Dale’s eyes slowly opened and he gasped for air. His eyes darted to the side of his bed where Doctor Edmond stood.

His usually smooth moustache seemed uncharacteristically disorderly.

He tried to speak but found he couldn’t. If anything, it seemed as though even breathing was difficult.

Doctor Edmond placed a hand on him.

"We’re here to see Dale." Sarah’s voice spoke from behind the door.

The binding feeling on his chest slowly eased, allowing him to breathe properly.

Doctor Edmond smiled softly at Dale and walked out of the room without saying a word.

Sarah slowly walked to Dale, alongside Austin and the Awakened trio.

"Hey man, how are you feeling?" Austin asked nervously.

Dale could see the worry on their faces and to make matters worse, the last thing he remembered was charging in at their five-way spar.

’I guess Decay and Blight really got to me.’ He wanted to laugh.

He turned his focus back to them. "Don’t worry, I’m good. So tell me, who won?"

Trevor rolled his eyes. "Who do you think? You... obviously." He spoke, and his voice dropped a few octaves at the last word.

Dale nodded to himself. It made sense seeing as he ended up hospitalized... clinicalized? Was there a word for hospitals that was similar to that one?

"So how long have I been out?" He eventually asked.

This time, it was Gary who spoke. "Just a couple of weeks. In fact, today marks two weeks since you blacked out."

Dale’s eyes widened slightly. ’So it is today, huh?’

Since he was a child, he had hardly ever seen his birthday as something worth celebrating. To him, it was nothing but death congratulating him on avoiding her cold touch and reminding him that she still had many more years to try.

He was officially 18.

’I don’t feel much different safe for how weak my muscles feel right now.’ No matter how strong Doctor Edmond’s healing ability was, there were things it simply couldn’t undo.

And unfortunately, his deteriorated muscle mass was one of them. All he had to do though, was eat fatty foods and exercise.

’Maybe I should rent out the sabers as a shortcut to fitness. I’m sure I’ll make bank.’ He could already see the sponsors.

Dale shook his head and stood up from his bed.

His legs swayed but before he could fall, Austin charged in and caught him, providing him with much-needed support.

"Thanks." He smiled as he turned to his roommate.

Austin forced a nervous smile. "Don’t thank me yet."

Dale’s eyebrows furrowed at such a bizarre statement but he couldn’t dwell too much on it after all, it was Austin.

With the aid of the redhead, he made his way to their room. As they walked, Dale’s mind raced with thoughts. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

He had been unconscious in the clinic for two weeks yet he was still alive. At least he hoped he was. If not, the afterlife was quite boring.

Either way, it meant the killer had no intention of killing him or they simply couldn’t.

His mind flashed to General Todd. The latter knew that Dale was at risk of being assassinated.

Despite having only two interactions with the battle-hardened veteran, he could tell that the man was quite capable and intelligent; so was the killer.

An ideal plan would be to watch from afar to see if he would be assassinated.

If he was, they would catch the person and if he wasn’t, they lost nothing.

Yet it was known — at least to the General and the killer — that Dale was a target.

If General Todd didn’t increase security, it would appear suspicious and at the same time, if he did, it would appear suspicious.

It seemed the killer had considered all possible outcomes and decided he wasn’t worth the trouble.

’Or I could not be a target.’ He almost wanted to laugh at the thought.

Soon, they were in the room.

The Awakened trio walked in after them and closed the door.

Now that Dale thought about it, why weren’t they in class? He somewhat understood the trio but not Austin — he hardly ever skipped his classes.

Dale sat on the chair in the room as the other four filled different places. Namely the bed, and the other chair.

They seemed somewhat unsure of something. "Just came out and say it, what’s making you guys so nervous?"

Trevor sighed. "Here’s the thing. During those two weeks, our entire year was asked to pick four people to form a team with."

Dale nodded, understanding, so he continued:

"Each of those teams was required to accomplish a task: all ranging from minor errands to back-breaking missions."

It only made sense that the Awakened trio listed him as part of their team. After all, he was sure he and Austin were the only people in their year to spar with them.

At this point, Gary took the next words out of Trevor’s mouth. "But there was an odd rule; ’all team members must be active to choose the task you’ll accomplish’."

Dale suddenly understood the reason for their nervousness. Because he was unconscious, all reasonable tasks must have been taken.

’But what task is left that even they are nervous?’

He had a few ideas but not those could prepare him for what was actually said.

"We are to kill an Ascended beast."