Crowned in Black: Chapter 22

There will be a pause in chapters after this one, sorry to say! I have to complete the next chunk of writing and editing before I can continue uploading. If you're enjoying the story (or not), please leave me your thoughts in the comments.

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I got back to the hospital to find everyone still working the busy ward. Some of the deathly ill people were looking better, sleeping off their fevers. A couple of the beds were empty - deaths to the plague, or to the Heatsbane. Karalti was helping to prop up semi-conscious teenage girl with pillows. She turned her head and smiled at me as I stumped over.

"Hey! How'd it go?" She asked brightly.

“Weird. I’ll tell you all about it after we’ve finished Mercy for the Sick.” I checked the quest status: there were only five people left to treat. I had to make a few more alchemical potions, and we’d be done.

“Did you see Jacob over there?” Karalti motioned with her head toward the back of the ward.

I closed my HUD and leaned back to look around the curtain shielding the bed from the rest of the room. Jacob was sitting with an elderly man, holding his hand and listening intently as he spoke and weakly gestured.

"The Mother doesn't think he's going to make it," Karalti said, her voice a little hushed. "The old man, that is. But for some reason, Jacob really likes him."

"Maybe he reminds him of his grandpa or something." I felt a weird sense of pride, watching him engage with the guy. "This is exactly what I'd hoped would happen. I figured he could only keep up the grumpy bullshit act for so long until someone broke through."

"Mm. I think it's helping Suri, too." Karalti pointed her out to me next. Suri was watching the interaction from a different angle, keeping post beside the bed of a girl across from where Jacob and his patient talked. She had a complex expression on her face. It was even more difficult for her to believe Jacob was a human being than it was for him to accept that NPCs here were made from human datasets, and were therefore at least functionally human.

"Hoi, dog: how fared your investigation?" Vash called to me, heading over from the potion station. He raised his metal hand in greeting. "The rehabilitation seems to be going well here, eh?"

"Sure does. I learned something interesting, and kind of disturbing, though." I clapped my palm into his and gripped it. "Ekaterina, the owner of the mill, she was a cultist. Found a Cult of the Architect symbol in her dresser. That place had some big Tsunda energy, too. I think we got to it quickly enough, before the crazy had time to set in."

Vash's scarred mouth flickered down at mention of his sister. "The cult is here, among the common folk of Karhad?"

"Sure is," I said. "We're going to have find the source and root it out, too, because that shit CANNOT go on. That pin? I'm ninety percent sure it's the source of the Thornlung outbreak. It was breaking reality all around itself. The whole house felt haunted, and when it was gone..."

"Then suddenly, the corruption disappeared," Karalti finished.

"I don't think it's an accident that this disease resembles HEX," I said. "We're watching some weird cold war between OUROS and Squalor here. I'm sure of it."

Vash grunted. "Fascinating, and disturbing. When reality wars upon itself, what happens to those who dwell within it?"

"Good question." I reached up to squeeze the braid that ran along the top of my head, and sighed. "Anyway, I'm going to go check in on the Orange Wonder over there. I'm curious to see if a day of honest work has changed his tune."

"As you say. Come, Karalti. I will teach you how to make this potion. We need another pair of nimble hands."

"Okay! But fair warning, dragons aren't very good at cooking," she replied, brushing my hand with hers as she went to follow him.

When I came within earshot, it was mid-conversation. Jacob didn’t seem to notice me, listening to the man as he rasped weakly, but urgently. “… awful, awful sequence of events. Can you blame the Yanik for being so prone to banditry when we destroyed so much of the land here?”

“Hey there, sorry to interrupt,” I said, coming to a stop about five feet from Jacob’s back. "How's everything going over here?"

“Hello, Your Grace." The patient had a raspy, reedy voice, squinting at me through watery eyes. His breath was rattling and wet, but he seemed comfortable. My HUD flagged him as [Lorekeeper Harald]. He was heavily sedated, and when I focused on his body through the healer lens, I saw that the list of potential treatments, were all greyed out. They'd tried everything to help this guy: the Clearwind and Heatsbane hadn’t killed him, but they couldn’t cure him. All the healers had been able to do was make him comfortable. “It is an – HHAK – honor.”

"Afternoon, sir," I replied. “I’m sorry it’s under such bad circumstances.”

Jacob sort of leaned away from me, eyes rolling to the side like a scared dog. But he didn't rise.

