Liz rushed through the hall, taking every turn she could through the endless maze of corridors. She didn’t know where she was going, and she didn’t care. It wasn’t even the Head Healer’s distrust which had hurt her. She just felt scammed.

“Stupid Void.”

She walked, on and on, until there were no more people around. It could have taken minutes or it could have taken hours, but eventually she reached an empty corner of the building. Now, cold stone surrounded her in every direction, and her concentration broke.

Clang.

Breaker bounced off an abandoned vending machine, its momentum handily stopped. She hadn’t even bothered to change its weight.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

She had given up so much, just to be unable to perform the task her Mark was named after? All the systems she had maintained over the past three days fell apart in a heartbeat, the barriers separating her emotions dissolving under a sea of salty tears.

“Mark of the Healer. What a goddamn joke.”

She should have never trusted the Void to give a fair deal. Who bargained with an all-powerful entity with questionable sentience over something so crucial?

She just wanted to help others out of the same situation she had faced for years. Was that really so much to ask?

She took a deep breath. She needed to get herself together. All she needed was a few minutes —

“Elizabeth?”

She straightened. There was no use letting a stranger see her throwing a tantrum.

Cameron Brown - Threat Level: D-

The man from before poked his head into the hallway. “Ah, I thought I’d find you here. Please, don’t take Leandra’s actions to heart. We’ve had people try to lie their way into getting a better position before, and when she’s under stress she can be a little… aggressive.”

He took a small step towards her, and she gave a slight nod. The man was powerfully built, perhaps a few years younger than Leandra and corded with lean muscle.

She squinted at him, calming herself. “Sorry, but have we met?”

He laughed. “No, I don’t think we’ve ever met. But I do know you. Even if I weren’t convinced that you were telling the truth, the fact that you’re standing on your own two legs is pretty definitive evidence.”

A runner? Or maybe just someone who had seen the news that day.

She sighed. “It’s fine. I don’t think I’m suited to the position anyways.”

“But you really healed yourself?”

“I did.” She manifested a spark of green energy. “As soon as I got the Mark, I healed myself. But I… suspect it doesn’t work on others.”

Cameron raised his eyebrows, and he examined the essence as it dispersed into the air. “Oh? Does it have to do with your Mark?”

She clenched her jaw. “The Void scammed me. My physical Affinities were reduced by two-thirds, and I don’t even have a Spiritual Regeneration stat anymore, but apparently because I couldn’t use my talent anymore I get all these chains on my Mark.”

“You… just don’t have a Spiritual Regeneration stat at all?”

“Yep. Instead, I have a big ‘N/A’ there, and I get healing by converting metabolic energy.”

“That’s incredibly interesting.” The man sat down against the wall, and she joined him. “Tell me more?”

She explained to him the methods she’d developed, from her green and blue auras to the self-consuming technique. She explained her failed attempt to drain the beetle’s energy, and how she had traversed the last stretch to Ashley using her improved blue aura.

In the back of her mind, she recongized that she was telling all her strengths and weaknesses to a near-stranger, but by that point she was too frustrated to care. She needed to rant, and he was a D ranked threat — if he wanted to, she was sure he’d be able to kill her without any problems.

A few minutes later, she huffed. “If I had been able to heal other people, I would have been happy despite the restriction. But… I gave up so much, and I can’t even fucking heal.”

Cameron just nodded, stroking his short beard in thought. “You know, one of the biggest things I’ve learned about the Void in my time here is that it sees further than any of us, and that it will never cheat you out of an opportunity.”

She nodded. That was about what A had said too, but apparently that applied to everyone but her.

“Now, I’m not one of those evangelists who believe that the Void is the greatest manifestation of good in the world, but it’s predictable in its actions. For a cost that high, the Void must have seen incredible potential in your future. Maybe you just haven’t found it yet.”

She gave him a look, and he laughed. “I sound like one of those motivational speakers, don’t I? Here — how about a better example. I regretted getting my own Mark, too. The cost was so high, and it just didn’t seem to work for me no matter how hard I tried. Then, I realized that I wasn’t using the Mark for what it was intended, and my threat level went from E to D-minus. Now, you’ve got a much more complex system than I do, but I think the same thing should apply.”

She fiddled with a strap on her backpack, pondering the man’s words. “I… I suppose that makes sense. But how am I supposed to find what this thing is actually good at?”

He opened his mouth, but she cut him off, suspicion tinging her voice. “Wait. Before that — where do you know me from, and why the hell are you helping me? Shouldn’t you be making a speech or something?”

Yeah, he seemed nice and all, but unless she was severly underestimating this city’s power level, a D ranked warrior was worth quite a bit. The fact that he was taking this long to talk to her over something that he could have easily pronounced justified was just plain weird.

Plus, she still couldn’t shake the fact that she could have sworn she knew him from somewhere.

