“What kind of name is Desperius?” Corvus crossed his arms at Gregory, who was still lost in his grandiose introduction.

“I know this is overwhelming but…excuse me?” Gregory’s speech faltered, his expression turning to confusion. The two guards that had moved behind him, also shot up in shock. The large woman’s face wrinkled with anger, her fists clenched around the handles of two brutal sickles on her belt. The shorter man’s tanned cheeks flared up and he clutched the flail on his belt, stepping forward violently.

Gregory hastily raised his hand, keen to prevent a fight. The two guards froze instantly. Corvus still hadn’t flinched.

“From the shape of this place, its either a church, a castle or a tomb. And as far as I know, there has never been a religion, fort or family with a name as ridiculous and eccentric as Desperius.” Corvus rose an eyebrow at the group.

“You dare to dishonour the name of Desperius?” The short man pulled his flail free and stormed forward. His voice was gruff and vaguely barbaric, and his brown eyes cracked aggressively in rhythm to the swinging of his flail. Corvus got to his feet, flexing his right hand in warning. The man wavered slightly, but continued to storm forward.

The woman began to draw her sickles but stopped when Gregory held up his hand and tried to retake control of the situation. Gregory had lost some of his composure and was clumsily tugging at his left glove, trying to let loose his Blackout should he need to.

“I’ll teach you to disrespect our Lord!” The man raised his flail, ready to bring it down on Corvus’ head. Corvus took another step forward in response, raising his right hand towards the man’s neck.

“That’s enough, Colton!” Gregory shouted, his voice filled to the brim with power.

The man stopped dead in his tracks and quickly lowered his weapon. He lowered it so quickly that it collided with his lower leg, bringing out a sickening crunch of splintered bone and skin. His face flickered slightly with pain but he made no other move, as if he was being chained in place.

“I…I only meant…” The man, apparently named Colton, stuttered. He sounded as if his throat was constricting.

“I understand, my friend.” Gregory took a cautious step forward, eyeing Corvus’ curse with fear dancing in his mismatched eyes. He had finally pulled his expensive glove off his hand, exposing the violently spinning tattoos on his wrist. “I understand.”

Gregory pressed his hand across the terrified Colton’s mouth, knocking him out instantaneously. He collapsed into a heap into the arms of the other guard, snoring instantly. She rolled her eyes and carried him over to the bed that Gilgamesh was lounging on. He scowled at the pair and got to his feet, swinging his arms through their heads in irritation.

“Please forgive his zealotry. He is hard on newcomers like yourself for not being as devoted as himself. I'm sure you two will see eye to eye in no time.” Gregory smiled at Corvus, re-gloving his hand. “I suppose it would help if I showed you around the halls, maybe take he edge off your nervousness.” He spoke the words as if they were from a script.

“Before that, I need to ask a few things.” Corvus interrupted.

Gregory looked slightly taken aback, but smiled again, indicating Corvus to continue.

“First, where are my belongings? Second, how soon until I can leave this circle?” Corvus wanted to ask about Cleo, but her previous warnings hung in his mind. He decided to play things close to his chest for now and find her once he had his situation completely straight.

“Ah. Of course. I hope you can forgive us for taking your belongings to what will become your quarters. Knives and gunpowder don’t mix well with infirmaries you see.” Gregory chuckled slightly.

“As for when you can leave that circle, well, that is still an issue. These halls are so concentrated with nature magic that leaving it is out of the question. The fact we use it for the lighting means we cannot completely remove it from everywhere.”

“Get to the point. Can I leave or am I going to die here.” Corvus felt a bubble of anger in the bottom of his heart and he felt no inclination to suppress it.

The female guard placed her hand on one of her sickles, trying to be subtle. Corvus shifted his stare to her in an instant. She froze, realising that this new student was more dangerous than any other.

“Yes. You can.” Gregory spoke quickly, eager to disperse the tension that was mounting every second.

“When?” Corvus was almost growling at this point. He really didn’t want to deal with any more people if he didn’t have to.

“Soon. I have several ideas for how to let you walk the halls freely, however, I asked Dr Curos to assist me. He is obviously not available at this current time.” Gregory held his hands up, trying to calm the situation. Upon receiving a raised eyebrow from Corvus, he sighed. “He won’t be asleep for long. The sleep I induced wasn’t that strong. Half an hour at most, I assure you.”

Corvus maintained his stare into Gregory’s eyes, focussing on each colour in turn, trying to find something underneath.

“Ok”. Corvus shrugged, sitting back down on the bed and leaning against the black wall.

Several seconds of silence passed. Gregory and the one remaining guard exchanged confused glances before looking back at the relaxing boy. Gregory sighed through his smile.

“Cleo told me that you couldn't be measured by normal standards. I owe her more credit.” He pressed two fingers agains the bridge of his nose, trying to stop his laughter. The female guard nodded her head slightly. “Kira, could you see if the doctor will rise yet, I would like to begin as soon as possible.”

