Elijah stood in the doorway, staring ahead at a mass of human misery. Dozens of people lay on the ground, being tended to by a harried man wearing a sparkly robe. He rushed from one person to the next, barely stopping long enough to cast a spell before moving on.

It was clear that the man was the only Healer around. What was less clear was why he’d chosen to wear a sparkly robe that would’ve made most sequined dresses look mundane by comparison. He also carried a small wand, which was topped by a blue gem that had been cut to resemble a star.

After taking a moment to assess the situation, Elijah stepped inside and approached the busy Healer. The man was so distracted that he didn’t even notice he had company until Elijah reached out and grabbed his arm. The Healer’s bicep was surprisingly firm, and when he tried to jerk away, he displayed a decent degree of Strength.

But Elijah’s own grip was far stronger.

“Let me go!” growled the bearded fellow as he glared at Elijah. Upon closer inspection, the sequined robe was even more out-of-place than Elijah had first judged, largely because the Healer was big and burly, towering at least a head taller than Elijah, with enough muscles to make a professional athlete jealous. He also wore a great, bushy beard, with eyebrows like caterpillars and a flattop hairstyle that reminded Elijah of Ivan Drago.

In short, he didn’t look like the sort of man who habitually wore sequins. Instead, he seemed like the kind of guy who would’ve habitually wore flannel and carried a sizable axe.

“I’m here to help,” Elijah said. “What’s going on here?”

“You a Healer?”

“Close enough,” Elijah answered. “I just don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.”

“Need all the help I can get,” the man said with a shake of his head. “I don’t have enough ethera to keep up. Blew it all healing some lady with a busted leg. Didn’t expect there to be a flood of injured people only thirty minutes later. So, if you have ethera, heal as much as you want. I’ve been doing everything I can to keep people stable, healing as I waited for enough juice to do something worthwhile.”

“All I needed to know,” Elijah said.

One good thing about his brand of healing was that it was incredibly efficient. He couldn’t do some of the things dedicated Healers could do. Until recently, that included the bursty sort of healing that most groups required. When a teammate was getting ripped to shreds by a monster, something like Healing Rain or Soothe just wasn’t going to cut it. Sure, he made up for that with his core cultivation and equipment – his new staff enhanced all of his spells, after all – but if all things were equal, he was just a pale imitation of a true healer.

But one thing he had in his favor as efficiency, which was precisely what the situation required.

So, he immediately cast Healing Rain, which covered most of the infirmary, dumping regenerative precipitation on the patients. Then, he went, one by one, and cast Soothe. The sparkly-robed healer cautioned him to take it easy and to not make the same mistake he’d made himself, but Elijah just waved his concerns away. Once Soothe had settled onto everyone, Elijah’s pool of ethera had dipped below the halfway mark. So, he settled in to regenerate, using his cultivated Mind to funnel great quantities of ethera through the vortexes and into his Soul. Then, it went to his Core, where it worked to regenerate his supply of ethera.

It was the first time he’d really taxed his system since upgrading his core – and subsequently, his tier of cultivation – and the results were impressive. The pieces were the same as always, but now that the core had caught up, everything just fit together so perfectly that the whole of his regenerative capability had taken a huge step forward. Because of that, he regained his ethera at a frighteningly quick pace, allowing him to keep casting Soothe as soon as the spells ran their course.

For the next hour, wounds mended, and people regained consciousness. The Healer turned his focus to the more grievously injured, using his more focused spells to mend the serious maladies that persisted even with Soothe and Healing Rain working against them. And like that, the pair worked together for hours until, at last, they’d done all they could.

One patient passed away under the influence of some sort of ailment neither Elijah nor the other Healer could counteract. It was a combination of the poison’s strength and the woman’s comparatively weak resistances that made the situation impossible to recover. Elijah knew he’d done nothing wrong – in fact, he’d used far more ethera repeatedly casting Nature’s Bloom than he probably should have – but that woman’s death still hit him harder than he expected.

“It happens,” said the Healer. “God knows I’ve had to watch too many people die over the past few years.”

Elijah ran his hand through his rain-slick hair, saying, “Seems wrong. This is magical healing, right? How does it fail?”

“Do you want to know the real answer? Or do you want the bullshit I tell patients?” the Healer asked.

Elijah shrugged. “Give me both, and I’ll decide which one I want to believe.”

“Our spells aren’t miracles,” the Healer stated. “They have limits, same as anything else. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out. It isn’t like a video game where you just have to refill a health bar.”

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“Is that the bullshit answer? Or the real one?”

The man shrugged his heavy shoulders, saying, “Sometimes, it’s just someone’s time.”

“That sounds like the bullshit one.”

The Healer shook his head. “Just telling you what I’ve learned after thirty years as a surgeon,” the man said. “And five years as a magical Healer. Not sure which one was more valuable, if I’m honest. But one thing is certain, you did good here. Thank you. A lot of people would’ve died without your help.”

“Maybe. I’m sure someone else would’ve come along,” Elijah responded.

The man barked a humorless laugh. “Fat chance of that. You think there’s a shortage of Healers out there? Of course not. Every team brought one along,” he said. “The problem is that they’re all selfish assholes. Or they’re controlled by selfish assholes. Either way, none of them wanted to come help. But you did. That says a lot about you.”

Elijah extended his hand, “Name’s Elijah.”

The Healer took it, introducing himself, “Ron.”

