POV - Bethany: Healer for NAS
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Bethany sat in the lecture hall pushing back her cuticles while the world burned outside. Or at least that's how it felt. She would much rather be killing shit right now in preparation for the coming battle, but NAS had insisted on gathering anyone with any sort of ability to heal, for a mandatory class at the institute. She could be doing so many other things with her time but the order came from the top, so there was no telling them to piss off.
It was, smile, and take what was offered. Even when the city had been plunged into chaos almost overnight. The Loyalsis had denied their request for assistance in favor of securing the walls.
And with their expedition, public safety was left to the smaller guilds. All the unsavory aspects of people came out when they thought they could get away with shit, and without a policing presence, things were only going to get worse.
Bethany turned her eyes back towards the room.
People packed into the auditorium, piling onto one another in claustrophobic clusters, bumping up against her and wearing her already thin patience thinner.
Everyone who was capable of even the smallest amount of Prana manipulation had been called. The brass must be hoping this stuff would stick at the eleventh hour, but Bethany didn’t have a lot of faith she had never been book-smart.
Against expectations, even their allies from the church of Brilliance arrived, further removing any personal space Bethany had earned by elbowing bruises into those around her. The room itself was beginning to grow warm as dozens of bodies in the space began to heat the air. Windows were opened but the blistering breeze that swept in offered little relief.
Time moved at a snail's pace yet the supposed lecturer was nowhere to be seen. Allegedly, they were one of the pillars of an allied faction.
The Order of the Sage, Bethany had heard the name several times over the last week. Their growth was something of a mystery, while not outwardly vicious, they seemed to care very little about whose toes they stepped on.
Yet their numbers still grew, granted they weren’t that selective, but still, they made a showing of wanting to help people.
The Order still weren't even in the top ten factions and yet it was their connections that made them such a hot topic. Their relationships with both the Loyalists and the Guild were stories in their own rights. Even Bethany’s own faction had employed them to complete the first sweep of the higher-tiered dungeons.
She had applied and was turned down, the excuse being that a level thirty healer was a liability on the dive. She was proud of her level, of course, there were people higher than her, but not many healers got to her strength.
Bethany had worked countless hours to increase her level, blisters and bruises later she still wanted to be on the frontline, and they still turned her down. Well, not this time, this time she was going to get her glory at the front, even if she had to lead some weak team of crybabies. Killing these creatures was the only thing that gave her any semblance of joy anymore.
The longer she waited the more Bethany’s anger steeped, searching for an outlet. As if to answer her call, the door to the room opened and shut one final time.
Walking in was a younger man with tousled dark hair and simple features. He wore unassuming clothes, yet they could not hide the bulk of his armor beneath, nor the silver staff attached to his back—which had to be a conduit, as that was the only time people would carry something so unwieldy. His form was sculpted and lithe, like those who had stats to burn; each muscle definitive and coiled where his skin was exposed. Two fluctuating orbs of murky energy floated above his shoulders, which Bethany could only assume were summons, but as to their purpose, it could be anything. The man moved well, but without the grace of an Aura user, so his physical strength could not be that high. And yet, the deeper he moved into the room, the more space he seemed to dominate. By the time he had reached the podium, Bethany felt herself being plunged under by a wave of Mana. Even if she was half as sensitive, she would not have missed the Prana spilling into the air as it became charged with vitality. The two energies danced together feeding off one another with perfect symmetry, filling the entire room in seconds.
It took her a moment to realize what was going on.
A higher-level manipulation technique in which the caster fused their defense with their ability to heal – she had seen this kind of thing online, but it had never held her interest.
Bethany’s energy was far better spent killing as many Corrupted as she could, this type of spell guzzled power. Not to mention the control it took just to get working, let alone master.
When the man looked up at the room he smiled excitedly.
“Afternoon everybody, My name is Mark Young and I’m glad to see so many people interested in learning to heal.”
Bethany would have scoffed, but she found the noise trapped in her throat.
The funny thing was she could feel the guy meant every word, his Prana carried his enthusiasm. She could almost feel her own energies stoked by his, calming her mind and body.
