War of Dawn - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Life Left Behind

Hilda finds herself back at the room of the Prime Gate Crystal. She greets Wally with a hasty "hey" before rushing out the door. She's got more training to do and it'll be done now.

When she enters the Hall of Soldiers, however, she finds Paula waiting for her.

"Ah, here you are. Lords Ryouma and Owen already came through, so I figured I'd wait for you," she says, stepping towards Hilda. "So, how was it?"

"Complicated, is the word I'd use," Hilda sighs. "Standing up to actual undead was harder than I thought it'd be."

Paula comes in closer and takes a look at Hilda's bloodstained shirt beneath the Alterium chestplate. "I can see that... One of them got you in the shoulder?"

"Yeah; I screwed up and it bit me. Probably would've died had Owen not saved me, even."

"Oh, my! Did you just say something about him that wasn't a complaint?" Paula quips with a small grin.

"Well, turns out the guy's not a complete jerk," Hilda shrugs. "He and this mission gave me a lot to think about."

Hilda and Paula start heading out the door and over to the main corridor.

"First things first, though, I kinda feel like punching something right now. You wanna spar a bit?" she asks Paula.

"You, sparring? Not with that shoulder. You ought to visit the infirmary before anything else."

"It's just a bruise and Owen healed it up some. See?" Hilda states, tugging the neck of her shirt aside. Her shoulder is swollen and purple but the bleeding and pain have stopped. The gash is filled with a red light, left by Owen's spell.

Paula shakes her head and sets herself between Hilda and the path leading to the training grounds. "That's just temporary – a Novitiate-level spell won't actually heal the problem. If you don't get that treated right, you'll be in for a lot of pain. Get going."

"Come on, Paula, I—"

Hilda's argument is cut short when Paula quickly materializes an unknown glyph in her hands.

"This isn't a matter up for debate, Hilda. I'm going to give you to the count of three and then you're coming with me."

"Oho? Those're some big words. I reckon I can take on a kid like you," Hilda answers with a confident laugh, raising her fists.

"We'll see. One... two..."

Paula doesn't actually end her countdown, already unleashing her glyph and causing a string of dark energy to wrap around the base of Hilda's hands - as soon as they're in place, both her arms go numb.

"Hey, you cheated! The hell is this?!" Hilda exclaims, flinging her arms around in an attempt to move them.

"Just a basic Restriction spell. And it shows that you're not as healed as you say. Usually, this would only work on the common folk," Paula says, prodding Hilda on the back. "Come on or the next one's going on your legs. Do you want others to see you being hauled around like a sack of potatoes?"

"I'm gonna get you for this..." Hilda grunts.

Paula pushes Hilda eastward, following the main corridor and past the main gateway of Valarheim Keep. At the end of the corridor, where it bends north in the direction of the Hall of Generals, there is an open passage leading into a single, very large room.

Several beds are set side-by-side, isolated from each other by curtains, with pieces of medical equipment, medicine and materials organized in tall wooden shelves and cabinets. There doesn't seem to be anyone being treated right now and no staff, so Paula takes Hilda to an office in the deeper part of the infirmary. She knocks on the door.

"Come in," says a deep, serious voice within.

As the door opens, Hilda finds an office that essentially screams "I'm a doctor": many, many books related to every single conceivable part of the human anatomy lying across three tall shelves, models of body parts, a skeleton, a white board with chalk scribbles and a curtained-off section with a gurney.

At the back of the room, sitting at a wooden table and scribbling across a few papers, is a slim, albeit athletic black man in a lab coat; his somewhat gray, receding hairline and trimmed beard, plus his slightly wrinkled skin, hints at the man being a few years older than Ryouma but he is still in excellent shape. A pair of nested circles with four crescent moons set in the cardinal directions mark him as a High Scion of Sarfis.

When Hilda and Paula enter, he sets his quill down and looks at them with a very analytical gaze that quickly sets on her wound.

"Hm... you are Ryouma's new apprentice. 'Hilda', was it?" he asks calmly and she nods back. "My name is Dr. Matu Wanjohi, the corps' chief medical officer. I assume you're here about that shoulder?"

"A Revenant bit her, though the wound has already received basic healing out in the field," Paula says, dispelling the spell around Hilda's hands.

"And I told her that it's not so bad that I needed to come here," Hilda says, moving her arms with relief.

