Hal paced back and forth in his room, feeling pissed. Collin had been at the Order in another dimension or whatever for like a freakin' week, and there was no word at all. Whenever him and the other guys had tried to say something about it to anyone they could find from Blue House they just shook their head a lot and looked away.
Hal had finally had enough. He headed to the Blue House building that wasn't in the middle of space or whatever, but only because he had no chance of just getting there on his own.
He stomped into the location, lookin' for a fight. However, Jeremy took one look at him stomping in and pointed to Michael, who typed something furiously into his computer, gestured with one arm, and a a portal appeared, but Hal had already been running toward the little steps and dais where they made portals in here.
It appeared right before Hal would've barreled right through it and into the wall.
At the Blue House Library, Hal thundered down the stairs, and decided to actually read the signs for once, heading straight towards where it said "Medical Wing."
He stomped off in that direction, and by now, everyone in the Library was staring at him. A few moved to stop him, but others gave those people sad head shakes.
Hal gave a few glares in their direction to help keep them from trying to stop him, though to be honest, he'd welcome the chance to yell at someone right about now.
He didn't recognize very many people here yet, though there were a few here and there. There was a young woman with a ribbon tying her hair back that he coulda sworn he'd seen somewhere, but the medical wing was pulling at him strongly and he made his way right there.
I gotta calm down, he thought, his breathing getting heavy, but Hal found he didn't want to be calm, even though it was hard to concentrate enough to look in the various rooms to find Collin, since he wasn't in a mood to ask anyone where he was.
This section of the Library looked a lot like a regular ward in a hospital, with everything looking sterile. There were even beds and some traditional medical equipment.
The only difference was that there were also amulets and rings in the rooms, along with dusty old books and vials containing strange glowing liquids.
"In here, Hal," A voice boomed from behind a door up ahead.
Hal pushed open the door, which was already ajar, and saw Wizard there, the leader of Blue House, who had been around so long no one even knew his name and just called him by his pretty obvious nickname.
He wore simple blue robes and a long white beard. That nearly hit the floor, and he was not a short man.
He was nearly as tall as Hal right now, or maybe it was Hal's imagination.
Hal was about to ask how Wizard knew that, but given he'd been stomping around everywhere, it seemed more obvious to Hal, now that he was doing his breathing exercises he'd learned for Prime magic and calming down.
Finally, he remembered just where he was and why, and his eyes immediately snapped to Collin. The kid was lying on a bed, and an IV was hooked up to him. Books of magic were stacked up on tables all around him.
The stinger was still in Collin's face, which was all puffed up, like there was a lemon in there next to the stinger. His skin was starting to look grey. Currently, he was sleeping.
Before Hal could turn on him, Wizard put up his hand.
"We were about to contact you, Hal. I'm afraid the poison Collin was afflicted with caused him to take a turn for the worse. It's no ordinary poison, and though it was likely created with Pattern magic, it is now not enhanced with it, so our efforts at dispelling it have been ineffective. Those of our number trained in mundane medicine have done their best, as have those with an advanced understanding of the sphere of Life. We have even contacted the Verbena mage who caused the wound to begin with."
Hal flopped down in a chair next to Collin at this torrents of calm, blunt words from Wizard, barely even noticing as books toppled everywhere out of the chair.
"The mage in question claims that he cannot remember what he even did, though he did give a recommendation for a rare plant in South America that could be of some use. It took us some time to get a response from him and we have only just received it. He did seem somewhat regretful over what occurred, in any case. We are now putting together a tag to quickly retrieve this plant and-"
"No," Hal said, "That's our tag."
With that, he quickly walked through the window back to their apartment without a word, sent a message to everyone else telling them to come to the Library right away, since it was a school day and they were all in classes with nobody in the apartment.
Then, he stepped back through and walked back into the room where Wizard was calmly reading a huge tome, though even before he noticed Hal, he seemed distracted, constantly looking up at some distant point in the ceiling.
"They are on their way, and then we'll save Collin." He said firmly, trying to believe it.
Wizard stood up then, looking distracted. He said, "I assume at some point you will all want to know what happened. The mission you undertook was to find a rogue orphan who was causing trouble in the area. Somehow or other, he began to summon a major entity from what we believe may have been a Horizon or Near Horizon realm."
"I got no clue what that is," Hal said, feeling numb. He wasn't used to it. He didn't like it. Why couldn't they get going already?
"I recommend asking your friend about it. The one with the minor spirit inhabiting him. Who was it again, ah yes, Adrian, I believe. He has been studying in that direction, I believe. In any case, the man you had the unfortunate encounter with is named Antonio, and he was attempting to prevent the incursion when, well, the events that transpired then occurred."
He was looking more and more distracted now and rushed in his speaking.
"The truth is that, unfortunately, I am needed elsewhere, a bit of an emergency I'm afraid. When your friends arrive, you can have Michael create a portal to the proper coordinates, I believe Jeremiah should have received them shortly."
He took a moment, his eyes glancing towards the door.
Then, he leaned forward and looked at Hal seriously.
"Remember Hal, do not be afraid to use a, how do you put it again? A Hail Merlin Pass."
"A what? Oh. You mean a Hail Mary Pass."
"I do not wish to lose a member of this House. It would be the first time in quite a while. Do what needs doing." He touched his nose and actually gave Hal a wink. Which was weird.
"Yah, we ain't gonna lose nobody." Hal said firmly.
Wizard nodded and vanished with a pop of rushing air, just as Jeremiah entered the room, followed by the rest of their group.
"I vanna vome toom," Collin said weakly, his cheek way puffed out so he couldn't talk right. Hal looked toward him and could see Collin was waking up and looking about weakly.
He held out a hand, took a deep breath, and touched the hand with a ring on it to his chest briefly, and his breathing went from ragged and too fast to a slower, deep rhythm. His skin looked less grey, and he began standing up.
"Just a trick," Collin said, again before Hal could even ask. Why was everyone doing that today?
"I'm not actually better. I can just act as if I'm OK for a little while. Probably not super long. Hopefully long enough to help you save my ass," He said.
"Won't that make you worse if you're walking around but not better?" Hal asked, crossing his arms.
"Oh come on!" Collin said, blowing up.
"I don't want to die in a hospital bed! That would be so lame. It would be so lame Hal," Collin said, coughing. He was pushing back the unbelievably huge blister on his face the size of a tomato and wincing terribly to try to speak normally. The thing was actually reducing in size even as they all watched, but definitely not all the way.
"What would you do if you were me?"
"He comes," Hal said to the group.
No one in the group dared say anything else, though they looked grim.
Jeremiah told them to go see Michael, who he'd given the coordinates to, and that he wanted to talk to Hal alone for a moment.
They all filed out. Including Collin, with Rick supporting him.
Once they were gone, Jeremy put something in Hal's hands. It was a little book.
"This is a collection of things I've copied from books that have worked for other mages before. They are supposed to be largely survivable, but unstable and unpredictable enough to be highly dangerous. After you use it or don't use it, burn it. I'm really not supposed to have any of this information. I personally have it memorized. If this book was found, I could even be executed. However, if all else fails, maybe there's something you can do for Collin."
Hal nodded grimly.
He looked down at the book. It said-
"Jeremy's Codex of Last Resort."
Hal carefully put the book in his jacket pocket.
With that, Hal followed the rest of them to where Michael made them a portal, and they went through it into some dense jungle.
(r/realityzero)