Shattered Sanity

(The Imperial Academy Medical Wing, Riven’s POV)

”MOVE! MOVE OUT OF MY WAY, DAMN IT! SOMEBODY GET A DOCTOR! GARY’S INJURED! HELP! WE NEED HELP!”

Riven screamed, as he burst through the entrance of the Imperial Academy Medical Wing with Gary hanging limply across his shoulder and nearly a dozen students rushing inside behind him.

The journey from the Northwatch Grounds had forced Riven through several territories currently controlled by competing Houses, although the sight of Gary’s horribly burned body had immediately made everyone understand that whatever had happened was far more serious than Black Week.

Nobody had attempted to stop him.

Even students who had spent the morning attacking anyone wearing Argent colors had immediately cleared a path once they noticed Gary’s condition, while several others abandoned whatever they had been doing and followed Riven towards the Medical Wing.

”What happened? How did he end up this badly injured?”

The Chief Doctor asked, as he hurried towards them before his expression immediately hardened upon getting a closer look at the burns covering Gary’s body.

”I don’t know! I found him like this!”

Riven replied, as the doctor quickly pointed towards an empty treatment bed near the back of the room.

”Put him there! Quickly!”

The Chief Doctor ordered, as Riven hurried towards the bed and carefully lowered Gary onto it before several nurses immediately surrounded the unconscious First Year.

The doctor pressed two fingers against Gary’s neck, then placed his palm over the center of his chest as a faint layer of pale Aether spread across his fingers.

”Pulse is weak and irregular, breathing is shallow, and we’re dealing with extensive Aether burns.”

The Chief Doctor informed the nurses, as his gaze moved rapidly across Gary’s scorched body before he began issuing orders.

”Nurse, bring me two vials of Silverroot Restorative and prepare a diluted dose of Phoenix Marrow Elixir. I want a Coldmist Salve applied across every visible burn while we stabilize his Aether circulation.”

”Yes, Doctor!”

One of the nurses replied, as she immediately rushed towards a cabinet filled with medicinal bottles while another began cutting away what remained of Gary’s burned clothing.

”His internal Aether channels might have suffered thermal damage, so don’t feed him anything concentrated until I check the condition of his Soul Vessel. Prepare an Aether Conduction Array around the bed and bring me three Frost Crystals.”

The Chief Doctor ordered, as several assistants immediately moved into action while Riven remained standing beside the bed, watching everything through his swollen eye.

”Doctor, is he going to survive?”

Riven asked, as the Chief Doctor briefly glanced towards him before returning his attention to Gary.

”I’ll have a better answer once I’ve had a chance to operate on him. Until then, all of you need to get out.”

”But—”

”OUT!”

The Chief Doctor shouted, as he pointed towards the door without looking away from his patient.

”You got him here alive, Dawnriver. You’ve done your part. Now let us do ours before everyone crowding this room starts getting in my way.”

Riven reluctantly stepped backwards before turning towards the exit, while the students who had followed him into the Medical Wing were similarly forced outside as the doors were firmly closed behind them.

The moment Riven reached the corridor, whatever strength had carried him all the way from Northwatch finally seemed to abandon his battered body.

He squatted beside the wall with his elbows resting against his knees before burying his face inside his hands, while the horrifying image of Mary’s mutilated body immediately returned to the front of his mind.

Several students gathered around him, although nobody spoke for a few moments as they stared at the blood covering his clothes and the bruises visible across his battered body.

”Dawnriver, what the hell happened out there?”

One of the students eventually asked, as he stepped closer and looked down at Riven with obvious concern.

”You look half beaten to death yourself, while Ironveil came in looking like someone roasted him alive. Where are Cyrus and the others who were supposed to be with him?”

Riven slowly lifted his head.

His breathing remained uneven as he stared towards the closed treatment-room doors before repeatedly shaking his head.

”I don’t know.”

Riven muttered, as several of the students exchanged confused looks.

”What do you mean you don’t know?”

”I mean I don’t fucking know!”

Riven snapped, as he finally looked towards them with his swollen eyes.

”I remember Gary beating me during the fight, and then everything after that is just gone. I must’ve been knocked unconscious at some point, because when I came back to my senses, everyone had disappeared.”

Riven explained, as his fingers trembled faintly against his knees before his expression gradually became more disturbed.

”Someone needs to go to the Northwatch Grounds immediately....

I— I saw two dead bodies there, and Gary was lying nearby in the condition you just saw him in.

The bodies.... They.... ”

His voice broke, as the surrounding students immediately fell silent.

”What?”

Someone muttered from farther back.

”Just go there.... Please....”

Riven requested softly, as he lowered his head and pressed one hand against his aching forehead.

”I don’t know who attacked us after I lost consciousness, or what the fuck happened while I was out, but something horrible happened at Northwatch.”

”Dead bodies?”

Another student asked, as disbelief immediately spread across his expression.

”What the hell are you talking about, Dawnriver? This is the Imperial Academy. Students don’t die here.”

Riven slowly raised his head and stared directly into the student’s eyes.

He didn’t answer.

There was no anger upon his face anymore, nor any trace of the arrogance the other Houses had grown accustomed to seeing from Riven Dawnriver.

The expression staring back at the student was simply cold enough that the disbelief gradually disappeared from his face.

”Shit....”

The student muttered, as he finally understood that Riven wasn’t exaggerating.

He immediately turned and rushed down the corridor, while several others began hurriedly discussing who needed to be informed and whether Black Week itself needed to be temporarily suspended.

And as more students emerged from the surrounding treatment rooms to investigate the commotion, the first whispers that something horrible had happened at the Northwatch Grounds began spreading through the Imperial Academy.