Forest Glen was surrounded by a 20-foot-tall wall as far as I could see. There were archer posts every 30-40 feet. Three men could walk abreast on it. I don’t know what broke the wall of Forest Glen, but before I got any closer, I decided to review my skills and spells, just in case they were needed.
[Skills:
Combat 5
Magic 5
Weapons 5
Sword 5
Dagger 10
Spear 5
Unarmed Combat 5
Identification 10
Linguistics 10
Partitioned Mind 5
Slow-Time 2
Explorer 2
Intimidation 1
]
[Spells:
Cure All 5
Heaven’s Hea l6
Cleanse 6
Mana Dart 5
Wind Blade 3
Fireball 4
]
[Talents:
Regeneration Legendary
Meditation Epic
]
[Gifts:
Linguistics Epic
Master of Skills Legendary
]
[Titles:
Mr. Perfect
]
As I said, my first sight of Forest Glen was the huge gaping hole in its wall. Woah! As I moved closer, I could see more details of the damage. It looked like a bomb exploded next to the wall. The wall had collapse inward to the city, and there was a huge pit just outside of the wall. The wall itself was about 20-25 feet high, 15 feet thick at the breech. It must have been a hell of an explosion to get through. There were many people working on removing the rubble. So, it seemed the excitement was over and cleanup had started.
As I walked to the gate, I saw two people standing at either side. Guards, I assume. I walked up to the nearest one. He said “Hail traveler and welcome. You have arrived at a lucky time. You just missed the monster wave.”
“I can see. What happened to the wall?” Monster wave? What’s a monster wave? I thought to myself
“The boss monster charged it. Luckily, the Earl was able to kill it before it got into the city. Unfortunately, he was badly hurt. So, I need to ask. Do you have any healing tonics, potions? If so, the House of Donnert will pay you handsomely. If you have other healing capabilities, House Donnert requests you go to the Earl’s manor in the center of the city.”
“I do have some minor healing abilities. Can you provide me directions?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Better than that, I will personally take you the Earl manor.” The guard said to me. I guess he wanted to make sure I went straight to the manor.
“That would be appreciated. My name is Trevor. I am ready when you are.”
“Samu, stay here while I lead Trevor to the Earl’s manor. And my name is Avery. Let’s go. I apologize for the hurried pace, but the Earl’s need is great.” With that, he turned into the city and started moving quickly while yelling for everyone to “Make Way! I followed. As we moved, he pointed out some different buildings. The Upright Man tavern, Boregon’s Inn, the Water Market, the Fire Market, the alchemy store, and Temple row. We were moving at a brisk pace but Avery did make sure I knew at least a little bit about the town.
When we arrived at the Earl ’s manor, I was quite impressed. It was a three-story building that must have been at least a hundred feet wide and deep, with an open courtyard in the middle. I would later find out it was not just a residence, but also where the city government personnel worked. Part private residence, part government office. We came to the front door of the private residence. Avery said something to one of the guards, who ran inside the building. He returned with what I assumed was a government official.
“I have brought a Healer to see the Earl.” Avery plainly stated and then pointed at me. The unnamed government official looked over at me. Apparently judging me and whether I was on the up and up. Apparently, I passed.
“I will bring you to the Earl immediately.” No name official said, “Come with me, please.” After we started into the house, he continued “What is your name sir?”
“Trevor” I replied.
“The Earl is gravely injured, more that the city guards know. Our Healers have used all our poultices and potions to no avail. It appears that more is going on that we know. He has been unconscious since the battle. We fear the worst if no improvement is seen soon. I ask that you do whatever you can. If you can help, we will reward you greatly.”
As we entered the Earl’s bedroom, there was an air of misery so thick I imagined I could almost see it. Many people were gathered in the room and all seemed equally affected by the Earl’s condition. No name forcefully moved people out of his way as he and I made our way to the Earl. The physician explained the resistance spells they used, the potions and everything else they tried. No matter what they did the wounds would not stay closed. They reopened seconds after the healing was done. They continued healing using resistance spells and potions. The healing potions wouldn’t even close a single wound. They had done as much as they could, but the Healers and priest were now out of mana.
The Earl was lying on a bed, his clothing torn and bloodied. He had several large wounds, and a multitude of smaller ones. He must have been at ground zero of the explosion. He was feverish and his whole body was shaking. It did not look good. I could see the attempts at bandaging him. The bandages were all soaked in his blood and were only slowing down the bleeding, not stopping it. I didn’t think anyone could bleed that much and survive, but he kept breathing, fighting to live.
I immediately cast Heaven’s Heal on him. Many of the smaller wounds closed, then almost immediately opened up again. The larger wounds were completely unaffected by my Heaven’s Heal spell. Everyone stopped talking, just staring at the wounds as they closed and reopened.
“That keeps happening when we use our strongest healing potions.” Said someone behind me. A woman continued weeping in the background.
“Have you tried Cure All?” I hastily asked.
“I have never heard of a cure all.” said what appeared to be a priest of some kind. I heard mumbling behind me as I stared at the wounds again. I cast Identification on the Earl and I immediately sensed an aura of rot at the edges of the smaller wounds and infusing the larger ones. I could also see a black miasma seeping out of the wounds. No Identification notification box showed up. It was as if Identification was being blocked, maybe by the aura of rot.
This time I cast Cure All. Immediately followed by Heaven’s Heal. Some of the smaller wounds closed and did not reopen. The other smaller wounds lost their aura of rot. I cast Heaven’s Heal again and more of the smaller wounds closed. I cast Heaven’s Heal a third time and the remaining smaller wounds closed, but the larger ones remained unaffected and were still bleeding. There were still a lot of large wounds. I focused on the gravest wound that was bleeding the most, and cast Heaven’s Heal with the thought of healing just that wound. The wound disappeared, but reopened again. I cast Cure All trying to target only on the wound. The aura of rot disappeared from the wound. I then cast Heaven’s Heal, once again trying to target only that wound. It closed. This time it did not immediately reopen. I waited a full 30 seconds to ensure it would not reopen. After that I repeated the procedure on each of the remaining large wounds. Cure All and Heaven’s Heal, Cure All and Heaven’s Heal. Again, and again. I lost myself in healing of the Earl. I don’t know how many times I ended up casting the spells, but finally the last wound closed. Notifications flashed red in the corner of my vision. At the end, I was very, very tired from casting the spells over and over again, but I could tell the Earl was out of danger and now resting peacefully. “The Earl is out of danger, but needs rest to let his body recover.” The mood in the room brightened instantly and I could hear the sighs of relief from many of the onlookers.
My mana bar was now completely empty, even my health bar was reduced to half. That had never happened before. I was still bent over the Earl, as I searched for more wounds. Finding none, I stood up, immediately I felt light headed, and then suddenly, the floor was reaching out to smack me in the face. Needless to say, I blacked out.
