Elsie and Skyler had respectfully turned away while Gabby continued treating Tony. The cave felt heavier than usual, filled with the sharp sounds of pain. Tony's groans, the occasional gasps, the grinding of his teeth… it was all painful to hear. But little by little, the noise started to fade. The worst of it seemed to be settling down.
Still, it had taken longer than any of them expected.
Then, everything slowed for a second.
Gabby leaned in and gently kissed Tony on once again.
Just a short one.
Just enough to surprise herself, and him too, if he had noticed.
She told herself it was only to help calm him down… something to ease the pain. For medical reasons. At least, that's how she tried to explain it to herself.
Skyler and Elsie turned to look this time, trying to catch a glimpse..
Skyler, trying to lighten the mood a bit, cleared her throat. "It's supposed to be used only three times," she said quietly, glancing at the small vial Gabby was using. "We're already at six or seven now."
"Shut up," Elsie whispered sharply, nudging Skyler with her elbow. But there was a smile on her lips too, small but real.
When she pulled back, Tony's face looked a little more relaxed. His breathing had eased. His eyes were still closed, but the tension on his face had softened. Something about that moment seemed to calm him down in a way that nothing else had.
Gabby let out a soft breath and slowly sat beside him again. She glanced over at Elsie and Skyler, who had now turned back around and were watching with curious eyes.
"That's all for medical reasons," Skyler said with a playful smirk.
" Can you please shut up," Elsie repeated, this time with a laugh in her voice.
Gabby didn't say anything. She just focused on Tony's wound again. But deep inside, she felt something shift. That kiss, quick and unexpected, left behind a strange feeling. One she couldn't ignore. Her heart beat a little faster than before. She picked up the dressing again, but her thoughts were elsewhere.
She was starting to like Tony.
The wound was worse than it looked earlier. Much worse. Even though the blood had stopped flowing, Tony's condition wasn't improving. His face had gone pale, and he was barely breathing. He hardly touched the food they gave him. He looked like he was fading, slowly but surely.
Gabby was scared. She couldn't say it out loud, but the thought kept repeating in her mind, Tony was dying.
She looked at Elsie, trying to hold herself together.
"Stay with him," she said. "Do anything he asks for. I need to leave the cave… I have to find something that can help."
Gabby had made up her mind. She was going to find Acarias, Z-12. Maybe he would know what to do.
Elsie nodded quickly, clearly worried but trusting her.
Gabby was just about to grab her satchel when Skyler stepped forward.
"No, wait. I can help," she said firmly. "I'm her student. She taught me things. I can do this."
Gabby turned to her, surprised. Skyler's face was serious.
"Get me your medical box," she said. "I'll look for some herbs that can reduce the pain and maybe slow the damage. But you should still go outside, we might need more."
Gabby gave her a small nod. "Alright. I'll be quick."
Far away from the cave, in the quiet space of the infirmary, Z-12 was already investigating. He had been examining the same kind of wound on another soldier, hoping to understand what was causing it.
With his magnifying lens in hand, he studied the wound carefully.
Something was off.
He noticed thin, yellowish sheaths forming inside the wound. They would sit still for a while, but then every twenty minutes or so, they cracked open, spilling a strange yellow liquid. Each time it happened, the wound became deeper, more dangerous, like the injury was spreading on its own.
He had never seen anything like it before.
It was almost like the wound was feeding on itself… getting worse over time.
A self-reproducing toxin.
Z-12 stood up and paced around his lab, troubled. This wasn't just a normal infection. This was something strange, something unnatural.
He turned to his bookshelf and started pulling out the thickest books he had. One after the other, he placed them on the table, Discovery, Medicine and Mythical Disorders, Spells and Healing Runes, Book of Magic and Scientific Relations, any book that could help him understand what he was looking at.
He adjusted his glasses and got to work. He flipped through chapters, checked reference pages, compared symptoms and spells… but none of the books had the answer.
After going through eleven books, he still found nothing that matched what he was seeing.
He sighed and looked at the old metal chest in the corner of the room.
"Maybe I should check those," he muttered.
The chest had been sitting there for a long time. It came from the old storehouse, and no one had really touched it since then. He walked over, knelt down, and opened it. Inside were books, old ones. Dusty, worn, forgotten.
He pulled out a thick one that stood out. The cover was cracked leather, and it had strange symbols carved into a faded lock, an inverted triangle, a triangle, a pentagon, a star, and a circle with a tiny flame in the middle.
He gently touched the symbols, expecting it to be locked.
But it clicked open.
The book fell open in his hands, revealing something incredible.
Inside were old drawings, magical runes, and pages filled with secrets, cures, spells, and long-lost knowledge. It was the kind of book that only existed in stories, but it was real.
His eyes widened as he flipped through the pages.
"This might be it," he whispered.
A new path had opened, a chance to find the truth behind this strange wound.
Maybe, just maybe, he could still save them.