"Well, if we’re talking about you," Tashi said, looking at Kaelen while scratching his greying beard, "you’ll be completely healed by next week."
A brief pause followed, and then with an awkward cough, he added, "But for this Dallas boy, it’ll take half a year..... maybe two months, if luck smiles."
"...Great," Jered muttered under his breath, sarcasm thick in his voice.
He leaned his head back against the pillow, wincing at the movent. Every breath, every blink of an eye, seed to demand more energy than it should.
Just then Bang! Bang! a loud knocking sound echoed outside the room, followed by a firm voice.
"Let through! It’s my little brother!" the voice demanded.
Outside the ward, two guards stationed at the door moved quickly into position.
"Halt. No one is allowed to enter without the express permission of the dical departnt," one of them stated, eyes narrowing.
"I’m a family mber of the patient. Let in!" Alex barked again.
"Prove your identity and relation to the patient," the other guard added, expression stern.
Before it could escalate further, a calm voice from inside called out. "Let him in."
Tashi looked toward the door with mild surprise. "Looks like we have visitors," he said.
The door opened with a creak, and Alex stord in, his usually tidy hair ruffled, his cloak still dusted from the dungeon.
He looked like a man who’d just run miles on foot and punched through walls to get there.
His eyes scanned the room then froze.
His jaw clenched. His pupils shrank. All color drained from his face.
"...Jered?" he whispered, his voice breaking.
Jered offered him a wry, crooked smile, raising one hand feebly.
"Hey, big bro... guess who broke the ’don’t lose your limbs’ rule?"
Alex staggered forward, his eyes locked on Jered’s bandaged body. IVs were hooked into his right arm. And three of his limbs were missing.
His younger brother looked like a war survivor, not a novice from the academy.
"What happened to you?! Who did this?!" he roared.
Jered winced. "Don’t shout. It’s still loud inside my head, thanks."
But his casual response only made Alex more furious.
He turned to Kaelen then to Tashi seeking so kind of answer, or maybe soone to bla.
Tashi sensed the impending explosion and a wicked idea ca to his mind. He raised a hand. "Ahem, young man, this was all due to the test. Not the Dean’s fault."
But Alex had already tuned out.
His thoughts raced. Three monsters. Inside the village.
Two eight-year-olds. No warning. No backup. He had personally gone over the periter and checked the forest before he left for the dungeon
but when he returned a disaster had already struck.
There was no sign of an invasion. There was no logical reason for monsters to have appeared there.
Unless...
Unless soone put them there.
"Don’t listen to that old geezer," Jered snapped weakly. "He’s just trying to mislead you."
But Alex was already gone.
He stord out the dical ward like a hurricane wrapped in armor.
Every step toward the Dean’s office was filled with murderous intent. Students watched from afar, whispering in hushed tones.
Most had never seen Alex this angry.
He was the pride of the Dallas family, always composed, brilliant, and efficient.
Now he looked like he was seconds away from unleashing a dungeon boss on the academy itself.
He reached the thick, mana-sealed door to Vasra’s chamber. "CO OUT, YOU BASTARD!" he roared.
And shockingly... the door opened by itself.
Alex stepped in without hesitation. The room fell into darkness the mont his foot crossed the threshold.
The next thing anyone saw... was a third bed being rolled into the dical ward.
Back in the ward.
Kaelen blinked, watching the unfamiliar boy’s bruised and swollen face. "Jered, why does this guy look... weirdly familiar?"
Jered narrowed his eyes, staring.
"Yeah... he does look kinda like... wait. That hair... that chin...."
Kaelen squinted harder. "He kinda looks like Alex."
Jered’s brain clicked. "Wait. WAIT. You dumbass THAT IS ALEX!"
The boy on the third bed groaned. "Uuuuuuuh... my ribs... mother, it hurts... it hurts so much..."
Then he blinked. "Who... am I? Where am I? Why is everything spinning?"
Kaelen looked like he’d just discovered a new toy. "He’s been beaten senseless!"
The two boys, despite their wounds, erupted into a cackling ss of laughter.
Kaelen was crying from laughter "I always thought he was the cool, composed big brother type."
"Yeah, until he played hero with the wrong guy," Jered wheezed through chuckles.
"What was he thinking charging into the Dean’s office like that?"
A sharp groan ca from the third bed. "Aaahhhh... shut up... it hurts to breathe."
Kaelen laughed harder. "This is the greatest mont of my life."
"Mine too," Jered agreed, then flinched. "Ow okay, maybe second greatest."
Outside the ward, Tashi had nearly stumbled over with laughter.
"Oh-ho-ho! Serves you right, you snotty brat," he chuckled.
"Should’ve known better than to go headfirst into Vasra’s domain. That guy’s door alone is probably a tier above your whole clan’s defense system."
He shook his head, wiping tears from his wrinkled eyes. "It’s like watching a baby goat try to headbutt a mountain."
anwhile, in the Dean’s chamber.
Vasra sat back on his throne-like chair, one leg over the other, calmly sipping tea from a floating porcelain cup. Not a single strand of his robe was out of place.
Baalk stood beside him in her purple-haired, seductive form, watching the replay of Alex being launched halfway across the room and landing face-first into a mana barrier.
"Wasn’t that a bit much?" she asked, raising a brow.
"He called a bastard," Vasra replied without even blinking. "I think I showed great restraint."
"You broke his ribs."
"Just three. He’ll live. It’s a lesson."
She rolled her eyes. "Brothers, huh?"
He sipped again. "They never learn."
Back in the dical ward, as the laughter died down, Kaelen suddenly turned to Jered with a thoughtful look.
"You think Alex will ever learn not to ss with your brother?"
Jered smirked. "Not a chance."
A groan echoed from the third bed. "I hate all of you."
Kaelen shouted in amusent. "He rembers! He’s cured!"
Tashi entered, arms crossed. "Alright, alright, break ti’s over. Save the cody for after your bones fuse back together."
He looked at Jered, then Kaelen, then the sulking Alex.
Three beds. Three patients. One lesson burned into all of them; never challenge a Dean-level monster unless you’re ready to sleep for eternity.
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