Malcolm Tent
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Wish upon the Stars chapter 581
🕑 Added 2024-03-14 20:58:59 +0000 UTCReaching the healing tent was both a relief and a blow to our morale. I could see first hand my friends and family were alive and well, which was amazing…but I could also see the pain and injury on display in the tent. Jessie was frantic, hurrying around, laying hands on anyone she could reach. Thanks to her powerful ability and rank, all the F-ranked soldiers recovered nearly instantly, but I could see the E-rankers were a bigger problem.
I stared in shock at the pain and devastation on display. I saw my sister kneeling next to a bed, hand alight with white fire as she pressed it against the hissing green energy erupting from the wound of an E-ranker I didn’t recognize.
In fact, there were dozens of them like that, acid or poison or what have you keeping them from healing, though some were just injured so badly by a similarly ranked opponent that their Vitality was having trouble mending the wounds. Several of their eyes glowed with green life force already, Jessie having dosed them with her power to begin the healing process, but I could see it was wearing on her.
Stepping up to where she was rushing to the next bed, I caught our healer by the arm. She glared up at me, looking ready to snap, but when she saw who it was, her face crumpled and she grabbed me in a bone crushing hug. “You’re ok.” She murmured, pulling back and latching onto Callie next, and then Benny. “You’re all ok.”
“We’re fine.” I said firmly. “And I’m glad to see you are too. But you need to take a break.”
She scoffed. “What? That’s crazy. Don’t you see how many people are injured. They need my help, I can’t just-”
“You very much CAN just.” I stated forcefully. “Your Vitality is absurd for your rank, and your Impact helps make your healing more effective, but even you have limits. You’ll recover quickly because of your stats, so take a minute and rest. I have ten charges of heal burst available, and I can help by taking your place for a bit. They won’t go untreated.”
I’d been worried about what this would do to her, and it had been smart to be. Her eyes were ringed with dark circles and her skin was waxy, I could see sweat beading on her forehead and her breathing was labored.
Callie stepped past me, grabbing her hand and pulling her over to sit on a nearby empty cot. “Let Shane do his thing. Those are your charges anyway, so you’re still helping, but you’re no good to anyone if you keep over dead. Where is Bethy, by the way? I thought she was guarding you with Nat and-”
The vampire stepped out from behind a tarp, wearing what seemed to be hospital scrubs with small flying cats on them. Despite her cheerful garb though, she looked as somber as I’d ever seen her. In fact…she looked extremely distressed. Her movements were jerky and ragged and her eyes were glowing. It occurred to me that being around this much blood was probably really hard for her.
“I stabilized the two bleeders back there long enough for your healing to reconstruct the arteries.” She said clinically. “We’re lucky Chelsea was here, because there’s no way I would’ve been able to keep them alive through the acid eating away at their carotids.” She noticed us all and gave a jerky nod. “Shane, Callie. It’s good to see you. Where are the others?”
I nodded back, a little worried at the rawness and discomfort I was seeing from the normally cheerful vampire. “Abel and Mel are stuck in a defensive construct with Camden and Sonia for a while. They’ll be here when they can but they’re fine. Gabe should be here any minute.” As if summoned by my words, the front flap of the healers tent was pulled aside and the big Crusader entered, looking exhausted.”
“How’s news from the front?” I asked him. Gabe’s starlight charger made him the fastest of us in terms of mobility, it was designed to utilize his Might stat to achieve much greater speeds. Camden had dispatched him to deliver messages to the commanders of the elite division and to check on their progress.
He smiled tiredly. “About as good as expected. Without the majority of their forces and equipped with the artifacts they got from you, Clairdon’s estate fell easily. They’re sieging Highgrave right now, but the assault is going well.” He noticed Bethy standing there and his smile widened. “Bethany, I like the outfit.”
She forced a wan smile, but I saw the big Crusader’s troubled expression as he took in her demeanor. “Thank’s Gabe.” She said with a faux cheerful tone. “They’re my favorites. Perfect for helping out around the hospital tent.”
“You need a break too.” I decided. I glanced at my sister. “Seems like Chelsea hasn’t been pushing as hard, so she can help me use my heal bursts to patch things up.” I realized how ill equipped I was for healing. I depended far too much on Jessie and had no way to help her out. My next form would need to address that, but I’d need to figure out what combination of abilities I’d use to make it.
For now, I just ignored their protests as Benny led Jessie and Gabe led Bethy to the back of the tent to sit down and relax.
Callie followed me to the first cot and stood beside me silently, not able to do much to help, but clearly wanting to support me. I glanced down at the pale faced soldier on the bed, clutching a nasty looking wound in his side as he groaned weakly.
Putting a hand on his chest, I reached into myself and triggered Afterburner. Fire surged up through my consciousness, suffusing me with strength. I only had ten charges of healing, and Afterburner gave me ten boosts. It was perfect. I was soothed and bolstered by the flame, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Once I used the attacks up the weakening would hit me like a ton of bricks.
