Dusk falls upon the camp, and darkness sets in slowly as Ember writhes in pain on a stretcher. Personnel in garbs that resemble scrubs carrying around instruments of treatment surround her in a tent that appears to be for keeping the soldiers far away from lethal disease and injury; it is a small hospital in the middle of a potential battlefield.
With eyes closed, Ember twists and turns in agony as if something hungry and ferocious wants to burst out from her stomach. Growling and yearning for the pain to stop under operating lights, she calls out Lunde’s name.
“Barely noticeable scar on her leg, probably the entry point of the disease. Black veins protruding from the side of her face moving upward, clear symptom of Emotio corruption. The reports did not indicate a scuffle with Corrupted however.” remarks the doctor, calmly checking a document on a clipboard.
The doctor is of an anthropomorphic crane race with all features of that bird mixed with a man. He is a tall specimen with savage scratches on his face and beak. Donning a dark-colored doctor’s coat and having feathers with the colors of red, black, and white, he exudes an aura of elite medical expertise. Then again, his job is to treat the wounds of warriors.
“Nurse, hand me the Curio Lens.” he gestures to a nurse to fetch him one of his tools.
One of the many nurses around him give him what he asked for. The nurses are in robes that are similar to scrubs and they wear protective masks on their face designed to keep them safe from harmful objects while treating patients. The colors of their attire also match the doctor’s as they roam around the tent doing various tasks to keep the place sanitized and in order.
All while the doctor examines her using an intricate glass eyepiece-like tool that emits blue-green light, the knight-captain and Lunde make it into the tent hurriedly.
“Ember—” Lunde exclaims but stops in the middle of calling her as he sees her sick on the bed. “I thought I trusted you to keep safe! You promised me too!” he continues, with his tone growing increasingly irate as Goldrock tries to calm him down and hold him back.
Ember slips in a state of unconsciousness at this point, not noticing Lunde had arrived.
“Let the doctor work, Lunde.” Goldrock softly tells him, with her grasp firm on his arm.
“Listen to your mother, son. Naughty children get turned into monsters” the doctor jests.
Lunde withdraws to a quiet state, but a rage burns bright in his eyes. He holds his tongue for the moment, knowing it is not the right time. Yet, it is still so difficult for him. Goldrock looks at the doctor with a disappointed look, as she is tired of his jests. It looks like they are quite familiar with each other.
“I’m joking, alright? I have it under control. You know, excluding important information on reports is a war crime.” he says, in all seriousness, all while scanning Ember’s body for issues and listing his findings on a document. “Just saying.” he continues, looking up to the two, not in an accusing way but in a way that signals them that he understands something between the lines.
“…Thank you, Doctor Kuran.” sheepishly replies Goldrock, relieved but annoyed. “How is she?”
“Besides being a big risk factor that could end up in the entire camp getting corrupted? Just fine. We were able to stabilize the corruption with medication and Emotio Arts but…that’s the limit of what we can do here. Her condition will worsen in a few days, and then…” Kuran replies, with a slight sadness. “You know what I’m thinking?” he asks.
“It will be our death and doom,” Goldrock says, with a heaviness in her throat. “You know how they operate. Death is the only release for the Corrupted, and that is the cure they provide them. Even someone with the slightest suspicion of being afflicted with Emotio corruption will be put to the sword. They…will toss Ember’s body in to the flame and soon…everybody else in the camp.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
A sharp fear hits Lunde as such grim odds are uttered by Goldrock. Regret fills his mind as he wishes he really paid attention to Ember while they were out exploring the dungeon. He starts doubting himself and the trust between them both.
“Relax. I want to live too.” the doctor states in a laid-back fashion. Kuran’s movements and ways of speaking contrast the situation they are in. A total difference from his intimidating appearance as well. “I was thinking of what you, my boy, found in the cave.” he says, addressing Lunde.
“What I found…”
The words of the silver-winged dragon Nacrest ring in Lunde’s ears.
