Beep

Beep

Beep

Bee deep

Bee deep

Bee deep

The double beeping sound continued while I heard the click clack of a button being pushed. “Nurses station.”

“Hi, our IV is beeping, says infusion completed.” A vaguely familiar voice replied.

“We’ll have someone in in a moment, thank you.”

“Welcome.” Came the response, and I felt a soft thumb start rubbing on the back of my hand. “It’s ok Sean. The nurse will be here in a moment to stop that beeping. I know they say you can’t hear me, but that doesn’t matter. Isabelle should be here soon with my partents, and she’ll fill you in on her day. Just, come back to us.”

Danielle? DANIELLE! Why can’t I speak? Why can’t I move? I was screaming in my mind, trying to force myself to somehow speak to my wife.

“Thanks.” Danielle said as the beeping stopped.

“You’re welcome. Is there anything we can do for you?”

“If you aren’t too busy, a glass of ice water?” Danielle asked.

“Of course. I’ll be right back.” I heard soft footsteps moving away, and kept trying to move. Rather than the desperate attempts earlier, I was focusing on the hand my wife was holding. Move a thumb. A finger. Squeeze her hand, anything JUST MOVE DAMNIT!

“DADDY DADDY DADDY!” My heart nearly burst as I heard her voice, the squeak of her shoes as she turned the corner into wherever I was laying. “Daddy!” She took several deep breaths, getting her energy back. “I get to be line leader this week! And Mario tried to hold my hands, but I didn’t wanna cuz boys have cooties! And Mrs. Plack said we start our times tables soon I can’t wait!”

“Slow down Isabelle, slow down.” Danielle chuckled. “Your dad isn’t going anywhere.”

“But I have ta talk fast!” She said, stomping a foot. “People don’t sleep as long as daddy has. What if he-“

“Oh hunny.” Danielle said, and I heard the rustling of cloth. “Your daddy is going to be just fine. He’ll be getting up soon, don’t worry.”

“Is….a….belle.” I managed to whisper, and that started to break whatever was holding on to my body. I opened my eyes, only to shut them immediately because of the pain.

“DADDY!” My daughter cried, trying to crawl into bed with me.

“Easy dear, easy. Let me help you, and be careful of his IV.” Danielle said, and I felt the comforting squirming of a tiny body as she struggled to find that spot that was juuuust right. Of course, it usually entailed a slow agony for the parent, but we make sacrifices.

“So. Mario?” I asked.

“He’s icky.” She promptly replied.

“Uh huh. Not cute?”

“Well, maybe. But icky too.” I chuckled as she tried to wrap her little arms around my waist. “I missed you daddy.”

“I missed you too babygirl.” I said. Fighting the tears in my eyes. “What happened?”

“Nurses desk.” While I had been talking to Isabelle, Danielle had called the doctors.

“Sean’s awake.” She said, voice laden with emotion.

“Sean? Oh. OH! That’s wonderful! I’ll page the doctor immediately, please make sure he doesn’t try and get out of bed or remove any of the leads.”

“I’ll behave.” I told the nurse, though I don’t know if she heard me. “What happened?” I asked Danielle again.

“Oh Sean.” She said, sitting down next to me. “The police say it was a teenager. He was texting, and when he went to put his phone in the console, he knocked over an empty bottle of water. It lodged under the brake pedal, and he couldn’t stop.”

“Any idea why I’m not in pain?” I asked. “That sounds like it would be painful.

“The doctor told me it was the morspleen pump.” Isabelle said matter of factly.

“Morphine. It’s the morphine pump.” Danielle corrected. “You’ve been out for nearly a week.” As she was stroking my head, the doctor came in.

“Elendria?” I asked, confused.

“Hello Sean. Good to see you awake.” She said with a smile, labcoat flapping behind her as she strode into the room.

“Hold on a minute.” I said. “This. Somethings not right here.”

“Oh? Could you explain?” Elendria asked, walking closer and pressing several buttons as she looked at my past history on the instruments.

“We are on Vitae.” I said, looking around. “Sorry hun, some gods summoned me to another world. There was a battle, Elendria saved me. I. I’m sorry hun, but after all we went through I couldn’t help but fall in love with her.”

“It’s ok, I understand Sean.” Danielle said. “Of course, I had warned you in the past what would happen. Isabelle dear, would you hold your father’s hands still? He needs to be punished.” As she stood up, I saw she had a wickedly sharp knife in her hand.

“YAY! Punishment time for daaaaadddyy!” Isabelle giggled, grabbing my hands and bouncing on the bed. I tried to move, but my body was frozen. I could feel Danielle trailing the knife along the inside of my leg, and I suddenly realized something of vital importance. I didn’t have any underwear on!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“GAAAAAAAH!” I tried to sit up, but there was a weight holding my chest down. I did manage to suck in a terrified breath, something about a dream. A horrible dream.

“Sean?” I looked down to see Elendria looking at me with concern in her eyes, though I could tell she was ready to attack whatever had woken me up.

“It’s.” I started, trying to figure it out. “Sorry. Had a weird dream, but it’s gone.”

