Eyes snapping open and head lifting slightly up, I blinked owlishly as I searched a stone ceiling, trying to clear my vision and mind. I had no idea where I was or how I got here, but my body wasn't throbbing with scorching lines of fire, so everything was looking up.

My last clear memory was… walking through the night as I struggled to return to the Northern Fort. Then, in a moment of weakness, I smashed shoulder first into a tree I was attempting to lean against for a small rest. As I lay sprawled on the ground a moment later, I decided to stay there for a while as it was an excellent place to rest my eyes for a bit. Then… nothing.

As I got around to processing my surroundings, I found myself lying on a cot with a blanket thrown over me. To my sides were young men and women wearing blood-stained bandages lying in their own beds in a well-lit and aired-out stone room. A room that looked awfully familiar.

"Ahh, look who's finally awake. Was wondering when you would finally get around to it."

Head turning, I looked for the source of the voice. I found the wrinkled face of an old blond-haired elf walking up to my bedside. It might have been small, but as she looked down at me, I saw a tired smile creasing her face. I could see new and old spots of blood covering her white full-body apron. There was even a patch of blood streaked across her neck that she failed to entirely wipe off.

"Elder Bark," I said, trying to nod my head to the older elf while lying down. "It's good to see you again."

"Wish I could say the same," She responded, stepping forward and gently pushing me down with one hand as I tried to sit up, "none of that now." She then pulled back the blanket covering my body and sat on the side of my bed.

"That is quite the painting you have created," Elder Bark said drily, her eyes clinically sweeping over my discolored chest before they locked onto the clean bandage wrapped around my left upper arm.

She started unwrapping the bandage and probing my arm and chest with her fingers, releasing small pulses of mental energy with every touch that washed through my body in a soothing warmth as she spoke, "Hmm, bruising might look bad, but it's nearly healed… Your ankle might be a bit stiff… Arm will be stiff and might twinge in pain if used too hard, but after a few days of rest, you'll be fine… And there doesn't seem to be any permanent mental damage."

Finished with her inspection, her head turned, and she looked me in the eyes. The warm concern I saw when I first saw her was replaced with anger and annoyance, and she smacked me on the side of the head.

"Oww!" I grumbled, rubbing my ear.

"Hush, Fool-boy. You'll be fine so long as you don't try to melt your brain again. And maybe a little pain will make you accept your limitations so I don't have to tell your mother how you died."

I gave Bark my best smile in reply. Seeing the flash of irritation rear up in the depths of her dark green eyes, I rushed to plead my case, "I didn't have a choice, Elder Bark. We found a beastkin vanguard, and… it was the largest one I have ever seen. At least a couple thousand." I looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to our conversation before leaning closer and speaking softer to ensure no one could hear, "There were birds too, Bark. Many hundreds. And their wanderers had some way of hiding the presence of their minds and becoming invisible. Less than twenty feet away from me, I couldn't feel or see a thing until they attacked… Even after, all I saw was a shimmer in the air for where they should have been."

My vision of Bark faded as I returned to the moment a cold hand ran down my spine as my danger sense flared. I should have died in the forest like the other scouts in my squad. And possibly… No. Pushing away the thoughts and blinking, I refocused on the medico. Bark's eyes were wide as she leaned back, her face pale. She trusted my words, knowing I wouldn't lie to her.

Being a Medico, she couldn't get caught up in the why or how of something happening. She had to accept what was before her. After she did that, she had to decide what to do next. If she didn't, people would die. So, her mind was going right to the implications of my words.

I saw the same realization appear in her eyes that I came to while trapped in the moss tunnel. We were most likely on the front lines of the most significant Beast Tide in… centuries? Decades for sure. And we weren't ready. We shared a moment of silence as we each had our own thoughts about the dark future that lay ahead.

Then, there was a distant shout, and the moment was broken.

Until we died, we had too much to do rather than wallow in what might be.