"You are a Novitiate; even a small cut from a Revenant can get bad if you don't have it treated properly," Matu says, rising from his table and beckoning Hilda to the curtained-off part of his office. "Take your shirt off and let me take a look."

"What, with you? A guy?" she asks, giving him an accusatory look.

Matu crosses his arms and answers very matter-of-factly. "I am the only one around. You can do it now or you can wait until your arm feels like it's burning from the inside out. Either way is fine by me."

Paula once again pushes Hilda, pointing for her to go with him.

"Alright, alright...!" she grunts, walking behind the curtains.

She takes her shirt off and grips it around her chest, while Matu takes a closer look at the injury.

"The bite went deep but not too much... the healing spell used – a fire element, obviously – cauterized the wound and the Prana used is alleviating the pain. A base approach like this will only last for a while, though."

"What happens then?" she asks.

"Then the poison in the Revenant's teeth and claws will play jump rope with your nervous system. It will not kill, thanks to our connection to the flow of Prana, but you can be certain the pain will be crippling."

Hilda cringes at his assertion, as Matu quickly casts a glyph that charges his index and middle fingers with the light element and runs them over the bite marks. As the elements fill the gashes, Hilda groans from the sharp pain - like there are many tiny needles running through her shoulder. Owen's leftover spell is replaced and, soon, Matu's own starts working. The swelling fades away, Hilda's skin returns to its normal color and, finally, the injuries close off, leaving only a few scars.

"There. Keep that shoulder resting for the next hour and that should be end of that," he says in a rather commanding tone, setting aside piece of cloth to act as a sling.

"Come on... an hour? I was gonna train after this," Hilda balks.

"The spell I used regenerated most of the damaged tissue but it needs that time to set in; you'll do as I say, unless you want the wound to reopen. If that happens, mind, I reserve the right to leave you bleeding for a while to teach you a lesson," Matu says, opening the curtains after Hilda gets her shirt back on. "It's almost noon – go have lunch."

Paula agrees, already grabbing Hilda by her good arm. "Doctor's orders. Besides, you haven't had anything to eat since last dinner, yes? You must be hungry after your first mission."

"Fine, fine... lead the way, 'boss'."

As they make their way to the dining hall, Hilda goes over what happened at the enclave – the excitement and worry of heading into the field, the battle with the Revenants, her loss of concentration and Owen's timely intervention.

Hilda wanted to take out her frustration on some practice dummy but with that idea out the window for the next hour, she limits herself to just running her mouth about the whole thing. Paula indulges her, quiet and attentively listening to everything she says – just giving Hilda a way to get it out of her system. As they reach the dining hall and sit on a table to grab lunch, Hilda's forced to limit herself to a bowl of vegetable soup. She can't eat anything else with only her left hand but things still aren't going too well.

"Aah, this sucks. How the hell do ambidextrous people do it?" she grunts, clumsily bringing the spoon over to her mouth. It spills a bit on the table, which Hilda quickly cleans with a napkin – she's not about to give Greta any ammunition.

"Weren't you a waitress? I'd have expected you to be used to using both your hands."

"I'll have you know that I was the waitress – could balance a stack of six steins in each hand without breaking a sweat. But if you ask me to do stuff like writing, eating or whatever without my main hand, it's not gonna happen," Hilda answers, gesticulating with her spoon at Paula.

"Impressive. I presume that skill didn't come overnight? Care to share stories of how life was back home?" she asks, eating away at a plate chicken breast, bread and rice.

"There isn't that much to tell. I came to Litnir with my dad and brother during the mining boom, back when I was four years old. Dad was a prospector at the mines, my brother worked as an apprentice with the town guard and, two years later, I started helping at Gustaff's bar when I was tall enough to reach over the counter."

"You were working at age six?" Paula asks, her eyebrows arching with slight concern.

"Everyone's gotta do something if your town's gonna make it in the Northern Reaches – the kids need to grow up faster," Hilda answers, punctuating her phrase with a weary sigh before continuing. "Plus, a year later, I would've started anyway..."

"How so?"

Hilda lies back on heir chair, propping her chin with her left hand as her brow frowns slightly.

"The section of the mine that my dad was working collapsed – killed him and four others... My brother, Henrik, made peanuts as an apprentice guard, so we couldn't afford to keep our house. Gustaff let us stay in one of the bar's guest rooms for free but I demanded to work there as a way to pay him back," she says. "'Help those who help you', dad used to tell us."