"I was just telling this young man here about the injustices done against the Yanik and the lands of Myszno," Harald replied weakly. "Awful, awful part of our history. They were - HHRAAK! - excuse me, demonized, driven to the swamp lands while my own people denuded the forests and wondered why nothing grew after two generations. That damn old Bolza didn’t help matters. You are a much better ruler."

"Thank you. It's an honor." I bowed reflexively from the waist, in the Korean style. Old habits die hard. "Honestly, though, I don't feel I've done enough for the province."

"Bah." The man raised a hand and waved it. "Difference between you and Bolza is that you get up and do something when it needs to be done. The sacking of Karhad didn't need to happen. The old Voivode heard reports of frightened peasants in south, and dismissed it. Then Vyeshniki was overrun, its wheat fields burned, and you know what someone heard him say? 'They wish to be a free-hold; let them deal with the problem freely'. Not a fan of anyone else having power but himself and the Crown, that one."

I frowned. "Really? What a fucking douchebag."

Jacob shot me a sharp 'really?' look. But the old man laughed, which triggered a round of coughing. Bad coughing, the kind that made him curl up and roll to the side, hacking and retching.

"Sorry, sorry..." I winced, and went to him as Jacob did, doing what I could to help him clear his chest.

"Ach, don't apologize. I was telling this one before that I'd rather die laughing than moping around," Harald mumbled, once the fit had passed. Blood flecked his lips. Wordlessly, I passed Jacob a clean rag, and - after a moment of hesitation - he took it and gently cleaned the man's mouth. "It's coming. I can hardly... mm... see."

"There has to be something we can do," Jacob said testily. "Players are supposed to be able to cure most NPC diseases."

"Sorry. I'm upper Journeyman rank in my medical skills, but everything's grayed out." I shook my head. "It's not an HP issue, or Life for Life would work. Though... now I think about it..."

I pulled up the Mark of Matir ability description for Purify:

Purify (Life)

Cure or inoculate one target of your choice against any communicable disease. Does not work on diseases caused by curses.

"I have an ability, Purify, that I can use to remove a disease once per week," I said.

“What? Really? Will it cure Thornlung?” Jacob turned to me, a little frantically. For some reason, he needed this guy to live.

"No. Do not use this gift on me." The old man wheezed, weakly shaking his head. "I refuse. Go... find someone younger."

“Why?” Jacob turned to him, eyes wide. "He says he can cure you!"

"Son, I've... nnghhh... seen 82 summers already." The man's voice was growing breathier. "You all did... the best you could. You gave me all I need to move... to the Caul and... join the chorus. Your Grace... I beg you. Find someone... young. Let them live."

Jacob whirled on me, eyes full of emotion I hadn't expected. "Hector, we can’t. This guy was a lorekeeper in the university. He KNOWS stuff! Really important stuff, about history and ecology and magic. He’s-"

"He's refused treatment, Jacob. What life he had, he spent sharing his knowledge with you." I said, watching as Harald's eyelids drooped. I turned back over my shoulder. "Vash. Can you come over here?"

"Eh?" The wiry monk turned from the bedside of the young girl he was tending. She wasn't looking so hot either, but when he saw the condition of the elderly man in front of us, his dark eyes lit up with understanding. He said something soothing to his patient, and beckoned to me as he walked quickly to Harald's bedside.

"Switch places with me," Vash said softly, speaking in Tuun. "I overheard you say something about performing a miracle of Burna. Well, that little girl needs it. The medicines did not work."

“Why is Jacob so wound up?” I asked. “I’m not complaining, and I’m sad the guy can’t be helped, too… but he seems… I dunno.”

“Jacob had a large family,” Vash glanced back at him. “A ‘Sephardic Jewish’ community. He grew up enfolded by his clan, deeply enmeshed in its faith and rituals, and was especially close to his male relatives: uncles, brothers, grandfathers. All men of knowledge and wisdom. They lived in a place called New York, but this Ryuko Corporation locked him in some great tower in a frozen land far from them. As he tells it, he was forced to remain there, watching at a distance as his entire family suffered and perished where he could not reach. It does not excuse his crimes, but it goes a long way to explaining how he fell under the sway of his coworker.”

I grimaced. Jacob had given a rougher version of that story to me and Suri, but for the first time, it sunk in just how fucked up he really must have been. “Oh.”

"What are you guys talking about?" Jacob looked from one of us to the other.

We are talking about caring for a man at the end of his life, Jacob. Sit with me, and we will recite the Book of the Dead for this man to guide his passage," Vash replied to him in Vlachian. “I will teach you how to comfort a soul as it passes the veil.”

