The third Apothecary was right at the crest of his route and nearest to the port. It was particularly full and seemingly untouched, Silas having had to pick the lock to get in. Luckily some of his more technical skills were transferable and it didn’t take long to open with his tools.
There he found a large majority of what was left on his list, leaving only two things: Earthen Kismet and Goldwater Lilies. The former had thick hard stems with brown petals resembling a rose while Goldwater Lilies were simply golden lilies. He didn’t know what either did, but he knew they weren’t here.
After that, however, he wasn’t so lucky. The fourth Apothecary was absolutely ravaged on the inside, completely empty save for a few destroyed or rotten pieces whilst the fifth Apothecary, right on the border between Sky and Cavern, was in a similar state. Neither of the two had any herbs at all, let alone the ones he needed.
With a pale face, Silas looted another house for food, stuffing his face full and converting it into blood energy as quickly as possible. While it was extremely resource intensive, healing on the move like this was in his best interest and he’d keep doing it.
Firstly, actively directing his blood energy into separate strains and healing different parts of the body at varying rates helped him improve upon his control. While the improvement was slight, it still meant less could do more in the long run. Secondly, it helped him multi-task further. He’d eventually have to fight with both fear energy and blood energy at the same time, so the sooner he could train this aspect, the better.
Thirdly, the active process of healing helped him better understand the internals of his body. It’s strengths and weaknesses. The human body was a science he had never dabbled in but blood energy gave him access to the best diagram possible- himself. Watching how it interacted with different parts of his body was a great learning experience for the future.
Silas sighed, flexing his right hand weakly as a flash of blood energy ran through its veins. Every so often, he flexed it and made sure all the parts were in the right place. If flexing it felt off or strange, he ran blood energy through it until he found the problem and fixed it. That was actually where most of his energy was consumed.
Ariadne Nexus Hospital, often called just the Ariadne, was the only Hospital in Ironside. With many of the citizens still subscribing to the use of Apothecaries for minor injuries or ailments, the Hospital was left for only life threatening illnesses or injuries requiring surgeries.
Even so, Silas knew they’d likely have what he needed. Not because of anything like their funding but rather, the area around the Ariadne was rumoured to house the majority of Ironside’s organised crime and unregistered Empyreans. According to Glass at least. Empyreans or not, just about everyone in the Upper City and Market District knew about the crime in the area.
If that was true, then the Ariadne probably took all sorts of bribes from them in exchange for treating their men. He wouldn’t be surprised if their storehouse held more than all five Apothecaries combined, if not double. If they still didn’t have any of the herbs he needed then he didn’t really know what to do.
There was a slight chance the port would have some of what he needed in one of their dozens of warehouses but the search would take forever.
Silas walked for another half hour amidst the fog, night having fallen. He only left the compound in the morning and was making good time until the mutant dog attacked- after he passed out in a closet, it was already night time.
All of Ironside seemed less active right now. Even the mutants were quieter, less bouts of shrieking from across the city and fewer patrols. Instead, Silas noticed more Voiceless walking patrolling around the streets in small teams.
Whenever he noticed a group he usually slipped into side roads and alleys, then went around them quietly or ducked inside a building and stood still. Their speed meant he couldn’t run and the last thing he wanted right now was to get bogged down by a horde.
The sight of the Ariadne was unexpectedly grim. He noticed it first a couple streets away, bodies still laying on the streets, rotting away in their clothes. The overpowering smell forced him to cover his nose. It was only one or two at first.
Yet the closer he got to the hospital, more and more bodies appeared on the street, clearly weeks old. From one or two to three or four, then eight, then dozens. Torn apart and ravaged as if eaten by beasts, hearts always ripped from their chests.
For whatever reason, the mutants hadn’t taken the bodies from this area since the Darktide. Did they avoid the area? Why? Because of the hospital? Silas let out a breath of turbid air and slowly approached Ariadne. The surroundings were mostly boardhouses with the odd standalone building usually used as a general store and a single standalone house.
It was a giant building, three stories tall and made out of dark red bricks. Long narrow windows lined the walls framed by stonework and the roof was pointed with fine metal shingles. A big door at the middle of the building that was partially hidden behind a massive fountain that no longer functioned.
Inside was mayhem.
Silas stepped inside the Hospital and was greeted by a foul smell. The floors were lined with decayed bodies wrapped in bandages or torn nurses' garb. Lights hung from the ceiling, flickering dimly in a struggle to light up the hallway. Roars and screams echoed through the hall from who knows where in the building.
Walking down the hall, he peered into the various wards through the glass walls. The medical beds were empty, often with corpses at their feet. Some still had bodies in them, strange and grotesque growths in their grey skin. They failed to mutate for this or that reason. When he finally made it to the roars, Silas sighed.
