ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 69: The Nap

Chapter 69

The Nap

Thursday

Time Until Integration: 1 Month, 29 Days, 7 hours, 23 Minutes…

When Alexa went to the healer’s hut for her assigned time, unlike every other time she entered, this time Alexa asked for a personal favor.

“Could I lie down in the back?” Alexa asked, her cold tone denoting a trace of being exhausted.

Thinking on why someone like Alexa would ask such a question was simple, the poor girl had to be running on fumes. At least that was what Clara St. Brown, the school nurse and Elven sympathizer, thought when receiving the question.

“Of course dear, just choose a cot in the back and I will make sure that no one bothers you.” Clara said, as she gestured the girl to the darkest room in the hut.

Alexa not feeling any sense of malice or deceit from Clara, went to the bed and promptly passed out, almost before her long legs were brought up, she found that they easily hung over the edge of he bed.

Clara watched on, as a faint maternal instinct kicked in, as she watched the tall girl. While she found her heart slightly sour at the jealousy she suddenly felt towards the girl, she couldn’t find herself to begrudge her. She had seen the news videos and the videos of the students on campus who had recorded and then uploaded the video of her valiantly running in to fight off a pack of werewolves, especially a pack being run by a dire werewolf.

After seeing her bravery first hand, Clara realized why she was promoted so quickly to the Rank of Baroness. Also, if General Mackie was to be believed, she was proficient in a number of schools of magic herself. Even going so far as to teach herself Tier II in some alien form of magic that Mackie had never heard of.

No, rather that being jealous of what the warrior had, Clara decided to use her as an example of what hard work and dedication gets you. Even now, Clara knew that the girl was only resting so she could go to the dungeons later tonight.

Also, this act of sleeping inside the lions den, proved one thing to Clara. This proved that Alexa was truly on board with the elven army, for there was no way any sane person would ask to willingly sleep in the lair of their enemies. While this didn’t do much for Clara, as she had no reason to doubt the girl’s true intentions. The message she sent to the General, did help assuage his doubts.

Clara: Subject asked to take a nap during extras. I gave her the back bed, she was out almost instantly.

There was a slight pause, as she wondered if she should add her next part. Finally after a second, she decided to send her thoughts anyways.

Clara: I suspect she might be pushing herself too hard.

With that, the general responded almost instantly.

General: Very good. Keep me up to date with any changes.

Also, let her know that she has been approved for a dungeon pass.

There was a slight pause in between texts, but it showed how little he valued Clara’s input. They both knew that by telling her that she could go into the dungeon, that she would go.

Shaking her head, she gave one look to the sleeping girl’s form, before responding back.

Clara: Yes sir.

That was it, the full exchange of information form her to General Mackie, but it spoke volumes. What she didn’t see, what she couldn’t be aware of, was the slight sigh of relief Mr. Mackie had at reading the message from Clara.

Clara of course could feel the instant Mr. Mackie activated his divination runes to remotely view Alexa’s condition personally.

He never trusts my judgement, Clara found herself thinking as she watched the runes flare to life. Still, she needed to play this game, especially if Mr. Mackie had the political pull that he claimed to have with the elves. This was her second shot at magic, not some midling psychic powers that were limited in scope, but true magic. Clara felt that she could endure any form of humiliation for the chance to learn true magic, especially now that she knew the Integration was nearly upon them. Just a little longer, maybe I can even get the Baroness to teach me, if I play my cards right.

As for Alexa, her plan was simple, go to the healers hut during extras, hopefully take a nap. Then go immediately into Dungeon Delving. Alexa knew that every day was going to be precious to her, she needed to get stronger quickly. She also had a backpack full of crystals that were all but calling her name to be devoured.

As for why Alexa chose the nurse’s hut to take a nap, the rationale was simple, they had beds. The healer’s hut had beds, and Alexa needed sleep. Never once did the nuances of sleeping under the gaze of a potential enemy cross her mind. From her point of view it would look far sketchier if she was tired and didn’t ask to take a nap from her supposed allies. It should also be pointed out that this was her first real dedicated block of sleep since she was knocked unconscious by over exerting herself against the Necromancer. Of course, her exhaustion came from over healing a Necromancer that was vastly more powerful than she was.

