Their next trip to the Rathaus was rather tense by Evan's standards. While there were councilmen arguing in the next room over, the Schultz had decided to use the next room to discuss with them the situation at hand. The news was about as bad as one could get for a town like Wolumonde. First, homes had been destroyed by the one two punch the natural disasters nature had handed them. While they were lucky no plates got leveled, there were still shards of originium lying around that could explode in the town at any moment.
Second, was the infected, both new and old, getting restless at their lack of movement alongside the citizens that remained. Turned out that most of the non-infected residents fled, leaving a gaping population difference in the town between the remaining uninfected and the infected themselves. Turns out Atro had been treating the infected when her tent burned down. Some of the infected think it was murder, which was the whole reason the riots were happening in the first place.
Third, were the opportunists hovering around the town like vultures. Turns out abandoned cities aren't all too rare, so when a nomadic city is abandoned it gives scavengers, looters, and all sorts of unsavory types an opportunity to strip a town clean and set themselves up for a long time. Since the Gendarmerie was low on men due to the bulk of the force taking part in the evacuation of the citizenry, they were at risk of having to mobilize a militia with those that had stayed behind.
Finally, there was the lack of reserves. Wolumonde usually relied on its speed to avoid catastrophes, and was on a course for the Winterwisp mountains it was now parked in. As a result of the reliance on speed, very little auxiliary systems existed in the town, and what few did were mostly automated and were only built to last long enough to get repairs. It also didn't help that they were just beginning their winter preparations, so food was at a risk of running low as the catastrophe ruined farms and warehouses on the outskirts where most infected live.
"All this and you still won't tell us what happened to Atro…" Folinic mercilessly shot at the Schultz.
"Please understand, the incident was very recent, only a couple days ago. We've been trapped here for over a week now, and we have other priorities."
Folinic was held back only by Suzuran gripping her hand and silently asking her to sit down. She complied, but it was clear she wasn't happy about it.
An uncomfortable, somber silence fell over the room as the Schultz gave them all time to process it. Looking around, no one was optimistic. Why should they be? It seemed like a hopeless situation, and the four biggest problems seemed like impossible tasks. They still had to wait for the shipment of supplies and reinforcements before they could do anything of that scale, but one person wasn't thinking of those as a primary task.
"While we're here, we should investigate what happened to Atro, at the very least. Twiddling our thumbs won't give us answers to that question," Folinic said.
"You're free to ask around town, but I cannot yet provide you with any substantial information as our process is also ongoing."
"And what process is that?" Folinic asked dangerously, leaning forward to make eye contact with the Schultz who closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I'm not at liberty to say…"
"Typical…" Folinic spat before getting up. "Well, since there's nothing else to discuss, I'm making my way over to Zwölftontechnik Strasse."
Suzuran also stood up, and turned to the Schultz before giving a deep bow of respect to him before following Folinic out. This left the four remaining Rhodes Islanders in an awkward position the Schultz relieved them from.
"Go, make sure your colleague doesn't cause any trouble."
Evan nodded and as he stood up, the rest of his squad followed. It didn't take long for them to catch up with Folinic and Suzuran, but no one really bothered to try speaking either. As they walked through though, the state of affairs in the town was already speaking for them. Zwölftontechnik Strasse was a mess. Buildings lay abandoned or blocked off, some clearly so due to being impaled by originium spikes or they were left at risk of crumbling from the earthquake.
That wasn't all, they saw hardly anyone out on the street. Those that were clearly gave them a form of evil eye, some even spat in their general direction as they recognized them from the riot yesterday. One landed especially close to Folinic's feet and she glared at the man, cocking her arts unit to warn him. He merely sneered and walked off, not bothering to look back as though someone hadn't just flashed the Terran equivalent of a loaded gun at him.
"Are you angry, Folinic onee-san?" Suzuran asked nervously.
"Look at this place, it's decrepit. What's even going on here?"
"Yeah, this place gives me the heebee-jeebees," Provence started. "There's no economy, no daily life…"
"I get they've fallen on hard times, but this is ridiculous. Look at this bakery, how long has this place been closed?!" Dur'nar added, looking into the window of an abandoned bakery that had clearly been left to rot.
"Ew…there's an originium slug in there…so unsanitary," Suzuran pointed out with a shudder. Sure enough, when Evan gazed into the building there was a slug creature with black crystals jettisoning out of the body sitting over one of the treats in the display case behind the counter.
"Bleaugh, that just ruined my appetite," Dur'nar commented now that the slug came into focus.
