Accidental Healer

The head rolled away and Jordan’s body fell forward into the mud.

[Level up]

For what felt like an eternity the world stood still. The only thing that felt real to me was the hilt of my sword as it rested in my hand.

For some reason, it was impossible for me to pull my eyes away from the body. I had just gone from never killing a human being, to killing two.

Did I believe they both had it coming? Definitely. Jordan was a terrible human being. What if he was allowed to continue to gain more and more power? What type of atrocities would he have committed in this world? The vision had shown me the corruption one man could cause.

I had made the right choice. And I would make the same choice again.

“You OK?”

I glanced over to see Nick also looking down at what was left of Jordan.

“I don’t know.” The truth was I didn’t really feel ok. But it wasn’t because I had just killed a man. It was because deep down I knew this wouldn’t be the last time.

“If you saw what I saw, you would’ve taken your time.” Nick shivered.

“That bad?”

“Let’s talk about something else.”

That was fine by me. Someone sneezed and I was immediately reminded that there were still thousands of people waiting around after I had just killed their faction leader.

I was also reminded of the universal system notification. It still blinked in my status screen.

Our introductory phase was over. I knew something was coming. Everything before this felt too convenient. The raids were the dregs of their world, the dungeons were locked and the anomalies weren’t allowed to roam.

All of that was over.

I opened my territory map. As promised, the territory that was once owned by Jordan now showed that it was owned by faction LM.

But that wasn’t the only thing that was showing.

Just under the faction name was a number.

493.

According to the system this number would be a representation of a faction's strength. I tried to toggle onto the number to see if there would be some type of key that explained how the system had reached its score. No luck though.

There were three territories that the system indicated were owned by my faction. The first was where Jared and the rest of our faction still resided comprised of several territories we had conquered.

The second was the territory that I was standing in now that had belonged to Jordan.

And the third was not far off, only a couple of territories away, which I assumed is the territory where Cassie had come from.

Each indicated the same faction, and number– 493.

There was also a new map index titled regional powers. The box was empty aside from my faction Layton Mischief, it also showed 493 next to the name. I was still looking at the map when another system notification entered my screen.

[Warning]

[One of your territories is being challenged.]

[The territory being challenged was left unguarded and separate from your main territory and has been overrun.]

[Territory lost.]

In the space of a few seconds Cassie’s home territory had been annexed from faction LM. I glanced at where the territory had been on the map. Now, rather than showing my faction it was replaced by Faction - Clan Garadorm (1,657).

My eyes bulged. 1657!? More than three times the number of my own faction?

I had seen enough. Clearly this new change had no intention of waiting around for us to adjust. It was time to move.

Jordan’s body still bled in the street. I had considered allowing his body to be buried, he didn’t deserve that. I reached down and looted his corpse before I turned and launched onto the stage.

The other two bodies remained on the stage so I quickly looted them too, before I faced what was left of Jordan’s faction.

People milled about the air filled with hushed chatter that I hadn’t noticed before. Nick stood at the front row, he still held the hands of the two children I had seen before.

The other prisoners had wandered off and I could see some tear filled reunions as the victims found their loved ones.

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I looked out over the crowd of people and suddenly I was very aware of just how alone I was. Ellison and the two other guards–who I hadn’t publicly executed–had already cleared off sometime before.

Now it was just me.

Gradually the chatter that filled the air began to die as more and more eyes returned to the stage where I stood.

Anticipation hung in the air. I knew that everyone was waiting for me to say something but the only thing on my mind was, what the hell am I supposed to do with my hands?

Public speaking–definitely not a skill I was blessed with. That didn’t matter. The number 1657 popped into my mind. I clenched my fist, and spoke as loudly as I could.

“This is not how I expected things would go.” My voice felt weird and shaky as it left my mouth.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Come on now, how is this any worse than facing the Gremtaur? I can do this. I set my shoulders and open my eyes.

“I’m not sorry for what happened to Jordan. He was guilty in every sense of the word and I stand by my decision.” This time my voice was more firm.

“Jordan was not fit to be a faction leader.” I considered my words and how they might sound. I didn’t want them to think I was posturing.

“I want to make it clear for everyone here. I have no intention of forcing anyone to join my faction. Everyone is welcome. We have resources, capable fighters and everyone is treated equally. Anyone who wants is welcome to stay here. You can choose your own leader if the system allows it and I hope that we can…”

My voice trails off.

“Layton, you need to hurry.”

It was Mischief. My eyes shot up. From the stage I didn’t have a clear line of sight but I squinted and searched the treeline nearly a mile away. It was almost imperceptible but as I watched I saw it.

The tops of the trees shifted and shook. It reminded me of when the little chaos spawn scuttled through the long grass. Only those weren’t long grass. They were twenty foot tall pine trees.

