Out of the darkness of my mind I slowly crept, becoming more aware of my surroundings with each passing moment. The haze of unconsciousness that made up my sleeping hours was slowly being undone. Must be close to morning. I thought groggily as I lay in the dim light of my cave room. There was still no way to tell for certain the time of day in here, but my body was fairly consistent with its alarm clock.
A deeper than normal inhale was heard right next to me, bringing my attention to Kala, my roommate, and significant other. I still had a hard time fully comprehending that fact in its entirety. Even after all this time, the thought still brought a dumbfounded smile to my face.
I looked over her body as it softly rose and fell with her breath. The smooth green scales that followed the natural curves of her body were lovely as always. She had a nice figure with a good balance of muscle and fat in the right places. She acquired this figure after regaining some of the weight she had lost from the last year she spent as a slave to some noble. It still pissed me off to think about it, and I regretted not kicking the guy in the groin hard enough to stop him from ever procreating when I had the chance.
But that was in the past, for now, we should probably get up and start the day. I rolled over on the cot so I was face to face with her. She had pushed the cots together after a little while of us dating so she could be closer to me, and it comforted me throughout the night to know that she was that close to me.
“Kala.” I spoke softly to her. There was no response as her eyes remained closed. I huffed a little in amusement. “Kala, I know you’re awake; your breathing changed.”
This time the corner of her mouth tilted upwards in a slight smile. She groaned a little while seemingly refusing to open her eyes and acknowledge the new day. “No... no one’s home, please come back in a few hours.”
I chuckled a bit as I brought a hand over and poked her on the snout. “You really going to make me walk out of here all by myself? I think I might cry from the neglect.”
Her smile widened and became more devious, so I braced myself for what she was planning. She rolled over in the bed and lunged across at me in a lazy attack, wrapping her arms around me and holding me in place. “There, now you aren’t neglected, and I get to sleep. I have the best ideas, don’t I?”
That got some more laughter out of me. “While I admit it is a pretty good idea, it does fail to take into account one thing.”
“And what might that be?” She asked tauntingly as she ran a finger across the scar on my face, tracing its path as it tried to hide under my growing beard.
“Food. I’m hungry, and I’m betting you will be too once your stomach wakes up.”
“You use the same excuse almost every day.”
“And it works almost every day.”
“True... fine.” She groaned some more as she unlatched herself from me, sitting up while acting like she was still half asleep. The morning routine, a little playful banter to coax her out of bed. She knew she would have to get up, but it couldn’t be said that she didn’t at least make an attempt to remain in bed.
“Come on sleepy head, get that tail out of bed.”
She leered at me slightly. “Did you rhyme that on purpose?”
“If my lady does not like a rhyme, she should get out of bed on time.” I was putting extra emphasis on the rhymed words.
“Gods give me strength.”
I frowned as she said that. “Come on, don’t bring them into this, I was having a nice morning.”
She gave a half smile towards me. “Sorry, but if you’re going to do that, I need to say something to make you stop.”
I shook my head but allowed a forgiving smile to cross my face. It wasn’t fair to expect her to give up her beliefs, even if one of the gods she prays to is a bitch. I still haven’t forgiven her for throwing me into this world without so much as a word as to why I had to endure unimaginable suffering.
“Come on, let’s head out and get breakfast before it’s all gone.” I offered her my hand as she got up from the bed, and she accepted it. We walked out of the familiar tunnel back into the light of the early morning.
I stared out over the inside of this dormant volcano turned military base. The air was fresh and filled with the scent of the earth and smoke from the many fires dotted around the camp. I remembered when I first came here that the sight of the camp used to fill me with dread and apprehension. Now that I had normalized my relationship with its occupants, and despite our many differences, I found myself growing comfortable here.
My first few moments in the camp were met with literal stones being thrown at me. Now, though, I have a few that will have conversations with me, a couple more that usually say good morning or evening when we pass, and a select few who I think I could refer to as friends at this point. So much had changed since Durdan, the general of this camp, made his speech. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a month and a half since then.
That’s not to say that everyone has adopted a more friendly approach to me. I still get odd looks every now and then from a few who still don’t trust me due to my resemblance to Thrainians, but the general mood of the camp has become more ‘normal’ when it came to my existence. I was just happy I wasn’t forced to wear that damn slave collar anymore.
We came upon the line for breakfast, stretching outward for a dozen meters with more people trickling in at the same rate as they were being served. We jumped into the line and started our slow march to the front alongside everyone else. Normally I would be on the other side of this line, serving up the people who arrived in the morning, but a recent influx of new arrivals to the camp had a few others who were decent at cooking join the meal team. My presence there would just overcrowd the workstations, so I was dismissed from morning prep work, though I did still help at dinner.
