"Careful!"
"Please be quiet. I'm literally out of my element here."
"But you're a mage. You're supposed to do magic."
"Well it's complicated!"
Doevm awoke to a jolt of pain that caused him to cry out. He opened his eyes and found himself in the academy's medical wing. Broken bones and bloody tweezers sat in a tray next to his bed. Three familiar faces surrounded him but he reflexively flinched away. A dark magic circle hovered above a gaping wound in his side. "What's happening?" he gasped. "Where's Zolgon?"
"Calm down," Lance warned. He wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead. "I need to finish." He poured his remaining mana into his dark magic circle. Another wave of pain shot through Doevm as his broken ribs grew back. "Sorry. I'm not as good as my sister, apparently."
"What do you mean?" Doevm coughed. "How?"
"Stop moving or you'll lose our place." Elero said as she gently pressed Doevm's head back onto the pillow. "We're using the spell you designed for me." Doevm's gaze went to a familiar book lying next to him, his journal. It was opened to an illustration that mirrored Lance's magic circle. Descriptions on the next page detailed the intended usage: producing bone.
'Oh yes, I remember,' Doevm thought. 'I had promised to fix Elero but I couldn't finish in time.' He looked at Lance. "Why are you practicing dark magic in front of them? I didn't even know you could use the dark element."
"Neither did I," Lance said. "But it is necessary for the future. Besides, it's not like I can just sit here and watch you die. We will talk about it later."
Doevm reached up and wiped a drop of warm liquid off his forehead. Blue blood.
"Sorry," Elero apologized as she wiped her hands on her torn armor. Dry blood caked her untreated wounds. Two bent and nicked rapiers lay at the foot of Doevm's bed. She sighed. "Next time a pair of mages want to kidnap you, just fight back."
Doevm winced as another section of his ribs regenerated. "I know." He looked around at the busy medical wing. There were students, instructors, and Demis laid out on every bed or wherever there was space on the ground. Demon corpses had been dragged into a great mound. Flies already buzzed around the feast. Humans were laid out in rows with coins placed over their eyes. Doevm guessed that most of the clean cloth and towels were already used.
"Where's Frey?" Doevm asked.
"Sleeping," Elero said. "Nothing we did could wake him up and no one could lift him so we just left him. He must have passed out as the battle finished."
'No doubt about that,' Doevm thought. 'Arthur had similar problems when he absorbed too much.'
"As for Thomas..." Elero hesitated. "he lost control during the battle."
"What happened after that?" Doevm asked.
Lance, Elero, and Olpi exchanged looks.
"He's currently recovering from his meal." Elero pointed to a curtained-off area next to the mound of demon corpses. A large, misshapen figure hid within the curtains but its looming shadow gave it away. Elero lowered her head. "How long is he going to look like...like that?"
Doevm winced. "Sorry," Lance apologized.
"You're doing fine," Doevm said. He turned back to Elero. She leaned forward, expecting an answer. The bags under her bloodshot eyes looked bad enough. "I'll talk to him."
Elero leaned back in her creaky wheelchair and stared up at the broken ceiling. "I'll leave it to you."
"Anything happened in the few weeks I was gone?"
"It felt so much longer than that. We were just training." She flashed a rare smile. "We were worried we'd never see you again, you ass."
Lance's magic circle faded. "I'm finished." He stepped back.
Olpi stepped forward with a needle and string in her hands: "I'm going to apply stitching. Relax." The half-elf went to work. Doevm tried to stay still but no amount of training and willpower could keep a man still while his chest was stitched back together. "It's a miracle your wounds weren't lethal. It's much worse than that time in Mage's Shadow."
"A twist of fate," Doevm mused. "Thanks, for everything."
Olpi turned to Elero. "If it's not too rude to ask, what's your relationship with Cerlius...Doevm?"
Elero blinked. "Um, friends?"
Olpi nodded. "Just had to make sure." She leaned towards Doevm, pressing her petite body against the bed. She was careful to avoid Doevm's injury as her blushing face neared his. He didn't move away. Her lips were soft on his cheek. "Thank you for saving my family." She hurried off, leaving Elero and Lance in disbelief.
"Doevm," Elero gasped. "You were only gone for a few weeks!"
Doevm was silent for a few moments. He touched his cheek. "Huh."
"Huh. That's it?" Elero exclaimed. "Do you feel anything, for example a sped up heart rate? Are there stars in your vision?"
"Not particularly," Doevm replied. "I interpreted that as a gesture of thanks."
Elero threw up her hands. "You gotta be kidding me." She wheeled away while muttering to herself: "Stupid inhuman Lich that's never experienced romance before." She grunted with each turn of her rusted wheels, her aching limbs yet to recover from the intense battle. If Doevm hadn't known otherwise, he would have thought wisps of copper rose up from her shrinking back.
Lance sat at the foot of Doevm's bed and cleared his throat. "She seems mad."
"She seems to think I'm impotent." Doevm realized he was still touching his cheek and let his hand rest by his side. "How long have I been out?"
"A half an hour." Lance estimated. "I had to read through a lot of your notes and regain my mana. Also the others...had to be convinced."
Doevm frowned: "You openly helped a dark mage then openly performed dark magic. They might try to pin some of the blame on you, if not on me. I don't have to tell you that was a dangerous move."
Lance scratched his head: "I spoke on your behalf and the others seemed to be calm, for now at least. Be careful in case anyone tries anything. They know what you did but they don't like how you did it."
"I understand." Doevm said, recognizing spite within onlookers' gazes. "What happened to the map?"
Lance smirked. "It vanished. No one has found it."
Doevm cursed. "If only I had grabbed it before I passed out."
"Yes," Lance nodded. "That is unfortunate because we have no way of tracking it down. The vault is occupied by the demon king and his army so we can't release the seal and check. Oh well." He reached into his pocket, withdrew Doevm's spatial ring, and handed it to him. "I guess we'll never know."
Doevm held the spatial ring up to the light and smirked. "Are you sure?"
Lance nodded. "You saved this place, most of my students, and my friend. As far as I'm concerned I have a lifetime to work off this debt."
Out of the corner of Doevm's eye he spotted another dark magic circle. It hovered over a Demi who lay face down on a bed. Sweat dripped down Trenton's pale body as he pushed himself to complete the process. The Demi's wound grew and shrunk as new bones generated. It wasn't a perfect job but it was enough. Trenton stepped aside and let Olpi take over.
Doevm frowned. "Was that my spell?"
Lance tapped Doevm's journal. "Yes. It was."
"Did you teach anyone else?"
Lance frowned and closed the curtains. "I wanted to discuss this later, when you'd recovered. I would like to teach dark magic at the academy."
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