The large woman, apparently called Kira, nodded and strode towards the bed on the other side of the room. She gently shook Helsay’s shoulder, trying to shake the magically assisted sleep away. He snorted at her and turned over, mumbling angrily. She raised an eyebrow and moved to pick him up. He jerked awake before she touched him.

“Not proper procedure!” Helsay shouted at what remained of his dream. He glanced around before meeting Kira’s eyes. “Oh. Hello Kira.” He bowed his head slightly. She raised an eyebrow at him, handing him his walking stick. He took it with a smile.

His energetic eyes scanned the room, trying to find the source of his wake up call. His eyes fell on Corvus, then Gregory. He shot to his feet as fast as he could without falling, which was rather slow in comparison to everyone else.

“My Lord! I apologise for my earlier behaviour. I only meant to—” His deep voice shaking excitedly as he hobbled closer.

“It is quite alright, doctor. We all have our own quirks here.” Gregory held up his hand, chuckling.  “I’m sorry to disturb your rest, but I would like your thoughts regarding that discussion we had earlier.”

“Oh?” Helsay stopped, a confused look on his face. He rubbed his chin for several moments before his expression lifted. “Oh! Of course, of course. Yes, I do believe that I have a solution to this particular hazard.”

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“You do? Wonderful! Please, explain.” Gregory clapped his hands lightly.

Helsay took a seat on the bed beside Corvus’, clearing his throat and leaning on his stick.

“If my theory about its growth and nature magic is correct, then in theory, we should be able to block all nature magic from coming into contact with his curse by writing the same spell on a sling of some kind that we used on this bed.” Helsay motioned to where Corvus was sitting.

“These slings could only be applied in these such zones, so I suggest that we make his quarters one as well. It would mean that he would have to use natural fire as his light source but that shouldn't be too much of an issue. And, yes this would stop you from using that arm, it is a fairly good solution I believe.” Helsay finished, nodding his head and looking expectedly at Gregory.

Gregory stroked his chin in thought, as a large grin spread across his face.

“You never cease to amaze, doctor.” He clapped his hands again. Helsay almost fainted with that compliment. There was one thing that Corvus wanted to know for sure.

“Could I still fight?” Corvus sat up, swinging his legs back over the side.

“You would only be able to use one hand, but yes. I would advise against it, however. If the sling is torn then nature magic will be able to seep in, fuelling your curse. You would have to protect it with your life.” Helsay nodded grimly.

“Couldn’t we put safe zones within the combat grounds? And perhaps give the instructors slings to be used to give him more time to get to safety?” Gregory continued the thought, ideas dancing in his eyes.

“Yes, yes! That could work perfectly. Creating nature magic free areas for you to go to when you need them. Genius!” Helsay was almost dancing.

Corvus was not. The idea of him being chained to ‘safe zones’ sickened him. Not being able to use his arm for anything and having to protect a piece of cloth to keep himself alive. His record for tearing clothes was already large, so he wasn't exactly excited about clothes being the only thing that kept him alive.

There was one thing, however. One thing that it always came back to, no matter the drawback.

“If it keeps me alive, I’m all for it.” Corvus struggled to get to the end of that sentence without his throat constricting.

Helsay brought his hands together in giddiness. He hopped onto his feet and caught his stumble on his stick. Gregory walked forward and vigorously shook his hand in congratulations. The two men turned towards the dejected Corvus, their grins beaming unwanted happiness. Even Kira managed a smile but quickly abandoned it when it began to hurt.

“Well? No use waiting around, lad!” Helsay motioned Corvus to get up.

Cautiously eyeing the pair, Corvus did just that, keeping his right hand by his side protectively.

“What exactly are we going to do?” Corvus spoke slowly, defensively.

Helsay sensed this caution and turned his prideful grin into a warm smile, giving Corvus a thumbs up.

“Why, get you up and running of course!” Helsay chuckled.

Corvus was initially confused, but then the group started to move in perfect efficiency. Gregory motioned to the door, which Kira strode towards at an impressive speed for a walk. Helsay took a step outside Corvus’ magic ring and took a few moments to read the writing before hobbling over to a large cabinet that was set into the black stone of the infirmary.

Corvus stared in awe at the collection of trinkets and tools that lay within the cabinet, but his attention was quickly turned back to Gregory. His hands were a blur in the air, inky black letters flying out faster and faster. The moment that Corvus tried to read what he was writing, Kira strode back into the room with a pile of pristine, pearly white blankets that almost looked like liquid glass.

Helsay made his way back over to Corvus, a large set of black needles holstered in a leather strap around his wrist. Gregory’s paragraph of black symbols began to warp and coil all around his body. He spread his arms out, controlling them into bands that rotated around him, constantly switching letters and shifting to different positions. Kira carefully placed the blankets on an empty bed and gently tugged the top one off with two fingers.

Its pure white sheen almost hurt the group’s eyes with the incredible contrast between the dark walls. She span it on several fingers, expanding it to its full size and making sure there were no creases. Helsay carefully pulled one of the long needles from his wrist-strap, examining it.

With a small nod to Gregory, one of the several bands of runes that surrounded him flew off and caught the edges of Kira’s blanket, taking it off her hand. She ducked out of the way as it began to slow to a gentle rotation.