Once our turn to be served came up, the chef gave a smirk at me. He had a name, but apparently, he preferred to be called chef, so everyone just did so. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite bleeder.”
I rolled my eyes at his greeting, he liked to make fun of my lack of knife skills that usually end in my fingers getting cut. “Hey, I just figured that you needed some extra protein in the meals.”
“If I was going to use blood, it wouldn’t be yours. If you’re going to bleed yourself dry, fine, just don’t do it in my food.”
“Yes, Chef, I'll try not to.” My little bit of emphasis drove home the banter and called an end to it for now. He simply scoffed and served us up some soup.
After Kala and I had our bowls, we went to find the group we usually sit with. We met them after Durdan gave his speech about what they should be fighting for. They were the first to try and build a bridge over the rough waters, and I have become rather friendly with them since then.
I saw them by a firepit with a low fire currently dancing in its confines. Otar, Yorn, and Ulthesis were there, Hargon and Velian were missing. If I recalled correctly, they had early morning security detail today for the main tunnel.
Everyone exchanged greetings as Kala and I sat down around the fire. “Morning love birds. Did you wake up late, or perhaps you were ‘distracted’ this morning.” Otar teased.
Kala snapped back at him. “Hey, don’t be jealous, I'm sure that you’ll find someone who will look past that gruff, grungy, smelly, hairy, lazy, uncoordinated, awkward, floundering exterior and see the real you beneath.”
Everyone around the fire was holding back their snickering as Otar gave Kala an unamused look. “I’m pretty sure you could have stopped after the second.”
“Could have, but then I wouldn’t have described you in your entirety.” Kala said with a smirk.
Otar gave Kala a very pointed look. “I’ll have you know that I've received many a compliment from ladies on my good looks and charm.”
Jorn decided that now was the time to take a poke at his brother. “Mother doesn’t count.” The look of betrayal was palpable.
Everyone was now openly laughing as Otar was trying to decide whether he was more embarrassed or angry. Eventually, he just huffed and crossed his arms. “Fine, guess I'm the butt of the joke today. Come on then, do your worst.”
I gave him some consolation. “Come on Otar, everyone has their turn, you just made for the easier target because you decided to poke at the prickliest out of us.” Kala puffed up a little bit, taking that as a compliment.
He scoffed and decided to wave off the whole conversation. Everyone had one last chuckle at his expense and got back to eating. There was some small talk being made around the fire, mostly things about how their shifts are going or any general news about the war. The Coalition was struggling like always, finding victories only in small-scale conflicts. There was a concern about morale and the need for a decisive win to keep momentum going.
After the food was consumed, everyone returned to their daily routines. We exchanged a few parting words before heading off to see Sert. Quite frankly, I was surprised that he was still coming up with experiments to run with me. He may or may not be slightly unhinged, but he was creative and driven, that was for sure.
When we got to the entrance of the tunnel that would lead to Sert’s lab, Kala pivoted to stand in front of me so she could say goodbye for now. She had quickly found herself consumed by boredom a while back when she attended Sert’s experiments, so she decided she would take those two hours to learn how to fight instead. Currently, she was learning some traditional unarmed combat techniques that Trelnval do, making effective use of their natural weapons of claws and teeth.
“See you in a few hours then?” She said with a smile.
“Kick some ass today.” I encouraged her.
“Will do.” She leaned in and closed her eyes, a silent request that I was happy to fulfill. I mimicked her action and we connected in a quick kiss goodbye. It still made my heart flutter a bit when we kissed despite the inherent awkwardness that came with two very different mouths attempting such a thing.
The both of us had stupid grins on our faces as we disconnected and went our separate ways. I briefly reflected on the strange relationship I had found myself in as I watched her leave. The last thing I expected when I came to this world was to find a girlfriend of all things, especially one that wasn’t even the same species as me. It was bizarre, but that didn’t factor into my feelings at all. I cared about her and she cared about me, that was all that mattered.
I went down the tunnel to meet up with Sert for our scheduled appointment. A few knocks later and I was instructed to enter his lab. The Satyr sat at his desk, his brown hair slightly messy due to being unkempt and I swore it was getting greyer. He was stroking his well-kept, pointed beard as he read over a book. His hooved feet clacked lightly against the ground in a manner that was reminiscent of tapping one's foot.
When I closed the door again, he turned away from his chosen literature to greet me with a friendly smile. “Good morning, James, everything is well I hope.”
“Morning Sert, yeah, today’s just fine so far.”
