Chapter 425 - You are Healed

Sorry for the delay!

~~

Ryan Clairmont

Ryan's life following what happened only processed in flashes. Brief moments of discorded memory that were nearly impossible to make sense of. Delirium was his one and only friend, while his body seemed to go through a circus ride of self-defense mechanisms.

He would wake in darkness, covered in sweat and feel so hot that a fire seemed chilly, and then others, he would wake in daylight to the chills so cold the frozen north seemed warm.

Day and then night. Hot and then cold. Sweating out of every pore and then shivering with his entire body.

It went on for so long that Ryan began to lose his mind. He would wake to see a black-haired woman staring down at him one time, only to see a blonde one the next. Then a man of scrawny stature, only to follow up with a man the size of a door.

Ryan never remained coherent for long, and the shattered line of disconnected memories didn't make any sense. The only good thing he could remember was that the length of those memories was increasing.

Every time he awoke, he stayed that way for a little longer until he started to put the pieces of what happened back together.

Remembering was... difficult.

It was like his body didn't want to remember what happened, but his unconscious dreaming mind did not care what his conscious one thought. Nightmares of what happened plagued his dreams like an annoying gnat that wouldn't go away.

Those nights were the worst.

Still, Ryan dragged himself back together one piece at a time, only to wake up one final time and not know where he was. The room was unfamiliar, the furnishings were unfamiliar, and even the construction was unfamiliar.

The windows were clearer and thinner than at home. The curtains were thinner, more to block out light than the cold. The dressings were made of cotton rather than wool. The flourishes were different, like even the eye for artistry leaned a different way.

Most importantly, it was blisteringly hot in a way he had never experienced before. The heat hung thick in the air and clung to him in ways most unpleasurable.

That fact alarmed him more than any other. No where in Canada would ever be this hot, and no where would feel this... thick. Even in Summer, which was another worrying thought in it and of itself.

Ryan wasn't even sure how much time had passed since the... incident, and it could very well be the dog days of summer for all he knew. That would certainly explain the heat. But that would mean half a year had passed, which was a much longer time than Ryan had assumed.

A much longer time indeed.

He did not need the constant nightmares to remind him that he had been injured, the full body ache and soreness was more than enough for that, but it did not speak well if it had taken this long. Especially with his particular skillset.

His Bloodline should have made healing much easier. He wouldn't go so far as to call it trivial, but accelerated at least. His passive mana circling around his body and through his channels should have at least been enough to hasten his natural regeneration.

The twin Circles around his Mana Core should have concentrated any effects as well, as it boosted any effects of his mana, including passive ones.

Even without external healing, it should not have taken this long. It doesn't–

"Oh, you're finally awake, and it seems like for good this time." A woman's voice broke him out of his thoughts. He startled around only to see the black-haired woman from before.

How did she get in? I didn't hear anything at all.

"Who– How long– Where am I?" All of the questions he had tried to come out at once.

The woman laughed at his confusion. Laughed at him. No one had laughed at him since... Ryan couldn't remember it had been so long. Before he could insist on answers, she spoke before he could.

"Why don't we start with what you remember?" She asked, but it felt like she was teasing him.

Ryan dredged up all he could recall and began going through it once more. The fight, the injuries, trying to flee, then... then the contract.

No. That was a dream. It had to be...

"Ah," the woman said lightly, "I see you've gotten to the good part."

As if summoning it from his memory, she pulled out the contact. The signed contract had Ryan's name at the bottom of it in red ink. Ink, he didn't have to think long or hard to wonder what it was.

"It's true, then." He said, defeated.

She gave him a pitying smile, "I'm afraid so." She put a finger to her chin and looked up, "Then again, I don't really care, so I can't say I'm frightened," Her eyes fell on him, "But you should be."

Ryan lay there. He had hoped the contract hadn't been real and instead been a figment of his nightmare, but seeing it now, he knew it wasn't so. He had signed it.

Resigned, he asked, "Where am I? It's much too hot for anywhere in the North."

"Atlanta," she answered, "Far from that wretched place. Even now, in the midst of summer, it's probably snowing somewhere."

"Summer..." he muttered. It really was months after the fact.

"Why did you not take me home? To Ottawa, my seat of power?" With the contract signed, it didn't much matter where they kept him. The chain wrapped around him was not contingent on being close by.

The woman, Maeve, he now remembered, giggled. Her giggle turned into a true laugh the longer it went on, like the very thought was funnier than first assumed.

"Your 'seat of power'," She mocked and wiped her eye, "That's a good one. Well, if we'd left you in your 'seat of power', you'd be facing an army at your walls right about now. An army I don't think you'd be keen on facing."

"An army?!" Ryan wanted to shoot up in alarm, but the pain stopped him. "What are you talking about?"

Maeve looked at him with a curious face, "What did you expect would happen when you poked the bear? Rather, the giant in this case. That you'd give him a poke with your fancy sword and he'd just bugger off to parts unseen without a word? That he'd go lick his wounds without retaliation?"

Poked the bear? The giant?

He lives? Still?

She laughed, "No, he had quite a lot to say about it, in fact. He got every Faction in the Northeast to embargo you. He had the American Faction close off the coast to you, and restricted all travel and trade going in and out of New Canada. The Firelands, Imperial lands, and even the Lakes Alliance is closed to you."

