“Ropes and Hammers!”

  “Bring them down!”

  “They killed Sam.” A louder voice boomed among the others “Silver and Gold on the Golems. Everyone else help the wounded and kill those scarabs.”

  Pain ran through his body. He hurt and he wasn’t sure what was going on. The world around him was blurry, loud and full of confusion.

  “Grab him, he is still alive”

  “How? His head is smashed in. Grab the other one, he’ll make it.”

  Shapes moved around him and after some time he realized he was lying on his side and his head hurt.

  Large black shapes skittered on the ground around him, one suddenly on his leg, its front smeared red. A sudden thud rang out among the chaos and the ground shock around him.

  “Get those scarabs off him. Sarah and Ducky grab that guy”

  “Don’t call me ducky, human.” He felt his body rise and shift. Sharp pain ran down his back before he convulsed and the blurry world began to dim around him. Who…Where am I, was the only clear thought that penetrated the fog of his mind before it all went black.

  …….

  …OUT OF TIME… ASSIGNING LEVEL 6 ENHANCEMENT…. [Spirit Mind: More Than Flesh]. Improved Fate, Soul, Wisdom, Intelligence, Will, and Perception. LEVEL 7 Skill: [Learner]. Improved Intelligence and Wisdom …GOOD LUCK

  He slowly awoke and as he did he felt his body come alive in his mind. His left leg itched badly, while his right ribs hurt but his entire left face and head felt strange to him. There was noise around him and at least three people were moving around by the sound of it. It sounded like he was in a large stone room with noise bouncing off the well-lit walls as light easily filtered through his closed eyelids.

  Finally, after the pressure on his bladder grew too large to ignore and his empty stomach joined in he opened his eyes. He was lying on a cot with an off-white linen sheet and a grey wool blanket tucked up to his neck. A tan canvas roof covered the large room he was in with clear glow orb lanterns hanging from a rope that stretched the length of the room, giving off a steady white light.

  “Good you are awake” a light but clear voice came from a woman who was standing straight from bending over another man in a cot a few patients down.

  He had to will his eyes to focus on the speaker and saw that it was an elf. She looked to be in her late twenties so she could be a hundred years old or so he thought.

  Tall like all High Elves with her elongated tilted head and long pointed ears that followed the shape of her head back to her thin black hair that she had tied into a thick braid that hung down to the small of her back. She hurried over to him and knelt beside him, moving his blanket off him while her eyes and hands ran over his body. He flinched at the touch of her cold hands and noticed that both her hands were bare and had a nice tan to them which seemed strange to him. Her left hand had a small tattoo below each knuckle and he felt that seeing them was somehow intermittent. He tried to sit up a little to see them more clearly, but her hands held him down.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Don’t move.” He looked down and saw he was in his underwear with bandages on his chest and one covering most of his left calf. One of the tattoos seemed to shimmer on her left hand and suddenly a faint blueish power surrounded her hand. Mana, he thought.

  “A spell”, he mumbled. His throat was dry, and it was hard to speak.

  “Yes, [Diagnose Minor Wounds]. A good spell I got with my class” she said as the glow around her hands faded. She got closer to his face and very gently touched the left side of his head that was bandaged while she looked him in the eyes.

  “You are doing well, surprisingly so, for the injuries you suffered.” Her light sky blue eyes locked with his as she looked for something in them.

  “The left side of your head was caved in. With parts of your brain left exposed” she said as she gently touched the bandages on his head.

  “And that should have killed you, but it seems you poured an entire healing potion on the wound before you dragged out that other man. Somehow that worked. I’ve never seen or heard of such a thing working. One healing potion to save yourself and another to stop the bleeding on your companion's stump after he lost his leg. Oh, and I used your third on you after you got here” she said as she pointed out the little infirmary.

  “Thank you,” he whispered out. Her eyes were still locked with his.

  “You have been asleep almost a full day now. Your companion that lost the leg I sent back with the relief team this morning. They are on their way back to Gemport.”

  He just nodded his head and broke eye contact with her as he looked around the room and she continued to watch him.

  “What do you remember about what happened yesterday? She finally asked.

  “What” was all he could think to say.

  “Anything? Where were you when they set off that first trap and unleashed those Stone Golems on us?”

  He tried but couldn’t think past lying on his side, vision blurry. What had happened? That can’t be right. Where am I? He couldn’t remember.

  Wait he thought, a deep fear suddenly coursed through his body, who was he? Panic. He couldn’t remember. Fear.

  Who was he and why couldn’t he remember that? He felt his heart start to beat, and his blood started to roar through him. He felt her hands on his bare chest almost instantly.

  “Calm, stay calm. It’s normal not to remember in these situations. What happened should all come back to you.”

  He shook his head and tried to sit up. He felt the need to move. This was not right. He should know his own bloody name.

  “No, you need to rest for at least another day or two. Magic works wonders but the body still needs rest,” she said.

  “I need to pee,” he finally said to get her to let go of him. She rolled her almond round eyes and helped him sit up. It was harder than it should have been for him. His vision swam for a few seconds before it came back into focus.

  “Stay here, I’ll grab a chamber pot.”

  Before she could stand, he grabbed her left arm and looked into her eyes and rasped what made him so afraid. “I don’t remember anything. Not what happened, not where we are.” He paused and took a breath “and not who I am.”

  Her eyes went wide briefly before she nodded, and he let her go. He felt embarrassed as he had to lean forward onto her for him to relieve himself into the chamber pot before she helped him back into the cot this time sitting up. When she came back, after a few minutes she brought a small bowl of soup that was mostly broth with some bread.

  “Now I need you to eat all this and then take some medicine I have for you. I know you must feel confused and worried but there is a good chance that most if not all your memories will come back. So, let’s wait till tomorrow before you get too worried.”

  He nodded and then took the bowl from her. He coughed a little to clear his threat and asked, “What’s your name [Healer] if you are inclined to share it with one such as I.”

  She narrowed her eyes slightly at his words. He wasn’t sure why.

  “Innosaa, and some of this medicine is a sleeping potion so eat up because the best thing we can do for you is to let you sleep.”