A strange cackle coming from something that could only be from some monster, alive for far too long.
"Stand back!" They had been getting swamped by these Stormwings; he'd lost five men so far to these Immortals.
"Stand back!" he cries again, his voice strained and tense. "Let's not lose any more men!"
Anders shot a Stormwing in its eye, then its wing. It shrieks in protest as it spirals down, crashing into a pile of dead, decaying bodies. Anders fights back the bile in the back of his throat, gagging. "Regroup!" He croaks through his cracked and bloody lips. His men come together quickly. "We need to stay together for this. You see that nest –" A Stormwing swoops down, clawing ferociously. One of Ander's men slices its head off, but not before it swooped down and rips Ander's back to his right thigh. Anders cries out in agony as he crumpled to the ground, feeling his own blood gush out. "Ahhh!"


"Ahhh!" Anders cries into the night. He finds himself awake and breathless, sitting up in bed. A delicate hand brushes his shoulder; Anders sighs and caresses his wife's face.
"I'm sorry…"

"I know, I know." She whispers. "But, really? It's been a while since the war…"

"Vorinna. Scars don't just leave that fast."

"But we have children! You have a wife! Will you please go to the healer with me tomorrow?"

Anders sighed and lied back down. He remembered his last visit with the healer, and it was not all pleasant.

"It's a condition… we're just noticing it, and the signs of it."

"Well?"

"We don't have all of the information, but after all of these wars and fighting, we war healers have been seeing it more often."

"And what is 'it'?"

"We aren't sure yet. It's usually associated with war, getting a serious injury, and memories. It's very hard for you knights to let go of the memories, and it haunts you. It's also associated with injuries because that's a constant reminder."

"Well is there anything you can do?"

"I can try, but don't expect much."

I sigh, knowing that that is a lot compared to the other healers I've been to.

The healer closes her eyes and concentrates hard, her light blue Gift flowing out of small hands. After a minute or two, she gives up, breathing hard.

"I'm sorry. Obviously your crippled leg is long beyond repair,"

Now that hurts.

"And the pain and memories that you say you've been having every night; it's all in your head. I'm not saying you're insane, I'm just saying that you need to get over the war and your leg with your family. This isn't something a healer can heal."

"But you're a healer! You've got to be able to do something!"

"I'm sorry, sir. There is nothing I can do."

"But this isn't –"

"It's all fair, sir. Obviously you have a lot of anger to get off your mind if you're going to try to deny the facts."

"Excuse –"

"Leave."

"But –"

"I said leave."


Anders lets out a shuddered breath, feeling very nostalgic. And not in a good way.

The day before that memory happened, he and his wife had the same conversation.

He glances up at Vorinna, his love and wife. He feels hope well up inside him.

"I may be a cripple and insane, love, but I know what I feel for you. No healer can heal what memories and anguish I feel in my nightmares. But… but I know that you and my family can."

Anders sits up and kisses Vorinna, passionately, just like the day they first kissed.

He knew things were only going to get better.