I woke up lying on the grass under a slightly cloudy sky.
Wuh? Where am I?
I looked around and saw that I was… outside of the hospital.
We did it!
A quest update notification I got confirmed that.
Quest Completed: Akh’ret’s Mercy
Description: Against all odds you and your party survived the horrors of the hospital.
Rewards:
3000 experience points
2 Perk Points
You are now Level 8 (1372/4500 total experience points progress to Level 9)
Your total health has increased
Your total stamina has increased
Your total mana has increased
You have received 2 perk points (Current Number of Perk Points: 4)
There was a pretty pink-haired woman with orange eyes in grey clothes and black armour kneeling beside me. She had a pair of horns, a bit longer than mine, and an arrow-tipped tail. There was a wooden staff ending with an emerald gem and a black helmet lying next to her. I saw that she was doing something to my right…
Oh. So it wasn’t a bad dream. My hand is really gone.
I felt tears gathering in my eyes. The woman must have noticed my stirring because she said:
‘Oh. You are awake. I’m Savri.’
She gave me a smile and waved to me.
‘A-aki. Nice to meet you.’
‘Nice to meet you too, Aki. You were in pretty bad shape. Your Sanguine friend did her best to patch you up, but it’s possible it wouldn't be enough. Don’t worry. You will be fine now.’
‘My hand…’
Savri shook her head.
‘Gone. If your friend didn't amputate it you would be dead by now. Don't worry, the boss will probably get you a replacement.’
The boss?
‘Can’t it be regrown by magic?’
‘No. I’m sorry. It’s a common misconception held even by some Life mages, but there is a limit to what you can achieve with magic. You can reattach limbs, yes, but not regrow them.’
Wait. Didn't Caei… oh. So she could have… Poor Deirdee.
‘Which brings me to your Sanguine friend. I am sorry to dump this on you right away but she will need a lot of your support.’
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My heart sank.
‘Oh no … what happened to Caei?’
‘Let me explain. And don't worry - I will tell her the same once she wakes up. The wings of the Sanguine are very complex and delicate structures. And, for whatever reason, shockingly resistant to healing magic. I assume this is another of the Blood’s sick games.’
‘Don’t tell me…’
‘Her wings were shattered pretty thoroughly during the fight against the dragon-horse thing. This alone would make it difficult to heal them. Like they would likely remain completely non-functional. But then they began… to rot. The chamber wasn’t exactly sanitary. I had to remove them.’
Tears began flowing freely from my eyes. Caei would be devastated.
‘I know this will be a poor consolation,’ Savri shook her head. ‘But you are all lucky to be alive. If the boss didn't receive the intel you were there… By the time we got there, your Caei friend was barely clinging to life, and your slime was on her way to join her soon.’
‘Is at least Lilyth okay?’ I asked, feeling a thorough sense of despair and dread.
‘I didn't get a good look at her, and I will have some questions about what I did see, but she is alive. When Tev and Eurydon brought you out, they said she was currently discussing something with the old man.’
‘That’s a relief,’ then I asked her about one of the things I was wondering about. ‘You seem to know a lot about healing. Where did you learn so much about this?
‘It’s my job,’ she laughed. ‘I’m a combat medic. I deal with this stuff on a regular basis. Also…’
She showed me her hands, which were covered by black leather gloves. She took the left one off, revealing that instead of flesh, her arm appeared to be from silvery metal.
‘A reminder of a dungeon,’ Savri explained. ‘Works almost as good as the old one. Even better in some regards since you don’t have to trim your fingernails.’
She flexed her fingers to show me that it, indeed, was fully functional.
‘We’ll probably get you a similar one.’
Hearing that saddened me and I said:
‘I don’t think I can afford it.’
‘You are basically royalty, kid,’ Savri laughed. ‘Do you really think the old man won’t foot the bill for that?’
‘Wait… My grandfather is here? He’s the boss you keep talking about?’
‘Yup. He should be out soon.’
By the time Lilyth and the Archpraetor emerged, Caei woke up and we were sitting there comforting each other. She was in a pretty sorry shape too. There were multiple rot burns on her skin, and there blue splotches in places where her armour was destroyed. When she saw us she wanted to run over to us she got intercepted by Savri, whom I decided I liked, and taken to the side.
Instead, my grandfather approached us.
‘Aki,’ he began. ‘Caeileera of the Sanguine. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Zekuthran. We’ll have time to get to know ourselves properly later. For now…’
He told us about the “rewards” he discussed with Lilyth. He did also mention something about her proving herself to be a good and true friend, though I am not sure I liked his tone and expression when he said that. I think he was hoping that wasn’t the case. Something was telling me I shouldn’t fully trust him. I would need to extract the details from Lilyth later. When we were no longer within Zekuthran’s immediate reach. He could have been my grandfather, but this was only because we were related. The Archpraetor was also in the service of an entity not unlike this Blood.
For now, I was happy to accept his hospitality. Getting a replacement hand was certainly nice. That Pathfinder status was also interesting. I still wanted to become a Seeker though, since I did not want to have to rely on my grandfather’s goodwill. Yes. We would take a few days to recover. And then it would be back to Dwynveia.
Lilyth returned to us after a few minutes. Savri was with her. By then Zekuthran has returned to his soldiers to start making arrangements. Most of Lilyth's physical injuries were healed.
‘Your dumbfuck friend should be fine,’ Sav explained but quickly corrected herself. ‘Correction: They should be fine if they don’t do any more brain-dead things. So if I were you, Akster, I would start making funeral arrangements.’
Savri winked. Yup, I really liked her.
‘Her hair should eventually return to normal,’ she continued. ‘Though the shadow markings are likely here to stay. They will just stop oozing darkness.’
‘I always wanted to have tattoos,’ Lilyth laughed weakly.
‘That’s the spirit!’ Sav chuckled and patted Lilyth on the back. ‘And hey, those are some gorgeous patterns you have there. You really lucked out there. Just make sure you don’t try your luck again.’
She turned to me, gave me a conspiratorial wink and walked away. Lilyth then joined me and Caei and hugged us.
‘Thank gods, you two are alive. I’m sorry to hear about your wings, Caei. And your hand, Aki.’
We hugged her back and just sat there in silence happy to have each other again. I realised then that while Zekuthran may have been related to me by blood Lilyth and Caei were my real family now. And it was clear to me they felt that way too.
Our moment was interrupted by my grandfather who told us that the preparations for the return trip were finished.
It was time for me to see the land of my ancestors - the Abyss.