“Good, hopefully we can improve it further by finding out something new about your current condition today.”
“Here’s hoping.” Except I was hoping that he wouldn’t find out anything. He was still largely in the dark about my condition. There were only two other people in this camp who knew about my curse, that I could come back to life after dying, and I was planning on keeping it that way. In fact, I could do without one of them knowing if I was being honest.
The experiments today were odd ones, though that was more common than one would think. It mostly involved samples of the magical energy within me being used on a couple different plants to see if it would promote more growth in one over another. How he comes up with these tests and why they are important I don’t know, but then again, I'm still a novice at using magic.
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Speaking of, I was wondering what I would be learning today in my magic class. Velshi had recently deemed me competent enough in the basics to start learning how to actually heal wounds. It seemed that flesh wounds were easy enough to handle regardless of race, you just needed to know what they should look like and piece them back together from there. The internals were what was really tricky, organs needed to be in the correct size, structure, and place or else you could just end up doing more harm than good. At this point I was only really qualified for healing myself or Thrainians, not much use here until I learned more about the anatomy of the various races.
Our two-hour scheduled experimentation session came to an end without much being revealed about my curse. Sert would not be dissuaded though as he just set about thinking of what he wanted to try next. I had to give him credit for his determination, once he set his mind to something, he didn’t stop until he had exhausted all paths.
We said our farewells to one another as I went to my next appointment for the day. Velshi was a bit of a stickler for arriving on time, so I took off at a steady speed towards her room where we would normally do our lessons. If I was ever late, she would always make me pay for it during our sword practice.
I came upon her alcove in the wall of the volcano, nestled just behind the medical tent which was currently sitting empty. Velshi once had me shadow her when she made her rounds through the tent, walking me through some of the processes you should go through for treating the injured and even giving me some practical experience with healing minor injuries. I remember the nervous look my impromptu patient had when he heard that I was still learning, but he only had a sword wound across his arm, a simple enough fix that I mended to Velshi’s standards. Healing is all about controlling the body's natural process it goes through and providing it the energy to accelerate it in a controlled way. The body should become like clay beneath the touch of a healer, and it is what she constantly pushes me towards achieving.
I went up to the tarp draped in front of her personal quarters and brushed it aside. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the change in lighting, but movement in the room quickly brought my focus upon my teacher. Velshi sat in her regular chair at her workstation. The large woman had her hair tied up in her normal bun style. Her ample bosom was hidden beneath her modest set of robes. Even beneath the loose fabric you could see she was well muscled, a reminder of her time serving on the front lines of combat before she changed professions.
She smiled in a welcoming manner at me. “Hello James, how’s the day find you?”
“Well enough as any I suppose.” I replied with a shrug.
“Good to hear. Is Kala running late?”
“I guess she is, must be practicing a new move.”
“You know, she might just be able to win in a fight against you if she keeps up with it.” She said with a playful smile.
“Oh, she already kicks my ass whenever she feels like it, she doesn’t need fancy moves to accomplish that.” That got a little bit of laughter to go around.
“I don’t doubt it, she’s a fiery one. Shall we get started while we wait for her?”
“Sounds good. Let’s get to it.”
We were working on my knowledge of anatomy today, and I chose to learn about Trelnval first. The look she gave me, like she knew exactly why I chose them first, was written all over her face as she gave me a sly smile. I would be lying if I said that wasn’t a major part of my decision making. If Kala somehow got injured and I was unable to do anything but stand around like an idiot, well, I didn’t really want to think about that.
Velshi brought out some books about anatomy to study. She said that she would have preferred the hands-on approach with using bodies, but that there was no safe way to store them without risking disease spreading. I was kind of glad about that, picking apart a corpse didn’t exactly sound all that appealing.
The book was very detailed though, and she proceeded to talk about some of the parts of Trelnval bodies that she sees most commonly injured. Broken bones tend to be most common in them as their scales do provide a natural layer of protection against cuts. Not to say they were impervious to it, but unless someone is able to land a solid hit on them, blades tend to slide right off.
Other than how their bones should be positioned inside of them, I started memorizing the layout of their organs and general facts about their size, position, and function. She even gave me some of her personal notes on certain organs that she found tricky to handle and the best way to go about it. I worked to commit as much of what she said to memory as I could, but I would need some more time to get it all sorted out.
Kala showed up a little while later, looking rather exhausted and haggard. “Someone put you through the wringer today?” I asked her with a slightly amused smile on my face.
“Something like that, I still don’t see why it was necessary to demonstrate that move three times.” She rubbed her shoulder as she put it through a range of motions.
“I’ll give you a back rub when we get back to the room.”
