The atmosphere in the church hallways was subdued. Gerial was by my side, purple eyes scanning the hallways as we walked. More people started appearing as we went deeper into the complex.

The area I’d been in had been a private section for bedside rest. This was the true hospital.

“I’ll still be here, but you know my drill by now.” Gerial spoke.

I looked to my side, and he had disappeared. There were going to be civilians here, and several of our classmates. I wasn’t here to visit them. Not yet.

First, I wanted to see Alexis.

There was tension rising in my body as Gerial led me to his room. The church hospital was laid out differently compared to the ones back on earth. The more intensive rooms had spells active all around them because magic didn’t interfere with injuries and could actively help them.

That left a tinge of green across my vision.

This one wasn’t sickly, and it gave me a pleasant sensation when I gazed at it. This was the mana of the life element.

There were other types of mana all around me, spouting from various regents.

Staff members with one-eyed masks walked around and all of them had pins on their clothing. Most were bronze, and I saw a silver pin striding out from Alexis’ room.

To my surprise they turned to me.

“Andross Silver?” His voice was neutral, and he gave me a cursory glance.

He didn’t know who I was.

I nodded.

“This way please.” He gestured towards a nearby set of doors. “I am to inform you of the rules for patient and hospital visits.”

The rest of our trip was spent travelling through a corridor as the staff member explained how I was to act around Alexis.

No magic.

No touching his body.

No touching the regents around his body.

In general, if something was magical or in use around him, that meant it was crucial to his survival.

We finally arrived in a room that linked to a single door that shimmered purple. The staff member walked straight into it without hesitation, and I followed him.

Gerial was right behind me and as I passed through the doorway, I saw a brief flash of the nexus. Then I was through the portal and in front of a bed.

The staff member took a respectful stance at the side of the room.

He wasn’t the only one here. Two guards shot up to attention as I entered the room, both assigned to keep an eye on Alexis.

They saluted me and I nodded.

The church guards had saved my life. They had also saved Alexis’ life. I took a step forward towards the bed and then stopped.

The figure that lay there breathing shallowly didn’t look anything like the boy I knew.

His skin was pale, and his bones jutted out from underneath it. His cheeks had sunk into his face and the wisps of hair he had left were sporadically placed in patches over his head.

“He got worse when the monster was killed.” Gerial’s voice came out from beside me.

He undid his invisibility, and I heard the staff member that had guided us gasp in surprise.

“They believe that he was being eaten from the inside by the foreign mana, even before the monster revealed itself.”

That fit with what I had seen. Alexis was collapsing at random times, and the amount of damage his body had already sustained when I had fought against him was high.

The surprise to me was that he wasn’t damaged externally.

I had seen pockmarks littering his stomach, which was covered by a blanket, but the other sections of skin were clear.

They weren’t healthy, but they weren’t cut up either.

“How long until he wakes up?” I saw a strand of his hair light up with embers. “And is he still copying Amanda?”

I didn’t want him to cancel the monster’s bloodline skill by accident and cause Amanda to be damaged in the same way the others had been.

“We don’t know.” Gerial shook his head. “Also, he has to be copying her. He didn’t unlock his bloodline naturally, but he also can’t hurt her while he’s in this state.”

“What if something happens to him?”

Gerial grew silent.

He had said that the others that people had connected to had also been injured. Amanda had been connected the longest, and with Alexis, who was the source.

“It’s possible he will always be connected to her. So long as he has his bloodline.” Gerial crossed his arms. “He’s left a lot of loose ends that he’ll have to answer to when he wakes up.”

I raised a hand towards him and then let it drop.

I’d been there when he had first given in to Oubliez’ offer. From what I remembered, it sounded like he had a choice.

That was the burning question in my mind.

Had he done this voluntarily or not?

The living corpse in front of me wouldn’t be able to give me an answer, but that was okay. In time the truth would be found out, one way or another. One thing was certain.

Everybody would want a piece of Alexis once he woke up.

We left the room and exited through the portal, Gerial turning invisible once again. He led me through different corridors, and I visited my classmates one at a time.

Unice, Cresp, Hutton.

Every single one of them was drifting in and out of consciousness. They spent more time asleep and unconscious than they did awake.

I didn’t get too close to them.

“What happens now?” I asked Gerial.

In my eyes there was a lot of cleanup to be done. A monster had gotten into the city and destroyed the lives of several influential people.

It could have done a lot more damage too, given time.

“The church isn’t going to spread information about your involvement.” Gerial gazed at me. “Unless you want the credit?”

I shook my head.

That was a messy situation that I wanted to avoid. People would start asking questions if they knew I had played a part in defeating a monster.

Those were the kind of questions that lead to identities being exposed. I wanted the church to be on my side and creating worldwide upheaval by displaying my status as a Marked one wasn’t something I wanted to do before I was fully prepared.

