"This is the third day that you've denied that my sister is here. You can't just hide her from me. At least tell me if she's alright?" Blake Baker furiously berated the receptionist.
The nurses that diligently went about their days caring for the sick were more or less accustomed to this treatment. Advancements during and after the war had meant people stayed in hospitals for vanishingly short periods of time. It came to the point that one would need to be nearly dead to stay any extended period of time.
Angry relatives were broken up with an equal amount of the bereaved. Hospitals within the modern era meant you were better in a few days or not at all. A growing number of people were starting to call their purpose into question at all, and might as well replace them with a graveyard. Naturally the moment someone wound up in the hospital that mindset would change but only for some. They weren't miracle workers. Blake was asking them to conjure someone not listed within the hospital records.
The receptionist in question did happen to know where Mandy was located. Strict orders from the doctors kept her mouth sealed tight and an eye on any of the others. There weren't many that knew the muscular and lackadaisical Dr. White was the owner of the hospital. Which was counter to the quote unquote secret marriage between him and Doctor Mei. Everyone in the hospital knew but they played along whenever anything happened.
Something about their playing at being a constantly flirting couple was heartening to the workers. Being of the small faction in the know the woman had turned the same man away each day. Her family had served at the hospital for nearly as long as it had existed. That kind of loyalty wouldn't be wavered by a handsome young man throwing out demands.
"I am sorry. As I told you the last time she is not here. It would behoove of you to search elsewhere."
Blake stared back at the receptionist. He wanted to push the issue, give out orders and bark commands, but that wouldn't work here. At least not until he brought his men with him. He could feel the spirit energy pulsing within the walls. Slowly he called down.
"I don't have any more free time till after the parade. If I must show up in an official capacity then I shall. When you see her inform her I shall take care of her when she's ready. There's no need to go back to that bas- to our father." He had almost let his real thoughts out which would be unbecoming of a man of his station.
"Look, can you just tell her that?" He asked deflated.
The receptionist might be loyal but he did seem like a kindly sort of man. Forty wasn't too old to take a fancy to a man on a mission. Maybe her daughter would be working the day he came to pick up his sister?
"If I was to see someone matching her description I will pass on your words." She replied diplomatically.
"That would be enough for me thank you."
Blake strode out to his car. It idled waiting just by the entrance for him. If not for the low numbers of people needing medical access it would have been a huge problem. A driver stood waiting for him as he neared the vehicle he snapped to attention.
"Sir, there is a report from General Servantus. You have been ordered back to the temporary base." The Driver stood motionless waiting for his dismissal.
"So that's what that sound was? He should know better then let the mech units make such noise. Take me there but I'll stop by the hotel along the way." He dismissed him with a small salute of his own.
The driver stepped forward unfurling a long black cloak. An insignia of a Bald Eagle wings spread wide with fire, a stone golem, and rain cloud was etched across its back. Secured upon his shoulders he entered and they took off.
Once they were down the road his subordinate spoke up once more. His eyes glancing back at Blake whilst maintaining his speed. Curiosity had always played in the man's mind and he'd be handling the matter further in the future.
"Major General, that location we were just at was a Pseudo-Mancers home was it not? I don't remember it being on the brief for this AO."
"It would seem so. I don't recall it being one before I left home but that was many years ago. I only developed the Sight once I joined." Blake responded absentmindedly.
"Yes, Sir. I was the same. Will this affect the announcement that is to come?"
"No, a minor place such as this won't be anything serious. Small towns are well known to house old families from within the Mystic Realms. You would be surprised at the number of them that directly took part in the great war and lived." Blake focused slightly on the conversation mind still filled with thoughts over his sister.
"Will the populace truly take to the idea? We've suppressed it this long. Wouldn't it be better to keep them in the dark?" They had had this conversation numerous times before, so the reply was surely to come in measured, practiced form.
"As I always say, it's above my pay grade. But, it will be a risk."
"That's new to hear from you. Usually you go on about the amazing advancements we'll be bringing to the world."
"That was then, this is now. I simply worry the top brass aren't thinking clearly enough on the impact dropping the façade will cause. The regulations that will be placed immediately on people just running a hospital will be resisted." Blake took out a bottle of water and began to slowly take a drink.
"It falls onto us to make sure that they comply." The driver said with a distasteful tone.
"And therein lies the problem. We've fostered so many mages, wizards, and warlocks. None of them had any real impact upon the Great War. They don't know what it was like."
He flipped his wrist over and a small magic circle was implanted onto the inside of his glove. Raising his hand the magic formed and took shape. Slowly the bottle bobbed up and down in the air over his palm. After a few seconds he cancelled the spell letting the bottle rest back in his hand.
