Polymath Redux

Chapter 11//Meeting Conditions

Alone, with the doctor…

For First Lieutenant Marianne of the Xagontetian military, this may have been the biggest moment of her life- bigger even than the times she had to fight on the front lines. Right here and now, while her young heart pounded away furiously at her chest, she shared this bittersweet moment with the man of her dreams under a pastel-coloured sunset. Yet, the doctor was kind and caring towards everyone equally, and perhaps because of that aloofness it was likely that he was none the wiser about her passionate yearning for him. However, that much was okay, because a friend of hers from the capital once told her, ‘the battle to love isn’t about mutual feelings, but the process of making feelings mutual!’ or something to that effect.

Some may call her foolish, and even she thought similarly at how absurd it was to feel such deep levels of emotions about a man she met less than a week ago. Nonetheless, she couldn’t help herself; love was a cruel emotion that turned logic and reason on its head. That said, even if it wasn’t love, the probability that another man as great as the doctor would appear in such close proximity was dubious. At her age it wasn’t weird to think about marriage and settling down. Just the thought made her imagination run wild; her waiting patiently at their sweet home for the doctor to come back from a hard day’s work. There she would greet him and offer the chance to relax as the two became one…

“Whoa!” she jumped up at her own embarrassing fantasies. Her face burnt redder than the setting sun across the horizon as she realized, “what was I just…”

“Is something wrong?” upon hearing her distress, the doctor came rushing to see what was up. His perfectly sculpted face wrought with concern about her. “I heard your scream just now.”

“A- ah… n- nothing doctor. I merely almost fell,” she brushed it off. “Sorry to cause you concern.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” he replied with that dreamy smile. In front of this man alone, no matter how professional she tried to look, it always seemed like she reverted to a little girl at heart. It was as though this man had been born from the collective fantasies of all women around the world. “Anyway, I’ve found a few ‘Quadella flowers’ here and there, but I still need a few more. Sorry, but please bear with me a little longer.”

“O- of course, please don’t worry about me. I’ll also help look for them.”

Marianne, having been single for the same length of time as she had been alive, was finally feeling the waves of youth; first love.

She loved everything about him. She loved the way he helped others. She loved his calming voice. She loved his smile and the way he showed concern. She loved his strong back and muscular frame even though he tried to hide it under his long white coat. She loved his soft black hair and piercing red eyes that seemed to see through everything about her. She loved his sturdy arms and slightly rugged fingers from mixing medicine all day.

She loved the man known as ‘Mordred’.

“Haahh…” she sighed. If there would ever be a problem, it was that he was too perfect; someone who she could never envision being able to stand on equal terms with. Was it an inevitability she fell in love with him? Or was there something else?

Where did it all start?

*

*

*

- Six days ago –

I had been just after the monster attacked the village. Lieutenant Marianne had been one of the first few soldiers to enter the fray and attempt slowing the monster down for the villagers to escape. Unfortunately, that had proven to be an exceedingly difficult task and with only a single swing of its mighty claws she was struck down. Her chain mail was torn to shreds like tissue paper and the wound to her body was most definitely fatal. Indeed, back then it wouldn’t have been odd if that had been the end of her life.

“Mngh…” when she had regained consciousness after suffering such a traumatic injury, she wondered briefly if she was in the afterlife. Fortunately, the interior of the building was too familiar for it to have been the other world.

“Big brother! This one’s waking up,” suddenly cried a loud, cheerful voice. She was a little girl; from appearance alone- cute- she looked to be no older than ten. As she called for another person- the big brother- a man arrived to examine her condition. He was a handsome young man with soft but mature features and a gentle expression. He wore a long white coat, kind of like a lab coat but looked much more expensive and of better quality.

The man helped her sit upright and brought over a warm beverage for her to drink and regain stamina. “Thank… you,” her voice didn’t quite come out properly, likely due to her near-death experience. Even though she was a trained solider, she still felt a little daunted by what had happened. Her hands were trembling just remembering how the claws of that monster tore through her body as though it were nothing; how close she was to death.

While she was shivering, the man grasped her hand tenderly. “It’s okay, everything is over now,” he told her in that warm, reassuring voice.

“Is… is that… so…” she let out a relieved sigh. Looking around, she noticed that she hadn’t been the only one in this room; there were at least a dozen other wounded soldiers all lying around on medical beds. “Are they also?”

“They’re all the soldiers wounded from the battle against the monster that attacked this village. I’ve treated them almost back to health and in just a few more days they should all be fit enough to return to duty.”

“That’s a… relief,” she nodded. That said, this person wasn’t someone she recognized from the village. “Who are… you?” it was a little annoying she had to talk in these broken sentences, but there was nothing she could do.

“Ah, of course, I haven’t properly introduced myself, have I? I am ‘Mordred’, a doctor.”

