at her in confusion

"I'm sorry but i do not remember you, however, you strike me as familliar despite lack of memories"

She forces a smile

"Its fine, Xavier, it is better this way than the way you were before"

What is she implying? Did we.. No, did I used to hate her?

Before i could ask what she means, Jathorn breaks our little chat

*Ahem* "Well done, Xavier, you have done well to keep them safe. The Purgers will now deal with the infection here and now to prevent any other complication, im proud you were able to keep you head straight"

The purgers move in, carving symbols on the bodies of the soldiers while the fire elemental keeps them stable, they write symbols on their hands, head, back, chest and legs after taking off their armor.

The symbols then begin to glow as they hold a staff with a snake holding a white orb.

The soldiers then shortly open their glowing eyes and open their mouth, as the orb draws the remaining of the infection from them in the form of the same smoke

as before.

I notice Laven looking at me, when I looked in her direction she looked sad at me before diverting her eyes away from mine.

Jathorn sighs and puts a hand on Laven's shoulder before going a bit farther from us.

curious about my power's potential, I close my eyes and imagine an ear made out of fire hidden amongst the grass nearby them, eavesdropping on their conversation.

Jathorn has a serious tone

"Laven, I have told you, do NOT interact with Xavier in his current state, he is fragmented and we need his mind clear of what happened in the past, we need him focused on the-"

Laven interrupts Jathorn, raising her voice

"AND FOR WHAT?! TO MAKE HIM A TOOL FOR YOUR CRUSADE?! HE'S A HUMAN LIKE ALL OF US, HE DESERVES TO KNOW THE PAST!"

I hear the sound of a slap and the sound of walking and that a struggle

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME YOU-"

I then hear a louder thud followed by a gasp, then rustling, followed by silence.

The anxiety of being discovered creeps on me, I make the ear disappear hoping Jathorn did not notice it, and continue looking at the purgers purifying the last soldier.

Jathorn appears in the corner of my eye with an unconscious Laven in his arms, I fake an expression of surprise and ask

"Huh? Laven? what happened Jathorn?"

He looks at me saddened, if I were not to hear what happened his expression would convince me.

"While we were discussing private matters, she began showing signs of void root, im afraid that she has been careless while treating the infected

....He... is not wrong... I can notice on her neck roots just the same as the others had... hold on a minute-

Roots on their neck?

Attraction to the void?

Could I have void's roots?

I want to scream about having the affliction, I want to bring attention to it, I want to let them know but my body fails me.

I try to do the same I did to the soldiers but my body won't operate my commands... wait... commands? what was I talking about again?

I look around confused at what I was mentioning in my mind and notice Jathorn with Laven in their arms. Ah, I remember now, Laven was careless with Jathorns command of taking care of the infected... No hold on I remember what I heard before this, ugh, how have I forgotten soo soon?

"Xavier? Is everything all right?"

Jathorn breaks my mind's confusion and puts the focus on him, before trying to say a word my body rebels and spells out something else

"Yes, I'm ok Jathorn, I was just thinking about Laven getting the infection too"

Did I want to say that? what was I even trying to say other than this? UGH I CANT FOCUS STRAIGHT

"Try not to burden yourself too much, she is in the early stages, it will be easy to cure her of the infection"

I don't know if I'm talking or if my body is moving on its own anymore

"Ah, I'm glad she is in better shape than the rest was"

At this point, I can't distinguish between my thoughts or something that made me think of something else, it's all a blur...

hmm? blur? ah, it doesn't matter, it's likely nothing, I need to focus and recall the elemental anyways as the Purgers have finished curing the soldiers.

With that being said, I clench my hand in a fist pointing it towards the elemental, who crawls up in my hand

"Let us go now, Xavier, I'll take Laven to the infirmary then ill show you where you used to live."

Jathorn is suspicious, counting what happened to Laven, but I don't have a choice here, I need to sleep somewhere...

"Lead the way."

Jathorn breaks a soft smile

"Very well"

We then go back inside the Light beacon, where after he put Laven in a bed at the infirmary and shows me my room, I don't pay much attention to the decoration.

"Here you go, for now, you may do as you please, I have some personal work to do," Says Jathorn

I thank him then close the door and crash into the 2 person bed standing in the middle of the room, I'm exhausted already without much effort, and i fall asleep shortly after closing my eyes.