This annoyed her to no end, who did he think he was? The room was still silent as they took the man in, but Bethany would not be caught up in his pace, not when he pulled a power move like this.
Standing she raised her hand and immediately got his full attention.
“Mr. Young, don’t you think it's a little rude to subject us to this type of treatment upon meeting us?” She spoke firmly while gesturing to the area around them.
Bethany expected anger or a stern look of disapproval, at the very least—something to say, 'You should shut up when your betters are speaking.'
What she didn’t expect was the look of utter confusion on his face.
She waited, but when he tilted his head at her, she broke.
“Your spell sir, its overkill isn't it…”
As though a light had come on in his head, his eyes widened. All at once, the waves receded with the speed of a draining lake, neatly surrounding the man. Bethany could tell it still sat at the edge of his form but she felt she would have better luck puncturing the door of a bank vault than that thin screen of energy.
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It was almost too much to believe, but the slight bashful expression on his face confirmed it. Had he done that unconsciously? Rather than a demonstration, was his instinctual response to blanket the room in power?
“Apologies if I’ve caused offense. However, we are all here, so let's get going. We have limited time, so we’re going to move fast. I’m assuming you have the basics down, but if you don’t understand, or better yet, you do it a different way, speak to me, and we’ll figure it out.”
Bethany was stunned into silence and as packed as the classroom was, no one seemed to have anything else to add.
From there the man named Mark Young launched into a basic description of the absolute minimum one needed to do to keep another alive.
He jumped from subject to subject, building on each step and technique. Freely giving knowledge Bethany had taken a while to figure out on her own, and then some.
Bethany had never been a notetaker, but she found herself bumming a pen and paper off her neighbor, and scribbling as fast as she was able. He spoke of problems she had encountered in the field and those she hadn’t. Things she couldn’t find online, and even greater detail in the things she could. When someone challenged him with a question he took his time to answer, and when they showed him a different method he grinned excitedly and followed their explanation like a hawk. Mr. Young spoke and expected answers in response.
Rather than simply teaching them, he was trying to learn everything he could from the other healers in the room. He was completely without ego, taking his own notes if someone stepped up to talk. More often than not it was the church’s people that launched the questions, but Bethany and a good many other people from NAS were close behind.
The lesson moved on at a blistering pace and Bethany found her dislike for the guy fading. At the same time, she could not help but feel a small amount of respect for the guy. Up until now, she had just shoved Prana into the people she wanted to heal. Somedays she even regretted taking a chance and picking Prana as her main attribute, but it was different now. Perhaps one day she could reach this level of understanding. If for no other reason than to increase her hunting speed.
The only way Bethany even noticed time passing was when the sun streaming through the windows dulled to orange and the overhead lights flickered on.
When Mark was done, and had answered a good number of questions, he finished off by saying.
“Before the fall I was training to be a doctor, so some of you might feel I have a leg up on you. Perhaps, in the beginning, that was true, but now you have no excuse, the system gives you all the tools. Use the spells you have available to teach yourself. Expand your knowledge, because no one else is there when you have to save a life. You can only fall back on what you know, so make sure you’re not only pushing yourself to grow in levels and numbers. Good luck to everyone. I’ll see those of you who will be part of the second expedition tomorrow.”
Mark Young began to move towards the door, while the room was silent, most people still digesting his words. Bethany though, grabbed her things and hurried down the seats toward the man.
He had already moved out into the corridor, Bethany paused at the doorframe just in time to see Mark stepping up to the only other person in the corridor. His back was turned her, but Bethany got a frontal view of a woman waiting to fall in step with Mark. She was stunning, her hair cascaded down her shoulders, framing fiercely intelligent eyes that curved up into crescents as a tender expression graced her features. An amulet rested lazily on her chest radiating with a deep power that once more Bethany had to assume was a conduit.
Bethany’s gut churned with dark butterflies, and discontent rose its ugly head stopping her in her tracks. All she wanted to do was to apologize for earlier, but she felt like she was intruding on something.
The two were now walking away but Bethany caught the last of Mark's words.
“How is he?”
The woman let out a quiet snort.