"What about the army?" Ryan asked.

"Hush, I'm getting to that point," She quieted him. "When he was done cutting off all access, he declared war right then and there. The reason is actually pretty funny, if you ask me. Do you want to know why?" She teased him like she wasn't talking about the fall of his Faction.

"Why?" He played along, deeming it the quickest way to get to the point.

"He did it to find you," she poked him in the chest. "Oh, he searched and searched for you for days. Weeks even." Her smile twisted into a frown, "I had to spend weeks up there just to get you away unseen. Those hounds of his were thorough, the tireless beasts." She tisked.

"Why is that funny?"

Her smile returned, "Because you're not even there!" She laughed. "After gathering his army, Fort Hope fell without a blade being drawn, its Lord surrendering the city and joining his side. Smoothrock fell within a week. St. Marie even faster, at only a few days, and Shieldreach fell within a day. Its Lord thought besting him in single combat would work. Spoiler alert," She leaned in and whispered, "It didn't."

Four cities? All fallen?

His Faction was not so large that such a loss wouldn't be felt. New Canada wasn't as large as the American Faction, and four cities, even smaller ones, would hurt to lose.

"Sadly, your woes don't end there. While Christopher was conquering your western reaches, your East Coast has proclaimed itself independent."

"Leon," Ryan spat angrily. "That fucker. I knew I should have killed that newfie bastard when I had the chance."

"Yes, Leon." Maeve tittered at his bitterness, "He's taken over the island and even some of the coastal cities as well. Even rose to Viscount last I heard. A feat even you didn't accomplish."

"The contracts," Ryan remembered, "He shouldn't have been able to–"

"It's rare to see one broken," Maeve cut him off, "And it takes a great deal to do so, but not unheard of. Considering the creatures the pact is founded on, it's not that unimaginable. A race so crafty, cunning, and full of guile isn't one to be bound by their pacts for eternity. If you wanted that, you should have gone to the fae."

If that's the case, I can–

"But don't worry," She patted him on his aching shoulder, "We've taken precautions with yours so that won't happen." By the look on her face, she purposely didn't explain anything more.

"Leon, free of his contract and with attention drawn to the west, carved out a nice little piece of coastland for himself. Seeing how Frostheim's advance has yet to be halted, I imagine he faced little reprisal in his actions."

By her smile, she was taking delight in regaling him with the downfall of his Faction. Of the 'kingdom' he'd built.

Maeve stood from the chair beside his bed and bounded lightly toward the open window. "Now, the Frost Lord stands outside your 'seat of power', sieging down your walls as we speak. Admittedly, your Capital is lasting longer than the four previously, but I doubt it'll be long before it falls, too. I'm surprised it's taken longer than a month already."

Ryan regained some hope at hearing Ottawa still stood. Leon was his own problem, but if his Capital was holding out...

"I rebuilt that city from the ground up. I poured everything into its walls and construction. He won't be able to tear it down so easily." He said with pride.

She turned back at him with that pitying look again, "Easily? No. But will it be done? Most assuredly. I told you already, you poked the bear you should have left alone. Now, your Faction crumbles while you sit here crippled and delirious."

Ryan's anger was stoked at her dismissal of all he had built. Assuredly? "If you're so certain we will fail, why did you even aid me? If what you say is true, I will be the Leader of ashes and rubble soon. What use do you have for the Lord of Ruins?"

"Me?" She pointed at herself, "Nothing. I'd see you killed and be done with it, but as I mentioned earlier, it's not me you should be worried about. Your usefulness is up to The Big Man, even if you are the Lord of nothing and no one."

Ryan didn't even ask who the Big Man was, doubtful he'd get a straight answer or one even remotely useful. Instead, he asked, "Why am I not healed?"

Even if he wasn't a Lord, to be useful, he first needed to be healthy. He didn't imagine he'd be of much use in the state he was in.

Maeve finally showed an emotion bordering on serious as she looked at him pensively, "You are."

"What are you talking about?" Ryan demanded. He raised his left arm expecting to throw the blanket off him, but nothing happened. He looked down to see it just as he had last, with nothing below the shoulder. "I still have no arm!"

"Yes," she said, "But can you not feel the leg we've regrown? And the other injuries we've mended?"

Ryan twitched both legs and confirmed that both were there, and the rest of his body did feel mended. There were aches, but no sharp pains like there had been.

But he still had no arm.

"You call this healed?" He tried to wave what was left of his arm, but it did nothing but twitch.

"You are as healed as we can make you," Her words felt particularly chosen.

We'll see about that!

His mana churned, and his skin began to glow. [Regenerate], [Heal], and [Greater Mend] activated at once. The skills weren't directly suited for limb regrowth, but they worked with the aid of overpowering mana.

When nothing happened except becoming luminous, Ryan called on his Bloodline to amplify his powers. He felt the change occur and the power flowing through him, but his eyes failed to see any change in what they were looking at.

His arm remained, dreadfully, unaffected. Even cycling through his other Skills and Spells did nothing.

"I told you," Maeve watched him spend mana like it was limitless and radiate a massively displeasing glow, "You are healed."

But my arm is still gone!