From Real to Realm

A few seconds after Lyon requested channelers, the echo of multiple sets of boots grew louder. The large wooden double doors opened to reveal a swarm of medical personnel pouring into the room. White and red robes fluttered with movement as they descended upon those who were most obviously hurt.

“We need his armor off. Give me a hand.”

The sound of multiple channelers working together to peel away Cain’s damaged iron armor took over the room for a few seconds. Bent and broken metal creaked before being tossed aside, replaced by glowing hands.

“He’s not on death’s door, yet, but we need to hurry,” the same channeler said. “Stretcher!”

At the same time, another duo was crouched over Braun, performing a similar medical scan.

“We need a stretcher here, too!”

While most of the focus was on the two of them, a single channeler approached Amarisse. Within seconds, she finished the same health scan. “That arm’s broken at the very least. Come with me, we’ll immobilize it before healing it.”

Amarisse glanced at Lynesia and Val, then nodded, following the guild channeler. Mina slipped in next to her, waving at Val and Lynesia. It was obvious she didn’t want Amarisse to be alone while being healed.

“Do you think everyone will be okay?” Lynesia asked, leaning into Val’s side.

Val looked around the room. “I do. The guild takes care of us, even if we aren’t their best fighters.”

“Miss, you should probably come to get checked out as well.”

Val and Lynesia glanced to the left as another channeler approached them.

“I’m good,” Val said. “I don’t think I—“

Lynesia slapped her chest. “Stop acting tough. I can feel you putting weight on me. You’re favoring your left leg.”

The channeler chuckled. “There’s also the small matter of the dried blood on your head and arms. We should make sure to heal all injuries, however small, to prevent infection.”

Lynesia glared at Val. “There’s no point in arguing with both of us, Val.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll go,” she finally said, trying to pull away from Lynesia.

However, Lynesia’s grip remained tight. “I said you should go, not leave me behind, dummy. I’m going with you.”

Val chuckled. “Alright, well let’s get this over with then.”

As Val limped, leaning against Lynesia, she waved to Cyrus’ group while being ushered out of the main return gate room. Thankfully, the medical wing was right down the hall from where they returned, likely a purposeful decision early in the guild’s history.

“Is there anything that hurts in particular?” asked the channeler as they walked.

“Aside from my right leg, just general aching all over,” Val said, chuckling.

Cera emerged from the room just in time to catch Val and Lynesia. “Do you need my help?”

The three of them turned around, the channeler shaking their head. “We’ve got her, take a break. I’m sure you’re quite drained. You did a good job.”

Cera relaxed for the first time since they entered the dungeon, letting out a sigh of relief. “Alright. I’ll come visit you in a moment, then. I’m going to stay behind and talk to Lyon and Cyrus.”

Val nodded. “Sounds good. Pick their brains, see if you can’t find out how they thought we did?”

Cera nodded, showing a strained smile. “I plan on doing more than just picking their brains.”

With everyone who needed medical attention ushered to the medical wing, Cera turned around. She walked back into the floorgate room just in time to see Cyrus and Lyon talking to each other.

“What the fuck was that?!” she asked, arms out. “I thought Cyrus’ group was there to help us if we needed help?!”

The two of them looked at her, shocked.

Cera started counting on her fingers. “Val got hurt, Amarisse got hurt, Cain and Braun were knocked out cold, then Celina was kicked like a pebble!”

Cyrus opened his mouth to reply, but Lyon held out his arm.

“I told them not to help.”

For the first time in a long time, Cera felt rage bubbling to the surface. “Why. The. Fuck. Not?”

“I had faith your groups could pull off the fight,” he said, expression unchanging. “Considering we’re all back safe, I think my call was the correct one.”

Cera balled up her fists, nostrils flaring. “Safe? Safe?!” She stomped closer. “SAFE IS WITH EVERYONE AWAKE AND IN GOOD HEALTH!”

Zennia finally swooped in between them, hands landing on Cera’s shoulders. “Cera, calm down, please.”

“We wanted to help,” Irina said, fingers fidgeting with her staff. “But we also know Lyon is a trusted member of Stormveil.”

Cyrus finally spoke up. “I didn’t like it at all. I even threatened to step in against his orders. But I also know Val. She chose her group for a reason, and she trusts you.”

“If Val had looked at us with any uncertainty at all, we would’ve happily gotten involved,” Dolf said, cracking his knuckles. “But she trusted her party, just like a good adventurer does.”

It still didn’t taste right to Cera. “I don’t agree with any of this.” She flexed her hands, taking a calming breath. “At least no one died. You’re at least lucky there.”

Without another word, she turned around and stormed off.

Back in the medical wing, Val was sitting on a bed with Lynesia next to her. A nurse was helping to clean off the dried blood on her body.

“How are my friends?” Val asked, wincing when the nurse found a particularly nasty gash.

The nurse glanced at her. “I’m unsure, but we’ve got the best channelers in the city working on them. You need to focus on your own healing.”

Lynesia squeezed Val’s hand. “She’s right. Focus on yourself for a change.”

Val chuckled. “Never been much good at that and you know it.”

The nurse smirked.

