They walked down a hallway, and found High Priest George, as well as a number of other injured clerics sitting around a radio, listening to a broadcast of the Capital’s latest Idol singer, an Ascended Rank, bard Class Elite known only as Su.
She sang in an upbeat pop rock style, and the clerics were enthralled, even through the radio. In person, the Bards could draw the whole crowd in with their magic, and she had an astonishing voice that was helping the wounded recover, if their smiles were anything to go by.
Karl smiled at George and patted him on the shoulder as they passed, and the High Priest smiled back from his wheelchair. He had loose hospital issue pyjama pants on, but it would be some time for his legs to grow back.
As they walked, the group members were taken away one by one, escorted into various rooms. Most of them would be in and out quickly enough, but Karl knew that he would be there for at least a few days while they sorted out whatever was still going on with his head.
Eventually, Doug was the last one with him, and Doctor Xander turned him by the shoulders, into an examination room while two aging High Priests in the white robes of the main faith under their coats escorted Karl into the room across the hall.
“Alright, we will start with the physical injuries, and then we will ask you a few questions about your time in battle. It can do strange things to people, and it’s as much for our peace of mind as your own.
Keeping things bottled up isn’t healthy, after all. Now, this is going to feel bright, but it’s actually in your head and not a physical light.” The doctor explained.
He wasn’t joking, it was like the whole world went Gold, but underneath the light, he could sense something paying attention to him.
[I told you that Mental Fortitude was an important skill, didn’t I?] The voice asked.
[I can’t argue with that. At this point I feel like I should be freaking out and breaking down. In fact, it doesn’t make sense that I’m not. But like, it’s in the back of my head, you know?] Karl replied, used to the sensation of mental communication from interacting with the beasts.
Karl sensed multiple sources of amusement, and then the sensation faded with one last bit of wisdom.
[Even the smallest beast knows when to run and when to fight. Don’t forget that.]
The light faded not long after the voice did, and Karl opened his eyes again. He was staring at two very concerned doctors, but he didn’t recall any pain or anything other than the voice and the light.
“That wasn’t as bad as expected. Bright lights have been my nemesis all day.” Karl explained.
“What do you remember?” The doctor asked.
“There was a voice in my mind, the same as when my beasts speak to me, but not one of them. It made a joke about one of my class skills, and then reminded me that every animal should know when to run away.” Karl shrugged.
“That’s all?” The doctor asked.
“I mean, yeah. What were you expecting?”
The Doctor frowned. “You were surrounded by Golden Light for over two hours. We expected a longer timeline.”
Now it was Karl’s turn to frown. Thanks to Rae’s shared echolocation, he had a fairly good sense of what was going on around him, even with his eyes closed, he should have noticed if hours had passed. Losing situational awareness was more concerning than anything else.
[What happened while I was out?] Karl asked the beasts.
The only one who had been awake was Remi, and she was as confused as he was.
[What do you mean? I didn’t even have an opportunity to fix the eyes on this new Totem, and then you were done with your thing.] She asked, unsure what the doctors were talking about.
“Are you trying to remember something?” The doctor asked.
“Oh, sorry. I was conferring with the beasts. But their sense of time is the same as mine, and they think it has only been a minute or two since we arrived in the room. Have you conferred with someone outside to see if it were you whose sense of time was warped?” Karl replied.
The doctor pointed at a side table with a pair of empty plates and coffee cups.
“Point taken. If everyone else had hours, then it had to be me. But on the bright side, my head feels wonderful again.” Karl informed them.
“Well, we will continue our checks, and verify that the damage from the concussion is healing properly. But the reaction of your pupils is back to normal as the light in the room adjusts, and that’s a good start.”
Karl knew what they meant, he had seen miners with head injuries before after the many minor collapses, and they always had one huge pupil and one tiny when the lights got bright again.
“Alright, now for the part that’s going to be much more difficult. We would like to talk to you about your time behind enemy lines. What was that like, being cut off from support, alone with only a few strangers?” The doctor asked.
Karl laughed. “My team aren’t strangers. We might not be family, but we’ve been through a lot together, and this was not our first mission together. In fact, even the Mackenzie brothers are familiar faces, as I have worked with them recently as well.
Being behind enemy lines was partially our choice. We wanted to be away from the main lines, where we could start fights on our own terms, not wait for the Frost Giants to charge and then respond.
But when the lines were pulled back the first time, we were guarding a spot along the border. We would have had to go through the enemy lines to get back to our side, but as I mentioned, we didn’t really want to be involved in that shit show anyhow.
So, we set up a nice den in a cave, and went out daily to hunt the Frost Giants and their allies.”
“A den?” The doctor asked, taking notes.
“That’s really the best way to describe it. We didn’t make physical upgrades to the caves we stayed in to call it a fort, we just had Rae, my Bloodbath Spider, create hammocks, a proper door, and such. Then the Clerics added the residential touches, setting up proper tables with nature magic, while I used Fire Magic to keep the caves warm.
All in all, it wasn’t all that bad. Do you know how many nights I slept in the cold in the Lithium Mine village because we couldn’t afford more coal for the stove than we needed for cooking? Having Fire Magic to keep a cave warm all night is pure luxury.”
The Doctor gave him a gentle smile.
“Do you resent the Lithium Mines?”
Karl shook his head. “They suck, but the job of a miner will probably never be a good one. I have transferred money home for my parents, but I heard that the day I made Ascended they promoted Dad up out of the hole anyhow, so he’s in the office and doing better.”
“Any other siblings?”
Karl shook his head. “My mom wasn’t big on children. She liked me, but she wasn’t the sort that wanted to raise an entire football team on her own.”
The priest chuckled. “It sounds like you know a few of those.”
“There are always a few families like that in any town, right? I heard from some of the other students that the farms are way worse, as they need the extra hands, but more hands means they need even more help, which leads to more kids, until they have a small army on the farm.” Karl laughed.
That made the cleric give an honest laugh. “I grew up on one of those farms. Tenth of what are now fourteen children, and most of my siblings already have at least five of their own. I showed an exceptional affinity to Holy Magic even as a small child, and when I managed to actually cast a healing spell at sixteen years old, they brought me to the church for training.”
“Then you understand. Not everyone wants all the family. As the nature priests would say, some people relate better to the Warbear and her lone cub than the Earth Mouse and their litters.”