Even though she could still vividly recall the swirling black tendrils that sucked away the health of anyone they touched. She found her dreams oddly peaceful. As she didn’t have any dreams related to that event, no Alexa’s mind was far too tired to rest in the realm of dreams, insead she found her consciousness quickly fade to the deepest parts of her psyche.

***

“Where is Alexa?” Gina found herself asking, when she got to the healer’s hut.

“Oh, the poor girl is passed out in the back.” Clara said, gesturing to the back, where a pair of black booted feet could be seen pushing out the blackout curtain that separated the back bed from the others in the hut.

“Oh.” Was all Gina could manage to say at the sight.

A short time later Sarah Stevens, and her lurking shadow of a bodyguard appeared in the hut.

“Where is…”

Was all Sarah managed, before she was cut off with a quick “shh.” From both Clara and Gina. Then a quick look back showed the tall girl still sticking out from the smaller sized cots in the healer’s hut.

“Oh.” Was all Sarah could say. With that both girls began manning their stations, each looking back at different times hoping to catch Alexa first before she awoke.

At one point, Gina seeing the way Sarah kept glancing back at Alexa, had to ask.

“Do you need to talk to her about something?”

“What?” Sarah asked, as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, “no,” she said with a slight twitch. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

Gina saw all the cues for lying, and then after mentally noting them, only then did the system give her the confirmation that she had been expecting.

Average Female (Sarah Stevens): Emotional State: Lying.

Seeing the message Gina did something she promised herself she wouldn’t do. She activated her power, Mind Reading. Gina needed to know for a fact what Sarah’s intentions were towards her Alexa.

Whoom.

Using the power was a bit like walking out into the middle of a fierce rainstorm. You knew you were going to get pelted with water, and only after a second or two would you be fully drenched and able to move about normally. This power of Gina’s acted much the same way, especially with how little practice she had while using it.

Suddenly a flood of thoughts came flooding in, she had the power to read everyone in a few hundred meter radius of her, but focusing was still a problem for her. For now, Gina only activated the first layer of her power, the one that allowed her to read the surface thoughts of everyone around her. This was important as it let her find the different minds that she could read and then react to them.

Instantly three minds came to life right before her, each sharing their current surface thoughts.

“I need to ask her about helping with the dragon problem…”

“…This is all a waste of time. She is a teenager and an American, there is no way this would work…”

“It’s a good thing we didn’t have to kill her…”

Gina instantly found that the first thought was the one she had originally been looking for. At first Gina was going to dismiss the other two voices from her power, something she could do by focusing in on one particular train of thought. This was a process that was harder than it sounded as it took intense effort to zero in on one particular stream of thoughts and follow it to its source. But something about the third person’s thoughts made her pause. Who was going to be killed, and who was going to do the killing?

Focusing on the third stream of thoughts, Gina found that this pulse was fainter, meaning they were further away. Looking around the room Gina found the nurse Clara St. Brown in the direction of the odd thought about murder.

Curiosity killed the cat as they say, as Gina found herself pushing a thought to the mind. “Who would you kill?”

The response was as direct as it was cryptic, “the baroness of course. Though honestly there would be nothing I could do to stop him, even if I wanted to.”

Gina didn’t know who the baroness was, was she someone related to Sarah? Was Sarah a baroness? No, that didn’t make sense, could it? Watching Clara St. Brown, Gina saw the moment her eyes flicked not to Sarah, but to the patient in the back.

Badump, badump…

Gina’s heart raced as she realized this might go beyond courtly intrigue.

“Yes, I need to keep her alive, at least long enough for her to teach me Healing magic.” The mental thoughts of Clara St. Brow continued to connive.

This time, Gia was almost certain she knew who the nurse was talking about, Alexa, though what was this talk of being a Baroness? Actually, if she was a Baroness that made sense. Also, it might make her own family situation that much easier to understand. Gina needed to warn Alexa. At first Gina thought the hardest part of her day would be just warning her about her father and who she was exactly, but that was negated by the fact that Alexa was a Baroness, meaning she too was at least a noble. That was good, though not good in the fact that people were actively thinking about killing her. Well using her, then killing her.

