Eliona's War 3: Lethal Healer

Ch. 39

Time Elapsed: 2:22:08

Severance opened his eyes and found himself staring at the rough gray wall of the Ironback mines. The only source of light here was from the radiant light given off by the dungeon entrance, which swirled beside him in a dull purple-gray light.

"Sev! Are you okay?"

That was Snow, rushing over even though he was barely able to walk, never mind stand upright. Snow had been slammed into the wall by a big erfreschik, which had smashed nearly every bone in his body.

"I'm fine," Severance said. He'd had a similar death, but unlike his teammate, he was calmly sitting against the wall right where he'd Revived. "Just need a minute."

"Are you sure?"

Snow flopped down before him, his limbs moving oddly. He'd completely heal up in a couple of minutes, but Severance no longer had that luxury. He'd heal like an Elionan, which was slow and would take a matter of weeks rather than minutes. Unless he healed himself, that is.

A quiet thought brought one of his war fans into his hands. They'd vanished into his Inventory when he died, a safety feature that he was immensely grateful for. He curled his fingers around it and winced as he settled into the long familiar process of recovery.

"Mend."

Bones shifted under his skin, a disturbing sensation that had him gritting his teeth. A cold sweat broke out upon his skin.

Watching him, Snow gave a sympathetic wince. "I don't know how you can do that."

Severance sucked in air through his teeth. He managed a crooked smile, even though he knew the others couldn't see it through the black mask he had pulled up over his nose.

"I've had some training, which helps."

"What kind of training?" Snow asked, a little hesitant as if he wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer.

Severance shrugged. He had a feeling the cryomancer would be absolutely horrified if he went into detail. Near the opposite wall, Jack Coyote had his arms folded, and was quietly staring straight ahead. It looked like he was deep in thought, but Severance knew the tank was listening in. That was another reason he didn't dare talk about it much. Jack already didn't like Batin. If he learned just what the Veiled man had done, Jack would undoubtedly try to kill him the next time they met.

"Just some techniques on how to deal with it," he settled for. "It helps me stay focused. But I've always had pretty good pain tolerance, too."

It was something he developed very quickly as a kid. Who knew such an ability would come in so handy in Eliona? Even Dhin had been impressed at the kind of beatings Severance could take.

"Yeah." Snow grimaced. "No kidding."

"Radiant Dome." Severance filled the narrow mining tunnel with the Dome, letting it cover all of them. Then he cast a second Mend on himself, followed by a third.

In the awkward silence that followed, Kiah came and crouched before him. She watched him, her expression solemn.

"I'm not one to discourage other people's choices, but... why do you do this?"

Her question made him smile a little. Really, he was surprised she took so long to ask it of him. He pulled in his now healed legs, sitting cross-legged against the wall.

"Because people will die if I don't."

Jack growled softly. "Severance..."

"What do you mean?" Kiah's brow creased, genuine confusion on her face.