"I ain't big on history sir, but I thought in the last war it was practically all their work. I mean the exclusion zones aren't from conventional methods."
"Exactly, magic as we know it has sprung up only after the war. Efforts around the distortion zones have brought us to new heights, yet look at our mech units. Only they can work and repair them."
"They sir? You're being vague today. Is your sister bothering you that much?"
"In a way it is. I found traces of a huge battle the first day I visited, and the presence of immensely powerful magic was blatant. It's why I didn't just go barging inside. Damn, Necromancers, they still hold our reigns even now." Blake spoke bitterly.
"Sorry, Blake, didn't mean to upset ya."
"Don't go getting soft on me soldier. Can't have you being that lax around General Servantus."
"Right, sir, I will clean up my act." He said in a mockingly stoic voice.
"It won't always be this way. We're ready now. Power is only about knowledge and we are taking the lead. I know that we are." The driver let Blake fall into his own mind at that point. Being by his side over all this time meant he knew when to shut up.
Blake turned away from his driver. It wouldn't be long now till the announcement, the world would finally be flipped on its head. Taking out a pocket watch he flipped it open to show a picture of a woman. She was all the reason that he needed to continue the course no matter how mad it might sound.
Her appearance was mostly normal, light brown hair, large circular framed glasses, and a sweet smile. What truly stood out about her wasn't the simple dress. It was the large black tufted ears on her head accompanied by a big bushy tail slipping from the bottom of the dress. If he was ever to bring her away from the exclusion zone cities their announcement would have to go well. He would make sure that it would.
***
Allison sat in a soft yet overly comfortable bed. Long days and hours in the hospital meant she had a preference for some slight discomfort. Often when her symptoms were worse, seconds became hours or days until she'd wake back up. It was always the uncomfortable portions of the bed that she remembered through the haze. A small guiding light back to reality.
A small tray of food sat to her left on a bedside table. It was unknown who or at what time it had been dropped off. A stable meal meant for anyone to eat. Simple turkey sandwich with an apple and a box of juice.
She hadn't touched it. Time seemed to spill out around her as she clutched her legs to her chest. Loneliness was not just about being by oneself. A hospital always bustled with people, so in a way she was never alone. Now within the laughably bare room with its off white walls and door she truly was by her lonesome.
Thoughts of Nate and Karah drifted to her mind. The image of Nate being crushed into the ground played over and over in her mind. The way that they had aimed at her meant she was the reason he was hurt. All the fighting was her fault. The thought replayed over and over in her mind.
The hospital was a prison for her. She moved around every now and again but it was always other hospitals. The disease would hit just before or after arrival. Meaning she never got to take in the sights and sounds of the world. Having friends was a luxury she was never afforded. Yet, there they had been.
When Doctor White had told her the other day that she might be cured her heart had soared. A new deal had come through that would supposedly bring her the cure to the disease. Being away from the hospital meant she wouldn't be getting her cure, and never get to see her friends.
When she thought about those she would miss it was only them. Her mind would drift to thinking about her family but they felt so obscure. Torn pages from a book.
Her mind began to think of everything that could have been. Dreaming of traveling with Nate and Karah to far away lands. Scouring cities for obscure pieces of lore. Meeting locals who would direct them to the hidden spots that not even the internet knew about. All for it to slip away when she pictured Nate's broken state.
A soft rasp came from the door before it was slowly opened. The covers drew ever closer, swallowing her up in a foolish notion of defense and security. Leonidas stepped inside; he was out of his Greek Battle armor and wore a loose toga.
"You are awake girl. Yet, have not eaten. During my time any food given freely was counted as a blessing by the lessers within our society. Eat." His voice was rough and he carried in with him a wooden chair.
"Why?" She managed.
"Why eat? Has education fallen so low over all these years? So that you grow strong of course. You cannot perform your duty without strength. Strength comes from the body, and the will to make it so. Do you not hunger? Days have passed since your … procurement." He spoke delicately as English was not his first language and given his age not his second.
"Days?" She retorted a bit too loudly.
"Have you been injured so that one word is all you can speak? Gods above if you are not in proper condition that man will be furious."
Leonidas let his words sit in the air. While the silence persisted he pulled a comb from within his sleeve. Atop his head was a tangle of long hair. With practiced fingers he began to groom himself ignoring Allison's stare. Slowly she plucked up her courage.
"How many days was I asleep this time?" She asked with a slightly shaking voice.
The number of days she was passed out often indicated how bad her condition might be. One nothing too bad, but five she was probably in for a horrible time. After such a long time she was often in intense pain. The realization that she was currently not in said pain was slow to come to her.