"And, so, you stayed there for nearly ten years? Didn't you two ever want to leave for someplace else?"

Hilda chuckles wryly at the question; Paula might as well had asked a hungry man if he wanted to have more food to eat.

"Of course but it's not like we could afford to go anywhere. Still, it wasn't bad. I became good friends with so many nice people and Henrik eventually made it into a fully-fledged town guard," Hilda continues, though Paula sees her faint smile turn upside down and her gaze grow distant. "All things considered, we were happy but..."

"Yes...?"

Hilda doesn't answer, not exactly listening anymore. Staring blankly at the back wall of the busy dining hall, the memories this conversation beckoned float uncontrollable within her mind. Her fingers drum nervously on her chin, she replays events again and again. So much should have happened differently.

When her fingers calm down, Hilda clears her throat and rises from her slump.

"Hey, I can't be the only one telling stories around here," she proclaims. "You gotta say something about yourself, too."

Paula gets the message quite clearly and decides not to press the subject. "Me, huh? There's even less to tell, really."

"Go on. I've nothing better to do," Hilda counters, tugging at her sling.

"Hmm, very well. I am the daughter of a wealthy landowner in Brazil and an indian of the Guarani Mbyá people; I think she was a worker at his manor," Paula says rather matter-of-factly.

"You're not sure?" Hilda asks, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"I am not. The land fell prey to the Valnr and their necromancers, who slaughtered everyone within when I was yet a year old. I would have followed suit, had the Scions not shown up when they did."

Hilda's forgotten about her soup, looking at Paula with a sad countenance. "Damn, that's awful. What happened after?"

"Well, my father had no living next of kin to take me in. So, the Scions used their contacts in the Portuguese government to find me a home in the city of Porto with Madam Doroteia," Paula continues with this faint twinkle in her eyes. "She was a retired teacher with four other orphaned children under her care and tapped into her experience to educate us all in etiquette, mathematics, science... everything, really."

"Ah, I guess that explains why you're so precocious."

"Somewhat; she taught us much but I, personally, spent a lot of time studying as much as I could. Regardless, my friends and I grew up as a very tight knit group due to our similar circumstances," Paula says, laughing lightly as she waxes nostalgic. "In simpler times, we would go walking through the park, eating fresh fruit from the trees while Madam Doroteia read us one of her many stories; or we would all spend a day at the beach and stay until the sunset... Despite how it started, it was a wonderful childhood."

Hilda smiles, listening to the story with a lot of interest - it's not often she sees Paula so relaxed. "It does sound great. Can't imagine how tough it was to leave everyone behind to join the corps."

"Hmm, it was the most difficult thing I've done but they all supported me. Being a Scion is a wish I've had for as long as I can remember. It's what pushed me towards pestering a knight friend of Madam Doroteia to teach me how to use a halberd, even at my young age," Paula nods, her eyes exuding both happiness and pride.

"Can I ask where that wish came from? I'm guessing it's not revenge since you don't seem hung up on what happened to your parents."

Paula's lips pucker slightly at the question and Hilda could see that she was thinking before giving he answer: "Sorry, Hilda. I'm afraid that's a secret."

"Hrm... alright, we'll leave it at that," a part of Hilda wants to prod her for a direct answer but she decides not to – it's only fair, considering Paula did the same for her.

Their conversation is interrupted when Paula feels something and reaches into her coat's pocket; she pulls out a small crystal glowing a dark blue color and holds it up to hear ear.

"Yes, my lady? ...Of course. I'll head there immediately," she speaks into it. "I'm being called back to the commandant's office, Hilda. We'll have to continue this another time."

"Um... the rock talked to you?" Hilda asks, a bit worried that her friend might be having issues.

Paula laughs before handing the crystal over for Hilda to inspect. "This is a Comm Crystal, not a 'rock'. High Scions or greater infuse it with a portion of their Prana, allowing point-to-point conversation between the crystal's creator and the person who holds it."

"Wow, I had no idea we could do stuff like that," Hilda says, amazed as she looks deeply into the stone. "Now I kinda want to make it High Scion as fast as I can to get these to some friends in Litnir... it's really hard to get letters up there."

"A new goal to replace your fading beef with Owen, hm? Still, it's a fine one," Paula quips before getting up from her seat. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer but you know how it is."

"Of course, of course; don't keep the boss lady waiting. I'll see you later and maybe we'll get that sparring session done."