Evan lost interest pretty quickly and turned his head to notice Folinic was still hatefully glaring in the direction the rowdy civilian had left.
"Hey, Folinic, what's on your mind?"
"Why is it like this? They have the right to live, yet as soon as we enter the town they turn against it."
"Folinic," Reed initiated, gaze turning to a small group of infected who were glaring at them.
"What? It's not like I'm criticizing them in particular. Honestly, why are they even acting like we're the enemies? We came here to help them, and so far our reception-"
"Excuse me!" a new voice sounded from the direction they came from. All looked to see Tatjana running for their position, which prompted the grumpiest of them to walk up to confront her.
"And what are you doing here?"
Tatjana paused, a little shocked at the venom Folinic managed to put into addressing her, but she remained cordial and knit her fingers together before speaking.
"Due to your unfamiliarity with Wolumonde, I've been assigned as your local guide."
Folinic scoffed openly before stating, "First you refuse to tell us the fate of our operators, now you're here to monitor us?!"
"Folinic, that's enough," Evan commanded. Folinic suddenly regained her bearings and muttered a halfhearted apology before walking away. "Sorry for that, we'd love to have you as our guide."
A warm, genuine smile appeared on Tatjana's face and she responded to the news with, "Oh, wonderful."
"Folinic onee-san…" Suzuran muttered as she pulled Folinic's coat. The sight of little Suzu did something to calm her down and she looked away from Tatjana while biting her lip.
"If you would follow me, Schaukelplatz is just up ahead," Tatjana spoke as a proper guide, giving uneasy looks to Folinic as they walked. "Zwölftontechnik Strasse was once Wolumonde's largest infected quarter."
"Yet now it's a hotbed for protesters and civil unrest," Dur'nar mumbled to herself as she watched a small cohort of infected assembling around a corner in an alleyway.
"Y-Yes, ever since the fire at Doctor Atro's camp, the infected have been on edge. Many are blaming the council for what happened and are asking members to step down along with the Schultz."
"What was Atro doing, in a camp outside town?" Folinic asked with a surprisingly non-aggressive tone for once. This gave Tatjana a pause before she answered.
"Treating local infected, and giving psychological counseling to those suffering. Wolumonde was unable to avoid the catastrophe because of the Great Rift formed by the sudden earthquake, and we've been suffering immensely. Doctor Atro refused to leave, and she quickly became a lifeline and pillar of the town during the crisis, setting up a temporary medical facility outside the city to better serve the infected, including those wandering outside the town."
To everyone's surprise a small smile graced Folinic's lips and she spoke with a hint of nostalgia and somber joy, "Atro was always good at field-work…." a short chuckle escaped her lips. "I can see her face right now, looking so self-satisfied…that's Atro…"
"Ah," Tatjana voiced her surprise before donning her own smile. "This is the first time I've seen you smile, Miss Folinic…"
A look of surprise replaced the smile showing Folinic's introspective thoughts and she asked, "Is it?"
"You've been scary all day long, yesterday too, Folinic onee-san…"
"Oh…" Folinic expressed, looking down and away in shame.
As they walked, a group of infected citizens were in their path. That was when Dur'nar walked over to Tatjana to whisper, "There's a lot of people ahead…should we be worried?"
"Peaceful assembly is not a crime," Tatjana replied quietly to the former soldier's question.
"They're looking this way…" Reed muttered, gripping her spear as she stared back at them. "Be prepared, their eyes…they're dangerous…"
As they came closer, the group suddenly stopped conversing and all gave varying levels of glares to their own group.
"Who's talking to…wait…why's there a Sarkaz in the back whispering to them?" Provence whispered, keeping her voice low so as not to draw attention.
"Sarkaz…?" Tatjana muttered to herself as she tried to make out where Provence was looking. She looked among the sea of horns, she noticed a sharp pair of devilish horns paired with pointed ears which quickly faded back into the crowd when a woman stepped forward.
"Hey! You're not from around here! Are you those outsiders who helped the Gendarmerie yesterday? Working with those morons locking us up to die?!"
"Watch your tongue! These are guests of Wolumonde, they're here to help us! Besides, who were you talking to? What are you telling them?"
"Hah! Scared? You should be," the woman spat. "You're the Schultz's niece…one of those bureaucrats…" With that observation, the woman's eyes seemed to turn for the worse. "It's because you people can't do shit that we're in this mess!"
By now, the crowd was working to surround them, and weapons were either drawn or prepared to be as they were slowly encircled.
