Zari told me to meet her at the rook headquarters once I was ready, and sent Vera back in to officially “discharge” me.

As soon as the doctor entered the room again, I apologised profusely, offering to pay for the glass I had broken and asking if there was anything else I could do to make up for it. I really did feel awful.

Mentally, I was not alright in the slightest. Having lost my arm was something I still couldn’t even fully process, and I found myself getting lightheaded whenever I looked at the injury or even thought about it too much.

I tried to power through though, and thanked the doctor for taking such good care of me. She gave me a brief physical check to make sure I could walk alright, then changed the bandages on my stump for me. I watched carefully, knowing it was something I would have to do myself with my other arm from now on.

Before she let me go, I told the Vera about the constant shooting pain coming from where my arm should have been.

“Phantom pain. Can be hell, so I hear.” She grimaced and offered me a small pouch stuffed with strange herbs. “These are painkillers, be careful with them. Potent enough to kill if you overdo it.”

“How long do you think it will last?” I asked, not too keen on the idea of becoming reliant on drugs of any kind.

“Hard to say. Heard of cases where it can last for years. One of those things that is different for everyone supposedly.” The doctor grimaced.

It didn’t matter really, without my arm I wouldn’t be living much longer anyway. For now as long as it would last me up until I could save Kate, that was enough.

“What do I owe you?”

The woman just shook her head in response, a sad smile on her face.

“These are on me. After what you did for the town, I wish I could do more.”

“I appreciate it, you ever need a job doing…” I trailed off, having switched to my automatic response. “Sorry, reckon my days as a gunslinger are pretty much over now.”

“I suppose so, might be time for you to leave the Scorch, if ya have enough saved up that is.” Vera nodded solemnly.

“Would if I could, but not really an option for me.” I sighed.

Vera didn’t respond right away, but she gave me a long appraising look. I wasn’t sure if I should just leave or not, as I was starting to feel pretty uncomfortable and embarrassed at my slip.

“Look, I don’t claim to understand why you do what you do out here Cyrus.” Vera finally broke the silence, meeting my eyes with her own piercing gaze. “We’re all in the Scorch for our own reasons. I’m just saying, whatever you’re running from has gotta be better than dying in a ditch out here, right?”

“Not necessarily doc. At least the creatures out here would kill me quick.” I winced at the flood of memories that came flooding back to me just by mentioning the people that had driven me out here.

Bodies of people I loved, ripped in half and mutilated beyond recognition. My home, engulfed in a pillar of flame. My mother…

I quickly shook my head and tried to banish those thoughts to the back of my mind. Thinking about them now would only cause me to spiral. I was already dealing with enough at the moment, and didn’t need to dredge up the past on top of everything else.

Vera grimaced at my words, and I sighed once again. She had done her best to help me, saved my life by amputating my arm and was clearly just trying to help my outlook on the future. I didn’t need to be such an ass.

“I’m sorry doc, if there was anywhere else I could go, I really would. I’ve just made my peace a long time ago that this is it for me. I’ll die out here someday, and now that day will probably come a lot sooner.”

“Come now, you’re far too young to be so dramatic.” Vera rolled her eyes.

“Excuse me?” I was genuinely thrown off by that response.

“You think losing an arm is a death sentence these days? Have you seen the kind of wonders magic can do for you?” Vera let out a soft chuckle, taking a seat and rummaging through a pouch at her side, retrieving a small notebook. “If you’d like, I can give you the names of at least five healers who could patch you up just fine.”

“I… I don’t think you’re listening to me.” I was genuinely stunned by the sudden shift in tone the doctor had. “I can’t go outside the Scorch.”

“What? There are people waiting at every single border to catch you as soon as you take a step off the starsand?”

“No, but-”

“Then just hire some mage to teleport you wherever you need to go. You must have enough money saved up for that, and some pretty top quality treatment too right?”

Everything the doctor said was true. If I really wanted to, I probably could leave the Scorch safely, for a short time at least. Maybe I could get my arm fixed and return.

It would all depend on how quickly I could get whatever healing I needed. If it was just reattaching the arm, maybe it wouldn’t take so long. I didn’t like the idea of the magical alternatives however.

With how the Scorch treated magic, having a magical prosthetic of some kind could end badly for me. I decided to ask Vera while I had the chance.

“Is my arm…” I struggled to find the right word. “… intact?”

“Sadly not.” Vera shook her head. “The venom all but destroyed it, what was left wasn’t pretty. We buried it near where you fell.”

“I see, then how long would it take to get a decent prosthetic made?”

“With magic you’d probably be looking at a few days, no longer than a week.” Vera allowed a wry grin to slip onto her face, perhaps seeing that her attempts to give me hope had succeeded. “Depends on the specific healer, and what type of prosthetic you’d want.”