"No." Jacob shook his head, and took a step back.

"Your grandfather was a lorekeeper in his own world. I understand." Vash placed a firm, but gentle hand between his shoulders. "And that is why you must stay. Now, come. Take his hand, and repeat what you can as I speak."

"No. This is bullshit." Jacob looked wildly around the room, suddenly as tense as a caged animal. "This is the system m-manipulating me. It has to be!"

I was about to snap something back when I got a ping from Rin: [Starting the test in five minutes!]

"Manipulate you? That doesn't even make sense, especially given you think none of this is real." I brushed the notification away, glaring at Jacob even as Vash calmly took his prayer beads from around his neck and had a seat. "How can it be a dumb unreal thing, but also manipulating you?"

“I… I don’t… I…” Jacob looked between Harald and Vash, fighting the urge to flee. He ran his fingers through his hair and squeezed it.

Vash began to chant the Tuun prayer for the dying from memory. As he did, Karalti drifted over to them, joining in the soothing drone with her own lighter voice… and tentatively lay a steadying hand on Jacob’s shoulder as he crumpled. Across from them, Suri’s expression was complicated. Her hands tightened around her sword hilt as she turned her head to stare out the window.

I hesitated a moment before heading over to the stricken girl. She was critically ill, and like Harald, her Field Medicine and other healing options were grayed out. I unequipped my gauntlet to bare the Mark of Matir, and sat beside her as she coughed and retched.

“You’re gonna be fine,” I said, taking her hand. As I did, the Mark seemed to sense my intent. It flared with a cold, icy sensation, even before I activated Purify. The ability wasn’t flashy like some of the others, more just an intention that caused a translucent glove of energy to pass from my skin to hers. It soaked in, and somehow, I felt it drawing the disease out of her, pulling the sickness from her body and consuming it. The girl stopped coughing, heaving for breath. The wet crackling stopped as her lungs began to clear, and she slumped back, staring at me in a mixture of fright and wonder.

[First probe starting!] Another alert from Rin popped up.

“There we go,” I brushed the alert away again, speaking softly. “How you feeling now? Everything alright?”

No sooner had I asked the second question than everything went black.

For several long, long seconds, I was breathless, bodiless, but still conscious. It felt like teleporting on Karalti's back, but without the reassuring presence of my dragon underneath me. On reflex, I reached for Karalti's mind - and found it.

"Hector?! What's happening?!" Karalti was mentally flailing, her voice hollow and echoing strangely.

"I don't know. Don't try to move, or you’ll end up somewhere you don’t want to be," I thought back.

The world seemed to throb as it faded back in - and with it, the sounds of a group of frightened, confused people. The room around us was timestopped, but my startled eyes met those of Mother Elena's, then Jacob's, then Suri's. Harald was still wheezing and mumbling, eyelids flickering, patients struggled in their beds against sheets that were still frozen in time, trapping them. Maybe twenty-five of the sixty or so people in the room were stock-still, poised in whatever activity they’d been doing. Dust hung in the air, the floor didn't creak... until suddenly it did, and reality returned in a rush around us.

"What the fuck just happened?" Suri lunged to her feet in agitation. "Did you guys all feel that?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I did." I reached out behind me as Karalti ran from Harald’s bedside toward me, grasping my arm and winding herself around it.

"By the Nine... I had a vision of some cold hell." Mother Elena looked around her ward in shock. "It was... it was as if the gods blinked!"

But no one was more shocked than Jacob. His face was pale as he turned to Vash. "Wait. That was a system reboot. Did you feel that?"

Vash, still composed for prayer, opened one eye and scowled. "The heart of the world just skipped a beat, Ratzinger. Of course I damn well felt it."

Jacob gaped like a fish on the beach, mouth opening and closing. He patted around for a chair, then dragged it over to Vash and flopped down into it, stunned into silence.

[Rin Lu would like to open a group voicechat. Will you accept?]

Suri came over to us. I reached for her hand and hugged Karalti to my side as she shivered, and accepted the request.

"Hey guys?" Rin's voice was high-pitched with fear. "I'm sorry, but I need you to come to Litvy like... now."

"Why? What happened?" I glanced at Suri in quiet alarm. "Jacob says the system rebooted."

"Yeah, so, maybe probing the Heartstone wasn't such a good idea," Rin squeaked. "I think we woke the Drachan. And it wants t-to talk to you."