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A mutant was strapped to the bed, struggling to break free from its restraints. It was thin, incredibly so. Sunken eyes and deep cuts into its flesh around its wrists and ankles from the leather bindings. Its attempts only grew stronger as its gaze locked onto Silas. He could practically hear the leather grinding against its bone. He could only describe it as a sound between squeaking and nails against a chalkboard.
He approached silently, taking out his knife and driving it into the creature’s skull. Silas flicked the blade, wiped it off and put it away before leaving the ward. The roars still continued, somewhere further in the hospital. He couldn’t tell how many there were, but there were alot.
Silas didn’t know why he did, but he began wandering through the halls of the Ariadne quietly and making his way to the different wards. Some halls had more bodies, some had less. He took note of the few rooms that could be storage as he meandered through and made it to each trapped mutant. He killed all of them.
When the hospital returned to silence he stood still for a few moments, offering a slight unguided prayer for the dead before moving on his way. People once, monsters now. They didn’t deserve to be trapped.
Eventually he wandered back towards the few rooms he was inquisitive of and discovered nothing really. One was just a break room while the rest were operating rooms, all of which had a small group of corpses with some even having a dead mutant or two. The third last room left him confused, however.
He stood in front of the doorway, its handles chained together with a sturdy padlock on it. The door itself wasn’t locked, just bound shut by the chains. Whoever did this didn’t have a key- survivors? What for?
If there were no mutants nearby.. Silas pulled out Glass’ revolver and shot the chain. It snapped apart and fell to the floor and a loud clang, the sturdy lock making the loudest thud. Silas kicked it away lightly, loaded another bullet into the revolver, and then holstered it. He opened the door wide.
Inside was a large storage room, lined wall to wall with shelves so dense that there were only a few paths to walk. Much like the Apothecaries, each shelf had labels that detailed what was sitting on it. Much of what he had already seen was here, but there was tonnes of stuff that he couldn’t even identify.
Silas went through each shelf looking for Earthen Kismet and Goldwater Lilies, even finding some pills that triggered the Lotus’ description and yet only found what he needed once he’d searched half the room. A box contained well over a dozen Earthen Kismet that were quickly and carefully put into his medicinal bag.
As he searched through the rest of the room, he topped up on some of the herbs he had already grabbed prior to make sure the compound had plentiful amounts. The more they had, the better they could heal him should he need it. He couldn’t just go walking around with a bloodstone in his hand all the time.
Just when he got to the end of the storage room Silas stopped, a thought tugging at his mind endlessly. Why’d they chain up the storage room? Where were they? They clearly weren’t keeping something in, so were they keeping something out?
If that’s the case, using the gun to open up the room was a bad idea. There’s no telling if they were already on their way. Silas’ eyes flashed violet as he used the Anchored Spirit Art. Just as his perception spread throughout the room, he heard a distinct click as someone levelled their revolver at his back.
Two people stood next to and slightly behind them, not a single one giving off any sort of fear energy. Silas could practically hear the smile in the man’s voice as he spoke. “Boys.. I think we have a thief on our hands.”
“Aye boss, a filthy rat.”
“Thieving scum.”
The other two voices were masculine and feminine respectively. They didn’t seem to notice the Anchored Spirit Art as Silas slowly extended his fear energy towards them, even while he slowly raised his hands. Through it, he could finally see his attackers.
“Smart one too, I didn’t even have to tell him to do that.” The gunman jeered as the other two let out the fakest laughs Silas had ever heard. “I wonder if the rat knows what I’m gonna ask him next.”
Silas frowned, his eyes pooling with even more fear energy whilst he came up with a response. “You’re going to let me go peacefully after you ask me to pay for the chain?”
Now the laughs were real but the gun remained steady. Silas couldn’t move an inch. It bought him more time to activate Aura Sensing though, letting him see that these people had no auras whatsoever, simple red cores with little light. They were civilians?
“Hell, is our Blackwall Gang seen so lightly in the public now? Make you pay for the chain? Hell, you’re paying for all of it. The mutants you killed, the herbs you just took.. Drop everything you got.”
“Everything?”
“Everything.” The man sneered and gestured with his gun. Silas could see the distinct disdain and lack of care in the man’s eyes. Were they using the mutants as deterrents to other survivors? Keeping people in need from medicine? His blood practically boiled and his veins glowed with a soft red light.
“I’ll die out there with nothing.”
“You can just die in here instead?”
They were people. Humans. Not mutants. Stealing from and killing other humans. The only likely reason he hadn’t already shot Silas was the power trip the man was having. That, and he didn’t know Silas was an Empyrean. Silas stared at the wall as his eyes narrowed, his perception falling solely on the gunman.
He also didn’t know he was a Nightweaver.