“There are different types?”

“Sure. Something I hear researchers have been experimenting with for years now.” Vera seemed somewhat enthusiastic at the subject. “You could just have someone clone a replacement using the domain of healing or creation, but why not infuse it with some extra powers?”

“Like what?” I couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at the idea, and how eager Vera seemed to be getting.

“Well, how would you like to shoot fireballs out of your palm? Maybe control water with a wave of the hand, or even lift and throw objects from afar?”

“Wait, anyone can get a prosthetic like that?”

“With enough coin, you have a lot of options.” Vera nodded. “They’re quite popular, especially with those who weren’t born with a Soulgate, as

you might imagine.”

“That seems… incredibly dangerous.”

“Oh it is, that’s part of why they’re so expensive I imagine. If you have the money however, you can get nearly any type of domain infused into the arm.”

“Right…”

I couldn’t deny that the idea sounded appealing. Despite my bad experiences with magic and mages, if I could claim some of that power for myself…

No, there was no point getting my hopes up. I lived in the Scorch after all, the land where magic was unreliable at best, explosive at worst.

“Magical prosthetics don’t work out here, do they?” I asked Vera to confirm my suspicions.

“They don’t, if you got one, you’d have to stay out of the Scorch for good.”

“Not an option for me then.” I sighed.

“You’d want to come back? If you can afford a prosthetic surely you have enough to flee or pay back whoever is chasing you.”

I took a second to reply, thinking over just how much I should tell Vera. She was a stranger, but she had saved my life and seemed to mean well.

She was also a professional like myself, which helped me feel more comfortable sharing at least part of the truth with her.

“I could probably safely leave here, but the people after me are powerful mages, so I couldn’t be gone too long without them tracking me down.”

“That does complicate things a tad, smart of you though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Scorch is about the only place in the world where tracking magic wouldn’t work, nothing stopping them sending bounty hunters after you though.”

“Ah, right. It wasn’t my plan really, but has worked out well enough for me so far.” I sighed, hoping to get off this topic soon. “Bounty hunters I can fight or run from. People who can teleport and rip you apart without touching you? Not so much.”

“Makes sense.” Vera nodded, thankfully moving on from the topic. “Magical replacement wouldn’t do you much good then. Hear they’ve been testing some alternatives that aren’t too mana intensive, but from the sound of it they’re a long way off from making something effective.”

“Quartz…” I sighed.

Risking my life on a trip out of the Scorch for a new arm wasn’t worth it if I couldn’t get guaranteed results. I had hoped that maybe a magical prosthetic could function at least as a normal arm without any of the additional magical properties like shooting fireballs.

All I really needed was something to let me use my gun or pick effectively, but even magic had its limitations when it came to the Scorch.

“Well, thanks anyway doc, guess I’ll-”

“There is one other option, but I can’t say it’s a good one.” Vera cut me off, her tone no longer enthusiastic, but dead serious.

“Haven't got much to lose, what is it?”

“It’s almost as expensive as a magical prosthetic, and from what I hear a nightmare to learn how to use.” Vera seemed almost hesitant to continue, but did after a pause. “A mechanical arm may be the best fit for you.”

“Mechanical? Like, metal with moving parts?”

“Yes, the practice has mostly been abandoned thanks to magical prosthetics being more favourable, but a mechanical arm could have some advantages for you out here.”

“Like what?”

“There are plenty of combat focused attachments and modifications you could go for with a mechanical arm. Built-in blades and even firearms. Depending on the material you use would be a lot stronger and sturdier than a magical prosthetic too.”

That sounded like it would be a shockingly good fit for me. Something that could possible help me recover my fighting ability and then some.

“Then what’s the downside?”

“They’re incredibly hard and painful to learn to use. Much more so than any magical prosthetic. They have to connect it to your nervous system, and the physical therapy just to use it as a normal arm used to take people years, let alone using it as a weapon.”

“Right…” I thought long and hard with that information.

From what Vera had told me, I essentially had three options. The first was to just stay in the Scorch and try to live with my arm as it was. I would be unable to use my repeater effectively anymore, but maybe I could find some other way to fight, or even a new line of work.

Most people and guilds out here wouldn’t hire someone with only one arm, but I had money saved up and a few connections through Barnabus.

It wouldn’t be pleasant but there would likely be some manual labor I could still perform, and I had enough saved up to keep myself fed for a while at least.

Maybe I could even pay a visit to the gemsmith who had created my repeater for me in the first place. I hadn’t seen the guy in years, but I heard he was doing pretty well for himself. I could possibly commission him to create a weapon I could use one handed, but despite the circumstances replacing my repeater was something I wanted to avoid if possible.