Callie latched onto my arm as I reached for another skill, about to use Mercy Kill. “If you strain your soul more than you already have instead of letting me help, I'm going to choke you unconscious and stuff you in a broom closet.” She said bluntly.
I gave her an adoring smile. “I love you too, Cal. Mercy Kill and then heal burst then, count of three.” With my soul, or I suppose our souls, as strong as they were, making the combat specialized buff work on a healing skill was child’s play. I triggered the skill and stored charge, offloading the strain onto Callie.
She didn’t seem overly bothered by the strain, though she was plenty exhausted too. She was close to hitting Sapphire now, though not quite there, and I think that was helping. A wave of blazing green life force, even more powerful than Jessie’s normal heals, slammed into the man, and his eyes exploded into green light. Not just the irises, but the sclera too, the whole eye became suffused with green.
The energy shone from the wound too, which began to close with visible speed. Sadly, as the wound slowly healed, the glow began to fade, burning off the whole healing charge as quickly as possible to repair the worst damage.
Satisfied with that, I moved on to the next injured soldier. Another heal, and another. One by one I healed up all the ones with the worst wounds, hoping to minimize casualties.
Vitality was amazing, but it couldn’t save you from everything. Impact played an outsized role in combat, and attacks from people at your own rank were harder for your stats to heal. Bleeding out WAS more than possible for an E-ranker, provided the wounds were dealt by the right people or with the right weapons.
Each new soldier I fixed seemed to lighten atmosphere a bit. One good thing about Ascendants was that while there WERE nasty skills and abilities that could slow kill someone, provided they lived through the initial attack, as long as healers were on hand most people would survive. I’d healed up the only really critical cases, and Chelsea was chipping away at the acid and poison stuff, chances were good the people in the tent would all live to see tomorrow.
Once I finished the last one, I all but toppled over, Callie catching me and hauling me to the back where Bethy and Jessie were being fussed over by Gabe and Benny respectively. She shoved me into an unoccupied cot and towered over me, hands on hips, as I tried to get up.
“Lay back down.” She snapped. “Now. You’re at critical mass, Shane. Any further soul strain and you might cause irreparable damage. Not to mention your body has been put through the ringer. You were just telling these two to rest, and now I’m telling you.”
Jessie nodded from where she was glaring at Benny. “She’s right Shane. Look at you. Your hands are shaking, your breathing is uneven. You look like you’re about to pass out, and I can’t even see your face.” Her concern was evident, and the others all turned to study me, suddenly aware of how hard I’d been pushing myself.
And…she was right. I was a mess. I’d been keeping myself going on sheer momentum. My head was in so much pain I could barely think, and the only reason I was functional was because it had been like that for so long now that I’d gotten used to it and had started tuning it out as background noise. I was at the end of my rope. Wishes, Dust Construction, multiple powerful attacks, overlapping my forms, parallel minds…I’d pushed myself to the limit.
“Fine.” I said, slumping back onto the bed. “But if I’m resting so are you. And for more than a minute or two.” I said firmly. “Chelsea is still working on the worst cases, and I patched up the ones in need of immediate triage. You can take a bit to recover, and if I have to sit here and relax so do you.”
She looked appalled. “But there are so many-”
“Nope.” I said lightly. “Don’t want to hear it. No arguments. Lay down and let Benny get you some soup or something from the mess hall.” I turned to Bethy, who had been trying to get up. “And you better plant yourself back in that bed missy. Don’t think we don’t all see how frayed your nerves are around all this blood.”
Her expression became remote, but I could see a bit of hurt in her eyes. Callie noticed too, and immediately reassured her. “We don’t think you would hurt anyone. We know you better than that. We just know that this must be agonizing for you. You need time away from the blood to calm down your bloodlust, and if possible maybe something to eat to help quell the hunger.”
Gabe shoved his arm forward. “You can drink from me.” He said without hesitation. “I’ve lost blood before. It won’t be a-”
“No!” Bethy screamed, shoving him away. “Don’t…you can’t offer that! I can’t drink from you. One of the cats will be fine. Familiars and thralls have native protections against having stats drained when I feed. You don’t. If I bite you…it won’t be an experience you want to repeat. Trust me.” Her voice sounded broken and a little ashamed, and Gabe looked devastated.
I remembered hearing from Valk what it felt like to be drained back at the bazaar. How awful it was, and I knew that she didn’t want to inflict that pain on someone she cared about. She must have been feeding on the cats for a while. To my surprise, looking back they seemed stronger rather than weaker, maybe she’d been giving them her blood in return?
Whatever the case, she didn’t try to get up again, so I was satisfied. I allowed myself to relax, lying back and closing my eyes. I wouldn’t stay down long. Only for a second. I’d just rest my lids for a moment or two so I could recover. That was all I needed though, to drift off into darkness.
Comments
JJB4345_80_815
Thank you for the chappy! Friendly possible edit: "...but you’re no good to anyone if you keep over dead. Where is Bethy, by the way?" keep ==> keel
