Within a few minutes, Fae had returned with Reurig, Berla, and our guards, who shackled the still unconscious Shari. Nobody knew whether that would actually help us in any shape or form should she wake up, but it seemed better than nothing.

Her two Charmer friends seemed just as surprised as us by her behavior, and they confirmed that it was unlike her when I briefly questioned them after the incident. We decided that they would stay at the temple for the moment, under a kind of house arrest, until we figured out what was going on.

One potential explanation for Shadi’s behavior that naturally came to mind was the Mad Calling. The girl seemed a little irrational, and she attacked us with little to no provocation. But just like my existence didn’t quite fit the usual descriptions of Mad Ones, neither did her actions. There was no screaming, to pain, she just wanted to fight us for some reason. We needed to question her properly once she woke up again.

Keeping some distance from the others, me, Tomar, and Berla trotted after them on our way to the hospital wing of the temple. Shadi still being unconscious was a little concerning, though she was alive and looked unharmed. At the doctor’s office we could hopefully get an expert’s opinion. Meanwhile, Berla glanced at me in displeasure.

“How is it that every time we leave you two to do something on your own, you get into a fight with some woman?” she asked.

Every time? I wondered. Lilana... Aelene... Arax... Shadi... Huh.

“You’re right. Funny,” I chuckled.

“It’s not funny,” she sighed. “One of these days that’s going to be the end of you. And you fought her without knowing what she can do again!”

“To be fair, nobody could’ve predicted this happening. And we didn’t have much of a choice but to defend ourselves.”

“That would be more believable if it didn’t happen regularly. Just admit that you kind of like it, you always come out the other side with new information or theories.”

“I mean... I don’t hate that part, but we’re really not deliberately navigating ourselves into such situations.”

She raised an eyebrow, looking at me admonishingly.

That morning we had decided that Tomar and I would quickly do the rituals on our own, and wanting to be on my own for once, I had even our guards stay behind, since we wouldn’t even leave the temple. In retrospect, it would’ve been nice to have the others there. If only because Riala could have memorized the script Shadi used against us.

“So what is she?” Berla asked, as we rounded another corner, into another lengthy hallway.

“We’re not sure yet. She didn’t use water, that was pretty interesting. But it wasn’t just mana either. Though it behaved similarly, not even breaking through the wall. The question is what it would’ve done to us. She used another script to give Fae some mana,” I said, gesturing at her, happily walking with the others.

The mana seemed to slowly wane already, so it was presumably only a temporary boost, but it was fascinating nonetheless. Shadi had used a script to actively affect someone else’s body, and the amount was enough for Fae to withstand Gallas’ aura.

“I really hope Shadi is going to talk to us. This could be an enormous breakthrough for us. The possibilities are—”

“Concerning,” Berla interrupted.

“Concerning? They’re incredible! Maybe she knows everything there is to know about Omega and how it all works! Maybe she can decipher the contract script! And she can even give others—” I rambled on, until I realized the host of potential problems. “Oh. Right.”

“Exactly, please focus,” Berla said, smiling.

“Okay. Focusing. We obviously need to get her on our side first, and we need to be careful. But then!”

We finally arrived at an unassuming door, and walking through it, we entered a large room with two dozen empty beds on either side. In front of the other walls stood tables and cupboards, on top of which laid various instruments. Some of them looked very similar to devices I knew from earth, while others looked somewhat alien, and I couldn’t imagine what they might possibly be used for.

We had just entered the room, at the end of our procession, when I heard quick steps, followed by someone shouting, “What happened?”

A female priest approached Reurig, who carried Shadi in his arms.

“She took a heavy hit to the stomach and fell unconscious,” Reurig explained. “It shouldn’t have been too bad, but she’s been out of it for about ten minutes already.”

“‘Not too bad’ says the Fighter,” the priest scoffed. “We’re not all that sturdy! And how many times have you been in here for injuries that ‘shouldn’t have been that bad,’ Reurig? Stop dillydallying, put her there.”

“Alright, alright... I’m really sure it’s not that bad, Nym.”

Hurrying him along, they laid her on the bed closest to the door.