“How’s she looking?” asked a man approaching in the same white and red robes.

The nurse stood up. “Well, nothing too serious. She has various cuts along her arms and a gash on the top of her head. She’s twisted her right ankle and strained the muscles in her right leg badly.”

The man sighed in relief. “Good, much better off than the two unconscious ones.”

Val looked up. “How are they?”

He sighed again. “They’ll live, but it’ll probably take a few days for a full recovery. The strain of going through such injuries and then being healed will definitely drain them. But they’ll survive with no complications.”

“That’s good. They fought hard,” she said, smiling.

“Enough about them, we should start getting you back on your feet.”

After kneeling in front of her, he raised his glowing green hands. This time, there were small sprites of green energy flowing around them. As he focused on where she was injured, these small sprites floated down to her skin before absorbing into her skin.

Halfway through the process, Lynesia called out. “Cera! Over here!”

The channeler didn’t look, but Val did, waving at Cera.

“I don’t know how I feel about Lyon,” Cera said, walking up to them.

Val and Lynesia shared a look.

“What do you mean?” Lynesia asked, confused.

“That asshole prevented Cyrus’ group from helping us!”

Val almost recoiled at the anger oozing from Cera. However, after realizing what she said, Val almost jumped up, just as pissed.

“What do you mea—ow, fuck.”

The channeler below her had placed a hand on her hip. “You need to stay still if I’m going to heal you.”

After wincing in pain, she sat back down. “What do you mean he prevented them from helping us?”

Cera sat on the bed across from them, huffing. “He said he thought we could ‘handle it’ fine without their help. Then had the nerve to pretty much say, ‘I told you so’ after I mentioned no one died, thankfully.”

Val grit her teeth. “I had a feeling he was an asshole.”

Lynesia placed her hand on Val’s. “I thought they were meant to mostly be observing unless things went really bad?”

Cera leaned forward, a bit surprised. “We had two people completely out of the fight, with two more hurt badly. Not to mention, Val somehow kept pushing through her injuries to keep fighting.”

“Pushing through the pain is what worsened her leg,” the channeler said, his hands still above her leg. “If I had to guess, it was probably a minor sprain that got worse as she kept fighting.”

Cera shot her arms out. “See! Cyrus should’ve gotten involved!”

Val sighed. “Part of me wishes he did, but at the same time, we did pull it off. Doing so without their help looks good on everyone as a group.”

“I don’t think it was worth the risk,” Cera said, crossing her arms. “Anyone of you could’ve died.”

“I trust Cyrus,” Val snapped back. “I trust his judgment. If things looked that bad, he would’ve told Lyon to go fuck himself and rushed in to help.”

“You’re damn right,” came Cyrus’ voice from down the wing.

The three girls turned to see Cyrus alone walking down the center aisle between all of the beds.

“I wanted to apologize,” he said, stopping at the foot of Val’s bed. “I should’ve jumped in when you lost both your tanks.” He shifted between his feet. “I guess I was worried about taking the glory from you. Especially, after how hard you worked to get here, Val.”

Val held his gaze, not really sure what to say to him. She was still pissed that no one stepped in to help, but at the same time, she didn’t want help. The whole point of the delve was to test her party. Nothing said they’d have backup in the future, so being able to overcome odds was something they’d have to get better at. If Cyrus’ group had stepped in, it could damage their standing with Stormveil, or would it? Val didn’t know what Stormveil was expecting from her party.

“What does Lyon think?” she finally asked.

The question surprised Cyrus, visibly. “What do you mean?”

“This whole delve was to test our party, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. First fight against a boss usually says a lot for most parties, why?”

Val sighed. “I am pissed no one stepped in to help, but I get your reasoning. Doesn’t mean I like it, but I understand. On the other hand, I’m glad you didn’t step in. That means we handled it, and that looks better for all of us. Stormveil might’ve been running the entire test, but we all know this is going to get around.”

Cyrus opened his mouth, but Val raised her hand.

“Good recruits, I imagine, are always valuable. Keeping tabs on them is something I’m sure all the chapters do, right?”

He nodded. “That’s right.”

“So that wasn’t just a fight to possibly impress Stormveil.”

He thought for a second. “Possibly.”

Both Cera and Lynesia were looking at her with different expressions. Lynesia was a little confused, but was listening intently. Cera still looked pissed, but was at the very least paying attention.

“So, essentially, it’s going to come out to all chapters that we fought the Ashen King without any high-level help. I’m sure the finer details will be muddy at best, but they’ll know the general idea of what went down. It probably won’t take much to find out who got hurt, who ended up needing healing here in the medical wing, who did what and how, right?”

Cyrus gulped. “How did you figure out so much?”

Val shook her head. “A few people have mentioned eyes being on us. It only makes sense that interested parties will fish for information. When you consider how things work with the guild, why wouldn’t they?”

Lynesia’s expression had turned thoughtful. “So this fight is more than Stormveil and us…”

Val nodded. “Exactly. After this fight, Stormveil may not be the only ones talking to us.”

The channeler finally chuckled for the first time since Cyrus walked in. “Damn, she’s got it figured out.”

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