B2 Ch. 46 Strong Enough

Aurelia Level 28 Priestess of Origin’s Flame

The last day had easily been the most exhausting of Aurelia's young life.  She knew that if she were still her younger self, she would have broken down days ago in the face of such overwhelming responsibility.  But something about what the Flame had done the night she had traded away the rest of her childhood had given her more than just an older body.  She had not truly lost those years, she could feel them, somewhere in the recesses of her mind, lending her a quiet but resilient sense of self.

Somehow even though they had passed in a moment, she had lived those years and felt their strength even now as she was pushed to the brink of what she could possibly bear.

“ROTATE!” The cry went out from above.   She flinched at the sound as Watch members stumbled down the large rear stair bleeding and broken.  Erash could no longer be called upon to heal and cleanse the century rotating off the wall, she was too important as a counter to the growing pressures of the increasing numbers of elites coming with every wave.

That left Aurelia and the three Acolytes to handle each rotation off of the wall.  Depending on how heavy the press was above, they could be looking at two or three rotations in an hour.  On top of that, the rangers had run out of blessed projectiles hours ago, and several pallets were waiting for her as soon as she had another moment to spare...

Men and women crowded down the stairs, some moving as fast as they could as if chased, others almost completely incapacitated, carried by their brothers and sisters in arms.  The tide of enemies was endless, and at this point, they all knew that the strongest of them were still being held in reserve.

Hope was dangling on its last thread in the collective morale of the Alliance’s forces, but what could they do but fight on?

“Please, ma’am! He can make it. He just needs a little help!”  A pair called down to her from near the front of the injured group.  They were dragging a clearly dead compatriot, down the stairs, eyes wild with a potent mixture of desperation and fear.  Aurelia bit her lip and choked back a sob as she shook her head once at their approach.

The faces of the two Flame’s Watch fell at her expression.  Belatedly they turned and looked back at their friend, who had probably passed away only moments ago.

Aurelia tried to speak up… to repeat the orders she had received.  They needed to make sure the most injured made it to the front of the lines.  But the words couldn’t get passed the bobbing blockage in her throat.  She stood there, frozen in her despair, unable to look away as two companions looked down in disbelief.  The empty eyes of the recently made corpse stared out into the distance as if it had forgotten something and was just about to remember it

Then a strong voice called from behind her.

“Check your Debuffs!  If you are still in the positive, move on!  If you are dropping, report to the healing station.  Organize yourselves!  The Healers can’t do everything, you need to put your worst Brothers and Sisters up front!”  Linus called, approaching the healing station and gaining control of the situation with an economic efficiency that spoke of years on the field.

Aurelia and the acolytes glanced back in numb appreciation before turning to see the group of soldiers beginning to order themselves.  They had already gone through this several times, but something about hearing the commander say it again helped the pieces fall into place for their tired, numb minds.  Many stumbled passed the station to find food and rest for as long as they could have it, but far too large of a remainder lined up to receive healing, with the most severe cases finding her line.

She took a deep steading breath, raised her hands, and cast Flame’s Warmth, centering it on those in front of her, but knowing it was a wide enough area of effect that it would cover many of the others.  Lines of harsh worry and frantic hope eased slightly on their faces as the sensation of sitting down before the warmth of a fire washed over and through them, giving each target +10% to Constitution for their next 2000 breaths.  Two of the three Acolytes also had area of effect Abilities that they cast on the group, easing pain and in some cases disrupting Corruption’s advance.

It was for this reason that they kept the lines so close, and she hoped it would give many the time they would need to have their turn at the front of the line. She was even encouraged to see some in the back of the line check their status screens, and then shuffle off, seeing that the Buffs would compensate for their maladies until their native regen took over.

Then she turned to the first woman in front of her, one of their few minotauress fighters.  Her impressive stature was curled in on itself as she shuffled forward, with a large wad of soaked cloth held against her midsection.  The flesh and padded armor over it was eviscerated by several jagged wounds, and filled with enough Corruption that its healing had been slowed to a deadly degree.

As had become her procedure, she raised her hands and cast the very first Ability she had received as a priestess, Cleansing Flame.  A stream of dancing blue flames leaped from her hands and bathed the wound, consuming the Corruption in its place.  Unlike Mr. Tillmans's Ability, it did not expel the substance, creating a manifestation. Instead, it consumed it completely, expunging its taint from the target's body.

A notification popped up, and she minimized it for a second while she went on to cast her second most powerful healing Ability.  The wound began to close and the Minotauress’ face went slack with relief,

“Thank you, Priestess, praise Origin” She uttered, moving passed so that the next in line could come forward. Aurelia nodded back absently, taking a quick look at her notification.