“Hmm, that sounds nice.” She had a dreamy look on her face, evidently already imagining it.
I made it through the rest of the study session and went on to the sword practice. I had improved since my first attempt at swordplay, now our rounds go an average of six moves before I end up getting smacked upside the head, eight if I was really on my game that day. Velshi takes the personal defense section of our class seriously. The more I learned, the tougher she got on me. She attacked me with intent to kill, and probably would have if it weren’t for the fact we were using wooden swords.
Our simulated dance of death continued for a few hours. Every time she managed to strike me, she would then proceed to point out exactly what I did wrong and force me to correct myself. Repeated mistakes were only rewarded with a quick smack from her sword.
She hammered her lessons into me like a blacksmith working iron. By the end of the session, I was covered in bruises and was sore from head to toe. We put down the swords for the day and I hobbled my way back inside. She made me wait to heal myself until after our time together was over so I would “remember not to make those mistakes again”. Healing the minor wounds also provided a solution to my problem with my magic being slightly out of control. I could spend the energy just easing my aches and pains I acquired on the daily instead of having it drained out of me to prevent myself from becoming a sudden bomb.
We only had one thing left to do together, my therapy session. I had a lot of problems that I had to work through, but I was making progress bit by bit. Our conversations were rather unique for this world, so much so that Velshi was writing her own notes on the subject. It seemed that we were going to kickstart the therapist profession ourselves.
These little therapy sessions were mostly just I talk and she listened, sometimes asking a clarification question. After I said my piece, she would provide what insight she could. I knew she had her own trauma that she went through in the past that helped her relate and guide me through the process. She had yet to share what she went through though, but I didn’t want to pry if she didn’t feel like talking about it. Sometimes it almost seemed like these sessions were helping reaffirm her own position as well.
“Have your nightmares quieted down at all?” Velshi asked.
“A bit, I’ve been getting a little more sleep at the very least.”
“That’s good. You still going on walks at night? Is that helping you?”
“Yeah, I think so. The night seems very peaceful, and it lets me work off a little energy before going to bed.”
“Well, whatever you feel helps. Just remember though, I'm not the only one here you can talk to, I’m sure Kala would be more than happy to lend an ear should you need one.”
I gave a slight smile with a nod of my head in response. Kala had been a great comfort to me, and I was pretty sure I could attribute a lot of my progress just to her constant support. Velshi decided to wrap up the session for today before lunch was over. Eating was important after all.
I thanked Velshi for her time today as we both went our separate ways. Kala was waiting for me just outside the room and gave me a smile as I emerged. I smiled back at her and grasped her hand as we went off to get something to eat.
We got our food and sat down with our group around the fire as we ate. We talked with them a little and it seemed like we got a few new arrivals at the camp, a couple of escaped slaves who were picked up in the woods. The extra numbers would be appreciated by all, the population of the camp was slowly growing, and I had a feeling that the council of representatives would make a move on the Thrainians once they got their numbers up.
After our meal, we went back to the room where I had my students waiting for me. The impromptu classroom that I had started has seen a rather large increase in the number of attendees. All the kids in the camp were now here, even that Droln kid whose father, captain asshat, activated my collar when I still wore it. I almost said no when the mother came to me with her child and an apology, asking if I would teach her kid, but I thought better of it as it would just be punishing the child for the sins of the father.
The class was mostly on basic math skills, but I had recently learned more about the written language of this world and had begun incorporating it into some of my lessons as well. My students were all well behaved and absorbed my teachings with vigor. I likened them to young trees being given water so they might grow large.
Class ended without much fuss, and the kids returned to their parents while talking with each other about what they learned today. After the room had been cleared out, I gave Kala her promised back massage. She melted under my touch, constantly talking about how great I am at doing this. We enjoyed one another's company until dinner rolled around.
I helped with the food prep for the night, making sure that things were where they were supposed to be and serving up the food once it was ready. I got my portion of the meal once everyone else in the camp had been fed and eagerly scarfed it down as the physical labor made me hungry. Once satisfied, Kala and I talked for a while before the sun dropped low in the sky.
Kala retired to the room for the night, though she would remain awake for a while until I got back from my scheduled stroll around the camp. I usually take a few laps, enjoying the sounds and smells of the camp as it settled in for the night. The smell of the campfires was pleasant, and the rapidly cooling air was bracing as I watched the people all turning in or going out for night patrol.
After my second lap around the camp most of the people had already disappeared from sight, which made what I saw next stand out all the more. From my position on the outskirts of the camp, slightly elevated on the sloping hills of the volcano, I saw a figure slinking around through the shadows, darting out into the light for only a second before slipping into the darkness once more. I immediately became suspicious of this individual, so I tracked their movements while following as best I could.
