The Andre Miller Saga

Andre Miller 77 The Repercussions

The beeping of the heart monitor and the rhythmic woosh of the breathing machine set the pace of the room. Andre lay in the bed unconscious and clinging stubbornly to life. All of the bones in his chest had been broken, his internal organs bruised, crushed, and battered. Tubes ran from his mouth, nose, and arms providing some life-maintaining function.

It had been 3 days since Birmingham had broken free of the circle and Andre remained in a coma. Conroy and Janice took turns taking care of Celeste and sitting watch with Andre.

Frankie, Caleb, Tilly, Kris, Kyle, and every other combat-capable mage had been enlisted by the Birmingham city MPD to deal with a massive outbreak of mad elementals running rampant across the city.

A curfew had been set and a shelter-in-place order was expected to be given by the end of the day. Summoners were expressly forbidden from summoning anything but celestials. Elementals went insane the moment they arrived and tried to break loose and cause havoc. Fires plagued the city and criminals of all stripes were taking advantage of the chaos doing damage and stealing anything not nailed down. Looting was constant.

Frankie and Kyle came in looking exhausted. "Any change?" asked Frankie.

"No," said Conroy, "He's alive, in critical condition but stable. The hospital summoners don't dare summon even a celestial healing spirit for fear of madness setting in. How is it out there, the sirens seem like they never stop."

"We've been putting down elementals as fast as they appear and the tide isn't even being slowed down. The only blessing is that fire elementals are rare, otherwise, the city would be burning. Birmingham was spotted outside of the city yesterday by a passing police helicopter. It's twenty feet tall, and looks like you described it, but attacked the helicopter and forced it down, the condition of the crew is unknown right now. We're running sixteen-hour shifts with the MPD." Said Kyle, "The BPD is taxed to the limit with elementals and criminals running crazy in the streets. The mayor has declared a state of emergency and is requesting national guard units from the governor and is begging any summoners in the state to come and help banish these mad spirits. The good thing is Birmingham is limiting its attacks to the city for now. It's not trying to expand."

"Good gods. What did I do?" Conroy was in tears.

"You didn't do anything Pops. There was no way possible for you to know that this thing was insane." Said Frankie.

"Andre knew." Conroy said as he held Andre's hand, "He said as much several times, that he was worried about Birmingham not being safe. I didn't listen, thought I knew better. The same damn pattern I've had my entire life."

"Self-recrimination isn't going to beat this thing Pops." Said Kyle, "Once the national guard gets involved, we're hoping that the military-grade weapons will be able to make a dent in it. Nothing the police have even gotten its attention."

Frankie pulled up a scanning rune and ran it over Andre. "Gods he's messed up. I'd need a medical degree to know what to try healing first, and the doctors won't even let me try."

"He's strong and healthy, the doctors say he's got that going for him. But he's 66 his body doesn't have the resources it once did." Said Conroy.

"Hoziha and the other celestials around Pinson are helping guard hospitals and other soft targets. They've been holding back a small tide of the elementals and have called in what support they can, but without a summoner to direct them they can only do so much." Said Frankie.

Frankie and Kyle stayed for another hour and then left to get some sleep before they had to go back on duty. Conroy spent hours talking to Andre, telling him what was going on, holding his hand, and watching the disaster unfold in real-time on the TV news.