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Adam

I had just finished training with the guards after a really long day of drilling combat exercises. Normally, I would hate that sort of thing, but my body was so much better acclimated to physical stress. The pain and the soreness of working myself was energizing, something I had always wanted to experience in my former life. I had tried exercising and lifting, searching for that runner's high or that adrenaline rush from lifting heavy things. I never found it and fell into a slump. The surge of power was like a drug to me. Needless to say, I was pretty fucked up. Bruises and cuts littered my body, although they were extremely shallow if I even did get them.

I had a few guard friends who were always trying to test just how strong I was. Perive and Kaya slammed dull swords into me by accident which surprisingly bounced off, barely even a mark. We were astonished, so they tried again, swinging heavier until I reacted, but they only got a cut in after the tenth try. They were good friends and fun to drink with.

I realized I was strutting through the halls of the manor with a stupid smirk on my face. I needed to get healed up before I could have some fun. I stepped into the infirmary and glanced around. I only saw Aleri, one of the servingmen, inside cleaning the cots.

"Hey, where is she right now?"

"It's all busted after curing the Viscount."

"What do you mean, 'busted,' huh?" A sudden wave of dread rose in me.

"Used a sigil. Apparently it's lost its shit."

"What do you mean, 'lost its shit'?"

"Just like the last regenerators. Went stupid. Went crazy."

I hoofed it out of the infirmary and down to the cells. The wooden walls turned to torch-lit stone and I heard low voices coming from down the stairs. The usual guard posted at the doorway didn't give a shit if I visited during daytime hours, but he turned and tried to halt me.

"Adam, please, I believe it within your best interest to refrain from visiting it at the moment." He looked nervous. I could see under his stupid bushy mustache that his lip was quivering when I looked down at him. He was scared.

I leaned down and put my face right up in his. "Why shouldn't I look?"

"I am not stopping you, but you don't want to see that." He shrank into his chain armor.

I pushed past him and turned the corner. Tarynn was leaning against the wall, out of sight of the cell. He was completely flushed. Eyes puffy and red.

Then I met the gaze of those foggy, bloodshot red pearls. They completely sobered me. Hopeless. Deep scratches riddled her body. Blood streamed from her nose, ears, and eyes. Her hands frantically clawed into her shoulder and ripped at her hair. Tremors shot through her every half second as she shivered violently. And yet she smiled. Her lips rambled silently and endlessly. No sound in the air except for the muffled croaks that escaped her lungs and the collar clicking with every shock.

"What the fuck happened?!" I grabbed Tarynn's arm. "How do we help her?!"

"I don't know," slipped off his tongue. "They usually die upon the instant."

"What did she do?!"

Tarynn was staring blankly at the wall when one of the guards spoke up. "She cured father of his illness."

Freezing fear carved my chest out and chilled my blood. "Vetia?! Can you hear me?! Are you okay?! Vetia?!"

Her jittering head tilted and gazed emptily into my eyes. Her face was soaked with bloody tears and wrought with burst capillaries, but she stared right through me. She didn't even register that I was there. Her mouth hung open, in fact the entire left side of her face drooped and her left shoulder limply dangled. However, when I said her name her eyes finally focused on her surroundings. The shivering calmed to sporadic jitters and that awful croaking ceased. A wad of fur and bone slopped out of her mouth followed by dribbles of bloody saliva. She grabbed the sides of her head, turning it with her hands to look at me, then next to me, at Tarynn, who stood back up. She covered her ears and her wide eyes turned to the wall, mouthing something to herself.

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