“Most arcanists never come back from a circle fracture. You either need the means to afford a cardsmith, or the capabilities to be a cardsmith yourself, and everyone knows those stuck-up pricks don't like to share their knowledge.”
~Head Healing Master, College of War Magics
Devin stumbled away from the choking Walters and the monster that crumbled to dust, looking for the source of the wails.
Ken yelled for help as he held his brother who was soaked in blood. The teenager was pale, shivering as he struggled to lift a hand to cover his bleeding gut. “HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!”
The panic in his voice made Devin move, ignoring his own screaming muscles and bleeding wounds. He trudged to the twins, trying not to flinch.
The claws had ripped gaping gashes that exposed his writhing bowels to the outside air. The wounds swelled to disgusting proportions and leaked putrid puss. The pressure from the swelling was probably the only thing that saved Ben’s life, but the boy was too delirious to notice.
“Thank you. Thank you.” Ken bawled.
Devin grimaced. “It’s not over yet.”
Ben’s wounds quickly sealed up with the help of Devin's magic circle, yet that wasn’t enough to wash away the rot festering underneath his skin. Veins dyed a disgusting green branched from the wounds every second he went uncured. It was obvious that if no one did anything, he would die.
“Pick him up.” Devin ordered.
“What? I thought you were healing him.” Ken questioned between snivels.
“I’m only keeping him alive. We need to go to the hospital. They have real healers there.” Devin said, struggling to his feet. “So, pick. Him. Up.”
“But—”
“No ‘buts’. You’re the healthiest, fastest one here. Get your brother to the hospital.”
Ken didn’t stop crying, but still, he nodded resolutely. He picked up his brother in a princess-carry, making sure not to jostle his midsection too much.
“Before you go,” Devin sent a wave of arcanium throughout the area, the resource tinted with [seize]. He grabbed all the shards that shone in his awareness and [refined]’d them to overcharge his energy pools.
Then, Devin called for Dewey.
Reading his mind, she appeared on Ben’s shoulder and took over the regeneration process, injecting arcanium into his wounds to hold back the infection.
“Go.” Devin said, and Ken followed, sprinting into the forest faster than ever.
With Dewey there, I’m sure he’ll make it. Devin sighed. The mouse spirit was smart, and the reassurance she sent him made Devin believe in the boy’s chances.
This is my fault. He blamed himself. If I didn’t give up, if I kept fighting to the end then none of this would’ve happened. Devin wanted to hit something, feel pain rip across his knuckles as he slammed his fist into something, but that was useless. It would accomplish literally less than nothing.
Thankfully, another avenue for his ire came running up the road behind him.
Walters and Jenkins jogged through the woods at a good pace, no longer desperately running with all their might. They looked a little relieved to see Devin waiting for them on the way back.
“I thought you forgot about us.” Walters huffed out, his jog turning into a walk as they approached him. “Glad to see not all of you are stupid. We can go to town together; we ran out of ammo during the fight with the skeletons.”
Devin got up, nodding at every word he said as they got closer, and smashed his fist across Walters’ jaw.
The idiot was lucky that he was injured, or the hit would’ve knocked his head clean off.
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“You’re such a stupid bastard! You think I didn’t know you tried to steal my kill. You could’ve gotten me killed.” Devin spat a wad of blood and snot at him. ”I wish that monster would’ve finished you off so I wouldn’t have to look at your dumbass!”
He said, leaving Jenkins to pick up her superior.
The punch didn’t change anything. Devin still felt like crap. With no life to heal his wounds, Devin felt human for the first time in what felt like ages. Even with his overcharged stamina, it was a struggle to limp all the way home.
By then, his circle was already fractured.
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“And the team of supers defeated the bone monster, albeit barely. One of them was heavily wounded in the process.” Jenkins remarked in her report to her superiors, which consisted of his platoon sergeant, first sergeant, and even the battalion command sergeant major. The three non-commissioned officers stared at her with various looks of disbelief as she recounted every detail of the assignment she was on.
“So, what you’re saying is that there is a civilian arcanist with the power to fight two bosses consecutively, and come out on top.” Her platoon sergeant looked at her dubiously. “I’m sorry, but this is just hard to believe. We would’ve known if we had a powerful super in our mitts.”
“Not necessarily.” CSM Francis said. “We still don’t know what happened to the pyromancer Bateman. Just because we declared martial law, doesn’t mean we’re in control and aware of every aspect in this town.” He motioned for her to continue.
“Well, we lost them when they ran to the town to get one of their own healed, but we ran into the leader on the way back. We thought he was going to escort us back; instead, he punched Walters in the face.”
This time she was met with utter silence, that was until CSM Francis broke it with a boisterous laugh. “Hahaha. Someone needed to put the little jerk in his place.” He said with a huge smile. “Where did our friend go? Do you know?”
Jenkins shook her head. “He disappeared into the woods after letting us know there weren’t any monsters in our way. I’d imagine he’s somewhere in town, if not at the place we found him this morning.”
