Lament of the Slave

Becca smiled sadly at my answer but did not comment on it. She didn't even try to touch me again. Instead, an aura reminiscent of Captain Rayden's aura radiate from her, comforting me. I looked at her, confused about why she hadn't used this skill before. Why did I have to drink some potions when it was enough for her to use this aura on me.

"Soothing fields and similar skills are more suitable for combat!" she said without me asking her.

I put aside that she was able to tell what I was thinking again, determined to ask later some half-terrans for guidance on how better to control my body and the expression of emotions. Instead, I looked around the room.

All the healers were dressed in leather armor, holding weapons in their hands. Some had staffs, others wands, more typical for healers I knew from the games, but most of them had swords or shields. Marcus was giving them all orders, preparing for the intruders as the battle approached the infirmary door.

I had never seen a healer fight, I had no idea what to expect, but it seemed that these people had experience with fighting, despite their profession. I knew Becca used to be a seeker and Markus in the military, but what about the others? Did they have similar experiences?

I looked back at Becca, who was staring at the door but still comforting me with her soothing field. I wished I was brave like her, I thought I was, but it turned out I was a coward.

"No!" I whispered defiantly; I wasn't a coward, just broken. Right now, Nila Tenderfire would have laughed in my face. How could I stand in front of her again when I hid in bed at the first sign of danger. I wanted to prove to her that I wasn't a coward. I wanted to prove it to myself. I just didn't expect it to be so soon.

With newfound determination, I changed my skills back to my original ones. Even [Tail of Poison Empress], which I was afraid to reveal about the most. However, I was probably most familiar with its use.

The sudden spread of perception, the influx of mana and strength made me dizzy. I regretted it for a moment, as I was close to vomiting again.

Fortunately, that did not happen.

I startled Becca when I suddenly got out of bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, jumping in front of me. Until now, I didn't realize how small she was, almost half a head smaller than me.

"I won't die lying in bed," I told her defiantly, knowing that even if I died, it probably wouldn't be permanent.

Becca frowned, "No one will die! Stand behind me. I'll protect you."

I didn't want to argue with her in this situation. On the contrary, I was glad that someone I knew was with me, albeit I only knew her for a few hours. Yeah, I found the courage in me. Still, it was not easy to stand up to someone who managed to make his way through a barracks full of Guards.

Did I have a chance when the intruder couldn't be stopped by guardsmen at a much higher level than me? Hardly. Did the healers have a chance? I wanted to believe it.

I almost peed my shorts, how scared I was when something hit the infirmary door.

The second blow did not come, instead two men flew through the door, landing in front of the waiting healers. I looked at the two immediately. Huge armored guardsman lay on the intruder, pinning him to the ground. Under the guard's weight, the man could do nothing but wait for the blow that had stunned him.

"Korra, watch out!" Becca shouted.

I looked up at the door, where a woman was standing. A spear she had just thrown leaving her hand, spear thrown in my direction. To my surprise, I managed to create a shield in front of me and move to the left before the spear pinned me to the infirmary wall.

Shouldn't I feel pain? I thought being pierced with a spear should hurt, but I didn't feel anything. Though, that changed with the first breath when I started coughing up blood. I looked down and what I saw confirmed my assumption. I managed to prevent the spear from piercing my heart, but it still ended up in my chest, piercing my lungs.

Not to mention that my shirt was ruined! How long did I wear it?

I wanted to scream in pain and anger, but I could only whimper out loud and cough blood.

Focus, Korra!

I looked in front of me, finding Becca sitting at the foot of the bed, holding a wound on her shoulder. Did the spear hit her too? Why did it have to be me who ended up stabbed on the wall like a pig on a spit? But I could only blame myself, if I moved to the right and not to the left, the spear could have missed me or just hit my arm.

Anyway, Becca was conscious, probably already healing herself. I looked up at the door from which the spear had come, afraid of being hit by another.

To my relief, another guardsman already neutralized the spear-thrower.

"I don't want to see anyone inside whom Nash or I don't personally check. Janina is with the Captain, so only two of us can check to see if you aren't under mind control. Every civilian or seeker must wear a collar before you take them to the infirmary." Marcus said sharply.

"Even the kids, sir?" the guardswoman asked.

He nodded, "Everyone! Is that clear, guys?!"

"Yes, sir!" several men and women spoke aloud at once, causing my ears to ring.

What collars was he talking about? Slave collars? Subconsciously, I reached for my neck, where one had been for over a year. Did he want to put them on children? What children? What were the children doing in the barracks? I was confused and at the same time disgusted by what he had ordered the Guards to do.

He only looked in my direction for a moment before turning back to give further orders. Not a hint of worry appeared in his gaze, despite my condition. Why did it bother me? Anyway, his help was not needed, as two healers were already at Becca's, helping her to bed, and two hurried to me.