“A doctor… so young,” she unconsciously blurted. Of course, it wasn’t particularly meant as a compliment, in fact her words were steeped in more dubiousness than not. The fact was, most doctors and clerics she knew from the capital were old people, or at least middle-aged. They almost always had to be due to the sheer time and knowledge required gaining the adequate skills to be recognized as one. Thus, it was a doubtful claim for someone who appeared barely past twenty to say he was a doctor- a trainee at best.

Yet, when she looked down at her bandaged body and touched the place she was supposedly wounded, she didn’t feel any pain. In fact, aside from the aftereffects of trauma and exhausted stamina, it didn’t seem like there was even a scratch on her. She knew for certain nobody in the garrison had any such advanced medical skills to accomplish this, and there was no one in the village either. Meaning, this person was the only answer. ‘Is he really a doctor?’ she wondered to herself.

“Is something the matter?”

“Ah! N-no…” she instinctively reeled back, her face becoming hot. Handsome, young men was the bane for almost any woman.

“Then, you should get some rest. I must go check up on the other patients,” he told her and left.

The sight of this young doctor working so hard to help all the wounded soldiers was inspiring. She couldn’t help but let out a small smile at his hard-working figure. During the next few days she learnt more about this mysterious person: that he was the person who slew the fearful monster and even offered to help the village out for no extra cost aside from lending him a building to serve as a clinic. In his spare time he would treat any illnesses or injuries the villagers or the garrison suffered. He would play with the children and treat them like they were his own. In a very short time he had become a central existence to this place, and one that brought an overwhelmingly positive change.

He was like a ‘hero’.

‘If only there was a hero like him back then…’ she thought to herself. Marianne had grown up in a village similar to this one out in the frontier. There weren’t many resources or much protection, but they managed to get by day to day. Yet, one day a group of raiders had invaded the place. They pillaged, burnt all the buildings and fields, and killed anyone who tried to get in their way. Her own parents were unfortunately among the casualty when they offered even the slightest bit of resistance.

That incident was why she had become a soldier. She never wanted to see that tragedy repeated… but even still, she wondered what might have been if Mordred had existed back then. Perhaps it was because of what Mordred meant to her, how he was the exact portrayal of the very ideals she stood for, that he made his way into her heart.

*

*

*

A sudden, ominous thought came to the young First Lieutenant, ‘wait a second… with the doctor being how he is, there’s no way he isn’t extremely popular!’ it was a devastating realization. She was certain that some women in the village also had eyes for him, heck, not just the women, but some female children were probably aiming for him! “Could this be more dangerous than I thought?”

“I’m sorry? Did you see something dangerous?” asked the doctor, unsure of what she was talking about.

“Ah! It’s nothing! No wait, it isn’t nothing! Doctor! Do you… do you have someone you…” At that moment, her question had been cut off by the echoes of a loud explosive sound going off in the distance. “Huh? What was that?” they both turned their heads towards the direction of the noise.

“A double K.O, huh…” she thought she heard the doctor mumble under his breath.

“Did you say something, doctor?”

“Sorry, it’s nothing. We should go check it out, there might be people who need our help.” At such a Mordred-like response she let out a small giggle. Even though it sounded extremely dangerous, this person never thought about the risks to himself and only wondered about the well-being of others. ‘Really, maybe it was all inevitable…’ she nodded satisfactorily.

“All right, let’s go,” she said as she led the way- she was a soldier after all.

*

*

*

Petra laid upon the cold ground, most of her body refused to respond to the commands she gave it. She couldn’t feel anything below her neck, not even the pain. Pivoting her head slightly to the side, the sight of a bloodied monster with a hundred eyes laid dead on the floor. However, that wasn’t the only thing that was dead.

“Lian… Arin… Sasha… Edgar… respond…” she called out to her subordinates, but no reply came back. “Please… please… somebody respond…” Even though she had been trained harshly from a young age to be an Assassin, and that Assassins could never show emotions, a drop of tear trickled down her face. Maybe it was because she was about to cross the borders from life into death, but all the emotions she had pent up inside seemed to explode out of her. All in the form of ‘regret’. “Dammit… I’m sorry… Prince Bradley… I don’t think I’ll make it…”

As she laid there, she noticed the strange black bird flying overhead. “Ah,” then she realized why she had thought it was watching her earlier. When she was younger, her mother always used to tell her stories before going to bed. Stories about the ‘Goddess of War’ of many centuries ago. That Goddess would always use black birds as her eyes- scouts- to see the world. She was a being that stood far above mortals and was said to be good at everything. From magic to swordsmanship; from alchemy to necromancy; there was nothing she could not do.

In her final moments, she wondered how unfair it was. Why were only Gods immortal? Why were they given such great gifts from the beginning while the mortals had to suffer?

She reached out her broken hand towards the black bird. She wanted to grasp it. “Damm… it” her eyelids felt heavier. She was almost certain that once she closed them, there was no opening them back. Still, her exhaustion compelled her to her eternal sleep.

Her consciousness waned…

And everything went dark…