27 Recovered (1/2)

I ran until I couldn't run anymore, only stopping to retrieve my stashed supplies in the forest. I was weighed down by my equipment, supplies, and the girl on my back, but continued on none the less. Even when my legs were close to giving out and my breaths came in ragged gasps. I kept running, again finding hidden pools of energy, my body losing its feeling.

I headed farther south, knowing that they wouldn't risk entering too far into enemy territory. I needed a plan, the sun was setting and I didn't have much time. If we were going to make it through the night, then I needed to find shelter.

I followed a river south, I couldn't risk traveling on the roads since that's the first place the patrols would be. I give a silent thanks to Sir Richard for pounding geography into me during our lessons, as I estimate my location with a mental map. I traveled down the banks of the river until the last golden rays of dusk shone at my side.

The closest town was a few miles down the river, it was conquered close to the start of the war along with much of land to the south. If it's abandoned then it might be a good location to take shelter, but if it's still occupied, then I don't know what we'll do. I don't have enough strength to fight and almost all of my energy is gone, so I can't run away. I mentally cast [Arcanum Script: Status], it's arcanum script just specifically my health and condition.

Name: Christian [No last name awarded]

Age: 17

Class: Renegade

Health: 85/400

Mana: 112/1,000

Condition:

Fatigued (Close to collapsing)

Injured (left side) +Infected

Mana deficient (low mana/no energy)

”This isn't good.” I think, I was too busy running to think about the wound on my side. It wouldn't matter anyway, I used almost all of my mana during our escape, so I wouldn't have been able to heal my wound even if I tried. I can't even heal it now, you can't cure infections with magic.

The way that regular wounds are healed magically is by speeding up the body's natural healing process many times with mana. So if a wound becomes infected you have to have it heal naturally or with medicine, if you try to heal an infected wound with magic then it grows the infection at an extremely high rate. This almost immediately kills the patient.

I start to feel the weight, it drags me down, I have to concentrate just to take a step and I'm fading in and out of consciousness, staggering with each step. If we don't find shelter soon, then we'll be completely vulnerable when I eventually collapse. I feel struggling on my back, I look back wearily into the girl's alert face. I can't hold her anymore and she slid off my back, the darkness enveloped me as I fell to the ground.

I floated aimlessly through a dark void, wading through thick inky blackness detached from reality. I don't know how long I stay in that state, time passes hazily. I float aimlessly through a fever dream state, my body ablaze making me swelter helplessly. But even in that state, I can feel a cool touch on my head, bringing me some relief.

I don't know how long I stay in that state, what seems like an eternity passed as I sweated through the scorching heat from my own body. Eventually, I escape the void long enough to open my eyes. I tried to open my eyes, they were raw and my eyelids were swollen, I had to blink for a few minutes to fully open my eyes.

I tried examining my surroundings, it's too dark to see much, but it seems to be a mostly empty room with stone walls and floors. I felt something warm and wet brush my left side, I looked down to see the wolf-girl laying beside me licking my wound. In my mind I know its odd, but I'm too tired to oppose it. I try to pass words through my dry throat, but only a croak sounds.

She stops, her cheeks redden slightly, then leaves the room for several seconds. She returned with a ladle of what I assume is water, I try to reach up to grab it, but my arms weakly remain at my side. Gingerly, she lifts up my head slightly and trickles water down my parched throat. The water soothes me and alights a primal thirst, I grab the ladle to drink more, but she pulls it away.

She waits until I lay back again, only then she allows a thin stream of water to pass through my cracked lips. I try speaking again, my voice cracks as I weakly asked. ”Thank you, have you been taking care of me?” She frowns, not understanding. ”Right.” I think, ”She speaks the beast tongue.” I try again, this time saying it in the beast tongue.

She jumps back letting go of my head and retreats several steps staring at me with surprise, then asks in the beast tongue. ”You speak my language?”

”Yeah, I think that's pretty obvious. Why are you so surprised?” I replied.

She didn't answer for a few moments, then sat back by my side saying. ”I've never known of a human soldier that could speak our tongue, I guess it was just jarring.”

I looked at her wearily, not from her reply, but just from my condition. Although my fever has seemed to go down, I still feel terrible. The tendrils of sickness are still wrapped strongly around my body, leaching my energy with every second, every word.

”It was something I studied, along with 6 other languages,” I say indifferently, then ask. ”Why were you licking me? I don't mind, but I would have preferred you to ask me first,” I say jokingly. She flusters, quickly saying.

”If you were continuous, maybe I would have. You should be grateful, It was the only thing that kept you from dying, wolfmen's saliva helps fight infection. You're fever broke, so you should start feeling better soon, although I imagine you're still going to be tired for some time.” She looked at my side with a tender expression, I managed a thin smile.

She was right, even now I can feel the abyss pulling my back. I needed to know before I was stuck in that state again. ”My name is Christian, Paladin Knight Christian. What is your name?” I asked wearily.

She cocked her head with inquisitive eyes, and said. ”My name is Lilith of the Moon claws, but you may call me Lili.” She said while smiling. ”Lili,” I played with it on the edge of my tongue. I smiled, as darkness came to claim me once again, I said while falling back into the void. ”That's a beautiful name.”

This time my rest was dreamless, time passes quickly and before I knew it, I was forced awake by glaring lights. My eyes open slowly to harsh daylight streaming through a small shattered window. I tried sitting up, I'm able to easily now, I get up off the floor and look around. I'm in the same room as I was before and now I see that the room is filled with nothing but smashed furniture and dust. I staggered to the doorframe, leaning against it for support. Then I used the walls to slowly walk outside.