CH1012 Thera’s Perspective

Another strong reaction incoming, I bet.

Since the hours she’d help at any hospital had been reduced in the name of forcing the other healers to refine their skills, the reaction to any time she would show up had become more desperate as the others made clear just how much they enjoyed the break she provided, and usually, that was intense enough. Coming back after other work left her skipping shifts though? She knew she was going to be walking in on a whole other level of desperation as they made their way from Ben’s gate in the magic towers to that city’s wider gate network, passing through to the city she’d been planning on working in that day and getting its hospital within her sight before a voice in her head made her stop.

<I’m sorry, my child, but something more urgent for you has come up.>

Huh, Anailia?

<The dryad village you associate with is under attack. Your lover has already gone to help, but he’s asked me to get you as well.>

An answer that froze her. She may not have been as familiar with all of the dryads as well as Ben was, she hadn’t spent days doing work and renovations for them to earn their trust, but she was comfortable saying she got along well with a few of them and beyond her first visit, she’d been treated with nothing but kindness whenever she’d gone back. More than that though, it was Fontesh and Delair’s home. Hell, it was Sachel’s old home too, not just some meaningless place to her.

I understand. Thank you for letting me know, I’ll get there as fast as I can.

With the only problem being that she wasn’t alone, the child by her side looked at her curiously at what the holdup might be as she struggled to figure out what to do.

“Alright,” she finally settled. “Mora, sweety? An emergency came up, so I need you to go to the hospital and explain that I’m asking the staff to look after you there before I come back for you, okay?”

“What? What’s happening?”

“The dryads are just in a bit of trouble, so I just need to make sure they’ll be okay. You know some staff in there so I trust you on your own and I’ll be back as fast as I can, okay?”

“Wait, are Delair and Fontesh okay?” Mora asked, ignoring her request and making Thera wonder if it would have been better to lie. Besides herself and Ben, those two were probably the ones Mora spent the most time with, and the rest of the dryads couldn’t have been too far behind. It was plain that hearing that had rattled him, but she didn’t know what the right answer to give was.

“I’m going to do my best to make sure they are, and Ben’s already there,” she settled on. “So-”

“Let me come help too!”

… Wish I was slightly more convincing about getting him to stay.

She wasn’t even sure how he could help, but she didn’t just want to tell a child that, no matter how true it was. Anailia hadn’t even needed to say that the dryads were being attacked by a demon group; that much was obvious, but Mora was a pacifist. She had no intention of holding that against him either, but if he had no interest in fighting then there was little for him to do if he did come along.

Well, I guess there’s one option.

“Okay,” she gave in, not wanting to argue when time was of the essence. “In that case, the dryads should be escaping through their gate so you can stay with them on Stonewall’s side and treat anyone whose soul might be damaged, but that’s as far as you go, understand?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then.”

She didn’t think it was the best choice but at the very least it would be safer than taking him to the other side and was more comfortable than leaving him in a distant city without her there so with an agreement reached, Thera picked him up and flew back the way they’d come at top speeds, all to get home.

Not stopping until they reached Sachel’s house, Thera finally landed, setting Mora down and taking in what she could, seeing the street crowded with people.

While a few longtime citizens were there, be it Sachel’s neighbours having come out from the commotion or other adventurers and healers who’d managed to get word and rush over to help, the vast majority were of two groups. The dryads, spilling out into the streets with how many of them there were, looking beaten and bleeding from what they’d gone through, and the demidemons, both healers and warriors alike, no doubt there at the request of Ben’s god, with that devoted base doing everything they could.

She could see them, those with light and life magics working on the wounded while those who’d either taken on more combat focused roles like adventurers since moving there or even those who simply held useful skills from their old lives were running in and out of the house, bringing the injured back and going to search for more when they could, leaving Thera to do what she was able to as she forced an earth healing spell on the land, making the town itself help with the injuries she was seeing before turning to her charge.

“Mora, go around and see if anyone here has their soul injured and when you’re done, wait with whatever dryads you know. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Trusting him to listen, Thera ran off, rushing through the gate and left stunned with what she saw; the devastation worse than she’d expected. All around there were demon corpses and blood, with awakened dryads, demidemons, and what other adventurers Stonewall had fighting a hoard that still looked overwhelming, with a few guarding the house to make sure nothing made it through.

She could see both Sachel and Ralia fighting too, tearing through demons while getting a few of the remaining villagers out to safety, but as she examined it all, one thing caught her eye and made her stomach drop. A leg on the ground, not too far from the gate.

No-

With all of her work as a healer, seeing a missing limb was nothing new to her and with the village having been attacked, she didn’t doubt that injuries could have gotten that bad but the problem was the fact she recognized it, from the shoe it wore to the bit of pants that had come off with, along with the flesh beneath. It was Ben’s leg, with the rest of him nowhere to be seen.

All at once, everything else ceased to matter. She had seen the response in the village, she knew it was being handled, and with that fact clear, that meant she could focus on what mattered to her, feeling how bind connected the two of them and let it guide her as she shot off towards him, following the skill beyond the village and deep into the woods, only causing more panic to set in.

How far out could he be?

The fact that he’d somehow gotten so far from his leg in the first place was horrifying enough after she’d left the village and ended up in the woods but as she dodged and flew around to try and get even a little closer, she got her answer.

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It only took a minute to reach the end of their shared link, finding portals opened around a cowering group, pouring out demons, but that was only acknowledged in the back of her mind, her eyes focused on what she’d arrived just in time to see. Ben, standing there and confidently fighting off the monsters trapping them one second before falling the next, his head looking like it had disintegrated as his body collapsed to the ground.

The forest shook for miles around them, the earthquake shocking friend and foe alike, while her dark mana poured out along with her earth, not in the form of charm but instead a level of fear that drove most of the demons to flee in terror and whatever had opened those portals to close them, even as someone within the protected group kept fighting, using earth magic to impale with spikes and shoot off bullets on what few of those beasts remained, but Thera saw none of it. Her eyes were entirely glued to Ben, locked on as she made her way over to him, her legs shaking in a way that had nothing to do with what her uncontrolled power was doing to the land around them until all too soon she was at his side.