Neither was the attention.

Amanda was still in shock of what had happened to her family, but I didn’t know how she’d react to me once it ended.

That was just one person, and I couldn’t hold back my nerves. Let alone an entire civilisation.

“Can Amanda’s involvement be revealed?” An idea crossed my mind. “With her permission.”

Gerial raised an eyebrow at me.

“Do you think it’ll mitigate the heat against her when word eventually leaks?” Gerial nodded. “I’ll see what can be done, but it’ll be her choice if it happens.”

That was the most I could do.

Public opinion wasn’t something that I could sway. I had even less of an impact on the personal opinions of the affected households.

I wasn’t clear on how much they knew.

I’d seen a few of the families crowded around the beds of the people I knew. Unice’s parents were there, although I only checked on her from afar.

Did they know she had been stealing abilities from me and her cousin? That was something that I would find out later.

I didn’t know how I felt about Unice. She had chosen me to steal abilities from. If my mana hadn’t superseded the monster’s mana, there would be nothing I could do.

I could’ve been permanently injured, my manapool crippled. Or I would have been in one of these hospital beds. The other victims were here too, most only impacted to a lesser degree.

Gerial and I left them behind, walking through the hospital into a different wing of the church.

I was starting to realise just how big the churches were in this world. Not the building, but the organisation itself.

“This is the VIP suite.” Gerial gestured grandly as we walked up to a set of platinum doors. “Not as specialised as your room was, but it’s reserved for the finest of guests.”

A bright light radiated across the corridor as the door to the room opened grandly. I could hear the sound of harp music playing gently in the air, accompanied by the sound of trees rustling and a faint breeze.

Around me was the smell of honey, meat, and other delicious foods.

I was almost afraid to take a step inside and dirty the place with my presence.

There was a babbling brook on one wall, and the stream of water rushed past the centre of the room where a giant rock had been placed.

On top of that rock sat a mass of shining purple feathers, gazing down at us with gleaming eyes.

It was Gold.

“They really gave you the full VIP treatment.” I gazed around the room in amazement.

Gold squawked and flapped his wings. His chest preened and I smiled. He seemed happy, and that was more than I could ask for.

There had been too much misery today.

“Are you ready to leave this life of luxury behind?” I gestured at the surroundings. “I don’t think I can offer you better.”

Gold tittered and then flapped his wings, jumping off the rock and flying towards my arm.

I raised it to give him a space to land on and smiled as he hopped onto my shoulder. Then my nose crinkled as the scent of lavender tickled it.

“Did you get-” I stopped talking and stared at Gold.

His feathers were suspiciously shiny, and the scent was coming from them.

He looked at me with his head held high. He had gotten everything he wanted from the church; I could see that now.

Gerial laughed beside me, and I looked over to see him holding a hand to his stomach with a wide grin on his face.

“The next time I visit I expect at least half the treatment he got.” I spoke.

“I don’t think you can get half, have you seen that?” Gerial pointed at the furthest wall.

I looked over at it and my eyes widened. I’d missed it because I was looking at Gold when I entered.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

There was a giant mural of the puffer, radiating glory and shining with wax polish, displayed across the wall.

“He’s really sociable.” Gerial’s grin widened. “And his instructions were easy to follow.”

“Really?” I looked at Gold.

He chirped happily in response.

“No, he’s messing with you.” Gerial moved beside me. “They put that here the moment they found out about his existence. They’re trying to win brownie points with you.”

I looked around the room.

They certainly knew how to make an impression on me. Or at least on Gold.

We left behind the radiant room and my mood began to somber as Gerial led me to the exit. There was a portal room for me to use, and Gold and I walked through it after one last chat with Gerial.

Straight into the arms of my parents.

My mum almost body slammed me back into the hospital as she swept me up in her arms and dragged me inside the house.

My dad followed closely, and both of them spent the rest of the weekend glued to my side.

It was nice.

The rest of the week was spent resting. The academy wouldn’t hear a word of me going back to school, and neither would my parents.

I’d messaged William and he’d informed me that all the classes I had were disrupted, and none of the first-class students had to go into school for the week.

Most of them didn’t know why.

I wasn’t sure how much information would spread about the incident, but I knew the waves weren’t over yet.

I shook my head. That was a worry for a later date. There were emotions I was keeping down, and things I had been putting off that I needed to deal with.

Trauma wasn’t a one-day deal. I laid on my bed and sighed.

How should I relax?

Most of my time was spent training, but I could feel my body and mind protesting as I thought about doing more skill practice.

It wanted to rest.

I could visit my grandma. We’d had to cancel all of our get-togethers lately for different reasons. Or I could hang out with William for an event that wasn’t school-related.

My lips parted into a smile.

It would be nice to sit back and relax for a few days.