"T-This isn't anyone's fault!" Tatjana tried to reason.
"Really? You're just gonna call it a catastrophe and be done with it?! Well where is everyone, why are we forced to hole up at the foot of the mountain, when are you going to start killing us?!"
"You're asking for a fight," Folinic growled at the infected woman. "Have you been to other cities, seen how infected like ourselves are treated?! Wolumonde may be in crisis, but everyone's suffering. We should be working together!"
"Huh, and who the hell are-" the woman started before she noticed Folinic's uniform and sigil. "Y-You're a doctor, an infected doctor of Rhodes Island?"
"Please don't hurt us, we don't want trouble…" Suzuran asked, noticing the change in her tone and demeanor. Instead, the woman looked to Tatjana and she suddenly remembered why she was angry.
"You want us to work together? Then ask the council to do something for once! You're from Rhodes Island, but you don't know what the fire did to your own Doctor Atro?!"
Like lightning, a flash of white and brown rammed into the woman and pinned her to the wall.
"Enough! Do you know about Doctor Atro? Tell me where she is, now!"
The infected woman looked to Folinic then to Tatjana and grinned maliciously, laughing ominously before saying, "Hah, so they still haven't told you. That fire took everything. We've been holed up in Zwölftontechnik Strasse since the Great Rift, they're terrified of us! Rounding up refugees, locking us up like animals. Doctor Atro was the only one who stood up to help us. At least if we lost Zwölftontechnik Strasse we'd still have her to guide us…"
"Where. Is. She!" Folinic said before pulling the woman back a couple of inches and slamming her back into the wall.
"Don't you get it?! They used the fire to kill her! Not a single person made it out of that camp alive!"
The woman was finally released and Folinic took several steps back.
"No, Atro should have survived, they said she was missing!"
The woman laughed again.
"They lied to you! They lied to us, of course they'll lie to you too! It was arson, murder! They're going to kill you too!"
Folinic took a deep breath then looked at her and said, "You're too worked up…I'm not continuing this."
Before the woman could get up, Tatjana stepped forward and grabbed the woman by the wrist.
"You're under arrest."
"You can't arrest me, you're no gendarmerie!"
"I'm sorry, but the Schultz will decide your fate."
"You wouldn't dare kill me, not unless you want an uprising! Just throw me out already, I'll at least be able to join up with the-"
"Enough!" Tatjana shouted. "You've done nothing but spread lies and slander the Schultz. You don't even see us as fellow citizens of Wolumonde anymore…"
For the first time, a look of sadness spread across the infected woman's face and she bit her lip.
"Fine…guess I gotta go see Severin again, let's get this over with…"
When they returned to the Rathaus, Tatjana handed the woman over to the gendarmerie and watched as the instigator was taken away to see her uncle.
"Tatjana…" Folinic's voice sounded from beside her. Tatjana looked to Folinic who approached her and looked to the side before taking a deep breath and returning eye contact. "I want to apologize for my behavior…you didn't deserve that."
"Miss Folinic…" Tatjana said before grasping her hands together in front of her and gripping until her knuckles turned white. "I-I'll tell you everything, all we know. I'll take you to the campsite and explain what happened."
Folinic blinked in surprise.
"I don't know what Schultz Severin and the council are thinking, keeping you from the truth, but I believe you deserve to know. Follow me…"
What happened next was Tatjana explaining in detail what they knew about what happened to Doctor Atro as they walked to the edge of town and out.
"When we started to refuse more outsiders and local refugees, Doctor Atro chose to set her camp outside of Wolumonde so as to serve everyone. There were three infected from our village there receiving treatment. Kevin, Biederman, and Eckehard were their names. There was also…an uninfected volunteer"
"And what was their name?"
"My cousin and Schultz Severin's only son, Thorwald."
Folinic stopped in her tracks, just as they were a stone's throw from the woods.
"Miss Folinic…?" Tatjana called back, noticing she had fallen behind.
"I…I didn't know…I'm so sorry…"
"No, don't be. It wasn't right to keep you from the truth. You have the right to be upset, angry even. I never wanted to keep the truth from you, but the council was shaken and forced the issue into silence until we were certain…" Tatjana paused and once more knit her hands together as she struggled to speak.
"Just let it out, Tatjana-san…you need to get it off your chest…" Suzuran said, grabbing one of the hands of Tatjana and looking at her with a face full of worry, yet somehow shining with innocence.
"Huh?" Tatjana sounded, clearly surprised. It was then that Suzuran gently placed her hand over the woman's heart.