“Well, your heart is thundering in your chest, so it must have been some dream.” She said.

“Hey guys!” We both turned when we heard Carrigan’s voice. “Glad to see you both awake, we have a major problem.”

“Shit.” I groaned, sitting up. “What happened?”

“Well, first you look like you could use some good news. Father Frank managed to destroy that altar. Not only that, but we also managed to loot the base for both information and gear. They had been stockpiling from lost adventurer groups.”

“So what’s the bad news?” I asked, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“We know their plan. They’re going to force a wave.” He said, dropping to the ground next to us. “Oh crap, you guys don’t know what a wave is, do you?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Not a clue.” Elendria said.

“Every ten years or so, things get so full in the monster lands that some of them are forced out. A lot manage to kill each other, but some of the weaker monsters choose to flee rather than fight. Of course, they end up fleeing near outpost, so they have to bunker down and kill what they can.”

“Sounds like they have a set system for taking care of things. Why the worry?” I asked.

“Because there won’t be any clues that it’s going to happen.” Carrigan replied. “Outpost is going to have at least half of its strength out hunting, and they’ll be overwhelmed. There’s a good chance the city will fall as well.”

“Tell me we can get ahead of this.” Elendria said.

“Oh, we likely can. If they rush it, the wave will be much smaller. If not, we should be able to weather it just fine. But if we didn’t have these few months warning, it would be bad. Really bad.” Carrigan said. “Alex is on his way back with the Eagles, they are guarding the slaves we managed to free. He wants us to get the eagzards ready, we are going to rush back to Outpost as soon as they get back.”

“Damnit. We can’t catch a break, can we?” I grumbled. “Right. Let’s get everything ready then, especially since time is of the essence.” We got up, and Carrigan gave out a piercing whistle. To my surprise, the eagzards actually came trotting in within a few moments, each of them carrying their gear.

“Damn, that’s a nice trick.” I whistled appreciatively.

“There’s a reason most adventurers prefer eagzards.” He said smugly. “If you thought this was smart, wait until you see them in battle. Vicious pack hunters.”

We didn’t waste any more time, helping the eagzards get packed up. By the time we made it to the front gate, the rest of the group was returning, Father Frank in the lead. “Ah, you have everything packed. Excellent.” He said. “We won’t keep you, but let Brian know we are bringing the town in. We’ll take a day to bury the stuff too heavy to move, and should be in a few days after you guys arrive. I’ll send warning to the other towns down this way as well, but see if he can send people up north.”

“We will.” Alex answered for us. “And thank you for your help with that altar.” The group shivered at the mention of it, before heading over and mounting up.

“Alright, this will be an exhausting run.” Alex explained. “We will go at three quarters pace for three hours, then rest for one. That should cut our trip from 2 days to around 30 hours. Sean, can you keep light up for us to travel through the night?”

“Easily.”

“Perfect. Then we get going. The eagzards should be able to handle it, but anything you mages can do to help out would be appreciated.”

“Give me a second, I need to adjust something.” I spent a few moments trying to balance it, and eventually managed to get everyone under enough antigravity that the drain from the spell matched my regeneration.

“What the? Did I just get lighter?” Martha asked, checking around herself.

“Yeah. Antigravity spell, everyone is a few pounds lighter. I managed to make it so that I’m not losing mana, but I can’t cast anything else while its going. You ok on detection Carrigan?” I asked.

“Yeah. Gimme a second though. Group featherlight.” I immediately cancelled my spell, looking at him weirdly. “Heh, sometimes simpler is better. Save the mana, you get to cast it next time.”

“If we are done?” Alex asked, getting a nod from us. He turned, and we started the most mind numbingly boring run back to Outpost. I kept watch, though again most things simply avoided our large group. My other job was casting featherlight every hour, and shaking my head at my oversight. For what we were doing, Carrigan’s spell was a much better option. It not only had the same result, but it was a once cast spell instead of a sustained one that would have gradually worn down on my mind. Once the sun set, I sent four globes of light in a square pattern around our group, hoping that it would help eliminate any hiding holes that could injure our mounts. Again it helped that they were cast and forget spells, but I had to keep a small portion of my mind keeping them around our group. While it didn’t seem like that big of a deal at first, about halfway through the night it started to feel like my mind was in a fog.

“Carrigan.” I groaned at our next stop. “I can’t keep up mana detection and keep the lights where they need to be. Can you take that portion over?”

“Sure thing.” He said.

“Come here.” Elendria ordered, and started massaging my scalp.

“Good gods.” I groaned as my eyes rolled back. “I don’t know if you are using any type of magic, but that feels great.”

“No magic, I just pay attention.” She said, giving just enough pressure. I could have let her go on forever, but it seemed it was only a few minutes before Alex was calling us back to the road. While I felt a little better, it wasn’t quite enough to banish all my fatigue. By dawn, even the seemingly tireless eagzards were starting to lag. We had switched to two hours riding, one walking, and one resting, but even I could tell that was a gradually losing proposition. Around noon, we hit the main road to town, just after we started our walking portion.

