Someone shook him off the deep trance he had plunged into, and he emerged from its pain filled depths with groggy blinking .

"Nar?"

"Are we leaving?" he asked, his voice raw, parched husk.

"Yes," Jul said. "Are you alright? You should drink some water… Maybe?"

Nar flexed his fingers, making a face at the echoes of pain deep within him.

Things were settled for the moment. Thanks to his stronger pathways, he had come to realize that he wasn't in as much trouble as he had been, after the Ceremony, but he also had no illusions as to the fact that most likely, all it would take to send him careening off the deep end again was one, strong and proper aura attack.

"Getting there," he said, instead. "I'm ready to fight again, anyways."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

He looked up at her concerned expression and raised a hand to pat her head.

"I'm fine," he said. "You?"

She opened her mouth to say yes, but she caught herself short, and instead she shrugged.

"We'll talk about it. When we're safe," he reassured her. "I probably won't be of much help to you, but I'll do my best."

"I would like that…" she said.

He glanced at the others. "Right. Time to get out of this damned jungle."

Jul reached out a hand for him, and he took it with a thankful smile.

"Everyone ready?" Sej asked.

With more time on their hands, she had gotten a rope out of her inventory and had gotten someone to tie Sarke to her back, so that she could use her hands to fight if need be.

Not if. When, Nar corrected himself as he once more reached out for Raf.

Jul had insisted on carrying Kur and Cen, saying that Nar's long-range attacks would be far more useful to them than her up-close fighting style, and he hadn't debated it. However, he did wonder if he was in any state to use his aura at all.

"We won't rush it, but we won't be slow either," the guide continued. "We'll keep quiet, and do our best to just keep going until we hit the lake. Our maps are grayed out, yes, but I know enough to know that we're not that far off. We just need to get there."

Nar nodded alongside the others.

"So, hang in there, look out for each other, and be ready for everything," she said. "Come on. Let's get this done, and then we auramancers have a nice, hot barnacle soup to look forward to!"

And with groans from the auramancers, and laughter from Leon and Eum, the domain party got underway once more, under that brightening, malevolent red light.

**********

"Food?"

Nar opened his eyes to a bright green and yellow striped round fruit, inches from his nose. Beyond it, Tuk grinned down at him as he chewed loudly from behind his mask.

"Thanks," Nar said, taking it.

"How's it going?" the trugger asked, then he quickly raised his mask and took a quick bite of his own meal. There was no way to fully keep the Miasma out while eating, but at least, the exposure was reduced, and it shouldn't contribute significantly to increasing the debuff counters.

Nar pushed his thumb into the fruit and began peeling it the way Sarke had taught them, weeks earlier.

"Better," Nar said. "Still sore though."

And I definitely shouldn't be fighting for a day or two, he thought, keeping that part to himself.

"Nice. Hopefully we won't need to fight," Tuk said.

"Hopefully."

But I doubt it, and again, that part he kept to himself.

Morning had come and went, and as the hours dragged into midafternoon, Sej had finally relented and allowed them a rest stop.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Nar had immediately started meditating again, as any little bit would help him soothe and patch up his abused pathways. He was under no illusions that the rest of their journey would prove as uneventful as it had thus far, and if anything, the lack of beast attacks only made him increasingly nervous. As though the jungle was keeping something even worse in reserve for them, just as escape finally glimmered in their sights…

Still, hoping doesn't hurt, I guess, he thought.

He bit into the light pink flesh of the fruit and grimaced.

Nothing tastes right here, he thought, glancing at the red dyed branches and thorns. There wasn't a single wisp of a breeze to disturb the Miasma down where they were, and it lay thick and heavy over the branches and thorns, glimmering maliciously in the few light rays that managed to penetrate that far down.

"Hey, Leon!" Tuk whispered as the paladin strode past. "Catch!"

The paladin, his expression frowned in deep thought, startled at the fruit thrown his way, and while he raised his hands on instinct, a grimace of pain took his features… The fruit hit his chest then dropped on the floor, where it started rolling away towards the chasm at their side.

"Shit," Leon muttered.

He quickly bent down and scooped it up.

"Leon…" Tuk whispered, stunned. "You… You're hurt!"

"What?" Jasphaer said.

The healer was thankfully a lot more alert today, and he looked up from Kur, whom he had been trying to heal. Lete too, interrupted her ministrations to stare at the aethermancer. And so did everybody else…

"Ah… It's fine!" he said, his expression tight.

But Jasphaer was already on his way over to him.

"Describe it!" he demanded of Leon.

"It's really nothing," Leon muttered. "Just, when I move my arm, I feel pain on my side… And when I breathe too."

"Leon!" Leta breathed, her expression aghast.