"I can sense the pain…the discontent. There's much joy, but also much sorrow…all knotted up…"
"Is that an originium art?" Tatjana asked.
"No, I've just seen this so many times. Everyone wants to keep their feelings bottled up, but it's not healthy. Maybe I'm wrong, but if you treat yourself like that…you'll worry the people who care about you. S-So, it's ok to cry, no one will judge you."
Tatjana leaned down to Suzuran's level and smiled.
"I understand, but I can't cry, not yet. There's too much to do, before I allow myself the time to grieve."
Suzuran nodded then turned her unchanged gaze to Folinic.
"D-Don't look at me like that, I get it…" Folinic stuttered while rubbing her shoulder. Only then did Suzuran's expression change to a bright smile and she nodded with a hum of affirmation.
When they finally reached the campsite, no one said a word. They just looked at the charred remains of the campsite and naturally fanned out to look for signs while Tatjana continued to explain.
"In total, we recovered eight bodies. Four from our town, three others are presumed to be wanderers who came in for treatment. The last, we fear, might be Doctor Atro…"
"So…seven infected, one non-infected…" Folinic thought out loud as she rubbed the ash off a crate's serial number. "To think, some of these supplies I helped Atro prepare…"
"At first we thought the fire was an accident, but I never believed it for a minute. Doctor Atro would never be so careless…"
"An accidental fire wouldn't be able to do this though," Reed said as she held up a steel tent rod that was warped and bent on its own weight. Without a second thought she pulled at the rod until it snapped at the weakest point, and she looked inside. "The steel melted all the way inside, this was caused by arts."
"Not a lot of equipment can produce such powerful arts…" Dur'nar asked while turning to Tatjana. "What kind of defenses does Wolumonde have?"
"Wolumonde is in possession of a large number of L-44 Gramophone's, they could be powerful enough."
"Was there any sign of struggle?" Folinic asked.
"None, the bodies were charred beyond recognition with no sign of resistance or panic, as though they died instantly."
"So it was murder," Folinic concluded before standing up and walking to another crate where she saw a simple ID tag buried under the char marks and ash. "Would you look at that…"
"Ah, it's Atro's ID tag…" Provence said as she looked at it.
"She never liked wearing it, always complained it 'got in the way'," Folinic stated before pocketing it and she snickered darkly. "Just wear it around your neck or tuck it into your chest…how hard is it?"
After that, Folinic turned her attention back to Tatjana, ready to ask one last question.
"What did you do with the bodies? Hours after death, oripathy begins to rapidly consume the body, turning any and all organic tissue into fine, active originium dust that is easily and naturally aerosolized, becoming a dangerous secondary vector of infection."
"The Schultz took on the responsibility of storing the corpses. Since most of the tissue was incinerated and the victims were only mildly infected, it was determined that there wasn't much risk."
"I thought Wolumonde had no oripathy experts…"
"He said he was going on experience…"
"Hah, rich. What kind of job gives you experience handling infected corpses?" Folinic sighed after that sentence then looked at the site further. "I don't think we'll find much of value here anymore…I want to see Atro. I need to say goodbye, at least…"
"I understand…we'll return and I'll ask Schultz Severin-"
Tatjana stopped and looked past them towards a lone figure standing in the fog among the trees. Noticing it had been spotted, the figure moved forward until it was out of the fog and they could see it clearly. A lone figure dressed in heavy, protective clothing wielding a hammer and a masked hood that hid their face. As they moved closer, devilish horns peaked out from the helmet and it dragged a hammer along the ground.
"A sarkaz…" Folinic muttered low before stepping forward. She then walked forward and asked the lone sarkaz, "Are you the same one from earlier?"
The sarkaz remained silent and simply stood. Everyone waited with baited breath, wondering what the lone warrior would do. An eerie silence settled over and they naturally took formation, some having already raised shields or weapons in warning.
"A-Are you one of them?" Tatjana asked nervously, only to be met with silence. "Are you one of the sarkaz who make up the Mudrock Squad?"
"...Niece of the Schultz, I have one question: Who murdered them?"
"So you are the same sarkaz!" Folinic shouted before cocking a shell. "Why are you riling up the townsfolk? Wolumonde is in crisis, and you move to turn the town against itself."
"...Wolumonde was already divided before we came. We simply told the infected the truth, of what their fate ultimately is."
"To what end? What will stoking the flames of anger do for you?" Dur'nar growled. "Have you no shame?"