“And you others, out,” she commanded, while pulling a pair of glasses out of her pocket and putting them on while looking Shadi over.

Without even thinking about it, our guards and Fae reflexively turned on their heel and left the room the way they came. Either already used to this, or having an instinctive respect for the doctor.

“We will stay,” I said, who she now had had a clear line of sight of.

“It’s you. Lilly’s appendage. What do you have to do with this? And why is she shackled?” Nym said, while searching for a pulse and raising Shadi’s eyelids.

“This is on me. She attacked me, and I had to defend myself.”

Her head suddenly snapped in my direction, her eyes drilling holes through my skull. “You had to do what now? What’s wrong with you? She’s a spindly little girl! What is she, a Researcher?”

I was taken aback for a moment. Her guess was spot on, Shadi’s natural deposition having been that exact Calling.

“Uh, yes. That’s kind of right, but—”

“This job is difficult enough as it is!” she interrupted, ranting, “As if all the Fighter-related injuries weren’t enough, now I also have to deal with you ‘Sourcers’ running around and attacking people as well!”

“Whoa, whoa! She’s not a Researcher! She’s a Sourcerer as well!”

Nym was laser-focused on her patient and barely even reacted to my words while pulling up Shadi’s shirt to examine her belly and feeling it.

“Sourcer on Sourcer then, that’s just great. Well, she’s breathing, and there’s no external damage. I don’t feel any internal damage either. What exactly did you do?”

“Hm, how do you describe that? Picture me hitting her with a very large hammer made of water.”

Stopping, she stood straight and took a deep, exasperated breath. “A hammer... Well, for now you can’t do anything here. She seems okay, but I can’t tell for sure yet. You can leave her with me.”

“Actually, we’ll have to stay here,” I said. “She was aggressive, and her Calling being one we don’t know anything about yet, we can’t be sure what she will do once she wakes up.”

“What? Her...” Nym’s eyes widened. “Wait, she’s a Sourcerer? Like Lilly and you?”

It seemed she hadn’t quite realized what I told her while she was busy and ranting about the preventable injuries she had to treat here on the regular.

“Not exactly, but it’s similar. As if we have the same Calling, but are suitable for different jobs.”

“What’s her job then?” Nym asked.

“That’s the part we don’t know yet. And we naturally can’t have her take the temple apart the moment she wakes up. Actually... I would recommend that we tie her up as much as possible, because she could be dangerous.”

Nym’s eyes narrowed. “Dangerous you say. And she attacked you. Is she...”

“No, I don’t believe she’s a Mad One. She was lucid and able to control herself. But she still behaved unlike herself. It’s possible she had a stronger than usual reaction to the ritual.”

“I suppose I don’t have a choice then, but don’t get in the way. And hold off with the bondage until I’m done,” she said and went back to checking Shadi from head to toe, while Berla and I sat down on the edge of the next bed.

“I will get back to it then,” Reurig said, and I nodded.

Fae peeked into the room curiously as he left it and closed the door behind him, breaking her line of sight.

Sitting next to each other, Berla put her hand on mine and whispered, “Next time I’m coming with you, no matter what.”

“Come on... Nothing happened, it’s not like—”

“No arguing,” she said.

“Alright, alright.”

‘Now you’ve done it,’ Tomar snickered in my mind.

He had been silent the entire time, a little worried that he might have seriously hurt Shadi, but he felt better now that the doctor said everything looked fine.

“‘Me?’ I think that was an ‘us’ situation,” I shot back.

‘That’s not how I remember it.’

“Sure, let’s all blame the old man then.”

“Sounds good to me,” Berla added, even though she heard only my side of the conversation.

We watched Nym for a moment, until she suddenly furrowed her brows and tilted her head, in an attempt to look at Shadi’s back.

“What’s this?” she wondered aloud and propped the girl’s body up slightly. “Are those... scripture sigils?”

“What?” I exclaimed and jumped up, hurrying over.

Before we came here, I had briefly examined her as well, but I hadn’t looked at her back. Carefully turning her around with Nym’s help, it was now in full view. Filled from top to bottom with scripts.

“What the fuck...”