“Ok, let’s take an hour break.” Alex called out, stopping us. “We only have another hour of travel before we hit town, and our mounts need the break.” Nobody said anything, but I was glad for the break. Almost all of our mounts were getting grumpy, not wanting to get going again.

“We’ll have to get them some treats when we get back to town.” I muttered to Carrigan as I took a seat next to him.

“Agreed. They’ll need at least two weeks to recover after this as well.” He said, shaking his head. “I know we need to, I just hate having to push them to the absolute limits of their endurance like this.”

“Think they’ll be ok?” I asked, concerned.

“Yeah. Alex knows just how hard he can push, and isn’t afraid to change things up with new information. They’ll be fine, especially with a bit of recovery time.”

“That’s good.” I said with a sigh, a bit of pressure I hadn’t realized I was carrying lifting just a bit. But things were still dangerous, and even my feet were still aching a bit by the time we got back on the road. When we arrived at the gate, Alex led us around the short line waiting to get in.

“Guild emergency.” He barked at the guard. “Can you let them know we are coming?”

“Sure thing.” He replied nonchalantly, though he did immediately pull a stone from his pocket and press it before tossing it at Alex. He caught it, and was enveloped in a red glow. We followed behind him, and made excellent time as everyone cleared around us. There was a small group of stablehands waiting for us at the guild.

“How long?” the leader asked.

“Thirty hours. Started at three on, one off with a featherlight spell the entire time. Switched to two on, one walk and one rest this morning.” Alex replied, handing over the reins.

“Right, they should be fine but you won’t be riding them for two weeks. You know the drill.”

“Thanks Paul. If it is deemed an emergency, their treatment is on the guild. If not, we pay triple rate for animal cruelty.”

“Don’t worry Alex. You’ve never been wrong before, and from how your new friends look you aren’t wrong this time. We’ll coddle your mounts, and have them back to you as good as ever.”

“I know Paul, I know. But we all rely on mounts, and nobody would willingly endanger them.” Alex sighed. We all trooped inside, only to find the entire guild oddly quiet. Brian, the guildmaster himself, met us just inside.

“Oh. Oh. Oh shit.” He said, simply looking at us. “You have the proof?”

“Here.” Alex said, handing it over. He continued as Brian started leafing through the book, “Three months maximum. Likely two if they try to rush it.”

“Hides-in-Reeds, emergency recall all groups, highest priority.” He said to the secretary, who immediately turned and headed into the back room. He turned to the rest of the guild and kept talking, “Seems the shadow has infiltrated our world and started setting up their own churches. They hope to wipe us out and take the dungeon by using a forced wave. Tomorrow we will be sending out monster subjugation quests, focusing on the south and west. We will be switching to wave contributions. For those who haven’t been here long enough, that means we are more than willing to let people go into negatives for contribution. All monster subjugation quests have double rewards, but you are forbidden from overnighting out there. With some of the lesser monsters, simply kill them and take a small trophy. Those that we can use for making weapons will be noted, so make sure to bring them back.”

“Any idea how bad it’s going to be, sir?” One grizzled adventurer asked.

“I don’t know. The divine is partially clouding my sight, but they will have some powerful creatures. It’s only been three years since the last wave, so the jungle shouldn’t be back up to full population just yet. That, and the warning we got will give us a fighting chance. I’m also putting a call out to geomancers, let’s see just how big of a moat we can dig around the city in a month.”

“What about the dungeon?” Someone else asked.

“That depends Jackie. Those without mounts can head to the dungeon to try and gain some materials, but we need to prioritize other things. I won’t cut off complete access yet, but the closer the wave comes the more likely I am to do that. We’ll need everyone on the walls to survive, and it won’t do to have anyone in dungeon.”

“Thanks.” She said, and Brian took one quick look over everyone else.

“If nothing else, that’s all I have. Messengers are being dispatched to fill the merchants in on the situation. Good luck everyone, and be safe in the coming days. If it comes down to it, I would much rather have an extra body defending our walls together rather than a few less monsters.” With that, he headed back upstairs and the room burst into noise again.

“Come on guys.” Alex said. “We’ve done our part for the day. Head back to the inn for some rest, and take three days to recover. After that, the Silver Eagles would love to head out and hunt with you. What do you guys say?”

“Sounds good to us.” Carrigan said after getting a nod from all of us.

“Oh, and Sean?” Martha said, stepping forward a bit. “I just wanted to say thanks. We all realize now just what sort of danger you and Elendria put yourselves in, though we didn’t at the time. While we don’t love crazy ideas in the future, we’ll always have your backs. No questions.”

“Thanks guys.” I said, looking them each in the eye and seeing resolve there. “Sorry I couldn’t let you in on it beforehand, but I’m glad I managed to earn your trust.” They all gave head nods, and we headed back to the inn. We had a quick dinner, though we had to tell the story a few times as various people stopped by with questions. After a few hours, we all headed upstairs though it wasn’t quite sundown yet. Annette was more than happy with us returning as customers, and she offered us the entire month for free since we brought news of the danger.