"...Our only goal is justice, justice for the infected. Justice for the murderer who killed those here in cold blood. If you stand in our way…" the sarkaz warrior slammed the hammer upon the ground, and in a magical display of their ancient sarkaz arts, stones and bits of soil flew from the ground and ran around in a circular shape around the sarkaz. In a flash, a filmy ethereal shield jumped between the soil and rock. "We will not hesitate to fight back."
The situation was quickly escalating out of control, a fight seemed inevitable. Evan thought for a moment, the Sarkaz had stated their goal was justice for the murder, and he would honestly agree. It was clear though the sarkaz didn't think they saw eye to eye, so he stepped forward, ignoring the calls from the others to not approach the sarkaz.
"Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. We're looking or the murderer too. They killed someone we care about, perhaps we could work together?"
A low chuckle escaped the sarkaz's throat before they spoke, "And what would you have us do? They would never allow us in the city, not peacefully. No, they made clear where our place is, why should we trust those they work with either?"
"Even if we're with Doctor Atro's company?"
"Indeed, Atro was a good doctor. But since coming to Wolumonde, what have you done to stand up for the infected, Rhodes Island? You put them down, helped the Gendarmerie and the council in their schemes! There is no way we will work with two-faced puppets!"
The sarkaz raised his hammer and made to slam Evan, but a flash of orange filled his peripheral vision and a flaming spear end slammed into the shield. Orange flames danced across the shield, and the spear halted. Reed reeled her arm back and began slamming her spear into the shield, again and again, but the sarkaz refused to move. By now, Evan retreated back behind Dur'nar and drew his standard blade.
The sarkaz raised their hammer and slammed it into Reed, who barely managed to block it with her spear, and she was shoved to the side, hammer end slipping past the spear and slamming into her shoulder. Before the Sarkaz could follow up, Dur'nar moved in front of Reed and absorbed the next attack, grunting in effort as she struggled to keep her arm raised against the blow.
Suzuran began pelting her foxfire balls onto the shield, watching as the shield absorbed or deflected the arts and left the opponent unharmed, but it did do something to briefly switch sarkaz's direction of attention.
Folinic had finished using arts to heal Reed's wound, and the draco ran up and tried to once again breach the shield with her spear, setting it ablaze and watching as her attack was helplessly absorbed by the shield. Before the sarkaz could strike, Dur'nar's blade crackled with electricity and it drew the sarkaz's attention away in time to watch as the electric blade bounced off the shield and the sparks flew between rocks and soil across the shield all the way into the ground.
A bolt flew through the air and slipped past the shield and into the armor, forcing the sarkaz to retreat away from Provence's line of fire. They turned to the sniper and slammed their hammer to the ground, sending a wave of arts along through the ground to her position. Provence leapt from the wave, barely missing it before the zealot raised their hammer again, bits of earth flying around it as they charged up some more powerful arts.
That was when Reed charged up her spear, until her tail burst into a molten flame and her core shined. Flames converged from her arms and into the spear tip until it glowed a bright color and she stabbed.
Crack
With that strike, the sound of earth splitting sounded from the sarkaz and they were shoved forward.
"His shield can be overwhelmed!" Dur'nar shouted. "Dump as much power into your arts attacks as you can!"
With that, Reed continued her assault, but it failed to crack the shield further, and now the sarkaz was winding up an attack meant for her, but Dur'nar shoved her shield into the attack and once more tanked the damage. It was then that a shell was fired from Folinic's arts unit and slammed into the shield before the arts splashed in all directions and those by the sarkaz felt more rejuvenated to continue the assault. Suzuran of course was charging up a powerful cast, and by the time the sarkaz noticed it, it was too late.
A set of three foxfire balls slammed into the shield and a series of smaller cracks continued to sound as they spread across the shield. Taking the opening, Dur'nar and Reed slammed all they had into the shield as Folinic continued her barrage. Soon, the sound of shattering glass sounded and the shield dissipated and the earth fell.
The sarkaz retreated and began channeling their arts, only for a crossbow bolt to once more fly, and it was aimed at a chink in the armor. With a sickening sound of flesh and cartilage being pierced, the bolt landed perfectly into the weapon elbow of the sarkaz and their arm fell limp despite still clutching the hammer.
"Now what? Can't lift your hammer, you might as well surrender," Provence suggested as she cocked another bolt and aimed it at the warrior. The sarkaz lulled their head to the ground, silent as they contemplated their options. Provence inched closer, as did the others save for Folinic and Suzuran. "We promise to treat you well."
