Chapter 10–Wounded

Where the hell am I?
Am I dead? What happened? I don't feel pain, though I know she slashed me, so I must be dead. But why is there nothing here? No gods judging me, no demons burning me, no angels carrying me. Nothing but my own thoughts here.

Can you do anything to help him?
He is beyond my reach to help.

Wait, why am I thinking this? Whose reach am I beyond?

For all your omnipotence, there seem to be many things beyond your reach.

And that is why we need this plan to succeed.

Wait, whose plan? Why am I thinking this?

Gondar realized then that he was eavesdropping on some psionically shared conversation, for these thoughts, though they seemed as such, were not his own. The concepts they expressed, he could tell, were in some cases far beyond his understanding and in some cases completely alien, put through the filter of his mind to appear as relatively mundane conversation.

Can we truly do nothing for him? Is he to die just as the first one did, his destiny unfulfilled?

I doubt that. I have seen him live on, and so it likely shall be.

Hmph. How is it that you see such things and I don't?

Even a an entity like you does not see what my mind sees. Even you are bound by linear time, linear thinking.

Can we stop arguing about this? What I want to know is why do we even need this one? My masters have shown me the secret spot, now all we need to do is send someone in there to get it! Why not send me?

Because you would be scorched by the antimagic field. Even Gondar here would not come away completely unscathed, which is why I originally was going to send the Anti-Mage in, but you know how that turned out.

Wait a minute,what do these people want with me?
What makes me special? I guess I don't use magic, but what are they planning? Has everything I've done so far been orchestrated by these three? Wait, how do I know it's three? I guess they have different thought patterns or something…

All that can be done now is we can hope he survives. If he does, you'll have to meet with him like we planned.

Either way, my masters have spoken. We need to advance to stage three now.

I'll make contact with the Admiral right away. And don't worry, Gondar will survive.

Gondar felt the thoughts receding and, without them, his own consciousness as well.

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Gondar's eyes slowly opened in the fading light of dusk. He was lying down in an isolated grotto within the blasted forest of the Dire. Lyralei was standing watch while Yumero was kneeling over him.

Gondar began to sit up, then felt a tearing, ripping, horrid agony and spiralled down into the blackness again.

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"Will make it…" "…Know?" "Stop worrying…" "Gondar…" "Traxex…"

He could not make out what was being said, as he was drifting between the worlds of the waking and the sleeping, but he strained his ears to make out what he could.

"Back…" "Mission… "Damn the mission!" "This is war! People die!"

Crying. Lyralei crying, he could tell now. It seemed so unnatural for her to cry, so unlike her, but he supposed he was about to be the second friend she'd lost in this war. He decided then and there that he would not die. "Don't you cry," he heard himself muttering, "I hate it when you cry."

Then he slid off into the veil of sleep.

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His face was wet, as was his abdomen and his sternum and his shoulder, which all (Except his face) ached with a pain some part of him knew would soon become worse. Night had fallen, and he felt a slight pressure on his abdomen.

His eyes opening, he saw Lyralei was applying the pseudo healing salve one acquired when one mixed Tango berries with copious amounts of foliage. It wasn't nearly as effective, but it was far more portable and (comparatively) easier to find, though Gondar didn't think she had brought any. To have gone out and found Tango berries in the wild, particularly on this side of the river, must've been quite the effort.

"Hello Lyralei," Gondar said quietly, and Lyralei stopped, looking down at him. Her face was tear-streaked, but he could see a smile on her lips –a smile of utmost relief– as she regarded him. She shook her head and said "Gondar, why'd you have to do that stupid lure-her-out plan?"

"First thing you ask me? Alright, it was because she never would've fallen for anything else, she wasn't that stupid," though as he finished he felt the pain shoot through him again, and it wasn't till dawn that he could get up, even with the Tangos.

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Yumero did not ask for thanks, but Gondar nevertheless gave it. "My thanks for saving me," Gondar said as they continued to track Slithice, acutely aware that they were likely late on whatever vague timetable the radiant army was operating on. Yumero hesitated, then said nearly offhandedly "I did my duty, nothing more."

Gondar left it at that, but had hoped that Yumero was just being humble, rather than dismissive, but as always his expression was unreadable; the only thing that could hide from Gondar was what Yumero was feeling.