The first thing Laurence noticed was the pain. Sudden and immediate, it slammed into him so strongly he couldn’t breathe.

Everything he'd experienced so far paled in comparison to this. Every injury, even those he'd previously have ranked at the absolute highest on the scale, would have been no more than a four or five compared to this. As though some protective layer shielding him from fully experiencing pain had been stripped away.

He needed a potion. He needed. . .

He couldn't think clearly, the system wasn't responding to his queries, only returning an empty summary panel.

Laurence Haynes

Level 12 (Mage)

Health 0%

He struggled to remember how to flip to the inner details, the overwhelming pain making what should have been trivial an extreme challenge.

Strength: 1 Psyche: 6 Spirit: 5 Health

0/189 Mana

0/209 Stamina

0/179 Health Regen

-100 /minute Mana Regen

0 /minute Stamina Regen

0 /minute

Everything was zero. Zero, zero, zero.

He couldn't move his arms. They were ice run through with searing heat. He tried to reach for his pouch, in case he'd miscounted and kept one back, but his body didn't move.

Under normal circumstances, Laurence would be trying to remember and dissect every instant of this experience. Why was he still alive? Did the world run on D&D rules? Did he have to pass death saves?

But in the moment his mind was empty except for the pain.

The sounds of battle went on. He heard shouting, voices unrecognizable. His ears rang, agony pulsing in his head.

He felt diminished by the second, felt deep panic as his life slipped further away, but also a faint relief. If he was dying, at least this would end soon.

The ground shook beneath him in a sudden tremor, then the world whited out into blue light.

.

.

"Laurence?"

Darkness replaced the light in the instant between moments.

Laurence’s vision swam, hazy darkness and dazzling gold. He couldn’t focus his eyes. But he recognized that voice. Bradley. So the healer had gotten to him in time.

He lay unmoving, body tense against pain that he couldn’t quite believe had vanished completely, relief slow to replace adrenaline still racing through his body as though no time had passed. But as he blinked away the haze and his surroundings came into view, he was clearly somewhere else. He lay... in the treasure room?

Had he passed out? Or died? Was this the afterlife?

“Thank heaven!” Bradley hovered over him, looking down with concern. “I was so scared.” As Laurence was able to properly focus, he saw Bradley’s eyes were puffy and red, and tears still ran down his face, his voice cracking. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.”

"Couldn't...?" If this was the afterlife, it was a pretty lame one.

"Your..." Bradley's voice choked off and he gestured helplessly.

Laurence reached for his chest to reassure himself that he was no longer bleeding out, only for the problem to make itself blindingly obvious.

The ice fire tingling pain had left his arms, but they still wouldn’t move.

Laurence’s relief was immediately replaced by panic. He needed his arms! He needed to be able to cast spells, to write, to… to do everything!

“Please tell me this is temporary.” He was trying for calm, but his voice came out unsteady. He could feel tears in the back of his eyes and desperately fought them back. This was no time to be hysterical. He had to… he could figure this out.

Bradley shook his head. “I’m— I’m sorry, I didn’t see what happened until it was too late. I’m so sorry. I... I only had the three potions, there was nothing... nothing more I could do..." Bradley barely got the words out, his emotions too powerful to suppress. He took Laurence's hand, looking up pleadingly into his eyes. "If not for Ken, we'd all have died."

Laurence wanted to ask who all had died, but he didn’t really want to know. If he and Bradley had survived, there was a chance for the others too. He could pretend they were fine at least a little longer. So instead he asked, "Who's Ken?" Perhaps being gored and trampled to death affected his memory, but he couldn't place the name.

Bradley wiped his face and did his best to get his emotions under control. After a few deep breaths and a bout of hiccups, he helped Laurence to his feet.

Laurence watched Bradley carefully maneuver Laurence’s wrong-shaped arm over his shoulder with a strange disconnect at the complete lack of sensation. It didn’t feel like his arm any more. Just a floppy thing that happened to be attached to him.

He swallowed back the tears again welling up as he thought of all the things he wouldn’t be able to do, forcing himself to believe this could be fixed. Magic was real. You could drink a potion and recover from anything. A few mangled and crushed bones should be nothing. He was a wizard. He would find a way.

Maybe he hadn't fully healed yet. Maybe he just needed to wait a bit longer.

He mentally triggered the system to check his health, only to get another shock. His health was full, but...

Laurence Haynes: Level 6

(Mage)

Health 100%

“Level six?”

No, this couldn’t be happening. He was level twelve!

But when he delved into the more detailed system information, it all seemed to be for a level 6 version of Laurence.

Laurence Haynes Unassigned Levels: 0 Primary Class: Mage Mage Level: 6 Subclass: None Focus Spells: 0/2 Stat Points: 0 Strength: 0 Psyche: 3 Spirit: 3 Health

131/131 Mana

101/101 Stamina

111/111 Health Regen

1 /minute Mana Regen

4 /minute Stamina Regen

4 /minute

His point in Strength was gone, all the extra points in Psyche gone. His mana should be over 200, not barely 100.

Then he remembered the feeling of loss, of his life draining away while he lay dying, and the abrupt lack of protection from the system. That must have been the experience loss, draining his levels to… keep him alive?

Probably he should be grateful he’d been high enough level not to die outright, but knowing that in the seconds it had taken Bradley to get to him he’d already lost half his levels was the opposite of reassuring. He’d fought hard for weeks to gain those levels, and now they were gone. Just like that.

His heart almost stopped as he thought of something else. His abilities… his spells!

Ability Points: 0 Gust Tier: 2 Cost: 10 mana Fires a wide short-range burst of sharpened wind, dealing area damage. Spell Focus Tier: 2 Cost: None (Passive) Provides an additional focus spell slot every fourth level. Air Blade Tier: 1 Cost: 10 mana Fires a single blade of intensely focused wind directly at the target. Augmentation Tier: 1 Cost: (variable) mana Enhance a spell with additional power. Increases damage by a proportional amount. Sear Tier: 1 Cost: 20 mana Burns a designated area at medium range, dealing immediate fire damage.

He let out a ragged breath of relief. At least they were still there. Thank goodness.

But… how was he supposed to go on like this? Half his team missing, half his levels gone, half his body unresponsive.

And the worst part was that he’d known this was the likely outcome. Well, not this, not exactly, but he’d known they were being foolishly reckless. He'd known better, but still got swept up in Steele’s rhetoric.

It was the same thing as Charles all over again. Why did he always let others drag him along against his better judgement? Watch them make decisions he knew were wrong, and follow along anyway. Why couldn't he just stand alone and defy it all? Why did he keep suborning himself to one idiot after another?

Had he really imagined that they had some divine protection? In his heart, he’d been thinking of them as heroes in a story, where they could fight through anything with enough determination.

His recent resolve felt suddenly shallow and meaningless.

If Bradley hadn’t been holding him upright, he probably would have crumpled in a corner and not moved for days. But whatever he’d lost, it was time for Laurence to actually be the leader now. It was his fault they'd come here. His fault for being too complaisant, for not convincing them to retreat.

He was going to put up a good face, even if his heart was desolate and ashen. It was obvious his friend blamed himself for not being able to prevent... this.

Any complaint Laurence made would be a blade in his heart, so Laurence wouldn't complain. He wasn't sure he believed any more that there was a way out of this, but he resolved never to speak his doubts aloud.

For Bradley, if nothing else, Laurence could still be strong. Become strong.

Or, at the very least, pretend.