Accidental Healer

Cassie stays limp, so I hoist her into a bridal carry and peer into the street, checking if it’s empty. Once I’m sure it’s clear, I sprint home, shove open the door, and slam it shut behind me.

“Well hello again Layton. Whatcha got there? An unconscious woman?”

Looking down at the woman in my arms I slowly turn and face the room.

“Oh yeah. That’s a woman if I ever saw one.” Nick takes his feet down from off the coffee table.

"Layton, I admit I’m unfamiliar with human customs... but is there a reason you’ve brought us an unconscious woman?" Ellison remains seated calmly in his plastic covered recliner.

Not sure what else to do, I roll with it—lifting her up. “I bring you... Cassie.”

“Cassie from this morning? Jordans Cassie?” Nick leans forward.

“Cassie from this morning, but definitely not Jordans Cassie.” I’m still holding her limp body over my head.

“Layton. Why is she unconscious, and also why do you smell disgusting?” He covers his nose.

“Cassie from this morning puked on my feet and passed out in a drunken stupor.”

Nick stands. “Okay, okay—we get it. Put the woman down, man.” He points to the floral couch where he was lounging.

I take the hint and lay Cassie down softly on the couch.

“So is there a teleporter down the hallway there or what? I could’ve sworn I saw you walk over there?” He points down the hallway.

“That is where I went. Then I entered the murder room, it was disgusting, so I was sticking my head out the window…and one thing led to another…” I shrugged.

"Nope, nope. One thing does NOT lead to another. You don’t just stick your head out a window and—bam!—girl pukes on you and passes out."

"Okay, well, not at the exact same time. First, I thought she was watching me, so I chased her into an alley. Then she puked on me. But she told me her name first. And also, she slapped me."

"...Man, you need to start with that part." Then he narrows his eyes. "Actually, no. There’s no good way to start that story."

Nick facepalms speaking through his hands. “Bro, you know I love you… but do you do anything normal?”

Ellison tilts his head. “Murder room?”

I spent the next minute walking Nick and Ellison through the details of exactly what happened before Cassie collapsed. We agreed the murder room was weird but probably just an odd oversight. Now? The three of us just stood watching Cassie unconscious on the couch.

“So what should we do?” Nick watched her, hands in pockets.

“It might not hurt to talk with her? I mean maybe you could try using your healing magic for a change?”

Was that snark I detected from Ellison? Were we a bad influence? He had a point though. Maybe healing magic might do something? I used a healing spell. Cassie’s body shimmered with a light golden yellow glow.

We waited on baited breath.

Cassie stirs, stretching her arms high before kicking her legs out. Her foot smacks the armrest. A small frown flickers across her face, her eyes still closed. Her fingers run over the couch’s edge above her head—slowly, confusion settling in.

Then her eyes open.

They grow. Wider. Wider.

She opens her mouth, gearing up for a whopper of a scream when my hands shoot up in surrender.

“Wait! Hold on!” I can only imagine what is going through her head right now waking up in a random house in front of three strangers.

“You passed out in the alley, I just brought you here to rest. Remember me? I’m the guy you slapped earlier.” I frame my face with my hands.

She’s not convinced.

“Truly young lady, we mean no harm. We were actually hoping you might be able to help us.” Cassie tilts her head at Ellison.

If her eyes were wide before, now they’re at full-on cartoon levels.

I look to Ellison then back at Cassie. Panicked. This is not going well.

“Cassie earlier in the alley you were telling me about Jordan? We met with him earlier and would love to hear your take on the guy.” I’m basically pleading.

Incredibly, this line seems to work. Her eyes go from bugging to narrow suspicion. Personally I consider this an upgrade. At least she doesn’t look about to scream anymore.

“Let me guess. Tom found you the second you stepped into town, didn’t he?”

“Well not RIGHT when we got here.” I glare at Nick.

“Pretty much though. Yes. But he didn’t seem unfriendly about it. Maybe a bit leery of my friend Ellison here.” I shove a thumb toward Ellison.

“Yeah, I bet they didn’t. And I bet Jordan didn’t even blink.” Cassie sits up, still guarded—but a huge improvement.

“He was very cordial.” Ellison frowns. “I found it pleasant, but you seem to think he had ulterior motives?”

“Jordan always has ulterior motives.”

I glance at Ellison. It doesn’t take a genius to know we are missing something here. Cassie seems to really hate Jordan. When I met Jordan he did feel polished and put together but that is hardly a reason to hate someone.

Cassie sees the glance.

She leans forward and mumbles. “Oh don’t worry I fell under the same spell. Can’t really blame you.”

