There was a pause after the echoing cry of some unknown beast slowly died out. What it was, how far it was, or how dangerous it might be was all entirely unknown. The Sentinel stood at the bridge door, scanning the lower deck for dangers like something might jump out of the shadows and attack. Those still conscious were dead silent, each of their instincts screaming to be silent, make no sudden movements, and to hide. Each of those present waited and watched the Sentinel carefully, its senses and instincts stronger than any of the ship’s faulty sensors. As the last vestiges of echoing sound rang out and disappeared completely, the Sentinel slowly began to lower its guard. For the first time, Tzark spoke up, “We can’t stay here! Whatever that thing is will kill us for sure! We need to leave, or this ship’ll become our coffin!” the acolyte said, his words shaky and unsteady as fear filled his lungs.
“Pull yourself together. Our best chances are to get this ship operational, after which we can leave.” Lear’kin said, but almost in a way like he was reassuring himself instead of his crewman.
“Excuse me ‘captain’, but it's obvious even to me that this ship is skuttle! We need to find some kind of shelter, or maybe look for the natives!”
“Silence!” Lear’kin demanded, “We will do no such thing, we have wounded and running would only make us a target while we limp our way out.”
“Captain…” Tzark said with an impish tone, desperation filling his heart, “We could leave Tanaka behind. And you’re tough enough to run on a broken leg, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“No.” Mevi interrupted, “We won’t leave anyone behind or abandon them. We can find a way out of this together.”
“Excuse me ‘ma’am’, but I don’t think you’re in charge anymore. No offense.” Tzark replied dismissively.
“Don’t forget yourself, Acolyte.” Lear’kin growled.
“She said it herself, rank doesn’t mean squat out here. If all of you are intent on staying in a death trap, suit yourself. I want to survive, and I memorized the geography of our crash site before we lost scanners. I wanted to bring you all with me, but if you refuse to come I will leave alone.” Tzark snarled back, a barely hidden hostility baring its fangs.
“Acolyte!” Lear’kin shouted, trying to put an end to his impudence.
“Wrong! My name is Tzark Nelevanna! I refuse to participate in your slow suicide. I’ll be faster on my own anyway.” Tzark then turned to Mevi, softening slightly, “My lady, it was a pleasure to meet you. We can still leave together, you don’t have to die here. You can bring your companions and leave this fool of a captain to his death. Let’s get out of here before it's too late.” he said, a foul intent lurking behind his facade of care.
“I will not abandon the injured. I think you should stay with us, we will surely be stronger together. Please…” Mevi asked, trying to muster as much sympathy and reason as she could.
Tzark’s mood instantly became more foul. Scowling at Mevi like she was some kind of sick leper begging him for salvation. The man looked between her, his once-captain, and the rest of the retinue. Realizing that he was the only one who held his opinion, he turned to leave. Spitting his distaste onto the ground as he left. “Acolyte! Cease this madness!” Lear’kin demanded, “Sentinel, stop that man from leaving!”
“Belay that order.” Zelkan interupted, “If this fool wants to leave on his own, let him. I would not allow such disrespect to our lady to stay here in the first place.”
Lear’kin scowled at Tzark as he walked towards the door. The Sentinel barred his way, and seemed to be analyzing the small Acolyte as Tzark stared up at the massive warrior. After a few moments, the Sentinel stepped to the side and allowed Tzark to leave. The disgruntled man didn’t look back, leaving the threshold of the bridge and breaking out into a run for the main deck and beyond.
The scene left Lear’kin almost trembling, but with fear, worry, or rage Mevi couldn’t tell. Zelkan stared towards the darkness Tzark left behind, his emotions hidden by his mask. All the while, Searin had been doing her best to ignore the outburst and was trying to focus on Lear’kin’s injuries, yet she was obviously disturbed. Mevi stood there, not sure exactly how to react; it was his right, she thought, to leave if he didn’t want to be here. Yet some part of her had believed she could convince him with gentle words alone like she had done with others up until now. She didn’t know what was out there, in the darkness of the forest, but she did quietly hope he would survive and make it to salvation like he so believed.
A somber mood took over the group, but everyone continued their tasks and diligence. Hellion seemed uncomfortable, like he was waiting to say something but couldn’t find the confidence to bring it up. He milled over his thoughts for a while, shifting his weight back and forth on his legs as he processed whatever he was thinking about. After a few minutes had passed since Tzark left, Hellion finally decided to speak up. “Not to dredge up somethin’ foul again… but we gotta figure out what to do with the corpses.” Hellion said, his words like an executioner’s axe coming down on the tension among the group.