After a minute of stalking this shadowy figure, I saw them break out of the general area of the common tents and make their way towards the slightly larger tents on the edge of camp. These tents were for the officers and higher-ranking personnel. The sneaky individual seemed to have a specific tent in mind though as they made their way towards one of the largest ones belonging to Durdan.
I saw them stop for a moment outside the entrance before slipping quietly inside the confines of the tent. I briefly considered the possibility that this was a personal spy under the employ of Durdan and would only come to report to him in secret at night. I went up to the tent and listened, if they were talking, then I would leave immediately. Knowing things you aren’t supposed to can lead to many problems after all.
There was not a peep from inside the tent, and something in my gut was telling me that there was a problem here. I peeked inside the tent from the entrance. It was very dark inside, and it took me a moment before I saw the person who I was following tiptoeing through the room. Are they stealing something? Should I confront them once they try to make their escape?
It turned out that something far more sinister was happening. My eyes caught the glint of something metal in their hands, and even with the limited light only giving me a slight outline of it, I could tell it was a blade. My heart started racing as I realized they were moving closer to where Durdan was currently sleeping. I have to do something!
Without a second thought I burst into the tent. “OI!” I shouted at them.
Their head whipped in my direction as I saw the features of a dark blue Trelnval staring at me. Durdan was startled awake by my loud entrance and looked stunned as he stared at the two of us. The Trelnval, now realizing that he was caught, turned back quickly towards Durdan and made to lunge at him with the knife.
With a burst of speed, I sprinted at the attacking Trelnval to intercept him before he could make contact with Durdan. I was able to get to him before he was able to get in range with the short weapon and tackled him to the ground. There was a chaotic struggle between the two of us as we both fought for control over the situation.
In the midst of our fight, I felt the cold sting of a knife slipping between my ribs. I growled in pain as the blade cut through my flesh and was quickly removed for a possible second strike. Before it could land though, Durdan seemed to have recovered from his shock and was out of his bed, seizing control of the weapon hand.
Durdan slammed the arm to the ground and dropped a heavy knee onto it. There was a crunch and a cry of pain from the assailant as his arm was broken. The grip on the weapon came loose and Durdan quickly removed it, tossing the blade across the room. With the enemy successfully disarmed, Durdan now called out for assistance in a loud, roaring voice.
“Assassin! We need help here!” He repeated the call with only slight variations to the words used, and after an agonizingly long minute, guards burst into the tent. They paused for a second, trying to analyze the situation, but Durdan was already shouting more orders. “Secure this Trelnval, and get Velshi! James has been stabbed.”
True enough, I think the bastard got my lung. It was difficult to breathe, and I was coughing up blood. The guards piled upon the Assassin, allowing me to get off him as I began focusing on not bleeding to death.
Fuck! I almost forgot how much it hurts to get stabbed. I was laying on the ground trying to stem the bleeding. I might be able to close the wound partially with healing, but the damage to my lung would be too much without a charged crystal to compensate for the energy required. Durdan was trying to assist me, taking his bed sheets and pressing them against my wound in an attempt to help.
I think I can last long enough for Velshi to show up. The bleeding isn’t that bad, and if I just breathe right, I should be able to... Wait, why doesn’t it hurt as much anymore? The pain was slipping away rather quickly, and my foggy mind was trying to run through why that was until it struck me like a hammer.
“Oh fuck.”
Durdan looked at me with concern. “What? What’s wrong?”
I groaned a little bit. “The knife was poisoned.”
I could see the blood drain from Durdan’s face. He stammered for a moment, clearly unsure about what to do in this situation. “Is there something I can do? How do I help you?”
“I don’t think there’s anything to be done, not unless Velshi gets here in the next few moments.”
“There has to be something! I will not accept someone trading their life for mine.”
I chuckled a little, as painful as that was. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Just promise me one thing though.”
“What do you need, I’ll do whatever I can.”
“Can you make sure it’s just you and Velshi in the tent for a few minutes, even if I die?”
He looked at me strangely, as it was an odd request to make from his perspective. “I can do that, but you won’t die, Velshi will get here in time.”
“Hmm, yeah, that would certainly make things a lot easier, but I don’t think that will be the case.”
I was already starting to feel heavy; I was losing more control of my body by the second. It was hard to think, and eventually, my vision started to fade. It had been a long while since I last felt this sensation. It was an abrupt reminder of my situation here, and I was already cringing as I braced to hear that word again. That singular damned word that was the source of all my nightmares.
Again.