Gregory extended his hand, sending a slow, constant line of differing runes towards Helsay, who stabbed the needle down through each one, fixing it to the blanket. With that, Corvus knew what they were doing, sending a pang of amusement through the void of his heart. They were sewing magic into the blanket, one letter at a time. The deep black of the runes only made the white of the blanket shine brighter.

Corvus was enamoured by their handiwork. The gentle flow of runes, the rhythmic piercing of the cloth and the slight hum as the runes settled in to the fabric. When one band of runes was depleted, another took its place, until all the runes were spent. By that time, Helsay’s needle was sizzling and the cloth was rippling of its own accord. Gregory snapped his fingers and the underlying ring of letters dissolved into the air.

The cloth fluttered to the ground, twitching for a few seconds before relaxing into a soft layer on the ground. With a soft ping noise, Helsay’s needle snapped and fell to the floor, smoking.

Kira began gently clapping, and Corvus was inclined to join in. Helsay and Gregory each took an edge of the blanket and examined it. It was a square, maybe three feet long on each side with three borders of black symbols, each deep with complexity and meaning. They both nodded in satisfaction and smiled to each other, then to Corvus.

“I told you it would be fast.” Gregory laughed to himself, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. He straightened, regaining his powerful pose. “Doctor, if you would.”

“Of course, my lord.” Helsay did his best to bow, before moving towards Corvus with the blanket. “May I?”

Corvus cautiously extended his right arm, the purple lines beneath his twisted skin flared slightly. Very carefully, Helsay held the blanket up to his arm, measuring what would need to go where.

After a few moments, he smiled and hobbled back over to his large cabinet, rummaging around the curious contents. Several muffled curses and small pecks from a nest of multicoloured birds later, he returned with a small spool of silver ribbon.

He touched the ribbon against the blanket, and it vanished inside, as if it had seeped into the fabric. The colour of the cloth changed slightly as the silver flowed in. Lines of sparkle appeared on the surface, bouncing off the black runes at the side. Corvus couldn’t take his eyes off the display of magical beauty. When all the ribbon was gone, Helsay sighed with relief and offered the blanket to Corvus.

“Go ahead. Just wrap it around your arm like any other blanket.” Helsay reassured.

With great hesitation caused by the judgmental and irritated face of Gilgamesh, Corvus took hold of the blanked. It was incredibly soft yet free, like a unicorn’s mane. He gently wrapped it around his charred skin, covering his curse completely. Helsay was almost giddy with excitement.

“Now, hold your hand where it would normally be in a sling.” He motioned to just beneath his chest. Corvus did just that. “Now. Say the word ‘Contain’.”. Helsay spoke clearly and deliberately, as if getting it wrong was dangerous.

Corvus looked down as his covered hand, overwhelmed with curiosity.

“Contain.”

In an instant, Corvus couldn’t see anything and fell to the ground with a thud. He vaguely heard a loud “Oops!” from Helsay as he realised that he had gotten the word wrong himself and the overpowering laughter from Gilgamesh to his left. He knew he probably looked like an idiot.

“Reveal! No? Release? Hmm. Ah! Relent!” Helsay cycled trough various pass-phrases before settling on one. The ribbons that covered Corvus receded back into the blanket. Corvus sat up and raised an eyebrow at the embarrassed doctor. Gregory did the same, with a slight hint of a smile on his face. “I am very sorry. The word I meant to say was ‘Support’.” He spoke to the floor, a tint of red in his cheeks.

Corvus maintained his raised eyebrow for several seconds before looking back at his arm and re-adjusting the blanket. He took a deep breath.

“Support.”

The sliver ribbons flew out of the blanket, wrapping his arm tightly and coiling around his shoulder and neck. Several more wrapped around his chest, binding his arm to his body and securing it with yet more ribbon. Corvus tugged the sling. It was solid. Extremely solid. He could’ve torn through it but it would be difficult and time-consuming, even for him. His eyes went wide with awe.

“It worked, It worked!” Helsay bounced, before catching a glance from Gregory. Helsay cleared his throat and straightened. “Of course it worked.”

Gregory laughed out loud, slapping his thigh, then offering a hand to Corvus.

“What do you say, Corvus? Shall we explore your new home?” Gregory grinned down at him.

Corvus took his hand and rose to his feet. Gregory motioned for him to step out of the ring that surrounded his bed. Corvus froze on the spot, not wanting to go anywhere close to somewhere his curse could grow. With a wink and encouraging smile from Helsay, a raised eyebrow from Kira, a welcoming hand from Gregory and a mocking challenge from Gilgamesh, Corvus decided to step forward.

He expected the blanket to wither, to blacken and burn with violet fire. The ribbons to wrap around his neck and take his head off. His hand to clutch out and murder the entire infirmary. None of these things happened. The feeling of the concentrated magic gave him goosebumps and sent a shiver down his spine, but there was no fire. No curse. No danger.

Corvus stared at the sling. He wasn’t going to die. Not today. He returned his gaze to Gregory.

“Where to first?”