Looking at Bark's sometimes kind, wrinkled face, I asked the question that was in the back of my mind the moment I first saw her. "How did I get here? The last thing I remember was stumbling through the forest, trying to return to the fort. Then I fell over and passed out."

She snorted, squinting her eyes at me. I flinched back, sure that I would get hit for some unknown reason, but after a second of nothing happening, I lay back on the cot, getting comfortable and smiling at her.

"Haa~" Bark sighed, shaking her head in resignation as if she had lost some battle. "Can't say how you got there, but a patrol of fish found you laying against the earthworks of their camp early in the morning yesterday."

"…Really?" I incredulously asked, getting a nod and shrug of the shoulders in reply. "Well… that's strange…" I muttered, a frown appearing on my face.

I was finally about to ask if she knew if Optio Veriskol made it back when a trio of legionaries burst into the ward frantically shouting. "Medico! Medico! We need a medico!" I glanced at the three, taking them all in within a second.

The one on the left had a slash from his right shoulder to mid-chest. It was shallow enough that it was little more than a flesh wound, but it could cause problems if left untreated.

The middle one was unconscious, with blood dripping down her face from the clash down her brow to her chin and a gut wound that looked somewhat serious. Severe enough that she would probably die if it was left untreated for a week. The real question was how she managed to get two different injuries.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

And then there was the final idiot in the group on the right, who was walking with a limp. His left leg was soaked in blood, leaving bloody footprints in his wake. When they came to a stop, he winced as he had to hold up his friend's weight on a single leg, the other hanging in the air as they waited for someone to respond to their pleading.

"Blood Week?" I asked Bark, not really needing her to answer.

"Yeah… The fish got their swords yesterday." She responded, giving a long-suffering sigh while shaking her head in resignation. As she stood up, she brushed at her clothes like she was wiping something off before turning toward the group. It was an old habit of hers, but I had never seen anything close to lint on Bark's clothes. What made it weirder was that while spots of blood were splattered over her apron, there wasn't one where she was scrubbing.

"Didn't know we got a new crop of fish already," I muttered, looking closer at everyone around me. I knew something was wrong when I first saw them, and now, I knew what was bothering me. All of them were young, and everyone awake had a look of shame on their face.

A few of the fish taking up a bed had what amounted to minor scratches that, in an actual battle, would be treated with stitches, if treated at all. Most of the unconscious tension filling my body vanished as I realized that the coming conflict hadn't already arrived and this was just the fish hurting themselves. Typical recruits… I thought in disgusted relief.

Laying back in my cot, I pulled the blanket back over my body and put my hands behind my head as I wiggled into the cloth, getting comfortable. I deserved a break after everything that happened. And what better way to dodge everyone who would give me something to do than stay in the medical building I actually belonged in.

Vlore made it back. I would bet my life on that. He would relay everything of consequence I told him — calling it his own information — while alerting the legion to potential threats. Not that the tribunes would believe any one person's report. Not with something this outlandish.

Even if some Reaper from the Inquisition was around to delve into the reporter's mind, they still wouldn't take the report as consecrated gospel. There was a risk of someone implanting memories, and no significant actions would be taken besides an investigation. Really, if I had not lived through it all, I would not believe it either.

There wouldn't be time to rest in the near future, so I would get as much rest as possible while the getting was good. Closing my eyes, I planned on drifting off to sleep when a cold shiver ran down my spine. Freezing in place to not attract attention, I knew I had to run. My mind raced, creating a mental map of the monitoring ward from what I had just inspected.

I was lucky, as I was placed near the exit. From there, it took me a fraction of a moment to mentally map my path. I even calculated the distance and time it would take. Half a second to extract myself from the cot and blanket and two seconds to move at a full sprint from the bedside into the open air after my feet hit the ground. I would have to leave my clothing and gear, but there was a price for everything.

Before I could enact my plan, my body tensed as a voice dashed my hopes and dreams of rest. "Oh, Green, aren't you going to Purge yourself?" Declared the poisonously sweet voice of Bark.