“Cassie. It’s obvious you have some negative feelings toward Jordan.” I crouch so I can speak face to face. “Are you willing to tell us why? We’re from a neighboring faction and hope to work together. I’d love to know more about who we are partnering with.”

She glances up at me. Really seeing me for maybe the first time.

“You're just a kid. What do you call your faction? The lost boys?” I chuckle. Honestly that name would be awesome if it wasn’t gender exclusive.

“I wish. Unfortunately it’s not quite so cool. Our faction is Layton Mischief after me and my friend, the other founder.”

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“Your friend's name is Mischief? You're kidding.”

“Oh no, he’s not kidding and if you met his friend you would see that the name totally fits.” Nick scoffs.

Cassie looks like she wants to ask more but lets it drop. Instead she just seems tired, defeated. Her shoulders slump, her eyes are shrouded in dark circles, hair is a mess and her body smells of day old body odor.

“Cassie. We could really use your help.” I lock eyes with her, and she holds it for a second before shifting away and staring at the floor.

"Jared isn’t the man he pretends to be." Her fingers graze a picture frame on the coffee table. Her voice drops, just above a whisper.

"He scares me."

I move a little closer. “Why does he scare you Cassie?”

She reminds me of a dog who had been abused. My heart aches, but I have to know her story.

“Cassie. You can tell I am not human right?” She looks toward Ellison.

“Obviously.” We all chuckle just a bit.

“But what you don’t know–is that when I came to this world I was here to raid it.” That caught her attention and she sat up a bit straighter.

“Me and my people came to this world with nothing.” He scratched his antlers. “Frankly we expected to die in the raid.”

“Through an act of God, we survived. When I first met Layton I thought for certain our time on this earth was at an end.” He shook his head at the memory.

“Instead? This young man chose instead of fighting to start with reasoning. Can you imagine? For all he knew we were violent bloodthirsty raiders”

Cassie leaned in–captivated by Ellison. Eyes glued to my friend.

“He listened to my story, not just a stranger's story but an Aliens story. He listened and once he listened he embraced us.”

“I have to admit at first I had my doubts.” He chuckled and looked at me. “But since that day he has proven time and time again that he is not only worthy of my trust but also a true friend.”

Cassie kept watching Ellison and then she looked back at me. My eyes burned. Yeah…letting Ellison into the faction was among the things I did right.

“You should probably get comfortable. This isn’t a short story.”

Ellison you glorious Deer man, I knew it was the right thing to bring you along.

-

In rapt silence Ellison sat in his arm chair while Nick and I sat on the floor for the next hour while Cassie revealed all that she had been through.

She started with the disappearances in her late husband's faction. Describing in detail the fear and frustration her and Andrew went through trying to find answers. She spoke of the relief she felt when Jordan had appeared and his desire to work together to resolve the problem. He had gained her trust but Andrew wasn’t sold yet.

And then he disappeared also. We all did our best to offer our condolences.

But with Andrew gone–the mantle of Faction leader fell to Cassie. She had felt alone and scared. Jordan seemed strong, and capable.

She wanted her people to be safe, she knew it couldn’t be her. So in a moment of weakness she succeeded her new faction to Jordan.

At first everything went well. Cassie hardly paid attention though, she spent most of the next days in her home drinking into a stupor and crying. After a few days the disappearances stopped. Jordan wasn’t satisfied. The disappearances had stopped, but he warned that the threat wasn’t over. “We need to be together,” he said. “It’s the only way to keep you safe.”

He made it sound obvious. Anyone who questioned him sounded foolish.

So they moved.

So people packed what they could into dimensional storages and made the move. Jordan’s faction was accommodating enough. They built new shelters and made space.

To ease the transition and in an act of consolidarity Jordan appointed Tyler as his new steward. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Until it started getting strange.

Jordan began hand choosing elites from the faction to join his retinue he referred to as his militia. A hand picked core of fighters. Together his militia spent their days seeking out challenges and facing dungeons.

People were grateful for the protection. At least at first. Then it got weird.

Jordan became controlling. He disguised it carefully, telling people they shouldn’t have to face the horrors of the dungeons. They should leave it to the militia, there was no need for civilians to put their lives at risk. For a while it worked. Then some of the faction not in the militia overcame their fears and wanted to participate in the fights.

Jordan wasn’t having it. He always had his reasons. No it’s not safe. We didn’t have the resources, there was always something. But as the level gaps grew he didn’t even bother anymore. He posted guards at the dungeon entrances sending any away that tried to sneak in. Little by little the protection Jordan promised started to transform into control.

Experience was currency, experience was power. And Jordan had collected it all for his faithful.

