The Aspiring Archivist

"Interesting. Well, I guess we should find Tors and start figuring out how to get out of here." Tors, you there? Yup. You okay, then? Yeah, I'm alright. Do you know how we could get out of this place? No idea.

"Fine. Well then, what was the whole situation with the water? Do you know? The room almost started to flood!"

TAAron frowned, sensing her doubt. "If you would rather not, that's a good thing. Because I don't want you to endanger yourself by going."

"We'll need to get back to the clinic and find @Nameless. Assuming you're still sure you want to come, that is."

"Yeah. My ribcage and stuff is still pretty messed up, but I'm not dying anymore." He stared at her intently. "What's wrong? There's still something wrong, I can tell. You couldn't have done anything, Haly. Even he couldn't do anything at that point." TAAron indicated the doctor behind him.

About ten minutes passed. Then, Haly began hearing noises outside of the room, muffled by the walls. "No, you can't—" TAAron's voice. "I'm going to." "Please, sit down. You aren't stable yet." "I don't care! I'm fine, see?" "I don't know how you can manage that, but there is still no excuse—" The door into the room Haly was in opened, revealing a freshly bandaged and clearly in pain TAAron. Behind him, Theodore grumbled about medical protocol. "I'm sorry, Haly. I wish you hadn't been there. But, I'm fine now, alright? Nothing is wrong. You didn't do anything wrong."

Burning what? Could it be helping him at all? Unable to do much else, TAAron reached out to Tors mentally. Tors! Tell her that I said I'll be fine. I'm not letting go. Tors repeated the words to Haly. Experimentally, TAAron began letting up on his pewter burn, from a full flare down to just a fast burn. The soul-pain diminished slightly, but more importantly, it felt like he had healed physically, at least a bit. He recalled something the doctor person had said earlier. Something about operating? Just barely finding the willpower to speak, he yelled towards the doctor. "Do it now!" Theodore faltered, looking surprised. "I don't think—" "Do it!" Sighing worriedly, the man spent about thirty seconds preparing tools and sanitizing. When he finally finished, he went over to TAAron, cut off a piece of his shirt to expose bare skin beneath, and began to work.

A storm of emotions were running through TAAron's head. Confusion, fear, pain. Mostly pain. And now... there was water everywhere? "What is happening?" Theodore yelled. Quickly, Mell rushed to the door, flinging it all of the way open so it would let out as much water as possible. As the edges of TAAron's vision went black, he remembered something. Almost forgotten, a last resort that he had never expected to use. Pewter. In a hidden pocket on his shirt, a small vial with Allomantic metals was stored away. Knowing what would come next, he took it, downed it, and burned pewter. Immediately, the pain subsided, the awful feeling of oncoming death subsiding. He could feel his body begin to heal itself. Unfortunately, it was replaced by something far, far greater. Soul-pain. It consumed him like an enchanted fire, eating at the very fiber of his being. It was too much to scream, or even breath. Woah! What is going on? His soul feels like it's starting to break down even more!

Now that he's awake, I can try to keep it that way. Still, I don't know how much I can do... "I don't know. I don't know what I can do, either. I think a shattered rib is messing him up from the inside. With this much time pressure, I don't think I can safely operate to move the piece away from his heart and lungs. I'm sorry." TAAron's eyes moved to make contact with Haly's. Almost imperceptibly, he shook his head.

"Bring me Serum, Mell!" The woman, Mell, paled, and rushed to get something from the stand. "Are you sure? That could be very dangerous!" "I'm losing him anyways, Mell!" Theodore grabbed the object from her hand, which happened to be a syringe. He plunged it into TAAron's neck. Seconds passed, and nothing happened. Then, TAAron sat up in his bed in a flash, as though electrified. He gasped in pain and surprise. "Haly? What—" He fell back onto the bed, writhing in agony. "It'll keep him awake and alive for about two minutes. But if he isn't stable enough when the Serum wears off, he'll probably die instantly," explained Mell.

Who is Karden? Look, Haly, it's not worth beating yourself up over stuff that's in the past. You're a good person, I can tell that much. Enough for TAAron to care. Enough for me to care. The woman looked at her oddly. Meanwhile, the man was working furiously. He cursed under his breath. She whipped around. "Theodore, what's wrong?"

Antin remained seated by the fire. He hadn't slept for about a week now, and he didn't feel the need to. This magic is going to be the death of me.

Haly, you seem determined to prove that you're useless. Why? "There isn't too much to tell. He bonded with the Sword of Light immediately. Eventually, after a lot of time and effort, he was able to rid the land of demons like the Stone Ones. Then, he was coronated for his valor."

Well, you were able to focus on me specifically. Maybe you could try focusing on something else? I'm not sure it would work, because what you did may have been assisted by our established connection, but it's worth a try. "Yup. King Edmund Fidelis the Great of Terra de Lumine, Otherworlder, Prophesized One, Bringer of Peace. He didn't really choose the title. Or the position, actually. He showed up kind of like your friend did. On the ground, in the middle of the Forest. Wasn't quite so hurt, though. By the end of the day, he had killed a Stone One."

No, you did it. I just served as an anchor. Haly, have you ever summoned anything other than marshmallows? "We're here." The woman and man had stopped in front of a large, old-looking circular building with a wooden dome. She opened the door, revealing a wide open interior with beds lining the walls and a station for tools and medicines in the center. At the moment, it was completely empty. The man quickly brought TAAron to the nearest bed and set him down gently, then began rushing back and forth with different medicines. Occasionally, he tapped the patient with his rod, and various colored spark would fly out of the tip. The woman sat and watched silently. "That's the same bed that Edmund was put in, ten years ago," she remarked.

I don't know what this means.

4th. This is my first game!

That's not true. I think you have more potential than you know. Those people are at the Clinic, right? Do you think you could get us there? You managed to get here, after all.

Is what good? Your communication ability? Yeah, it's fine. Haly could feel a tension in Tors' words. He's slipping. I can feel it. I think he still has a decent bit to go, but I'm on the same page as that woman. It would take some serious healing to get TAAron to recover in time. Do you know of any better place for him to be treated, or how we might get there?

"Sure, why not? I'm sure nothing will go wrong."

"Unless you have magical healing abilities, I doubt it. So, how did you get here? A magical coincidence? Some sort of dimensional shifting ability?"

"So you're an off-worlder... we haven't had one of those in a decade. You'd be the second. You're welcome, but don't get your hopes up. The infirmary is a mile from here, and we can't run without dropping him. He's also barely breathing, bleeding from the head, and has several broken bones. There's only so much even magical healthcare can do."

She lowered the knife. "Well, I'm sorry to tell you but your friend is in bad shape. We're bringing him to the infirmary, but he might not make it." She and the man kept walking, their pace brisk. "How did you get here, anyways? Are you from Terra de Lumine? And how did this happen to your friend?"

With Tors trailing behind, Haly could see two people, a man and a woman. The woman looked to be about 30, although her hair was gray and she looked to be limping. The man was perhaps a few years younger, with dark skin and a distracted-looking posture. The man held a metal rod which appeared to be sparking at one end. TAAron, his body looking disturbingly broken, was hovering about half a meter from the tip of the rod, moving with the pair. The woman noticed her follower and turned sharply, striding to Haly with remarkable speed and holding a knife to her throat. "Who are you?" she hissed. "How did you get here?"

"No. I've see a lot of broken branches and disturbed foliage. It looked like it was done by something very large, and... clumsy."