"Genahu, man!" Jasphaer said. "You should have told us!"

The healer reached for his arm and raised it slowly.

"Nothing we could do. And it would only serve to worry you fur… Ow!"

Jasphaer tutted.

"Turn around!" he ordered. "I need to check your side!"

"Did you know?" Mul asked Eum.

The tygaris hesitated, then he nodded. "Nothing we could do about it. The potions didn't seem to be doing the trick, and it would have just worried you guys."

"Of course it would!" Leta chastised him. "That sort of pain can be seve…"

"OW!" Leon suddenly shouted.

Both Jasphaer and Leon looked taken aback at the paladin's sudden shout.

"That's not good, is it?" Leon asked, breathing harder. He had one eye closed against the pain, and his posture was now slightly hunched forward.

"No, it's not," Jasphaer said, his expression neutral. "You've got something broken or cracked for sure. But… I need you to take a deep, slow breath."

Leon nodded. His expression had gone pale.

He started inhaling deeply. Slowly… Then he winced.

"Stop!" Jasphaer said. "Don't push it. Exhale. Come lay down over here."

Those that could move scampered to surround Leon and Jasphaer.

"I'm fine!" Leon said, frowning at the gathered heads above him. "Don't…"

"Shhh!" Jasphaer told him. "Breath in again. Slowly. I need to listen to your chest."

Nar watched silently as Jasphaer made Leon breath in and out a few times, his long, black fur covered ear lying flat against the aethermancer's chest. Whenever the paladin felt pain, the healer would stop him, and tell him to exhale.

"Anything?" Eum asked, when Jasphaer straightened back up.

"Hold on," Leta replied instead. "Let him finish."

Jasphaer placed his hands over Leon's chest, and felt around the general area of his right lung and side.

"Hmmm," he said eventually. "The good news is that I don't hear anything wrong with your lung…"

"And the bad?" Leon asked. His face had gone even paler, and fresh sweat now glistened on his brow. The breathing in and out must have been a whole lot more painful that he had let on.

"The bad news is that I'm worried you cracked or fractured a rib, and which might either be threatening to puncture your lung, or a bone splinter is," Jasphaer said. "Since I'm an auramancer, I can't check it for sure, as your aether blocks my [Aura Sight]. But you need to take it easy. Now. With Era down, and this Miasma blocking our HP and potions from working, continued strain or a second trauma to this region could trigger a medical emergency we cannot deal with."

"Are you saying he can't fight?" Sej asked.

"Not unless he wants to risk puncturing his lung," Jasphaer said. "If that happens… And without healing at hand, things can go very, very badly very fast. Even with your high [Constitution] and [Toughness]."

"But I have to fight!" Leon said, then he winced.

"Leon… That vine thing managed to get through you to grab Calli," Eum said, his tone gentle, but firm. "You can't fight in this state."

"I…"

"And you definitely won't be carrying anyone either," Jasphaer said, and his tone broke no room for argument. "If the worst happens, Leon, you will be fighting for your life, and that will only make our situation worse."

Leon looked from the healer, to Eum, to everyone else around him. Finally, his eyes laid on Nar.

Nar raised his eyebrows at the paladin, as if to say "it is what it is, don't feel bad about it" and Leon finally relented.

"Alright. I won't fight," Leon said. "Unless I have to! Nar's been fighting with his damage pathways and no one's stopped him!"

"I should probably take a look at them too, actually," Jasphaer said, eying Nar.

He shook his head. "Focus on the injured. My [Meditation] is fixing me up. Don't worry."

"Hmmm," Jasphaer said, eyeing him up and down. "Seems like it. But don't cycle until I give you the go ahead. Just in case."

"Does he need to be carried?" Gad asked.

"I'm fine!" Leon muttered, pushing himself up again.

"Are you sure?" Eum asked, grinning wickedly. "Would you like me to carry you in my big, strong arms?"

Laughter rumbled around the gathering.

Leon sighed. "How did you go from being worried about me, to bullying me?"

"Once we figured out you were safe, anything goes, man," Jaz said.

Nar smiled as he shook his head. However, his expression quickly soured as he noticed the tenseness around Sej's eyes, and the worsening of their situation sunk in.

Over half of them were passed out, risking HP drain at the hands of wounds that [Touch of Rot] prevented them from healing. As for the other half, other than Nar and Eum, their health bars were hovering warning oranges and yellows, and no one's stamina bar was looking much higher than half. As it were, they were one bad fight away from ending up in a nightmare…

"We should keep going," Sej said, when she noticed him staring. "We still have a long way ahead of us."

She had aimed the words towards Leon, and the paladin gave her a grim nod.

"I'm ready," he said. "Let's go."

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