"Everything will be fine, Korra," the healer assured me, immediately checking my condition. It was strange, but strangely reassuring, that he knew my name without introducing myself to him. After all, by this time, everyone in the infirmary must have known my name.

"We have to cut it off," said the woman, terrifying me with her intention.

What did they want to cut off? Instead of asking, I just coughed up blood.

When they cut the spear's handle with a magical tool, I was glad that my worries did not come true. I don't know why I thought they would want to cut something off me. Nevertheless, I wasn't looking forward to what was to come next.

"I hope you have [Pain Resistance] at a pretty high level because this is gonna hurt," the man said as he and his colleague grabbed me by the arms. Each on one side.

I swallowed the blood in my mouth before I said, "I don't have the skill!"

However, I quickly changed [Arcane Magic] to [Pain Resistance]. Right now, magic was useless to me.

"But now I have a level one [Pain Resistance], will it help me?" I asked both of them, hoping it reduces my pain at least a little.

They exchanged disbelieving glances before the man looked at me and shook his head, "I'm afraid one level won't help you much."

"We have to take you off the spear," the woman said slowly and loudly, continuing to explain, "we will support you, we will not let you fall, we will carefully pull you off the spear and set you on the bed where we will take care of you."

Normally, I would find it offensive that she talk to me like I was a child, but I didn't mind right now. On the contrary, I found it comforting.

"All right, on three," the man told the woman, and she nodded.

"One, two, three ..." he counted down, and then they both carefully pulled me off the spear stuck in the infirmary wall.

I wish I could tell how brave I was that I didn't utter a sound when they pulled me off the spear.

A hole in the chest? Nah, just a flesh wound.

Unfortunately, the opposite was true. I couldn't scream, but I whimpered and cried. The sounds I heard very well as they removed me from the spear were not pleasant, not giving me ease of mind. It was even worse when air began to flow into my lung through the wound.

They say that you can get used to everything, but I never get used to the pain despite living with it during the mutations for several months. All that time I wished I could have [Pain Resistance], but I was denied it. Now that I could have it and had it, it seemed utterly useless to me.

(ding) Pain Resistance reaches lvl 2

(ding) Pain Resistance reaches lvl 3

Was the system mocking me?

Come on, where is level ten, even better a hundred.

The healers helped me to bed. But they didn't let me lie down. The woman held me upright while the man inspected the wound.

"Clean shot, the wound doesn't bleed much," the man said, grabbing me, "Look at the spear!"

"No curses or poison," the woman said after checking the spear stuck in the wall.

Were they afraid of poison? I usually fall asleep poisoned, but I wasn't going to tell them that.

The man nodded, "Good, so it'll be enough to clean and heal the wound."

"I agree," the woman said, "I will do it!"

"Go ahead," the man nodded to the woman and then looked at me, "Korra, we'll take off your shirt."

"Why?" I asked, wondering why they couldn't treat my wound while I was wearing a shirt.

"You can keep it if you want, but we will not be responsible for any part of it remaining in the wound." the man explained to me.

I shuddered at the thought.

"Can we take it off?" the man asked me again.

I nodded, surprised that they bothered to open the buttons. I expected them to tear my shirt to get to the wound. Anyway, I was glad they didn't, for whatever reason. But what I didn't like very much was that I was now sitting topless on the bed in a room full of other people.

The woman placed one hand on my chest, where the spear had penetrated it, and the other hand on my back, where the spear had gone out.

I could feel the foreign energy that had spread out in the wound, which had stopped bleeding in the meantime.

"Cleaned up," the woman announced, looking at me, "This may be disturbing, but I'll heal your wound. Please, bear with me."

How could I not?! She had a hand on my boob. I thought that the next time someone else would hold my boobs in their hands, I would be in a hot tub and that he would be a handsome man. I guess not every dream comes true.

Lately, lots of my dreams have not come true.

The area of my wound was flooded with foreign energy again, this time pleasant, even warm.

"What the f..." the woman said in surprise, removing her hand from my chest not even after half a minute of treatment.

She looked confused at the wound she was healing, then at her hands, and again at the wound. Her behavior startled me and expecting a problem, I looked down at my chest. However, I did not find a hole through my chest but completely intact skin. If my chest wasn't covered in blood, I'd think it was all a bad dream.

I didn't even see the sign of the scar I had secretly hoped for. I wouldn't mind a cool scar that I could brag about. Now that I've thought about it, though, I'd rather have it on other parts of my body than on my chest.

"Something wrong?" the man asked, quickly checking for a non-existent wound.

"She's fine? Excellent job, Helen," he complimented her, confused why his colleague had acted so strangely.

Helen shook her head, "It doesn't make sense, I healed her for less than a minute, and the wound healed completely. It should take me at least three or four minutes, given the size of the injury."

