I could hear murmurs talking around me, everything felt blurry, even my hearing had a constant droning ring to it. I felt groggy, letting out a discontent groan as I tried to force my eyes open, yet they refused to listen to me. It felt like an eternity that I was just laying there, unable to do anything before everything went black in an instant.

“Focus the healing on the wound, the poison is spreading rapidly.” I could hear someone speak, who was that? My mind felt like a blur while it felt like fire was flowing underneath my skin like a tidal wave of water, burning every inch it moved away from my gut.

“Put her under! She’s waking up from the pain~” An almost familiar voice shouted out, it was feminine in nature but I couldn’t register any real identity to it.

Everything went silent, my ears continued ringing, only growing louder until it all stopped. My mind went dark, like I was floating, like I was dreaming. It felt like I couldn’t breath, like I couldn’t be, and then my eyes opened.

My eyes snapped open as a deep gasp of air ignited my lungs like fire, like sore bones were being shifted, like invisible bruises were furiously screaming out in agony as my ribs moved to allow me to breathe. Yet relief soon followed when I exhaled, like ice washed across my body to cool the pain down.

I slowly sat up, my eyes refused to focus, the gray room around me looked like a blur. I could see multiple beds, all empty. I could hear a furious whistling of wind beating against a window I couldn’t quite see.

The room itself was dark, no lights were ignited, the miniscule light that broke in through closed windows barely illuminated the room enough to make out vague details. I could tell it was still daylight out, albeit a dim light that spoke of it approaching evening.

“Where am I?...” I asked myself aloud, as if expecting the air to answer. I was forced to hold in a wince as I felt pressure on my still tender stomach, looking down I was at least clothed still. I reached to pull up the base of my shirt, it was a new one, no longer cut by the grazing bolt.

The wound was already scarred over, similar to how I would have expected it to look after a month or two of healing, not however long it had been. But I could still see the purple bruising outlining it, with green veins crawling away just to stop with a golden tinge at the end that seemed to almost sparkle, crawling along and against the tide of the green.

I slowly turned to the edge of the bed as I let my shirt fall back into place, tentatively pushing forwards, I tested the weight I could put on my legs. Though I was luckily relieved to find that while painful I could still stand perfectly fine. Though I did reach to my side, holding the railing of beds as I began walking towards the door I could see on the far side of the room.

“She should be waking up soon.” I heard a vaguely familiar voice speak from the outside of the door. It was like a voice I had heard in a dream.

“Good, you can go now, thank you for this. Even with your opinions.” A voice I could immediately recognize as Brimrose responded, there was a long period of silence before the first voice spoke again.

“She saved our children, I would even help an ogre for that. I believe you may have found that legendary ‘good’ human you were so desperate for, Your Majesty.” The voice replied before going silent, two sets of footsteps moved apart, one heading to the door while another left.

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My eyes were slowly focusing, only to be assaulted by light as the door opened before me. Only about four feet away, the illuminated outline of Brimrose blocked the doorway like an imposing knight, she stood donned in brilliant silvery armor with golden outlines not unlike her guards. And yet where the guards had been ornate, Brimrose’s was utterly grand.

“Oh my- kirin you shouldn’t be walking yet!” Brimrose shouted like a concerned mother, she quickly moved forwards, supporting my shoulder to take weight off of my legs.

“I feel fine… Just a little sore.” I replied quickly, trying to move away from the help, it was a sort of reflex to try and bear through the pain. After all it was a lot better than suffering through working in the mines with broken arms or ribs. “What happened?”

“You are not ‘fine’ Kirin, you nearly died to a quick acting poison from the wound. Lilly and Erde told us, the description sounded like Andrew had ambushed the three of you- I’m sure you have more information but please at least sit down for a moment.” Brimrose spoke quickly, and she wasn’t asking when telling me to sit as she picked me up and simply placed me on the bed closest to the two of us.

I could at least examine her armor in more detail now, the main body of fit was a silvery material that I didn’t recognize, it wasn’t silver, or iron, that much I could tell from the darker coloration of it, but every detail had brilliant golden outlines etched into it like a masterwork piece of art, every detail that the armor hid of her body reflected it instead with the outlines of gold.

“Poison? Wait- Why are you wearing armor? What’s happening?” My mind was rapidly reeling back to itself, memories of the encounter with Andrew flew to the front of my mind, the racing of my heart, the wound I couldn’t feel. The bolt being poisoned explained the strange green veins throughout the wound, and I could assume the golden light was some form of magic trying to purge it from my body.

“The bolt that wounded you, or what Erde described to be a bolt, was poisoned. It was an extremely lethal one made from Crawler venom. Before you ask, yes they are both fine, Lilly had a minor neck injury, and Erde is bruised and battered, but they’re alive and will recover.” Brimrose spoke slowly, placing her hands on my shoulders to steady me. “You’ve been unconscious for six hours, it’s impressive that you’ve even woken up this quickly. And the reason I’m wearing armor is because we spotted raiders on the edge of the approaching storm, we know without a doubt they’re attacking us now.”

“Where’s Tulip? Did you contact Berinia yet- I… Are we going to have to help you fight?” Questions raced out of my mouth almost as quickly as they raced across my mind, I couldn’t focus enough to even look Brimrose in the eyes, instead I tried to find a point of focus in the room yet failed every attempt.

“Tulip is fine, we couldn’t get her out of the manacles on her wrists, but she no longer has the one around her neck. I would never ask for you two to fight alongside us, it was our choice to take you both in and defend you. And neither of you are in fighting condition.” Brimrose paused, taking a breath before she sighed. “And no we have not contacted Berinia yet, the storm is impeding our ability to do so. We may not be able to make contact until after it clears.”

“Knowing all of that, could you please rest for at least a few more hours? The poison is rapidly clearing, but moving too much could worsen your condition again.” Brimrose spoke in a motherly tone as she continued, and with a stern look she forced me to resign to lay back down. Yet, I didn’t feel annoyed, it was weird having someone actually care about me.

“Please, wake me up when the storm hits. I… Don’t want to be left to sleep through it.” I asked slowly, Brimrose after a few moments nodded with a sigh. “Thank you, for everything.”

“You can thank me once we’re through this storm, just get some rest. Tulip will be sent in here to wake you up in a few hours.” Brimrose spoke as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I relinquished to lay back with a sigh, finding some marginal comfort on my unwounded side as I pulled the thin sheets over myself to find more warmth while my eyes closed. Sleep came quicker than I expected as exhaustion rushed through my body.