“Yes…” Lear’kin muttered, “I had almost forgotten”
“Listen, I know y’all don’t agree. So I’ll go an’ do it myself. Just stay ‘ere, but with that thing out there, all the noise from the crash, ‘an everything else... We gotta get rid of some bad factors.”
The grim tension returned to the room, having only briefly left for a few seconds after Tzark had stormed out. Saerin stopped her work on Lear’kin. Standing up, emotion twisting her expression into a sad pain. “I have finished my due diligence here… I will help you. I can at least say part of our prayers, and hope the Magi forgive us.”
Hellion gave Saerin a nod, looking towards Mevi. She wanted to say she would go with them. She wanted to pay her respects and honor the memory of those who had died under her care. Yet the vision of gore, the glimpse of ragged blue skin, the very idea of seeing those scenes again terrified her. Mevi stood still, incapable of a real response. Hellion seemed to understand, and turned to leave. The two of them, Hellion and Saerin, left for the main deck. The Sentinel watched them leave, almost like it wondered where they were going. Mevi couldn’t bear to watch them perform their duties, but she couldn’t send them out alone. Walking next to the Sentinel, Mevi quietly asked, “Please… Go with them, just in case. Bring them back if there is any danger.”
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The Sentinel watched its mistress give her commands, then it looked towards the two leaving for the main deck. It seemed to understand, but lingered for a moment as it stared down at Mevi. The thing looked at her, its face completely hidden behind its golden armor. Yet every once in a while, the glimmer of red eyes peered out of the thin black slits in its full helm. It watched her for several seconds, then it turned to comply with its mistress’ directions. The three of them left, leaving Zelkan, Mevi, and Lear’kin in the room with the strained breathing of the unconscious Tanaka.
Mevi wasn’t sure exactly what she could do to help the restoration efforts. Yet not wanting to bother or interrupt the work of those with important tasks, she resigned herself to tend to Tanaka. Sitting down next to the man, he still breathed and heaved fitfully every once in a while. His legs splinted and covered by a blanket, Mevi began tending to him. A bowl with chilled water was next to him, and a discarded piece of cloth lay half submerged. Mevi noticed how red and irritated his skin looked, placing a hand against his cheek it was easy to tell he was burning up. Saerin was nowhere to be seen, having left with Hellion, Mevi wondered what to do. Yet without direction, and not wanting to be useless anymore, she figured wiping away his beeding sweat and cooling him down would hopefully help.
Mevi couldn’t help it when her thoughts began to drift during her work. She thought about how painful this must be for Tanaka, how much Lear’kin’s life will change because of his injuries, Ouapi, the dead or missing crew, she thought about how much everyone had suffered so far. She wanted them to be safe, she hoped they would get better with time, she silently prayed there wasn’t some divine punishment to those who were lost or now being unceremoniously cremated after death. She didn’t know much about religion, and she knew nothing of the afterlife, but she cared so deeply for those when they were alive she wished there was something after to ease their pain. That is all she wanted, she wanted their pain to be less. She frustrated as she cleaned Tanaka’s face, arms, legs, and body of the sweat and pain that his fever caused. She wished for the pain to lesson, that he would feel better and that no more hurt would be had from any of her companions or crew.
As Mevi focused, despite her drifting thoughts, her emotions began to leak into her work. She couldn’t stop her empathy from seeping into the light her stone provided. Slowly, and carefully, a soft teal began to leak into the otherwise static light. What had become simply a stiff source of illumination was being dyed a small, and slow, amount of colors. No one noticed, the infecting emotions were conjured so slowly as Mevi was lost in her duties to her wounded and sick patient, but the color was there.
Saerin, Hellion, and the Sentinel returned. Quietly, somberly, and with a dark air around them with wafts of smoky smell swirling about them. They returned to witness as both Zelkan and Lear’kin had paused their own work, all of them now watching Mevi weave strange colors through the air and light into and out of Tanaka. None of them dared to speak, none of them risked interruption. Mevi was entirely oblivious to her audience or to the strange rhythm she had begun to experience as she wove her care into the simplest of movements. A green light echoed quietly where Mevi’s hands touched Tanaka’s skin, a careful touch and diligent determination shown as evidence of her deep dedication to her people. Streaks of green light would soon hover through the air, linger against skin, or swirl in spirals around the gemstone glove. Mevi’s powers were awakening once again.