“I just came from chatting with Nathan Moore so I'm not sure, but if he’s still down there by tomorrow, we’re going to need to fetch him. The city is becoming unstable. We might have to look at decreasing the numbers we send down there for safety reasons up here.”
Bethany wanted to follow but they moved quickly and her window closed when they turned the corner. By then other people were shuffling to get past her so she left the building in thought.
Who were they talking about?
It didn’t matter, if they just came from Nathan that had to mean something. Their Order had already agreed to take part in the expedition as far as she knew so it couldn’t be that.
Lost in thought Bethany decided to head back to the frontline. She didn't feel like waiting for a car, so she decided to cut through the edges of the Loyalist's territory.
About mid-way through their journey she passed through one of the cordoned-off areas where the underground linked to the surface.
The opening had long since been sealed off by construction magic, and Bethany frequently passed through these areas. But, as she crossed into the shade of two buildings, ducking under the hastily erected chainlink fence, she noticed the sound of a pickaxe slamming on stone from the sealed entrance.
Pausing in the space, Bethany listened and realized that it was closer to a metal blade hitting in bursts as if multiple people were hitting from below the blockage. If she strained her ears she thought she could hear the murmur of voices.
It was possible that a team of fighters had gone down into the tunnels and gotten lost and were now trying to break their way back to the surface. Of course, this was frowned upon but stopping everyone was impossible. If this was the case then she needed to call for assistance. If they were being chased who knew what they would bring up to the surface? Charging to the opposite end of the alleyway Bethany took out a whistle from her inventory. Putting it to her lips she blew it at irregular intervals to signal her need for assistance. She didn’t know who’d show up but this near to the Loyalist's territory someone was bound to, hopefully, thy were enough.
The sounds of the strikes were getting louder and Bethany moved back into the alleyway to heal people if they were injured. Her experience told her to put a decent bit of distance between her and the entrance. Just in case it was some new worm monster that could burrow through the ground or something. On second thought Bethany drew her sidearm, she didn’t have to wait long though. The earth crumbled and bulged upwards until an opening was created big enough for something to crawl out. There was movement in the shadows and then a voice went up.
“Don't shoot! I’m coming up.”
A steadying breath made Bethany glad she reacted appropriately, lowering her guard some.
“Is there anything chasing you? I’m a healer I can help if you have injured with you.”
A tall man with a jagged-looking blade in his hand crawled out of the earth and stood in the shadow of buildings. Bethany frowned, something was wrong. His eyes hazel eyes locked on hers and he could swear they flashed yellow for the briefest of seconds
"Hold on, identify yourself, step into the light."
The air around him felt dirty, was that corruption? It felt suppressed, but she could still feel it. Bethany took an involuntary step back, but the man's eyes were locked on her.
“Oh dear, looks like I need to work on that.”
All of a sudden he closed the distance between them in a flash and swung his blade. Bethany fired off a couple of shots but they didn’t even slow him. When the blade hit her chest six simultaneous slashes tore into her body, ripping away her breath, and causing pain to blot out the world.
Bethany sent Prana to her wounds instinctually, and this saved her life, but the man stood over her with a sick grin on his face. He was about to say something when another voice stopped him.
“This is unit zero-zero-four responding to a disturbance call. Identify yourselves and the reason-”
For a moment, Bethany’s heart fluttered with joy, she just needed to survive till they closed in. Then the man’s voice was cut off by another.
“Oh shut it, soldier. What do we have here? A murder? Hmm, no. Are you aware your skin is gray?”
The caviler attitude with which the second man spoke sent Bethany tumbling into despair. The man from the earth had his blade raised to kill her, and yet there was no urgency in his voice.
“Mr. Wilson that is not the issue right now, we need to-”
The sound of a fist hitting flesh and a body crashing into something could be heard.
“I’ll decide who I talk to, if they have me running these goddammed surveillance errands anyway, I’ll do it the way I see fit.”
All Bethany could see right now was the empty blue sky as she couldn’t move her neck right now.
It was healing but not quick enough, the man above her was still at the corner of her vision. He seemed to be looking at something with admiration in his eyes, but then his head turned back to Bethany.
She heard the start of his sentence and then the blade fell.
“Let's make a deal-”