Injuries. We get them all the time. Most of the time they are inconsequencial. Sometimes its just hurt feeling, other times paper-cuts and sometimes a stubbed toe. We mostly ignore these and move on. Sometimes however we get serious injuries. Broken bones, lacerations, amputations, third-degree burns, and the list goes on and on. These are not things we can ignore and we need friends and family to be there for us to cope with the aftermath. Recovering from these injures take time and sometimes we will never be the same again.

Eian hated this damn cave. Everything was just getting worse and worse as they kept on going. If the guides were to be believed, then they wouldn't be escaping soon. His spirit tattoo had stopped glowing, but he would have to select Body again next. He was hating those four-armed beasts, they were crazy strong. He still remembered that fucking headache he got from the impact.

He led the group back to the main tunnel and they continued onwards. Eian hoped they would stop encontering these creatures soon, luckily they only appeared alone or it would be hell. His hopes were cruelly dashed soon however.

Another beast howled and Eian braced himself for impact. Shortly after Eian felt it collide into him send him staggering on his ass.

-'Fuck. Not my ass again.' Eian sighed inside his mind.

"Stab it Alex!" Sarah yelled.

Eian pulled his own spear from the monsters abdomen. and quickly got up. Only to be shoved backwards and he staggered backwards. He saw flames collide unto the beast and it rapidly caught fire. It howled and attemped to put out the fire with dirt from the floor. He got up and saw Alex stabbing it on its side vigoroursly, it succumbed to a stab to the throat. Jessica just sat back as usual, which was slightly annoying. Here they all were trying to stay alive and she was barely helping.

They soon encountered another broken doorway, which veered off the right of the main tunnel, which led to what appeared to be a jail. The bars of the cells were rusted, but forcefully pried open. Many bones favoring the blind-cannibals littered the area. Nothing salvageable of interest caught their attention within the jail.

The jail held no other exits and they left. They continued along the tunnel till it opened into a slightly wider space. Eian heard screaming or howling noise again, but further up.

"Guys somethings up ahead. Sounds like another one of those." Eian said slowly.

"I'm sick of this place." Jessica said, which Eian silently agreed with.

"Be ready for a fight Eian." Sarah said and she held her two fire balls ready.

"Careful man." Alex said with some worry.

Eian felt worried they would encounter more than one of those monstrousities. He edged slowly onwards till the cavern expanded. A few stalagmite formations began appearing and Eian thought he heard water dripping. The floor was slightly moist here, though still hard enough for proper footing. With only Sarahs light Eian felt vunerable out in the slightly opened space. Eventually the cavern grew so wide it looked the twice the size of a football field. Piles of bones littered this area.

Eian heard something move and turned see a glimpse of a tall alpha-beast running towards him. He braced himself quickly and took the tackle head on, he even felt his spear sink into meaty flesh. When he blinked he noticed he was on his back. His shield arm flared up in pain and he got up in a hurry. Alex was stabbing the giant beast and Sarah had set it alight. Eian charged foward spear ready.

Alex went retreated a few paces and Eian stabbed at it randomly catching its arm. It grabbed Eian and tossed him to the floor, hard. The air went out from his lungs and he struggled to breathe. Suddenly he felt something land heavily on his midsection eliciting an airless wheez, he heard someone scream. He felt something in his chest crack and it burnt. Something kicked him like a ball and he rolled sideways. Belatedly he though he heard Sarah scream something.

Eian struggled to stay concious and after a quick mental hurdle, got up. He saw from behind it was limping on one leg and Alex was cautiously retreating. Sarah kept firing balls of fire and the beast roared and semi-charged to Sarah's diretion. The fire-balls seemed to be less bright now though. Alex intercepted it and went flying a few paces, causing Jessica to scream again. Eian was running as fast as he could with the pain on his side.

"Again! Alex try stabbing its knees! Take it to the ground!" Sarah ordered.

He aimed at its uninjured knee, but stabbed at its meaty calf instead. The spear sunk deep elliciting a feral howl and earnt him a back-handed swing to the skull. Eian fell to one knee, dazed and attempted to stand, only to fail and stagger. A punch sent Eian to the ground on his back and black spots appeared in his vision. He thought he saw another fire ball catch it straight in the face and the impact made it drop, but its arms kept it from falling completely. It quickly asserted itself and got up howling and burning.

