"What business do you have with my son?" A deep and very annoyed voice asked, half-threatening and half-curious.

"None," Thomas recognized Doevm's voice. "Now will you let me pa.s.s?"

The floor and walls shook. "Then tell me, what is a peasant like you doing down here?" The voice increased in volume. Thomas and the rest rounded the last corner to find a tall man, not skinny nor fat. Every part of him was covered in muscle that had been refined over the three or four decades of his life.

The man brushed away a few strands of red spiky hair that had fallen over his large hexagonal monocle; the golden chain of which fell down over his black and green suit and into the right pocket of his brown trousers. Every finger was covered by a s.p.a.cial ring. His fist was buried into the wall, which Thomas guessed was the source of the shaking he felt earlier. The man narrowed his eyes at Doevm.

"I was going to talk to my friend, the healer, and ask him something," Doevm said.

"Ask later," The man removed his hand from the wall and waved it at Doevm, who bowed and hurried off. Immediately after turning around, however, the respectful smile he had shown the n.o.ble faded, replaced with a cold and calculating demeanor, which softened when he saw Thomas. After that flash of recognition, however, he glanced to the others and looked away from them all.

"Hey D-" Thomas tried to greet him, but Doevm stormed past them with a slight shake of his head. 'What's his problem?'

"You four must be here for Jackal," the man turned to the four, his demeanor changing almost as fast as Doevm's. "I recognize all of you, but Thomas, I don't believe you've met me before," the man extended his hand forward and Thomas shook it. "I'm Jackal's father, Lord Brandon Von Trike, one of three generals at the knights' academy. It's a pleasure to meet you." Thomas's hand felt so small in his grasp.

"I am Thomas Virility," Thomas said. "It is a pleasure to meet you too."

"Yes, I know your name," the general said. "Your fight was splendid. I think of all the n.o.bles so far, you moved the fastest. It was clear that you spent a lot of time practicing with your weapon. I and the fellow generals were quite surprised by the poison hidden in the tip of your spear, although your words were a little…colorful."

"Who taught you how to insult like that? Was it a peasant? Only such filth can leave their starving mouths. I know you are new to the n.o.ble world, but you should know how to act like one. Anyway, it was a pleasure to meet you after hearing so much about you from your father."

"You know my father?" Thomas stepped back and eyed the man up and down. 'Why have I never heard of you then?'

"Well," Brandon scratched the back of his head and formed a smile like Jackal's. "The last time we met, he threatened to kill me." Alexander's voice seeped through the walls. General Brandon whipped around and applied a bit of silver life essence around his ears. "They're calling me back. I have to attend to the next round, so please keep watch over Jackal for me." He disappeared in a silver streak.

Thomas's world spun and he lost his balance, but Eugene caught him before he fell over. "Don't worry," Eugene said, his face having paled a bit. "The general has that kind of effect on people. It's like he never leaves the battlefield. The same thing happened to me when I first met him. I heard that when Molly met him, she-" He yelped as Molly's foot crushed his groin. Thomas had to help him back to his feet before they went into the infirmary.

Oliver was hovering over Jackal, magic circles practically covering his unconscious and bound patient. His a.s.sistant was prying at Jackal's hand with a crowbar in order to loosen its vice grip on the scratched gla.s.s-like necklace. Other than Jackal, the only other patient in the room was Elero, who was asleep in a bed in the corner.

Besides the a.s.sistant's groans, the only other noise in the infirmary was Jackal's occasional breaths, soft, slow, and shaky. It was as if any one of those breaths could be his last. The three sat on a bed far enough to allow Oliver to do his work, but close enough to watch Jackal's chest slowly rise and fall. They knew that any questions would only distract Oliver from his job. They waited in silence until the magic circles faded and Oliver wiped the sweat off his brows which were hidden under the darkness of his white hood. Jackal's breaths turned back to a normal rhythmic pace.

"He'll be fine," Oliver said to the relief of the four. "I healed him just enough to be stable, since I need to save my mana for other patients. He should be able to heal the rest when his life essence returns. He shouldn't do that again: going crazy like that. He caused severe damage that even I don't know the full extent of. It might have saved his life but, to be able to bring out life essence from nothing, there must be a cost, there must be a price that he paid, and temporarily losing his mind was not the end of it. That, I promise."

"You four will have to keep an eye on him for a while. In addition, make sure he checks in with me at least once a week so I can make sure everything is still alright. I recommend you bring him to someone who knows advanced healing magic like the war monks," then he said under his breath, "at least they can be good for something like this."

The a.s.sistant raised a fist into the air as he finally pried Jackal's hand from the gla.s.s-like necklace. Oliver moved the necklace to the side. After he was sure there was no damage, he put a new s.h.i.+rt over Jackal's torn one and bound the arm. "When he wakes up, relay all of what I told you to him. I can't stay since I need to be prepared to receive other patients over at the stage area."

He and the a.s.sistant grabbed a stretcher and hurried off, leaving the four in silent contemplation over Jackal's still bound body. Even though he had been healed, he was still covered in vast amounts of blood, not all of it his own. Thomas covered his nose with his s.h.i.+rt, tired of the smell of copper. There was still a bit of Daniel's trachea on one of Jackal's broken, b.l.o.o.d.y fangs.

Rounds pa.s.sed and Oliver brought more patients in, yet Jackal's eyes remained closed. The four had to stand up because Oliver needed all the beds he could get. After an hour of standing, Jackal's eyes flickered open and a groan escaped his mouth. He glanced around, too disoriented to see. He tried to get up, but only managed to lift himself an inch before the restraints pulled him back to the bed.

"I'm so glad that you are awake!" Molly ran for a hug, but Dag pulled her by the back of her collar. "What gives?" She tried to kick him but he moved his s.h.i.+n out of the way and slapped her.

"Calm down and think. Remember what happened last time?" Molly sighed and, as she held her red cheek, her slightly baggy sleeve slid down to her elbow. She turned away and slid it back down, down over the five long streaks of scar tissue. Dag got close to Jackal and urged the others to keep their distance. "Do you know who you are?"

"Jackal Von Trike," Jackal said. "Who else would I be?" He chuckled and looked at everyone, who were all as far away from him as the cramped room allowed. He tried to get up again only for the restraints to once again pull him back down. "What's the matter?"

"Do you remember what happened?" Dag asked as he held his dagger out.

"I…what happened?" Jackal relaxed and looked to the ceiling. "I don't remember anything, so did I lose?" He allowed himself to sink in the sheets stained with his bloods.

"No," Dag responded. "You won, but you lost control. Why did you break the promise?"

"I couldn't help it," Jackal turned his head away from the four. "I just got so angry when he scratched my necklace. I just snapped. Everything went red and I only thought about killing him. I should have just ended it earlier but I got too caught up with hurting him and I forgot about my dwindling life essence. I'm sorry."

"If you do that again, I'll take you down," Dag said as he cut the restraints. "Now wipe the blood from your mouth and fix your teeth. The tournament is over, but we still need to do something." He turned to Thomas. "You should go back to your room, we can take care of the rest here."

"But I-" Thomas tried to object.

"Go back to your room," Dag repeated. "We have some things we need to talk about, just between the four of us."

"I understand," Thomas smiled and walked towards the doorway. "Then…I'll see you guys later." He hurried back to his room, alone.