Reflection

Reiji shocks awake, gasping for air. His whole body wracked with pain. The coarse thread of bandages grating slightly against his skin.

"Ugh. That freakin hurts" He complains as his bandaged hands move to brace his red bandaged chest.

"Wh-where am I?" His voice comes out hoarse and raspy, as he looked around.

He was laying on a makeshift bed in what appeared to be a makeshift hospital. The room was run down, a wooden house smelling damp and moldy. The Sun's rays shining through, illuminating the dancing motes of dust flitting in the air. Around him were multiple other injured people, Knights and Adventurers each bandaged with varying degrees of bloodied bandages.

Crawling to his feet, Reiji pushes forward, clinging to the wall as he walks out. His red jacket draped over his shoulders.

"Hey wait! What are you doing out of bed?" A bright and cheery voice interrupts him, footsteps chasing after him.

Turning around, Reiji was greeted by the sight of Serena, the guild receptionist, her uniform covered by a white and bloodied apron.

"Ah Mr.Reiji why are you up already?" She asks concerned as she shoulders one of his arm, trying to get him to return to bed.

"I'm fine. My wounds have closed already. I just don't have much strength."

"That's because you burned your own HP in battle. It's not something to be done lightly. Your body will suffer serious side effects for a while."

"Yeah? I didn't have a choice, but I'll keep that in mind." He jokes lightly. "How long has it been?" 

"You've been unconscious for half a day, it's past noon now, the Sun will set in a few hours."

"Where are we?"

"In a building of the middle layer. We've turned some storage facilities into make shift hospitals."

"So the city is still standing. Good. Can you take me to Xenon?" His piercing gaze displayed his unwavering spirit.

"Fine. If I take you back to bed, you'll just sneak off by yourself, right?"

"Heh. Looks like you understand me."

Sighing, Serena responds. "It's not hard to understand a meathead like you. Master Xenon is currently at the guild. Come on."

Supporting him, Serena helps Reiji out of the makeshift hospital as they make their way towards the Adventurers guild.

Stepping in, they were greeted by a completely different atmosphere. The first floor had been commandeered, gone were the long tables and groups of adventurers sitting around tables, replaced by a big central table with a detailed map of Tristan and it's surroundings. Upon the map were multiple wooden pieces, placed atop it's walls and on the fields, mimicing the situation of the combat still going on.

Xenon stood at the head of the table, surrounded by other high rank adventurers and knight captains talking about how best to proceed. Behind them, were multiple boards packed with information about the type of corrupted beasts and adventurers and knights currently engaged in battle. 

Guild clerks ran around arranging the information in real time, back and forth from the board and the table to the side. The table was used by a couple mages who were operating around different magical tools, communicating and scrying the battlefield real time.

Before he could approach Xenon Reiji was greeted by two familiar figures, Nraltia and Souma. The two were also slightly bandaged, but they were in much better shape than Reiji.

"Hey you two." He smiles at his friends, as they come over with concern in their eyes, Nraltia taking his shoulder from Serena.

"Are you sure you should be up so soon?" She ask, her ears bending as she turns to look at him.

"Yeah I'm alright. Just tired still." He smiles lightly, at her as Xenon finally approaches.

"You're up." He notes, his voice calm.

"Yeah."

"I assume you came over to talk about something important?" Xenon asks with one brow raised.

Nodding slowly "Yes. It's important." 

Motioning for them to follow, Xenon leads them up towards his room on the second floor, leaving the Knight Commander in charge.

"So the siege is still going?" Reiji asks as they struggle up the stairs.

"Yeah. Once the corrupted wave has started, it's not likely to end anytime soon." Xenon replies. "However, with the defeat of the 4 commanders, one by you and the other 3 by others, Tristan will stand for a while longer."

Entering Xenon's office the four plop down on the sofa in their usual arrangements.

"So what is it?"

"We need to head to the Capital of the Empire. The seal is there, the Holy Order of the Saintess has it."

"Did Elnyra tell you that?"

"... Yeah. We talked while I was unconscious." Reiji answers slowly, thinking back to the conversation he had.

"Reiji... remember your promise."

"I know. I won't tell them you're Alicia." He replies telepathically.

"I had a feeling it would be there. It's the only place where my contacts haven't reported back. We've already checked the Black Spine Mountains and the sewers of Tristan. It wasn't in either of them. However, we still don't know how to reseal Vermundr."

"It doesn't matter. We know they have the seal, we need to head there as soon as possible. Now that Nraltia has the sage class, we can cross that bridge when we get there." Reiji fixes his gaze onto Xenon, his eyes refusing to budge.

Squeezing the bridge of his nose Xenon sighs uncontrollably. "Fine. But I can only provide another group of adventurers as back up. With the ongoing siege, we need all the able bodied defenders."

Looking at each other, the three of them nod resolutely. "That's fine. It's the only way to end the threat to Tristan anyways."

"The question is which party would be willing to go with you? I can't imagine many parties willing to travel all the way into enemy territory with you."

Souma pauses slightly before opening his mouth. "How about the Gryphon party? I know Vaelen and the others would help us."