Battle of Souls

Chapter 7

Kriv:

Sylvia watched as Thane lay in a deep blue bed. After two weeks, he was still unconscious and became paler every day. His heart still beat under new strangely formed scars. During his slumber dozens of tiny and large scars had formed across his body where there had been none before.

Everyday Thane's heartbeat had become more and more faint. Sylvia worried that one day his heart would simply stop, and after the circumstances that put him in this coma it wouldn't be too surprising.

Sylvia had been with Thane since noon that day, and it was almost dusk when a large Orc walked into the tent. Sylvia turned to him and acknowledged the Orc, "Rook, how are you today?"

Rook, the burly Orc, replied, "I'm doing fine, but how's Thane? Hasn't woken up, has he?" He walked to the side of Thane's bed, standing next to Sylvia.

Sylvia shook her head and looked down, averting her eyes from the man. She whispered, "He's still asleep, I'm starting to get worried." She moved a finger up to wipe a single tear from under her eye.

Rook put an arm around Sylvia, lifting her chin so that she was looking up at him. He looked down at her and said firmly, "Thane will be just fine, Sylvia. You know he will. Thane wouldn't do something like that if he didn't think he'd make it through."

Sylvia sniffled, and turned back towards Thane. She looked at his pale and slowly scarring skin. She whispered, "If he thought it was the only way to protect me, he would do a lot of stupid things, and this is definitely in the top ten on that list of stupid things."

Rook took out a small amalgamation of sheet metal, cogs, and a few wires. He spun one of the cogs and handed it to Sylvia. He rumbled as he gave it to her, "Put this next to his heart, as long as the gears spin, his heart is beating." Sylvia took the small machine that the engineer had given her and did what he asked, watching as the gears all spun next to Thane's chest.

Rook turned to Sylvia, and questioned, "Do you know anything about his condition? When he might wake up? What might have changed about him when he does wake up?"

Sylvia nodded, "I've done some research." She turned away from Thane and moved to a dark oaken table near his bed, picking a large, old, dark red book up off of it.

Sylvia opened the book to a page marked by a long green string. She began scanning through the strange symbols of an ancient language familiar with the dark magic Thane was suffering from now.

Eventually she stopped and pointed at a specific spot, "Here it is, it says, 'Those who have attempted to take the necromancer's curse will undergo the ritual for atleast one week,' there's more specifics but the rest basically totals to say that if he's not awake or dead in a few months he won't wake up."

Rook raised an eyebrow at the last sentence, "Wouldn't him being dead also mean he won't wake up?" He looked at the page of the book, though he understood only the sketch of someone sleeping that resembled Thane.

Sylvia looked at Thane, watching his chest struggle to rise and fall. She whispered, "If he dies, he wakes up."

Rook laughed, "You can't be serious! I've studied the body, and machines similar to a body, and once something dies it doesn't wake back up, that's the whole 'dying' thing!"

Sylvia kept whispering, "If Thane dies while he's asleep then he wakes up as a necromancer. But a lot more after he wakes up makes a difference in what kind of necromancer he'll be."

Rook put a hand on Sylvia's shoulder, "I'm sure whatever happens he'll be alright. Thane will make it through, he always does when he knows he'll get to see you again."