“BEFORE YOU LEAVE THIS DAZE, A TOKEN FOR THE WEARY TRAVELER, A GIFT FROM OUR CHANCE MEETING. TAKE THIS: MY SILVER FLAME OF PURIFICATION. MAY THIS DIVINE BLAZE GUIDE THEE FORTH TO THE NEXT OF MY WISDOMS TO HEAR THE NEXT PART OF THIS PROPHECY.”
After thinking about the parting message for a while, Lunde looks back up at the rest.
“I received some unknown power in a vision. However, I cannot detect any sort of change in my body’s Emotio flow. I was starting to suspect that it was just a dream after all.” Lunde relays, “However, the timing of that message is peculiar.”
“It is indeed. You were sent as the kingdom received news that our enemy, the neighboring kingdom of Longinus, started using—oh, I’m sorry. That’s classified information.” Goldrock says, almost getting ahead of herself. “I can explain it later after it is properly announced.”
“It will involve us one way or the other so we ought to know.” Kuran says, gesturing towards himself and the other nurses in the room. “We’d like to be able to save lives sooner than later, captain.”
She pauses and looks upon everyone. “I’m going to be written up for not following protocol again, but…they’re using Corrupted to fight us.” Goldrock says with a serious countenance.
“Looks like we’re really going to have to call the Dark Healers this time.” Kuran jokes, getting a big sigh of displeasure from Goldrock.
“The flame of purification…could it be…a cure to Emotio Corruption?” Lunde mentions, in the middle of the conversation.
“You probably hit your head too hard, son. There is no such thing as a cure to Emotio Corruption, except in the myths and legends.” Kuran responds.
“Which brings me to my next point, Doctor. Could you examine him, please? Perhaps what he found in that cave isn’t all myths and legends after all” Goldrock asks.
With a quick scan using the Curio Lens, nothing seems out of the ordinary with Lunde. The doctor still takes his vitals and notes anything, even the slightest detail, to determine whether Lunde has really gained new powers.
“Well, aside from the lump on your head from a possible fall, you’re as fit as a fiddle, boy.” The doctor concludes.
“…didn’t even notice that one.” Lunde shyly replies. “But the voice mentioned that he would lead me to another of his ‘wisdoms’. I was going to have this looked at by the scholars, but here: the text from the ancient cave.” he continues, showing Kuran and Goldrock the notes he jotted down earlier.
“I’m afraid I can’t read that one, and I studied multiple languages back at the academy. It must be very, very old. Perhaps from the era of the Scions.” Goldrock says. “Unfortunately, the scholars in our camp just left earlier today to retrieve documents and supplies. We can’t have anyone look at it for now.” she continues, sighing at the wasted chance.
“You’d have better chances asking the scholars from the Enigma Library back at the capital, but I’m afraid we can’t wait that long for you to come back.” Kuran mentions. “The girl’s condition is taking a turn for the worse each hour. She’ll be at a very contagious stage in around 3 days and not even our most advanced magic and technology can stop that.” he continues, calmly but sternly putting emphasis on 3 days.
“We could use the teleporter too. I think this count as an emergency, they would understand.” Goldrock suggests.
“But it would draw attention. Anyone of us isn’t scheduled to use it now, and even a high-ranking official like you, captain, would be questioned. The kingdom would know. We can’t risk it.” Kuran retorts, showing a pragmatic side to him.
“I can deal with all the sanctions and questioning later. This is my camp at stake.” she argues back.
Lunde looks down, a little despondent, but looks back up at Ember on the stretcher. What he wouldn’t give to help his scouting partner out. Deep within, a resolve is built up to do everything in his power to see her smile again even if she caused him so much worry. Despite the direness of the situation and what is at stake, he feels a little excited somehow that he has a big puzzle to solve. He falls back to his scholarly habits and analyzes the best possible action without alerting the Sovereign Mercy.
All while they continue to discuss and argue about their next move, one of the nurses suspiciously sneak out behind their backs.
“Valley’s flooding.” Kuran says all of a sudden. He wasn’t too loud, as not to alert anyone. As if being alerted by a code word or phrase, everyone pauses to listen. “One of the nurses has slacked off…or perhaps…they were never one of my nurses at all…”