Moonhawk 2 - The Blackcrow

Chapter 45 - Wizard Sickness

(Small trigger warning for: needles. Audience has been warned.)

Some weeks had passed ever since they've returned back to the Space Station Wildwhirl. Lord Pitch and Commander Saros got great care and showed some physical improvements to their colleagues and doctors.

Time passed rather quickly, and the date of the next monthly meeting came closer. Both Pitch and Saros should be able to attend at that time, their doctors said, but the wizard was still feeling unwell in secret. It wasn't obvious at a glance, but there were signs that he wasn't feeling completely alright. His walking was shaky, and he kept blinking his visor discreetly and out of sight.

Saros, deciding to take some quiet time, decided to teleport himself to the Blackcrow's library to research certain things about the earth crystals. Although, as he was looking through old scrolls and books, he felt sweat bead over his forehead, and an uncomfortable itching feeling was burning in his throat, leaving the wizard cough.

"Ergh..." Saros mumbled quietly as he felt he couldn't focus and cleared his throat. Maybe, if he was sitting, he could focus, he told himself, and he reached over to pull over a chair with his magic. What would normally be an easy manoeuvre with graceful red sparkles from Saros' claws directed at the chair? Instead, his magic seemed to splutter and spark off.

Saros watched on in disbelief as he saw his magic falter. This has never happened to him before, and it weighed heavily on his mind. Soon, the jasper wizard felt a rush of heat cut right through his body, and he had to lean against a nearby wall with his back, practically panting from the heat inside his body.

"Grr! What is wrong with me...!? Did my dad do this?" Saros growled in between panting for cool air. He felt that the normally acceptable temperature of the library was now unbearably hot. Sweat was practically dripping off of his forehead, and he felt a wave of nausea rise in him from something in his body. He just had to lay down. Somewhere even if it was the cold surface.

By giving his best attempt in trying to use his magic again, he could manage to teleport himself to his sleeping quarter. In front of his bed on the Blackcrow. But even that felt like a monumental challenge that drained him of his energy and left him feeling even more exhausted. Together with some books and scrolls in his claws, he immediately tucked himself to bed. His unwell feeling seemed to fade once he was lying down, and his breathing became calmer as well. Soon enough, Saros felt everything seem to fade to black as he fell asleep, still not feeling well, but feeling a little more comfortable than he was in the library.

At the same time, as Saros was fighting against his own health, Captain Pitch was walking with his wooden walking stick amongst the Station's corridors. He was on his way to the meeting room where everyone would be waiting. The meeting should be starting in around a week, Pitch thought it was a good idea to get up to date by talking with the generals for a while. No one else was inside the huge meeting room. Only General Notus, Skylar, and Racon were here. Suspicious enough, there was no sign of General Cole anywhere either, as far as Pitch's half broken visor could tell. The sound of Pitch's walking stick interfered with the ongoing conversation between the generals and paid now attention to him.

They did indeed notice his walking stick, but out of respect, no one in the room mentioned it. Instead, they started up the conversation again by greeting him first.

"Good afternoon, Lord Pitch." General Racon welcomed him. "It's great to see that you're recovering well."

Pitch nodded as he sidestepped around to his personal chair, which was clearly bigger than the rest of them. Putting aside his walking stick once he sat down, he looked around the room and saw how the generals were continuing their conversation. Pitch cleared his throat before he spoke.