“Well, Ron – any chance you’d like to explain why you’re wearing sequins? I didn’t ask before because there were more important issues afoot…”

“Right,” Ron said a bit sheepishly. He pinched the sparkly robe between his thumb and forefinger. “Sometimes I forget about this thing. Truth is, it’s the best damn piece of equipment I could find. Same with the wand. It’s my little girl, you see? She always loved playing dress-up with her dolls, and so did I. We used to have these tea parties, even after the world changed. So, when she got her archetype, then her class, she chose to be a Tailor. This was the first thing she made after getting her class.”

“And the wand?”

“The first thing she made when she took the Tradesman archetype,” Ron answered. “I bet there’s not a better set for healing in this entire Trial. But, you know, sparkles. So, it’s a tradeoff. I don’t mind though. Every time I see the shimmer, I think of her back home.”

“That’s…sweet.”

Ron shrugged his sizable shoulders. “Maybe the world needs a little more sweetness these days.”

“That reminds me. There was a woman here,” Elijah said before describing Delilah. “Any idea where she went?”

“That’s the one I spent all my ethera healing. She just wandered off,” Ron said. “Was in a bit of a daze, if I had to guess. I don’t think things went well for her when she arrived.”

“Damn.”

“Seems to be going around.”

“I guess so,” Elijah said. So many people had come to the Trial expecting it to be like a tower, but so far, it had proved much more dangerous. After a moment, Elijah looked around at the empty room, then asked, “You think you got this? Not trying to be selfish or anything, but I’m not really a Healer. If I want to get anything out of this Trial, I can’t spend too much of my time here.”

Ron understood, though he did profess to a little disappointment. Elijah felt bad enough that he promised to come by as often as he could so he could lend a head, and that seemed to satisfy the man. With that, Elijah took his leave and went in search of Delilah. As it turned out, he didn’t find her before the time of the meeting dawned, and Elijah soon found himself sitting next to Atticus in a large amphitheater.

It seemed that when the system created the Nexus Town, it had thought of everything.

As people filtered into the area, Elijah was once again reminded of why he tended to avoid dense crowds. With so many people around, One with Nature was practically useless – especially after it had recently expanded. He could have focused a few more facets of his mind on interpreting the tidal wave of data he received, but he just didn’t think it was worth it at the moment. So, he mostly just ignored the skill, instead turning the bulk of his attention to the small stage at the center of the arena.

There were a few men standing there, locked in conversation, though one stood out above all the others. He was tall and slim, with elegant features that made Elijah think of the aristocracy. Or maybe that was his well-cut suit that would have seemed entirely out of place in the jungle, but was oddly appropriate for standing in the center of an amphitheater.

Elijah kept his eyes on the man as people slowly filed into the arena until, at last, the time for the commencement of the meeting had come. Predictably, the man who’d drawn Elijah’s attention was the one to call for silence before launching into what sounded like a rehearsed speech.

“You are the best Earth has to offer,” he said. “I see elves sitting next to humans. Goblins and dwarves. I even see a few kysar. And everything in between. However, if any of us are to be the future of our shared planet, we must learn to work together. I am not so presumptuous as to ask any of you to leave your ancestral enmity behind. I do request that you not fight within the Nexus Town. Should you do so, you will incur my wrath.”

Elijah felt a chill travel up his spine, telling him that the man had used some sort of skill. So, was he like Barry, back in Seattle? Or was he something else? Elijah wasn’t sure, but if all the man wanted was to keep the peace, he could get behind that. Still, he didn’t like the idea of anyone messing with his mind, so he vowed to keep an eye on the man, who then introduced himself as Nasir. Something about him seemed familiar, though Elijah couldn’t quite place it.

Regardless, the rest of the meeting was occupied by the man revealing everything they knew about the challenges associated with the Trial. As the notification had indicated, they were representative of the nine realms attached to the World Tree. The first was Aesira, which was colloquially known as the Realm of Air. The second was Silvara, which was known as The Forest. The Mortal Realm – or Mortalum – was the third, with Alta Terra being the fourth. The former also played host to Earth and most of the universes Elijah could ever want to visit, including the Empire of Scale. Fifth came Niflara, or the Sea. Ignis came sixth, and as the name implied, it was the Realm of Fire. The Umbra was the Plane of Shadows, and the Ethereum was the Realm of Magic. Finally, there was Pruina, or the Ice Fortress.

“And there is a tenth realm, though it is not connected to the World Tree at all. The Abbys, from which the Voxx originate. It is the realm of the Ravener, and the tenth and final challenge is representative of that plane,” Nasir explained. “We have not mapped out the entire Trial, but we do know the location of the first challenge. So, if you wish to purchase a map, copies will be made available to all, starting tomorrow. My only wish is to avoid conflict and to usher Earth into a golden age of development. I hope you all share my goals.”

With that, the man opened the floor for questions. Mostly, people asked about the nature of the Trial, but Nasir was unable to provide many answers he hadn’t already covered. So, the meeting ended on a bit of a sour note. However, Elijah did finally catch sight of some familiar faces, which was the primary reason he’d agreed to attend the meeting in the first place.

So, once everyone filed out, Elijah made his way toward Kurik. But when he drew within a few feet, he saw the grave sadness on the dwarf’s face.

“What happened?” he asked when he got close enough.

“Nothing good,” Kurik answered in his gravelly voice. “This place is cursed. I’m thinkin’ ‘bout goin’ home, and you should too.”