Oh, that was bothering her? I'm not an expert, but [Never-Dying] could have something to do with it?

I coughed up the remnants of blood in my lungs into my hand and then looked at the woman. "I have a good regeneration!"

"Among other things, I was boosting your natural regeneration, but..." she shook her head, still not believing what had happened, "your regeneration would have to be very powerful for my skill to have such an effect."

What could I say? I just shrugged and nodded.

Realization dawned upon her, "Even without our help, you wouldn't have died, would you?"

Fuck! I cursed inwardly. I wouldn't say I liked where this was going. I didn't want to reveal my skills, but on the other hand, sooner or later, it had to happen. One day I will have to use [Tail of Poison Empress] in front of the others. Of course, if I still have that skill. One day I get injured in the labyrinth, and people in my party find out how good my regeneration is, maybe even that death is not the end for me.

It terrified me. It was all happening faster than I thought. I wanted to proceed slowly, to find out more about seekers, the labyrinth, the city, the empire, and Eleaden, before I was ready to face the world.

But, most of all, I was afraid of what people would think of me when they really saw what I was, a freak—a monstrosity with skills she shouldn't have. I was afraid of what might follow.

Maybe it was better if it happened now, though.

So I looked at the man and Helen and nodded, "I probably wouldn't have died. I'm not sure, never had an injury like that."

I closed my eyes and waited for what they would think of me.

"Thanks to Helen, we won't find out now?" the man laughed, looking at Helen.

Helen nodded, "Who would have expected a civilian to have such an impressive regeneration? It shocked me, though there was something wrong with my skill for a moment."

I was bewildered because I was expecting a different reaction from them. Suspicion, questions, but not that they take it as a matter of course, their mistake.

"Are you all right?" Helen asked me, rechecking my wound, her energy penetrating my body again. "Do you feel any discomfort?"

"She's okay, just confused why you don't care about someone like her having such a good regeneration," Marcus explained to the healers, his sudden appearance at my bed, surprising the three of us.

Frustration quickly replaced my surprise at how well he could tell what I was thinking. I had severe doubts about whether he really couldn't read minds. He wasn't even here when I talked to the healers, was he? Or was he as good at hearing as I was?

"I was at the next bed, checking on Becca. She's fine, by the way. I heard what you were talking about," he explained as if asking him about it.

I quickly slapped my ears to my head with my hands so he couldn't read my thoughts or my body language as he claimed.

Marcus laughed, "To answer your question, your regeneration is impressive for someone like you but hardly unique. I've seen bigger freaks than you in my life."

Ah, here it was. Finally, someone told me what they really thought of me.

"I would be more worried about the size of your tits than the regeneration," Marcus said, looking at my chest.

I froze for a moment, and before I could react to his words, he added, "I thought they would be bigger. If you are interested, I know the guy who..."

"Fuck you!" I growled at him loudly and threw a pillow at him while covering the boobs with my wings.

Chief Healer caught the pillow easily and then smirked at the two healers standing next to my bed, "Did you see the throw? She's fine. We have a lot more people who need treatment more than she does. Help them."

"Yes, sir." they both said at once, rushing to help the people who had been brought to the infirmary by the Guards.

"Stay in bed, lass." Marcus ordered me and threw the pillow back at me before returning to his duties.

"Fuck you!" I said so he could hear me, still pissed at him, but he ignored me. Instead, the system notification sounded again. So I looked, hoping it would distract me.

(ding) Pain Resistance reaches lvl 4

(ding) Pain Resistance reaches lvl 5

(ding) Master's Lover reaches lvl 5

(ding) Master's Lover reaches lvl 6

Fuck you too!! I swore inwardly at the system, more pissed off than before. How could I get two levels in the [Master's Lover] skill? The fact that the three healers saw me half-naked could not be the cause. These people must have been used to seeing naked people, not to mention that I was just topless.

I looked around the room, looking for who else did see my bust.

I caught some guardsmen checking me out, looking away as soon as I looked at them. I even caught a guardswoman looking at me, which was a little weird.

I rather quickly put on my shirt, which now had two bloody holes in it. But it was the least of my worries.

What the hell happened? Who attacked the City Guards Barracks? Why was their target an infirmary? Drug addicts, looking for their drugs or substances for its production? If so, Castiana had a really serious problem.

The only real reason I could think of was me. I was in the infirmary, the thought sending shivers down my spine. At first, I thought I was just unlucky to be hit by a spear. Now I wasn't so sure, wondering if the woman wanted to kill me.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud explosion that shook the room. I looked around in fright, my ears ringing. To my relief, the explosion did not occur in the infirmary, but it had to be damn close. Then, the room shook again with another blast that occurred just outside the windows.