"You are worthy opponents…but a true sarkaz never admits defeat!" they shouted before swapping the hammer to their other arm and it visibly began to glow an earthy gray as the sarkaz wound it up. "In the name of the earth!" they screamed before the strike. Provence was already retreating and Dur'nar moved to protect Reed and held her shield up just in time for the sarkaz's hammer to collide with the ground.
Soil and rock lifted from the ground as a large shockwave moved it below their feat, forcing all of them off balance as bits of rock and soil quickly turned to shrapnel which rained upon them. Cuts and bruises were made and Dur'nar was flung back into Reed as she felt her defenses finally become overwhelmed and the shower of rocks and earthen sarkaz arts finally forced her shield out of the way. Provence and the others were far away enough to only suffer minor scratches, and Tatjana had stayed out of the range altogether and looked on in shock as soil now rose to obscure their vision briefly.
When the dust settled, Dur'nar was on the ground on top of Reed and the sarkaz was gone.
Folinic ran up to the two and with the help of Provence managed to move the drill instructor off the draco. Thankfully, Reed had been saved from the worst of the damage, but Dur'nar didn't get up and her face scrunched up in pain as she held her arm. Bruises and cuts lie everywhere on the body, and her clothes were torn at the sites of impact.
"Suzuran, I need help!" Folinic cried as she began activating her arts unit and worked to stop as many of the cuts as she could. "Provence, help me get her gear off!"
Evan could only look on helplessly, next to Tatjana, as Folinic began removing Dur'nar's protective gear and soon some of her uniform. Dur'nar cried in pain as Provence moved the shield arm, signifying it was clearly broken.
Now that Folinic's attention was on the arm she noticed it was bending unnaturally and she cursed, "Blyat!" Before issuing orders. "Provence, make a splint, I'll set the arm. Suzuran, use your arts to heal the surface injuries!"
"Hai!" Suzuran affirmed in Higashinese before she started channeling her arts to prepare to heal Dur'nar. It was then that Folinic pulled out a roll of bandages and shoved it in Dur'nar mouth.
"Alright, this will be over in a moment, but I'm sorry in advance."
Dur'nar nodded and bit into the roll before she started screaming and kicking as though she was being tortured. For two seconds, the makeshift gag absorbed the screams' volume, but it still made Evan shudder to think of his instructor in that much pain. Suzuran had finally channeled her arts and sent a wave of soothing foxfire, and the wounds on the surface began closing up. Dur'nar's look of pain then finally lessened in intensity.
Once Suzuran was done patching the surface wounds, Folinic pulled out a needle and stated, "Administering emergency painkillers."
The needle was pushed into her injured shoulder and Folinic pressed. Dur'nar hissed at the pain, but soon her face visibly relaxed more and more, and it kept relaxing until she finally closed her eyes and gave a sigh of relief. Folinic then slapped her cheek a couple times.
"No! No sleeping until we get you back to town. Provence, how's that splint coming?"
"Almost done."
"Good. Evan, Tatjana! You'll be responsible for helping her back, can I count on you for that?"
Both nodded and Folinic turned her attention back to Dur'nar who was now clearly loopy.
"Splint's done!" Provence declared before handing it off to Folinic. Folinic then reset the arm for the splint and placed it in. Only mumbles and moans of discomfort now escaped Dur'nar. Once the splint was set and secure, Evan and Tatjana walked over to receive and pull up the patient.
Reed watched the whole scene with wide eyes and arched eyebrows, gripping her sweater just above her core. She wouldn't dare look away, no matter how much it hurt to watch, and she wasn't the only one.
Author's Note
Now then, that was fun.
So as a note, I had written these three chapters last week in a rush. This is fun!
So, now that we have some proper stakes set up and emotional chips on the table, I wanna preface this fact: I rated the story M for a reason.
At first it was partially out of caution, but I also knew down the line my descriptiveness of fight scenes and visceral details could bump up the rating a bit. Not that there'll be lemon chapters, but do prepare to possibly expect stuff not meant for those with weak stomachs or poor resilience to certain topics. I will preface a warning from here on out if I implement especially sensitive topics.
As you can imagine, while Wolumonde is the one I chose, it signifies some important shifts in the story and opens up a lot of doors for character growth, which is good even if it comes at the temporary price of Dur'nar's arm.
Welp, we actually get to see one of the best operators and bosses in the game. Oh yeah, next chapter we finally get to see Mudmud.
I promise next set of chapters will be out by month's end and we can wrap up Wolumonde on the check list.