Fidgeting.

Gina found herself fidgeting.

“You okay?”

The voice hit her like a quick slap to the face. Gina blinked and instantly broke her mental connection to Clara.

“What?” Gina asked out of reflex, only to realize that she had been actively eavesdropping on a potential murderer. Trying to focus anywhere other than on the potential murderer she turned her gaze back to Sarah and blinked. Why did I want to read her mind, again? Gina found herself thinking.

“You just sort of spaced out there for a moment. One second you were talking about Alexa, then the next you…”

Right. That was why, she was lying about needing to talk to Alexa. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to make a move, but then I found something so much worse. Gina thought to herself.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s just been a really long day.”

“Oh? Anything happening?”

Gina just shrugged, then decided to answer truthfully. “I just found out my parents are coming.”

At that Sarah visibly flinched, but she soon composed herself before asking. “Oh, the Red Demonio is coming?”

Hearing the super name of her father spoke about so casually caused Gina’s heart to pause. “You know?”

“Of course I know. We had a background check done on everyone here. Honestly, do you think your parents are the most dangerous ones?” Sarah asked.

At that Gina felt a slight sting at her pride, as she felt the rebuke was a bit harsh, but felt slightly better that her father wasn’t seen as the ruthless murderer that her own country made him out to be.

“So is that what you wanted to warn Alexa about?” Sarah asked.

Hearing that Gina couldn’t help but nod. “Yes, they want to meet her.”

“They?”

“Yes, my mother is coming as well.”

“The red Countess?”

Gina nodded.

“Oh, well that is another thing entirely.” Sarah said, as she turned to her bodyguard.

“I will report it in immediately.” He said, as he made a quick bow and then went off to the side of the room where he began quickly typing a message.

Gina saw all this, and wondered what it would be like to have parents who cared about her safety, versus parents who all but wrote her off as dead.

“Looks to be a slow day. Why don’t you two go on and head home. I’m sure you have a lot going on.” Clara said, her tone seeming to be a forced calm.

“Oh, no, I’m good. I actually needed to talk to Alexa about something anyways.” Gina said, fidgeting slightly as she didn’t want to leave the murdering nurse alone with Alexa.

“Same.” Sarah said, then gave a defiant stare at Gina.

Gina just glanced back and dismissed the glance. Right now, this was more important than some petty pecking order. Also, Gina would be lying if she didn’t feel slightly more at ease with the bodyguard standing in the corner.

Clara seeing the look of resolve on the two girls’ faces, along with the stoic look of their caretaker could only shrug. “I admire your commitment to the healing art. Why don’t we do some practical exercises while we wait.”

Activating her power once more, Gina wanted to see what the old healer had in store.

“I’ll teach these girls what it means to waste a golden opportunity to leave early.”

At that, Gina was certain she had made the right decision. The idea of leaving this crone alone with her Alexa was almost too much to ponder.

“Today, I will teach you girls about what it means to be a Combat Life Saver, or CLS for short. Today, you two will know the full joy of taking what you have learned and applying it in the field in a manner that will save lives. Today, we will begin by dragging this dummy out of danger, then performing life saving techniques.”

“I have a medical condition.” Gina said, while raising her hand.

“I know, you had a medical condition. Part of my evaluation to your father dictates that I put you through a basic stress test. What better form of stress testing is there, other than trial by combat. Or in this case, healing trials by mock combat.” Clara said.

Sarah too looked like she wanted to protest as well.

“Look you two can leave at any time you want…”

With that the two girls stopped protesting and began their first official class as Combat Life Savers.

A few hours later, after her impromptu CLS course, Gina still felt that this was what she should have done with her afternoon. There was no telling what the old crone had planned for her Alexa, though she would be lying if she said she was a little less enthusiastic about protecting the slumbering giant.

***

Alexa awoke a few hours later, refreshed and ready to continue with her plans for the evening. As she got up, she could hear Clara yelling as if she was a drill sergeant.