Something was coming.

We had a few choices that I could see. The first was that Mischief, Myself and the rest of the fighters could stand and fight and try to protect as many as possible. It could work.

Since I owned the territory now, we could create portals and either bring our people in or send these people through.

The idea of bringing my fighters through didn’t seem right. For all knew my territory would need to be defended also. The answer seemed obvious to me. We needed to retreat and get people out of here.

“Everyone stay calm!” I shouted over the group. “Something’s coming, and fast.”

I didn’t want to cause a panic but I knew time was a precious commodity. One that we were quickly running out of. People needed to move.

“If you want to live, follow my lead. I’ll place portals to safety. We have defenses. We can protect you! The choice is yours!”

Immediately there were shouts and questions. I shouted above it all.

“Ellison, Nick!” In a moment they were on the stage. Nick held the children in his arms from before.

“I need as much money as you can give me so I can start placing portals. We'll need as many as we can get.”

They pulled out everything. Only 12,000 UBCs. Six portals. Not nearly enough.

I wasted no time pulling up the system interface to make the purchases. Six portals now sat in my inventory. I would need to place each in this territory and a partner that opened to our village.

I jumped down from the stage dirt crunching under my feet. Nick and Ellison at my heels. The streets were a mess, people pushed and shoved their way past as they scrambled for the safety of their homes. Their homes wouldn’t be enough.

“Ellison, I need you to go through this portal and let Jared know what’s happening here. Tell him that we need any help that he can afford.” I pulled the first portal from my inventory and placed it open faced away from the stage so people wouldn’t collide with it as they ran.

“Layton what’s coming?” His voice carried the urgency I felt.

“I don’t know, Mischief warned me but he hasn’t said anything since.” I only half listened as I used the map to place the first portal’s partner. Once I set it began to glow.

“OK. Ellison, anything that can be spared.” He took the children from Nick, nodded solemnly and stepped through.

Not a second after Ellison stepped through there was a loud blast that shook the earth and rattled the wooden stage.

I looked up in time to see wood splinters and dirt flying through the air. My heart sank. The trees where I first saw movement were in the opposite direction. Enemies were attacking from both sides.

Then the screams. I grabbed Nick by the arm.

“Help them! Get everyone you can to these portals!”

He gritted his teeth and then disappeared bow in hand.

***

The shouts didn’t stop. Each scream felt like a punch to the gut. As I worked I unleashed a wave of healing. I pushed it farther than I had ever tried before, my goal was to cover the whole town. It was impossible to tell how far it went.

My mana plummeted to nearly half.

One by one I placed the portals. I hadn't even had all six placed before people began to push and shove their way through. I couldn’t worry about what was happening on the other side—Jared would have to deal with it.

I was just about to place the last portal when I had the realization that if people were pushing to get through it might cause a traffic Jam if Jared sent our fighters through at the same time.

For the last portal I jumped onto the stage and placed it. Once it was done I hopped back down and grabbed the first person I saw.

“Do you remember Ellison–the deer man who was with me?” The man looked at me eyes wide. I shook him. “Do you?!”

The shaking seemed to wake him up a bit and he nodded. “Great, as soon as you get through, find him and tell him the last Portal is for reinforcements. Can you do that!?”

He looked at me and I was about to shake him again before he set his jaw and nodded. “Yes, yes, please let me through!”

I let the man go and prayed he could get the message across.

With the portals placed I left it for people to funnel through. I was just about to leave in the direction of the explosions when movement under the stage caught my eye.

Tom.

Huddled in a ball on the ground. My anger flared. The next second I had the man by the heels as I dragged him from under the stage. He didn’t even fight.

Once I had him out, I picked him up and planted him on his feet. His face was streaked with mud where dirt had mingled with snot and tears.

He attempted to cover his face in his hands but I swatted them back down and then slapped him in the face. It might’ve been a bit hard because he staggered and barely kept himself upright. I reached and helped him gather himself.

“Damn it Tom, I don’t have time for this!” I knew Tom to be one of the most capable fighters in Jordan’s faction. I had absolutely no patience for whatever demons he was facing right now.

“Look around! You’ve done your fair share to harass these people, now’s your chance! Stop blubbering and go do something about this!” I wave my hands to all the screaming and panic.

Like a child he looked around as if hearing it all for the first time. I’m not sure what was going through the man's head but without a word he wiped his tears and ran off pulling out his sword.

Tom had been the one who had confessed. He had given us all a chance. Sure, Mischief had nudged him along a bit, but now Tom had the chance to pave his own path to redemption.

“Layton. I can’t hold them back anymore, get ready.”

A massive crack, like a tree between ripped in two, echoed through the valley--mingling with the rest of the chaos.

That was my starter gun. It was time for me to join the fight.