Holding up the elf, seeing his eyes flutter as they passed a corner in a random fissure, Norbert wondered where they were heading, slowly moving his head around, trying to spot a Torbrask before it appeared. Their ears peaked constantly, trying to hear above the laboured breathing of Grandriel beside him.

  Grandriel leaned against the wall of the crevice they had gone into, slapping his hand against the wall as he started chanting to himself. Norbert quickly changed his vision to magic, the world becoming muted, filled with browns, around Grandriel’s palm to the left of it, a blue rune waiting there for the under-elves touch. Moving the elf's hand to the side, dragging it against the wall until it hit the spot, Norbert changed his vision to see in the dark as the colours around him disappeared, only to be replaced with grey once more.

  The passageway opened before him, and light appeared in a white area. Norbert squinted his eyes in a panic, looking behind him, making sure that no Torbrask would see the light, only for blackness to be there. He felt his breath hit back against him.

  Reaching a handout, feeling in front of him only to hit a solid wall, relief coming out of Norbert that they would be watched, finally able to relax as exhaustion engulfed his mind that he didn’t realise was there.

  A yell came as a body fell to the floor; Norbert watched the lying on the floor, whimpering coming out of the elf. Rushing over to him, Norbert hoisted him up under his armpits, making sure not to hit the broken arm against anything. Wheezing came under Elf as Norbert looked around the small cave, cabinets on the side filled with rations, a bed, and a scorched circle in the centre.

  Walking over to the bed, he took off the pack he had taken from Grandriel, placing it on the floor and carefully positioning the elf onto the bed. Lying the elf on its stomach so the arm was against him rather than the wall, Norbert took the knife from his pack and cut the sleeve drenched with blood, exposing the wound for him to see correctly.

  Gasping in surprise, confirming what he saw before of the bone just below the elbow sticking out of

  “Do you know healing magic?” Norbert asked the Under-Elf, and a pained chuckle was the only response.

  Norbert breathed in, nodding as he opened Grandriel's pack with them. Ruffling through the contents, he focused on his goal of fixing his guide until he found a satchel.

  His hands tracing against something as he opened it up, confirming the bandages there and other tools he was expecting to see. Taking the pack and showing it to Grandriel, only another grimace in response.

  “First, clean the wound to stop infection” Norbert said upon looking at the wound. Not seeing any alcohol swabs in the little medical satchel, he went back into the sack, pulling out the water flask, swishing it around and pouring a bit into his moth without touching the edge, confirming that it was in fact water.

  He took his gloves and took the grime under his fingernails, and the fingertips of his gloves were. He poured the water and, washing them as best he could, feeling the grime come off his fingers, he forgot even there; he had forgotten our wound. Norbert held the arm down by the elbow with one hand, the water flask in the other, as he began washing the wound.

  “AH!” The scream came out as Grandriel tried to move away from the dominating human, though unsuccessful as Norbert kept the arm still as he continued to work.

  Releasing it from his work, the white bone sis was still sticking out but no longer looking completely bloody. Norbert quickly tied the bandage to the wound as he prodded the bone back into place. Drowning out the elf's screams, he felt it pop back into place. Unsure what happened or why, he did not question his luck.

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  Remembering something was missing, Grandriel panted as he looked at the wound. “Stint,” the elf mumbled, his head flopping back down on the pillow as he shook it back and forth in frustration.

  There were several moments of silence as Norbert looked around, wondering what else he would be, the word mulling over. Looking at the arm and coming to him, it needed a brace, videos going through his head of the bones twisting themselves around without it and causing more damage.

  Giving the elf a thumbs up, which could not be seen, Norbert dived again into the pack. He found what looked like two poles for something, not knowing what for, as he placed them on either side of the arm and bandaged them up.

  Wiping the sweat from his brow, Norbert looked at his work, nodding to himself, satisfied at how it looked. The elf groaned, speaking through the pillow, “Is it over?”

  Norbert slaps the elf in the back. “Yeah, right as rain. Shouldn’t get any worse, but I’m not an ic.” Norbert provided, Grandriel looking at him, worry flashing in his eyes.

  “Then how do you have no scars?” Grandriel asked Norbert, careful not to move the arm coming into a sitting up position, legs dangling over the bed.

  “Magic.” Norbert provided, taking one of the throwing daggers and slicing against the back of his hand, blood welling for a second, holding back the energy within him that wanted to rush up and heal the wound immediately. Letting the floodgate, a rippling of purple went over the veins in his hand, forcing the energy to the wound as the wound instantly healed up, leaving not even a scar.

  Norbert now had to look at the shelter, the dust inside his nose. Sneezes, echoing around the small room, a light rune above his head providing illumination. Turning to the wall with shelves, see the season items that would be useful to replenish the packs. Norbert is holding pieces of wood of roughly the same size on a shelf, holding them against his arm.

  “I guess I could have used this,” Norbert added, turning around and looking at the annoyed Under-Elf shuffling towards the same draws.

  “That you could have and should have,” he said, going to one with glass bottles. Norbert saw the green liquid swirling inside. He took half a swig of it, the pain disappearing from his face. He shook his arm around in relief.

  “Going to undo it?” Norbert asked, pointing towards the elf’s arm.

  A shake of Grandriel’s head in response, “No, the brace will help, though we won’t be camping without the poles tonight.” He provided positioning to his arm.

  “How many more of these do you have?” Norbert asked, eyes looking over the supplies around.

  “Like this, a lot. But my own only a couple more for this trip.”

  “This trip?” Norbert asked.

  “Yeah, we are going much deeper in than I normally go. Each one is about a half-day journey in case something goes wrong,” The Under-Elf wagged his arm in front of the shelf. “Most of them only have half of the items. But a safe place to rest is always welcome.”

  Norbert nodded his head as he looked around, pondering how else they could be nodded his “So, where is the destination in mind?”

  “Well, it’s the quickest path towards your destination,” Grandriel told him.

  Norbert turned his back to the door. “But what’s there?”

  “An old doorway leading to a place I’ve only just looked at. The air doesn’t sit right with me, with anyone gone there.”

  “So you're not the only one going out here?”

  “We’ve been here for quite some time. Of course, other people will try to explore the area filled with monsters.” Grandriel spoke to him in a mocking tone.

  Norbert nodded, letting the words sink in. The little note that Grandriel added to him reminded him of what happened to Grimm to make their island inhabitable only to them: “So you’re not the only strange one.”

  “Now yes, the others no longer join these expeditions, scared away from the righteous goal of exploring the unknown,” he shouted, voices echoing around the cave. He held his arm in a fist, an invoice from his mouth as he tri. He held his arm the wrong way.

  “How long are we going to stay here?” Norbert asked, eyeing the single bed in the room, with no other places for them to sleep, supposing it would be another night of leaning against a wall.

  Grandriel breaking his train of thought. “I'm sleeping on the bed,” Grandriel told him, lying down with a harrumph. Norbert smiling as he inched forwards, only to receive a curt “Alone” the Under-Elf added, Norbert just smiled and whistled a tune as he played his back against the wall just smiled the whistled entrance; he played between his legs as he closed his eyes and … waited.