Going outside to see what all the yelling was about, Alexa was surprised to see both Gina and Sarah pulling two plastic dummies in a form of a race. The girls had to carry the body over an impromptu obstacle course, to a line and then perform life saving measures. Seeing the state of near exhaustion the two girls were in, Alexa had only one thought come to mind.

“Can I join?”

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Clara said. “Yes, go ahead and grab a dummy then run it through the course. I will time you.”

With that, Alexa grabbed a dummy and began running the course almost instantly.

Click.

The sound of a timer going off could be heard, as Clara used the same stopwatch to time Alexa as she had for the other girls.

“So far, the best time has been one minute and twenty-three seconds on the obstacle…” Clara was cut off, as she had to click the stop watch again.

Looking at the record Clara paused for a second, then exclaimed with surprise, “new course record seventeen seconds.”

With that Sarah and Gina both collapsed in an exhausted heap.

“All right, you are all dismissed. Know that I intend to make this a staple of our training.” Clara said to the three girls.

Alexa for her part easily grabbed all three dummies, dummies that were weighted to be as heavy as real people and easily hauled all three off to the storage shed. While Alexa took a few minutes to clean up, Gina and Sarah sat in a pain filled heap of exhaustion. Both were panting vigorously, as they tried to catch their breath from the hours long torture session they had both been put through.

Once Alexa was done, she came back to viewing range and gave a wave to Clara, letting her know she was going to leave.

Clara waved back.

The two girls were at a bad angle to see Alexa leaving, only after a moment did they realize the reason why they had both stayed and been put through the torture session, had left.

“Wait!” Gina yelled, or at least she tried to yell. Her yell mostly came out as an exhausted exhale.

After a few seconds the two girls staggered exhaustedly to their feet, only to see Alexa enter the newly cleaned out entrance to the dungeon.

“GAH!” Gina let out, as she collapsed to the ground in an exaggerated sigh.

Cackling.

Clara laughed at the girls, before speaking. “Great work today, see you two tomorrow.”

“Uh!” Sarah said, collapsing down next to Gina.

Her bodyguard just looked on and shook his head disappointedly when Sarah turned to him for reassurance.

“Fine then.”

At the center of campus, Alexa entered the campus’ Tier II dungeon. Upon entering with her backpack, she was granted a choice.

Without hesitation, Alexa entered the red tunnels and was immediately greeted by a familiar wall of text. To her surprise and her relief, there were no texts of Trials of Ascension, or her needing to battle Dragons, or fend off armies of enemies. She just found herself in a monster infested trap dungeon. Seeing the familiar setting, Alexa let out a slight sigh of relief while in the dungeon’s initial safe room. Realizing she had time, she took off her backpack and began consuming the crystals that were left over from her battle earlier this morning.

Going through the pile of crystals it was clear that Mr. Mackie had been able to find most, if not all of the crystals from the different dragons. There were eight yellow skill crystals, all of which Alexa consumed almost instantly.

Then she paused as she found her hands grabbing hold of the two largest crystals. Crystals that glowed with a warm purple light once she removed them from her backpack. Looking at the two crystals it was clear that both were related to the first two royal dragons she had killed during the war. Just feeling them, she could sense the powers of the crystal to be similar to the powers of the two dragons.

Seeing the two psychic crystals that offered her powers, she couldn’t help but remember the two crystals that started her down this whole random chain of events three weeks ago, though it felt like so much longer.

These two were attack crystals. The first seemed to pulse with a purple form of lightning, that Alexa instantly knew belonged to the black dragon. The second was a form of frost attack. Seeing the two, she paused for only a moment, before she took a deep breath and put them both away.

Badump. Badump.

With her emotional mind reeling and in control, she knew the best course of action would not be to consume these two herself. No, she knew she would need allies in the coming future. Allies who could protect themselves. Allies who could help turn the tide of a battle when they were called upon. Realizing that, she let out a long breath and forcefully cleared her mind as she put the backpack on her shoulders and exited the now familiar preparation room. She had other shards to collect, and she was on a limited timeframe. With that realization as motivation, she made her way quickly through the first set of challenge rooms. It was going to be a long night of grinding through crystal farming runs.