Eian had managed to reorient himself and charged. Once more saw Alex spearing the burning monster. He saw Alex go down when he partitally blocked a stray double-combo-fist, while retreating. Eian was feeling a very distinct intense burn under his ribs. He felt a lack of air despite breathing as hard as he could.

He aimed for the back of it's knee again and sent a hard pierce towards it. He felt the knee give and it fell to the ground screaming taking his spear. Eian blocked a back-handed fist and felt his shield arm flare in pain then go numb. Another punch sent Eian backwards and he felt his chest injury worsen as his his collided into it. Suddenly it grabbed him and pummeled him, Eian kept blocking its attacks as best as he could. Another fire-ball caught the burning creature and it flung Eian away. He saw the clear view of the floor heading his way. Crack.

*****

The trio watched over Eian's unresponsive body. Jessica was crying. Alex was bent over visibly sweating and tired. Sarah was on the verge of tears, watching over Alex, as he tried to heal Eian desperately.

"H..Ho..How is he?" Sarah asked shaky.

"His arm's broken, the other could be fractured. I healed what I think is a fractured rib in his lung, he vomited blood afterwards, so I think thats it. He might have a concussion, but I think I healed the fracture in his skull." Alex said out of breath, watching Eians laborous breaths.

"Can't you do more?" Sarah asked with timidly, over Jessicas sobs.

"I haven't even healed myself and I feel I'll pass out. This is definitely my limit and my guide warned me, pushing more won't help. I want to heal him too you know." Alex explained sadly.

"Wha.. Do you think he'll be okay for another round?" Sarah asked, whatever she'd seen or done, nothing could prepare her for a human's death infront of her.

"I DON'T KNOW, DAMN IT! I'M NOT A DOCTOR!" Alex yelled helplessly freaking out, spooking Sarah and she begun leaking tears.

Alex instantly regretted his outburst, after seeing her cry and Jessica was wailed even louder.

"I'm sorry. I just don't know." Alex sighed loudly and rubbing his face, his arms tinged with deep pain.

Sarah sniffed a bit and wiped her face.

"It's okay. I know you're upset too." Sarah said, Alex did a weak smile.

"I've never healed someone else so much. I didn't know my limit." Alex said regretfully.

"Me either. By the end there I could barely breath for flames." Sarah said sadly, holding the last wisps of flame.

"snf...I'm sorry..hic..I'm so sorry..snf..hic." Jessica was still crying on her knees.

"We should move. It can't be safe here." Sarah declared finally.

"Where to? I'm not sure how we'll even fight a single one like this." Alex said.

"I'll grab a long-spear for now. Alex drag Eian gently with the meat on-top of him, but be ready to drop him for a fight. We'll retreat to the wizards lab there's only one way to approach, so it's easier to guard. Jessica stop crying an grab everything else make sure your ready to drop everything and fight too, with Eian down we can't have you as a liability." Sarah declared.

Alex was sad, but couldn't refute that they needed all hands incase they ran into more of those things. They moved slowly due to their burdens and luckily nothing had re-approached the area they had cleared. They set Eian down on the wizards bed and made themselves comfortable. Sarah took the time to move the bones into a pile. Alex wanted to help, but by then his bones felt they were dangerously creaking. Sarah and Jessica moved the tables to cover the entrance to the lab and finally they breathed a sigh of relief.

-'This was a disaster.' Alex thought sadly looking at Eian slow laborous breaths.

Every once in a while he tried healing Eian, but his spirit seemed to recover slower when he was exhausted. Alex checked his spirit and realized it had changed to three. He now sported: Body: 3, Mind:3, Spirit:3. He realized this last one would be it before he hit his first bottle neck. The tattoo had already been blinking and he looked over it and told Sarah about the situation.

"Go on. Also ask your guide about the staff and ring." Sarah said tiredly.

"Okay. Be right back." Alex responded without enthusiam.

He looked at the tattoo and resolved himself. This wasn't a game, he selected spirit and the world washed away in white.