With his power firmly established that’s when the disappearances started up again. Just like before people would vanish in the night.

Jordan forced Cassie to attend occasional meetings, especially ones where her faction members were acting up. Outside of that she could always be found curled up in her shelter drinking herself stupid. It was in this state that Tyler had found her and waited patiently for her to sober up.

He had concerns that he wanted her to hear. He explained how Jordan would hold secret meetings with his closest militia members. How he had listened in and heard them speaking about what would happen if people decided to defect. Jordan had said all the better, let them see how well they would fair without him. The disappearances would only get worse.

Tyler was starting to get suspicious, so in a moment of panic he secretly created an objective requesting aid. He left it up as long as he possibly could before Jordan might notice, before he lost his nerve and took it down.

Two days later. Dead. According to the official report Tyler was killed in a dungeon raid. They didn’t even recover the body.

Then more patrols started. A curfew was enforced and Jordan made an official statement that anyone caught attempting a dungeon without permission would be punished. It was for their own good. Crafters were watched closely, paid if Jordan found their skills valuable. If not? There was no support.

Cassie wasn’t sure if Jordan was the reason for the disappearances but he couldn’t stop them. Worse? He didn’t even seem to care. She painted a dangerous picture of control and manipulation. If Cassie was to be believed Jordan was essentially growing into a dictator.

She had painted a vivid picture that stood in stark contrast to the Jordan I had met with. Combine that with the state that we found Cassie in?

She is literally the town drunk. Not that I could blame her. Losing your partner in such a way—I’m not sure I would’ve handled it much better. It didn’t change the fact that even though I liked Cassie–I was not ready to take her word as gospel just yet.

There were some fairly startling moments in the story though. Disappearances, untimely deaths, control over dungeons. I might not be ready to go full bore Jordan hater, but it was without a doubt cause for some serious investigation.

Cassie finished her oration, the room was still like peeking through the window illuminating specks of dust floating peacefully in silence.

“So.” I lean forward resting an arm on my raised knee. “Who does Jordan think is responsible for the disappearances?”

Cassie shook her head. “It’s always changing. One day it's a monster prowling the streets, the next it’s a traitor of our own faction.”

“I don’t think he has any clue. So he just uses whatever fits the story he is trying to sell that day.”

It wasn’t a monster. That much I was sure of. But I couldn’t shake the thought of something like Mischief—a predator smart enough to stay hidden.

Except that didn’t make sense. If something was hunting in the night, why hadn’t it left any signs? Why hadn’t anyone seen it?

The more I considered it the less it made sense.

“What do you two think?”

“Well we can pretty much rule out being a monster. We haven’t seen a single one outside a dungeon since the world changed.”

Nick was stating my thoughts exactly. “And the anomalies are still sealed shut. If I had to guess, I'd lean towards it being a human.”

“I have to agree with Nick here. A human seems like the most obvious culperite. But that doesn’t mean they have to be from this faction.”

Ellison made a great point. I was on my own during the induction afterall. Not only that but there would be no faction if the person didn’t complete all the dungeons.

“Yeah…” It still didn’t feel quite right. “Maybe.”

We needed more info. We had time. I wanted to get more information on Jordan. A raid would be a perfect way to learn what type of man Jordan is. In the meantime, I would need to find my friend.

“Cassie, you’ve given us a lot to think about.”

She folded her arms. “Oh yeah? A lot to think about? That’s it?”

She wanted more. Of course she would. But what was I going to do? Run to Jordan's house throwing accusations without any concrete evidence.

“Did Jordan mention all the disappearances when you met this morning?” She huffed. “No. Of course he didn’t. He wants to control how you gain information. That’s all he ever wants, control.”

She flings out her arms. “Honestly! Even with the disappearances, he finds a way to twist it all in his favor. Making people more reliant on him.” She shot up and began pacing.

I watched her fuming. Is this how people looked at me? Part of me wanted to give in. Believe everything and tell Jordan he needed to get right. But I knew I couldn’t.

“I promise, we are going to get to the bottom of this.” I push myself up to my feet. “There is obviously something going on here.”

“In the meantime. Do you feel safe? You are welcome to stay here with us. I promise you nothing will hurt you if you are with us.”

“We just need a little time. Is that fair?”

She was still fuming but it was cooling to a simmer. She looked around the house.

“Do you care if I drink?”

“I don’t care, what about you guys? You care?” Nick and Ellison shook their heads. “Alright. It’s settled then. You will stick with us from now on.”

Today we explored. Tonight Mischief is supposed to find me. A plan was forming and I had a lot to tell him.