Something about Mevi, some part of her soul yearned so badly to fix, heal, care, and protect her people that it began to manifest. Mevi had devoid herself of her emotions, she had been practicing keeping calm and pushing out all emotions she could for fear of them, that when she did begin to feel something she thought was harmless she let it manifest fully. Her empathy completely filled the void that she had made in her heart, the nothing was filling with love and thoughts of her friends. This materialized so obviously that even those unattuned to the Magicae arts could see the spectacle for what it was; a miracle.
Mevi’s awakened emotion began to calm, her dance of care was winding to its conclusion, and Mevi’s thoughts began to return to normal. She remembered Kalesi, Saerin, Zelkan, and all they had done for her. Her truest friends, and she had finally noticed her inferno of emotions collecting inside of herself. In what felt like an eternity of colors and magic, but was really only minutes, her audience watched as the teal and green wisps sputtered out and were replaced once again with the stiff light of her voided thoughts.
The first person to stir, the first person to interrupt the spectacle, was none in the audience. It wasn’t even Mevi snapping back to reality, but Tanaka. Tanaka stirred and awoke, twisting upwards to sit up as he looked around confused. Mevi was startled fully out of her trance-like state. “Please, lay back down. You’re wounded!” Mevi asked gently, trying to pull him back down carefully.
“Agh, who..?” Tanaka mumbled, noticing Mevi, “My lady? I feel… I feel fine, but what happened? I remember the alarms and trying to repair the thruster system, then a crash… We crashed, didn’t we?” he suddenly became sober.
Saerin now rushed over, snapping out of the trance Mevi’s dance had also put her in, “Tanaka, you need to lay back down. Both of your legs were badly broken, you need to recover your strength and rest.” she explained.
“What? I feel sore, but what are you talking about?” Tanaka asked, confused.
He pulled in his leg, and began to stand. To everyone’s complete shock he began to stand. What had been little more than crushed bone, torn skin, and splinted bandaged messes were now standing; albeit wobbling slightly. Tanaka winced and clutched his left leg and he stood unaided, dropping to a knee. “Fine, ok, maybe I did hurt something. Damn, my leg is cramped, is this what a broken bone feels like? It's not too bad.” Tanaka said, smiling as if to lift the mood.
No one responded to his jest. Everyone had seen his legs. They were crushed by several tons worth of metal, they were all but destroyed. Saerin had said under her breath during his care that amputation might be the only way to prevent an infectious death. Yet here he was, standing before their eyes as if that had never even happened. Eyes were naturally drawn to Mevi, as Mevi herself stared in disbelief. “My lady…” Zelkan said dumbfounded, approaching just behind his mistress.
“Zelkan, I don’t know… Did I?” Mevi sputtered, confused and aghast at the implication.
“Mevi…” Saerin began, “You healed him… Not completely, but you repaired his legs… Not even our best Mana-gel chambers could do what you did in that time… How did you-”
Mevi didn’t know. She couldn’t know. But what she did understand, was the pain seeping into her skull. A pounding sound was echoing in her head that deafened any other noises. She reached for her head, as if she could tear out the pain that began to erupt in her brain. She briefly saw Saerin mouth some words she couldn’t hear or understand, but Mevi could only writhe in response. She pushed her head to the ground, pressing her forehead against the hard cold metal, she gripped her temples with both hands and felt the weight of a thousand pounding drums hammering into her mind. She felt so much pain. She tried to scream, but couldn’t tell if she succeeded because the pounding pressure drowned out any other noise. She fought against her own body, she could feel a familiar exhaustion coming on. She knew her body was about to collapse, she had done it before, but she refused to give in so easily this time. She grit her teeth and fought against her body’s burning desire to fall unconscious. Yet suddenly, a sharp needle-point pierced into her shoulder. Mevi’s head lurched as she turned to look at what it was, and it was none other than Zelkan. Zelkan had stabbed her with a medical device and was injecting something into her arm, to the protest of Saerin and aghast stares of the others. Whatever he had done, she felt it course through her arm and it possessed her consciousness. She couldn’t fight back against the substance, she succumbed once again to sleep.