The Ark

From One Fire To Another

Apollo:

I was only one turn away from the explosion, it happened around three minutes ago so depending on how things are laid out the authorities won't be there yet. Gladly it was raining so the fire should be easier to handle, all I needed to do was to get people out. I reached into the cube and pulled out two small gray spheres and threw them forward. Once they hit the ground the sphere expanded, turning two average sized silhouettes. One in a maid outfit and the other in a butler outfit. The homunculus followed my lead and ran with me.

"I don't use you guys often but that may change soon. I need you two go around the site and find anyone injured and bring them to me. If you see any weird black rocks on the way, be careful around them, I saw them on the way." I ordered.

"Understood." They both replied.

We turned the corner to see what happened. There were a lot of workers outside the building a lot of them with burn wounds.

"This can't be. No, no, no."

I focused on one of the workers on the ground, he was looking at his legs as there was a clear injury. I moved towards him.

"You two go inside to do your orders" I said.

The two pressed off the ground heading into the building. I turned back towards the worker.

"Where does it hurt?" I asked.

"Don't touch me, I'd rather you not get infected." He said.

I spotted something next to his leg, on closer inspection I saw it was a small piece of the black rock I saw on my way there. On the rock reflected a dark crimson color along one of the sharp edges. I focused on the injury.

"Infected or not I rather not have someone die in front me. I won't be able to sleep at night." I said.

I reached into the cube for another sphere and threw it close to us. Out came another homunculus, this time I wanted this one in specific. It wore an all white outfit with, on its chest and hat was the Caduceus, the international medical symbol back home.

"Debrief all the others on the objective. Treat the wounded, stick to standard medical practice; magecraft only when the wound is fatal." I said.

I got up and threw five more spheres, this time they didn't have any defining feature; but just as capable as the rest following orders. With that I ran inside the building.

The inside was a burning landscape. The temperature wasn't too bad compared to what I've dealt with but I can easily see someone losing their mind in this. The smoke was making it difficult to see, the only thing that was easy to understand was the sound of people calling for help.

"My leg is stuck. Someone, I need help!"

"I can't get out of this room. Its block. Is anyone there!"

"I don't want to die. I need to get back to my family! Anyone please!

I could sense the sheer despair in here. I took a moment and focused on looking to find the presence of those inside, mainly looking for the weaker one since they are closer to death. I pushed mana into my legs and rushed towards the presence I felt. I made sure to not put too much into my legs so as to not ruin the already fragile state of the building. The presence led me deep into the building, likely close to where the actual explosion happened.

"You, over there. Please help us!"

I turned to my left to hear the origin of the weak, horse voice of a woman. With her were two other people, large patches of black; likely burns were present. I rushed towards them, the woman was good, all things considered somehow. The same couldn't be said with the other two. Both of them were barely hanging on as half of their bodies charred black, likely also having internal damage from the explosion.