“Hah. I guess I do look a bit weird, talking to you while Leandra is preparing to induct dozens of healers into her part of the organization.” Cameron grinned, absentmindedly flipping a coin in the air.

”Well, I’m really more of a hands-off guy myself. I’ve got people to do all the management stuff — all I do is train our guards and kill shit. As for how I know you, I wasn’t lying when I said I never met you. However, I’d be a horrible brother if I didn’t recognize my sister’s running protegee.”

Her eyes widened, and the familiarity clicked. “You — you’re Coach Brown’s brother?”

“Guilty as charged. Four years’ worth of secondhand information seems to be inadequate to fully know you, though I guess a few years’ growth combined with a debilitating injury and worldwide apocalypse would change anyone.”

“I… I’m sorry for your loss.”

Liz flushed with color, averting her gaze as she brought up the subject. As bad as the bombing had hit her, it had instantly killed a handful of people who were at the center of the blast. She had only known the Lisa Brown for a handful of years, but after learning of her parents’ demise, woman had pretty much filled the role of mother for her.

“Oh, there’s no need. She had already achieved everything that she wanted in life, and she was always talking about how she’d rather go out in a bang than slowly in some retirement home in a couple dozen years. I can’t say that it still doesn’t hurt sometimes, but she would have wanted me to focus on people who can still be helped.”

She swallowed. “That’s good to know. I’m sure she would have done alright in this hellscape, too. She was an adventurous woman.”

Cameron laughed, slapping her on the back. “Oh, you can say that again. If I managed to make D-minus by now, you can bet she’d have somehow made it up to C in half the time. But back to your Mark.”

“Right.”

“Honestly, I have no idea. It took me a good few weeks of experimentation, and even then it only really hit me when it hit me. However, what I do know is that constant practice will hone any skill. And just because you can’t join the infirmary doesn’t mean you can’t hone your skills here. You could be an unaffiliated hunter, which would mean you’d have to pay a tax to Ashley for use of the Shop but could otherwise just live outside the walls as you want. A lot of the people here do that, and they make it along fairly well.”

“However…” He winked at her. “You could also join the guard part-time and get my personal training. I’m sure my sister imparted all the knowledge of physical training you’ll ever need into you, but training a healer for combat isn’t something I’m unfamiliar with. In fact, I think our marks line up in quite a lot of ways.”

“What is your Mark?” she questioned.

“Hmm… consider it incentive to come join the guard. I’ll tell you in our first training session.”

“What?” She glared at him. “Seriously?”

His grin only widened. “Why, of course. Just trust me — it’ll be worth your time.”

“Fine. Why don’t we start right now, then? I’m ready to go.” She stood up, cracking her knuckles.

The playfulness left Cameron’s eyes, and he shook his head. “No, this is actually serious. You need rest before I’m letting you go anywhere near a training session.”

“What? But I feel totally fine!”

He sighed. “I wasn’t sure of it before, but talking to you only confirmed it for me. Liz, you’ve pretty much run an entire marathon today while malnourished and slightly dehydrated, not to mention the constant fighting you’ve been thought these past three days. I know that Lisa said you were determined, but that’s something that not even many of our elite troops could do.”

“But I have healing to help me —”

He gently grabbed her wrist, putting it up to her face. “And look what that technique has been doing to you.”

“What? It’s just…” Her eyes widened. A faint blue glow was emerging from her skin, dispersing into the air before it could build to anything noticeable. She had spent the vast majority of her healing energy in Leandra’s office, which meant that…”

“You’re slowly eating yourself from the inside out just to maintain this state. Let it go for a second, and see how you feel.”

She did, and a wave of fatigue the likes of which she had never felt slammed itself into her. A thousand tiny aches bloomed from her joints, and her eyelids drooped, demanding sleep that very instant.

“I — oh. Ugh…”

“Right. You need food, water, and sleep, as soon as possible. Liz, I know that those healing powers might make you feel like you have no limits, but that’s just the Void talking. Just like before, you need to be wary of pushing yourself too hard, or else you’re going to injure yourself. Even moreso, really, because you can’t know where those limits are.”

“You’re… you’re right.” She had been vigilant about this the entirety of her running career, but as soon as she had gotten her hands on her Mark, she had completely ignored it in favor of that adrenaline rush that constant advancement gave.

He patted her on the back, examining something that must have appeared only in his vision. “I know that your body’s metabolism is incredibly accelerated, so I’m only going to demand a day of rest from you. However, you’ve got to recover properly, alright? Sleep, eat, and stretch everything. Nothing more vigorous than walking until you feel totally recovered.”

She nodded.

“Alright. I’ll lead you to the closest open living space and bring you some food from the Shop. Then, I’m going to go run an errand. I believe that there’s someone looking for you…”