It was more than just a tool to me. It was like an old friend. It had saved my life, and the idea of just abandoning it felt wrong. Even if I did get a replacement, I decided I would still hold onto the weapon and keep looking after it.

My second option was to leave the Scorch and get myself a magical prosthetic. Vera had a list of people she seemed willing to share, so I could probably make my way into one of the nations bordering the Scorch and pay a mage to teleport me to them.

From there the second option heavily fell apart though. I could theoretically get a new arm with some fancy magical powers, but it would only be a matter of time before I was tracked down by some very powerful individuals I didn’t stand a chance against on my own. There was nowhere I could run that they couldn’t find me.

I had to write off option two for the time being. Maybe one day, I would be able to leave and face them, but for now the Scorch had to remain my home.

Option three was to temporarily leave the crystal wasteland and see if I could get a mechanical replacement to return with. This option was risky, but if I could handle the pain and difficulty it could be a great boon to me.

I figured the pain was something I could probably handle well enough. I’d been injured plenty of times out here and got by. The main concern was the physical therapy that Vera had mentioned.

I wouldn’t be able to take it easy and go through said therapy to learn to use the arm outside of the Scorch. I’d have to head straight back as soon as it was attached, and have it be a trial by fire.

It wasn’t ideal, but I had been through a similar situation before. I had learned to use my repeater and make a living with very little guidance.

“Mechanical arm sounds like the best option for me, are there people out here who would be able to help me if something went wrong with it though?” I decided to share part of my thought process aloud with Vera.

“Not many, but a few. I could make some basic repairs, but if the thing ever got wrecked you’d be Quartz out of luck.”

“I can handle that. Looked after my repeater just fine all these years. Figures that I would be the one to break before it.” Vera and I both laughed at this.

“If that’s what you’re set on, I’ll give you a few names. Haven’t been out of the Scorch in a while but they should still be good.”

“Thank you. You’re sure these kind of prosthetics will work out here though, right?” I watched as Vera scribbled down some information on a page of her notebook, then tore out the page and handed it to me. “Just don’t want to risk the trip if it’s not a sure thing.”

“As sure as can be. Has worked for me all these years.” Vera grinned once again, pulling up one of her trouser legs to reveal her right leg.

Or rather, the metallic prosthetic she wore in place of a leg. I went wide-eyed and carefully leaned down for a closer look.

It was a true work of art unlike any I had ever seen, interlocking metal plates protecting what must have been highly intricate mechanisms underneath. As I watched, she raised the leg up and moved it around in a circular movement, as smooth as a real limb.

“Took me a while to get used to, but can’t say I even miss the original anymore.” She smirked.

Suddenly, her attitude towards me made a lot more sense. She must have been through something very similar to me, and instead of giving up had found a solution. I still thought she could have worked on her bedside manner a bit, but now at least I understood her a little better.

“Does it have any combat modifications?” I was more than a little eager to find out exactly how one of these mechanical prosthetics could be kitted out for fighting.

“Oh sure, got a cannon in the kneecap.” Vera shrugged and casually knocked on the metal plating. “Wanna see?”

“You’re messing with me, aren’t you?” I narrowed my eyes.

“Just a tad, gunslinger.” She smiled, standing from her seat and walking me over to the door. “I’d take some time to think on it if I were you. For now I do genuinely need this room for another patient.”

“Right, sorry for keeping you so long.” I grimaced, feeling a little guilty. “Are there lots left to treat?”

“Just a couple. I already treated most of the rooks and settlers hurt in the attack.” Vera opened the door, and I stepped out into that familiar blazing sun, having to cover my eyes.

“Who’s left then?”

“Some new arrivals, a couple of badly injured rooks made it to town just today, apparently their caravan back to Emberstone was attacked.”

“Seriously?” I really didn’t like the sound of that. “That route back should have been clear. Took care of the spiders myself.”

“I’m sure Zari will be questioning them later, but for now they’re both in dire need of treatment.”

“Of course, I’ll get out of your way doc, thanks again.” I quickly moved aside and watched as Vera started to jog over to one of the other wooden buildings that had seemingly been converted into a makeshift hospital.

Watching her go, I was impressed. If I hadn’t just seen it, I would have never have suspected that Vera had a mechanical leg. I looked down at the mostly empty right sleeve of my shirt, feeling another jolt of shooting pain that made me wince.

I wondered if the phantom pain would go away once I got my own replacement, or if it would always linger with me, reminding me of my mistake.

For now, I had work to do. Zari was waiting for me in the rook headquarters. It was time to figure out a plan of action.