Letting out a fake snore, I tried to convince everyone I was already asleep. But I knew it was already past the time a tactical retreat was possible. I should have remembered who I was dealing with, and that was a critical mistake on my part. The biggest taskmaster in the fort was in the ward with me.

"I see. I see…" Continued the too-sweet voice. "You are so tired after all the healing and resting… Unexpected. Maybe I missed something in my examination. Perhaps I should perform a more thorough one."

Eyes snapping open, I tried to throw off the blanket and get up, but I was in too much of a rush. "Ahh!" I screamed as my cot lurched to the side, a tad more than what I would think my movements should have caused, throwing me to the ground in a sprawl.

"Sweety." Bark said, leaning over me with a kind, caring smile, "You need to be more careful getting out of bed."

"Yep," I said, sucking back in the air that was knocked out of my lungs from the fall. "Never been one to get out of bed without a spectacle if someone's watching."

"Well, since you are so enthusiastic about getting up, you can help me out around here while I keep an eye on you."

"…It would be my pleasure, Elder Bark…"

"Such a sweet boy you are." She said, her smile never slipping off her face. "Little Emerald raised you so well."

"Yeah~," I sighed, sitting up and unwrapping myself from the blanket.

"Make sure you clean up your mess," She said as she turned and walked away. Then, calling to the trio, "Over here, idiots, we have to go to the treatment tables, not the ward, which you should already know."

I looked around at the fish as I straightened the cot, but none of them would look me in the eye. It seemed the fish had already learned the golden rule of the legion. Never upset the medicos. "Bunch of cowards," I grumbled under my breath as I straitened the blankets and pulled out the small trunk underneath the righted cot that held my gear.

Ignoring most of what was in there, I took out my clean trousers, tunic, and belt, slipping them on, along with my boots. Once I was done, I stood up and searched the ward.

Bark and the three fish had disappeared through the far door. It was to be expected. The trio wasn't supposed to come in here in the first place, as this section of the medico building was for monitoring and resting. A fact that I was sure their instructors would hear of within the hour and that they would pay for later.

Well… they would pay for it more later. Bark wouldn't give them the most loving care since they disturbed her moment of rest due to their ignorance.

Walking to the far end of the building that Bark disappeared toward, I grabbed one of the plates of stew and bread on the food cart that was always in the monitoring ward and began scarfing it down as I walked, trying to lessen the rumbling in my stomach.

The healing performed on me wasn't that bad — and far from the worst I had ever experienced — but I felt like I hadn't eaten in a week. And that wasn't just because I was asleep for over a day.

Skilled Medicos might be able to get you back on your feet in minutes compared to the days or weeks of natural healing with their unique aspect of mental energy, but it takes a toll on the recipient's body, usually in the form of needing lots of food afterward. Eating more after a medico's healing was to be expected. The thing was, if someone is too weak, a medico trying to heal a patient will kill rather than cure.

I was far from the point a healing would have killed me. It would take multiple severe wounds being healed simultaneously and pints of blood loss for it to be a risk, and my brain partially melting wouldn't count. So, all that I would have to deal with was hunger. Which wasn't that bad. Who doesn't like to eat when starving? It makes even legion food taste good.

The only downside was I was on the clock with Bark, and she wasn't known for waiting. Luckily, the food wasn't that warm — cold, really — so I could force it down by the time I reached the end of the rows of cots.

Slipping past the dual free-swinging doors, I wiped my mouth as I saw three medicos and their assistants treating a line of fish sporting various sword-related injuries. It always seemed that no matter how much training a fish received with a wooden sword, they always found a way to injure someone when first learning how to handle a blade in novel ways. Usually, it was themselves.

Walking down the alley in the center of the building, I approached Elder Bark, and the three other victims lined up in front of her. Turning when I reached her area, I walked up the staff side, passing behind her as she lightly touched the woman with the head and gut wounds, her eyes blank in concentration.

Standing behind her, I watched the wound on the woman's head heal over with new skin at a visible rate. Looking at the ever-growing line of fish, I sighed… This is gonna be a long day.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.