Eliona's War 1: Hesitant Healer

Chapter 5

Severance didn't have a clue as to what had just happened. One second he'd been in the forest, and now he was here, back with the Guardsman. Words faded in before him:

You have Fallen.
You have gained Weakness.

They were accompanied by the familiar red pulsing that he'd seen when he'd broken a leg in the forest. He also felt a bit strange, like his limbs were trapped in mud.

Fallen, huh? He didn't think that meant he'd tripped over his own feet and nose-dived into the dirt. Otherwise, he would've gotten that message when he fell off the cliff.

"What happened to you?" The Guardsman's brows drew together as he took in all the blood. "I just sent you to pick Pods, not wrestle a vastlhidan."

Severance shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't see any Pods, though."

"Is that so?" The Guardsman's voice couldn't have been any flatter. He came closer, his gaze sharpening as it zeroed in on Severance's neck. "Ah, I see. Did another Outsider kill you?"

"What?" Severance raised a hand to his neck. It moved slower than he intended, as if the air itself resisted.

When he looked at this hand, it was covered in blood. His eyes widened, and a second touch revealed the edges of a deep wound. He didn't need a medical degree to understand that such an injury would have killed him on the spot.

He stared at the Guardsman in numb disbelief. "No, it wasn't an Outsider. It was just some guy in the forest, and he didn't even do anything!"

The Guardsman stepped back. "Oh? What did this fellow look like? The one you saw?"

The one I saw? Severance felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over him as realization sank in. Maun might not have made a move, but obviously, someone else had. Someone that Severance hadn't even noticed.

Just what kind of place had he discovered? Whoever lived in that mansion apparently didn't waste their time with heroic knights. Instead, they hired freaking ninjas to guard their property. Or perhaps 'men-in-black murderers' would be a better term for them, because Severance felt like he'd been thoroughly and properly murdered.

"It was a guy in black," he told the Guardsman. "Dark blue eyes. He didn't say too much. But his name was gray. Like yours."

Severance touched his neck again. The wound seemed to be healing since there was less blood. And the red beating in his peripherals had calmed down into orange.

"A gray name? What do you mean by that?" The Guardsman frowned.

"Uh," Severance hesitated. He just remembered that the Guardsman didn't see the floating names. "Nothing."

The Guardsman narrowed his eyes. "I see. Was there any other markings? Or anything that stood out? Did he have anything red on him?"

"No. He only wore black."

"Hm. Perhaps the Chosen, but it's hard to be sure. In any case, I suppose I'll have to mark the Forest off limits for now. It'd be troublesome if more of you get killed."

That was great and all, but Severance still had a problem.

"What about the Twisted Pods?"

The Guardsman scoffed. "What about them? If I send you back into the Forest, you'll probably get killed by a tree."

That was insulting, but Severance didn't feel like arguing. Not when he'd rather stay out of the forest, thank you very much. Still, there was the uncomfortable fact that he'd failed the quest.