Congratulations you have cleansed one thousand targets in 24 hours.  You have earned the Title [Fount of Purification].  All allies within a hundred-pace radius of your position will have their Debuff potency reduced by 50%.

There was no joy at the notification.  She registered somewhere in her mind that it would make her role here that much more effective, but the majority of her attention was on the first number the screen had revealed, one thousand in twenty-four hours…

‘Had there really been that many?’  she thought numbly.

She dismissed the screen as the next Watchman stepped up, holding his right arm close to his torso as he tried to stanch the bleeding of the nearly severed appendage.  Aurelia began to cast her most powerful healing...  Any time there was a possibility of a loss of limb, she always took it seriously, knowing that the only one who could regrow them was Erash and she didn't have any mana to spare for any non-elite soldier.

Slowly they cleared the three lines, and this time, thank Origin they hadn’t lost anyone before they were seen…

‘Wait, that's not true, they had lost one before they even started.  And probably many more besides that on the wall…” How could she have already forgotten?

Commander Linus had been standing behind them throughout the whole rotation, saying nothing, but somehow offering his support despite the silence.  Aurelia could already hear the fighting above begin to increase in fervor as men and women began calling out positions of the elites in the coming charge.

“It's time for you to rotate off,”  Linus said simply, looking over at her.  At some point, she had ended up sitting on one of the pallets they needed her to bless, but she didn't remember getting there.

“I will, sir.   After the next group of soldiers.”  She mumbled, squinting up at the scarred commander.

“It’s an order, Priestess. Each of the Acolytes has rotated off for a few hours.  You will take a full eight.  We will find you if we need you.”  Those words cut through her fog slightly, and she was surprised to find bitterness welling up at their sting.

“If you need me?  You need me now, Consul! What are you going to do when the next century rotates off, let more die?”  She questioned angrily, her eyes narrowing blearily.

“We have gotten our health potion supply online, and we will make sure Erash treats the worst injuries before they leave the wall,”  Linus responded, his face softening slightly.

“It isn’t enough! More will die… Too many are dying as it is.”  She choked out furiously,  having to swallow back down the sob that had returned to threaten its escape once again.

“Ay. More will die.  But it's not your fault.  You need to trust me when I say that if you don't take a rest, the loss will be greater. The battle is far from over, and I am ordering you to take eight hours.  Away from the wall.” He stated with finality, his expression a strange mix of unyielding strength and understanding.

The anger she had been using as fuel to push past the pain suddenly drained away, and all she had left was her weakness.  Her body shuddered with the effort to hold back the sob, but there before those knowing eyes, she lost the contest, and a huge racking sob shook her body, followed by another, and another.

She felt rough calloused hands against the back of her head as the commander pulled her in gently and held her against his shoulder.

“I’m Sorry…  I’m just… not strong enough!”  She stuttered out between sobs.

Then in a quiet voice that somehow cut through the distant screams of battle, and the overwhelming evidence of her weakness, Linus answered her,

“None of us are Priestess… “

…

Four hours later

Pupienus Level 45 Bureaucrat

There just wasn’t enough time…

The twenty-four-day boon was the only reason that had anything even resembling an economy, and while it would grow given time… they seemed to have run out of even that.

Food and weapons production had barely covered the demand brought on by needing to field a few thousand soldiers at the drop of a hat, and now their three alchemists were working day and night to produce some of the lowest-grade Health Potions Pupienus had ever seen.

‘I should have listened to my aunt and left with the rest of the family…’  He fumed internally as another missive arrived on his table in his tent/office. He squinted up at the courier, but the man was already gone by the time the note hit his desk, it joined the rolling piles of paperwork that all demanded his attention.

“Hey! You can’t…” Pupienus trailed off as soon as it was clear the messenger had truly left without issuing any sort of verbal report.

‘I am surrounded by idiots…  How can I prioritize tasks if there is no input system, and everyone just stops by wherever they want to drop off something new?’

He pushed aside the report the loud dwarfs had recently turned in.  Apparently, the quarry had uncovered a very rich vein of metals under the mountain, along with many pre-dug tunnels.  They had been able to produce stone and iron much faster than anticipated once they discovered the hidden mine had been abandoned long ago mid-operation.

He picked up the dirty piece of paper that had the note scrawled on it and squinted at its contents through his spectacles before squealing to himself,  ‘Justices Blind Eyes… is that blood?’   He thought in a mild panic, before being down to peer at its contents carefully.

Councilmen, there is an urgent risk to the satyr element in the camp.  We have discovered a conspiracy by some of the other races to displace our people and erode our position further.  I fear that soon we will be little more than slaves in this “Alliance” they have formed.  Meet us a third of the way up the mountain at nightfall, and come alone. Not all of our people can be trusted…