"I'll be ready. And one last thing, Lady Eliza also said Lord Ryouma wanted to see you in the Hall of Soldiers. Be well, my friend," Paula says before casting a Haste Glyph and running off, her spell causing her to fade in and out of existence as she moves between various portals of darkness.

Hilda slowly finishes what's left of her soup before setting off towards the Hall of Soldiers; she has to walk over, though, in order to keep her shoulder level. Upon arrival, she finds Ryouma standing on the opposite end of the room, holding a clear, featureless glass orb the size of an orange in his hand.

"Here you are... and I see Paula made you visit the good doctor," he says, looking at her sling. "So responsible, that one."

"Well, she didn't exactly leave me any choice. Still, my injury's patched up and got first official scar as a Scion - I guess that's a landmark or something. "

"Indeed, indeed. The scars you earn are markings of the life you've led and the people you've saved," Ryouma says, pulling down the neck of his gi to display a scar that runs from his left shoulder down his chest. "This one, for instance, I got as a High Scion from a particularly powerful Valnr leading an enclave in Lima, Peru. I probably would have died if not for Vanessa unlocking the seal of the heart right then in order to save me."

"Oh? She became an Ascended Scion before you? Does that mean she's stronger, Shishou?" Hilda asks with a taunting smirk.

"I think we're currently on the same level... that said, it's been a long while since the two of us sparred with everything we have. Hmm..." Ryouma ponders aloud as he strokes his goatee. "But I digress. I asked you here for something other than comparing scars."

"Does it have anything to do with that glass ball you're carrying?"

"I'm sure you noticed that there are thousands of them laid about this room, yes? Take a look at this one," as he says that, Ryouma conjures a small gust of wind to pick up a red sphere from a distant shelf and fly it into Hilda's hand.

At closer look, the Sphere is actually quite the elaborate piece: several golden diamonds are set within the glass, each one surrounded by three silver-colored metallic circles with runic engravings written on their sides, and a constant stream of flame flowing from one diamond to the next. It's the flame streams that give the sphere its color.

"Hey, this is really pretty," Hilda says, taken with the object.

"It's is a Spirit Orb – essentially, a small piece of a Scion's Prana that is kept in this room as something of a memento of when he, or she, took up the burden of defending humanity. The one you're holding is mine," Ryouma explains, poking at the sphere.

"Is that why there's so much stuff going on in it? I'm guessing that, like the brand in our forehead, it gets fancier as we unlock our seals?"

"Very observant – that is correct. Since you've just helped destroy your first enclave, it is time to have your own added to the Hall of Soldiers," Ryouma says, taking sending his orb to its old spot and handing Hilda the clear sphere. "Just concentrate onto it like you would an Alterium weapon and think 'this is part of me'."

Hilda does as he says and, soon, the interior of the glass orb begins swirling. From nothing, a single golden diamond materializes within and is encircled by a silvery circle. It is radiating a purple glow as electricity streaks around it.

"And there you have it. The Prana within has a connection to you, so as you grow as a Scion the Spirit Orb itself will, as you said, 'get fancier'."

Hilda isn't listening much, staring deep into the sphere. As Ryouma described, this is proof of the burden she's now carrying – all the lives that are depending on her. She still isn't sure if she'll be able to break free of her problems but she's sworn to everyone, and to herself, to try with all her might.

"I'll do everything I can to be worthy of this... and, actually, I still need a sparring partner for when I take this sling off in a few minutes. Are you free?" she asks, firmly placing the Orb in Ryouma's hand.

"Well... at this time, I would be tutoring some High Scions of Holfores, Sarfis and Sarel but they are currently out on missions," Ryouma thinks as he uses another gust of wind to set Hilda's Spirit Orb on a nearby shelf. "So, yes, I'd be happy to assist you until they return."

"Thanks a bunch, Shishou!" Hilda says with a grateful smile. "Let's get going, then!"

She rushes out the room, eager to get to work. Ryouma slowly follows behind, his eyes showing a mix of surprise and pride.

He'd called her here to see how she was feeling after all that happened. Any Scion would say that, nine times out of ten, first missions don't go perfectly. Still, she already seems to be bouncing back. Despite her unorthodox background, this young sapling has strong roots.

"Heh... I suppose that's the silver-lining to your picky nature, Lord Orlen," he chuckles softly as he watches her.