"Time is fickle. Coming, Going. Even those elderly scholars thought on such grand scales yet it was we who protected them." He stopped brushing for a moment to glance up at her.
"You've been out for the better part of the week. Four days more or less. It is good you are no ordinary human. Corpse Eaters do not need water every three days. Convenient. If I had one hundred just like you I would have been able to conquer more land for my great city. Alas the great war has laid down its roots even within my homeland." He started back combing through his hair.
"Homeland?" She spoke but looking up she saw the grumpy look on the man's face.
"I mean to say what do you mean by homeland? Did it get nuked?" She corrected herself quickly.
"HAHAHA. You were sheltered despite being what you are? What a curious creation. Tell me do you remember your childhood or did they strip that from you as well?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." A pit formed in her stomach as he spoke.
"You don't, I can see it in your eyes. I remember mine all too well, the blood, the training, the meager rations." He glanced over at her food and frowned slightly.
"Maybe mine was better then yours all things considered." He mused.
"I remember. I was happy, with my parents, and then I went to school. Yeah, I remember going to school and then getting sick." She said it more as a question then anything else.
"Do you now? Surprising. I would have expected them to wipe your slate clean. Easier to manipulate dolls that way. An Athenian once came to my court with his dolls and strings. His stories were amusing but lacked any real use. Not like you full of uses."
"What do you want from me? I'm just a sick girl. I was going to get the cure soon. I would get to go travel." Her voice cracked a sob nearly overtaking her.
"With who? Those doctors were already carting you around."
"With Nate and Karah my friends. We were going to travel."
"Weak children of the modern age. You were never sick or that is to say whatever it was has long since passed from you. Surely, your friends knew that." Leonidas said, placing the comb down and pulling a brush out.
"What do you know? You can't imagine the years I've spent in the hospital." She snapped sadness pouring hot lava into anger.
"You are correct. I would never take that long. A corpse eater would never take that long either." He responded evenly.
"Corpse eater this, Corpse eater that. What the hell are you talking about?" Allison was on the verge of a tantrum that Dr. White would have known all too well.
"You of course. You are a corpse eater, it is plain as day. I believe the Necromancers have taken to calling all of the fey bloods, Pseudo-Humans. There was a time in the early days of King Charlemagne that I was awakened from slumber and met many such as you."
"I'm a corpse eater? Fey blood? Pseudo-human, Necromancer? What the hell is, is that what all that weird shit was related too? But if Nate could blow through the ceiling then…" She let her words hang in the air.
"Corpse Eaters, have a few names. Ghoul, Zombie, a Keres or Eurynomos in my people's time. Can you not feel them within you? The thousands of dead that linger within?"
Stinging pain akin to acid reflux filled her chest. Panic was written across her face. Something within her mind was fighting to suppress what was going on, and it was failing. Leonidas watched on amused over the flow of her magic and spiritual energy. Wards sparking to life with her mind.
"Can you feel the hands, feet, tooth, and nail as they scrape at your stomach? The bulge of their rotting bodies? I have long wondered what you would look like once the ritual begins. How you will look when they die. What will those friends of yours say?"
"I think that is enough out of you." Zeus said, striding into the room.
His gaze fell sharply upon Leonidas who simply chuckled before tidying up his grooming utensils. A final nod from him to Allison led him out of the room leaving only his master and the girl behind. Zeus watched for a long moment and instead of take Leonidas' seat he leaned against the wall.
"What is happening?" Allison winced out.
"Your mind was clouded for so long that even your body does not know your true nature. Worry not soon your pain will be over, and my plans fulfilled. You were difficult to find after so many years. I thought they might have turned you into a corpse bag, but I am lucky that you are whole." Zeus said in a calming, kind voice.
"Why would you care about me?" She moaned out.
"How could I not care for my own daughter?"
A wave of his hand brought relief over Allison's body, the pain receding along with the strange acid reflux. It took her a moment to register what he said. When she looked at him an odd silhouette of a man she might have once called her father overlapped him. Tears oddly began to roll down her face.
"You can't be." She muttered.
"Can't be? I am. We are reunited once more, after all those years where you were away from me. Now you are safe and can live a proper life. That is all I have ever wanted for you." He said drawing closer to the bed his face softened and a tear fell from his eye.
"But how, this doesn't make any sense." Memories began to flow into her head, horrible images alongside those of a childhood she knew nothing of.
"Worry not my daughter, you shall be made whole once more. And I will care for you till the end." Zeus took the last step and hugged her closely.
Their embrace filled Allison with love and warmth. Banishing that strange sensation threatening to overwhelm her body, replacing it with something she had only felt with her friends. Her head was turned away and could not see the vicious smile splitting across the man's lips. Delight played in his eyes as all was going just as planned.