“Alright, thank you for your report, soldier. Dismissed.” Francis said, accepting Jenkins' salute with one of his own.
“Are you really going to just let this man get away with assaulting one of our soldiers, an NCO on top of it?” First Sergeant Powell asked once the three of them were alone.
“Why not?” Francis asked. “This isn’t the first incident we had with Corporal Walters. Better to let him learn a lesson with someone so forgiving than to make him bite the bullet when someone more powerful and less tolerant comes around.”
“But—”
“Don’t question me on this.” Francis pinned Powell to his chair with a glare. “I’ll personally look into this; now enough! We need to prepare for the hordes again. I want a status report on all our ammunition, manpower, casualties, arcanist to normal soldier ratio; everything!”
“Yes Command Sergeant Major.”
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Walters held a hand to the joint in his jaw as it crackled under kneading fingers. His mouth still hurt from Devin’s punch, but only just. I guess he’s not as strong as he likes to think he is. Walters smiled, which immediately turned into a wince.
“Come in!” A voice called out from the platoon office, which consisted of a half-torn-down apartment.
Walters hopped off the bench and ushered into the cool shade of the building.
Natural light filtered through windows and holes in the walls, replacing the need for electricity. Still, it would be nice to have some AC, and not have to rely on fire for light at night.
“Report, Corporal.” Lieutenant Dan, his commanding officer, gestured at him from behind his desk. Where did he get one in the middle of such a shitshow, Walters had no idea and he had no intention of asking.
“Sir, yes sir.” Walters answered with a perfect salute, ignoring the pain in his jaw that flared when he talked. “Our assignment consisted of helping a hunting team who had set up a shard farming operation at the lake towards the north. We encountered—”
“Wait one second.” The lieutenant interrupted him. “A shard farm operation? How did that work? How successful was it?”
Walters explained how animals of all types had shards inside them, and by setting up traps for the fish near the shore, they were able to farm upwards of 1500 shards within 3-4 hours. He tried to tell his CO about the boss monsters and the horde of skeletons they encountered, but he waved it off.
“Interesting," he said. “Where are these shards your team collected?”
“They…are…in the hands of the super who led the team we assisted.” Walters sighed.
“Well, what good does that do me?” LT Dan scoffed. “What else do you have to report, soldier?”
Walters squeezed his fists; he knew his leader would act like this. All results, and no thinking about how to get there. Ignoring protocol, Walters stepped out of the position of attention and slammed a glowing green gem on the officer’s desk.
“What is this?” He eyed the gem skeptically.
“My ticket. I want in on whatever you’re cooking. Sir.” Walters said, looking the man straight in the eye.
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Ben didn’t remember going to sleep, just coming to awareness in a pulsating blackness. His head throbbed in rhythm, causing him so much pain that he resisted the light of wakefulness. He pressed his eyes closed even harder.
“en…Ben…ake p…Ben!”
Hearing his name, Ben's eyes shot open. The throbbing black slowly receded, leaving behind moans of pain and the scent of bleach in its place. Ben groaned, then lurched, vomiting black bile over the side of his cot.
Someone patted his back. “Get it all out. You’re okay now.” Ken reassured him from behind.
“Where are we?” Ben’s gravelly voice shocked him, but he was more surprised waking up in a tent he didn’t recognize
“Back in town, in the hospital,” Ken answered, handing his brother a bottle of water. “We had to rush you back here when you went down from the bone monster’s attack.”
Ben graciously accepted the water, drinking the whole bottle before laying back in his cot. “That was pretty scary, not going to lie. It's good that you guys were able to get me healed here.”
Silence answered back, Ken uncharacteristically not speaking. He just gave his brother an awkward look, his face scrunched up in an expression Ben couldn’t quite place. Seeing him frown just looks weird.
“You almost died, Ben.” Ken choked out, barely able to get the words out. “If Dev wasn’t there—if I didn’t have enough energy to keep you alive on the way here, you would be dead right now.” His lips quivered as his voice shook. “You can’t leave me alone. I can’t be by myself.”
Ben hugged his brother, comforting him despite being the one who almost died. “I won’t leave you. I promise.” He said seriously.
The flap of the tent whooshed open; light flooded into the dark tent, masking the figure of their visitor. “Ben! I’m glad to see you’re alright.”
“Jenkins!” Ken yelled, wiping the tears and snot from his face. “She’s been visiting you every day to make sure you make it out alive.”
“Days?” Ben asked, alarmed. “How long have I been asleep?”
“3 days. Longest three days of my life.” Kens sighed.
“Where’s Devin?” Ben bent his neck to look behind him. “I don’t see him anywhere.”
Ken sighed again, this time breathing out a lungful of exhaustion. “I don’t know. Haven’t seen him the last few days. Not since the accident.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s out that burned-down house we found him at last time.” Jenkins said as she sat down, depositing a basket of treats. A rare luxury in the apocalypse.
“Well, I hope so. I want to show him my archetype.” Ken said as he snatched a piece of chocolate with a huge grin on his face. “Say hello to the new Hero.”