“I need to go back! Don’t try to stop me!”

A voice echoed from the outskirts of the crowd, where two young adults were arguing with each other. The one who yelled was a lean man, standing about 6’3, shorter than most fully grown trolls, with a mess of scraggly black hair held up by a gray bandana and with a face full of stubble. His tusks were inscribed with birds, bats, and other creatures that could fly, and he wore a short bow on his back. He wore sturdy leather shorts and had various belts around his body, holding little supplies: only small, empty bottles and daggers. It was clear he was part of the ranger division in the Sanctum, but it was also apparent that he was barely a few years in, as his patience wasn’t fully tempered yet.

Opposing him was a larger man with a shaved head and no facial hair. He didn’t even have piercings anywhere on his body, which were always popular with trolls of all ages, especially younger ones. His tusks were inscribed with all manner of non-farmed jungle vegetation; predominantly all manner of vines, water lilies, moss, and orchids. His clothes were light, moss-lined, and thin, and he wore a backpack that seemed stuffed to the brim with supplies. His only weapon was a short spear, and I could tell he was a ranger who focused more on the magic side of things with the way mana seemed to naturally move around him.

I recognized both of them. They were Yindi and Paugu, two childhood friends who were about 10 years older than me and became rangers at the same time. Yindi had always been more of a loner who spent most of his time in the canopy when he wasn’t hanging around with Paugu. I knew him well, as my mother had patched him up many times after his reckless actions, but she had always praised him as a “good kid who simply made immature decisions.” I knew Paugu as someone who was a lot more cautious but had the same drive to explore as Yindi did, which was how they connected. While Yindi snuck off to explore and fight at a moment's notice, Paugu learned medicine from my mother and was much more prepared when going out.

Both were at Peak Gathering rank, with Yindi focusing on the body to complement his speed, flexibility, and bow skills, while Paugu worked on his plant manipulation for utility and defense by using his mind. They were a good pair who complemented each other's weaknesses and worked together to track animal routes, survey the jungle, and protect the village, all under the ranger division of the Mossy Sanctum.

Now it was clear that those differences they held had come to a head.

“You aren’t going back there, man! I won’t let you make a stupid decision like this without thinking it through!” Paugu said anxiously, as he clung onto Yindi’s arm, not using too much force, but clearly not willing to give up.

“Don’t fucking cling to me!” Yindi said as he forced his arm free, his chest heaving and fists tightening as he did so. “I have to go back and find our neighbors who didn’t make it here! They probably need our help! Why don’t you understand that?!”

“I do, dumbass! You don’t think I want to go back and find them, too?” Paugu said, waving his arms around in frustration. “But you know why I don’t want us to go? It’s because we’re too fucking weak! The elders are already out there cleaning things up, and without asses out there, it’ll just make it harder for them.”

Yindi clenched his fists together even tighter, his sharp claws digging into his flesh, drawing blood as he shook with frustration. He spoke his next words with barely maintained anger, like someone balancing on a tree branch, and they were about to fall.

“You think I don’t know that? I KNOW I’m too weak! But those we left behind are also too weak to escape on their own, and the elders can’t be everywhere! We can’t always rely on them! That’s why I’m going!”

With that, he turned around and began to march out of the crowd towards the north of the village. Paugu ran up and grabbed his arm, pulling him back as he yelled once more.

“Don’t waste your life then! You WILL die if you go out there, and even if you find and help someone, what then? You’re both slowed down, and you die together? I’m not letting you do that!”

Yindi snarled as he looked back at Paugu, grabbing onto his arm and trying to wrestle himself free, but it wasn’t working. The two of them were both struggling, one trying to control and the other trying to break free. It began to devolve into wrestling as Yindi shouted one last remark while he was attempting to pry Paugu’s hand off of him.

“At least I’m not some fucking coward who would abandon my-”

“STOP! BOTH OF YOU!”

A gust of sound infused with mana echoed outward, impacting the two fighting and causing them both to pause. They both looked over in the direction of the voice, and I saw my mother looking at them with her signature glare that anyone in the village would recognize. One that meant 'shut up' and 'stop'. She had been midway through helping an older man purge the invasive mana from their bodies when she turned around to yell at them. The crimson veins on his skull had just about faded, but were still on his neck and shoulders. She turned back around to treat him and spoke.

“Do you two know how much you’re getting in my way? When you two argue, it interrupts my work. When I can’t do my work, more people suffer. The more people who suffer, the worse everybody feels, and then my work is interrupted again. It’s a cycle that only gets worse over time. Is that what you two want?”

Her voice had softened as she spoke, but it didn’t make it any less reprimanding to the two young men. The fact that she didn’t stop working even as she spoke made it even worse for them. Yindi looked at my mother, the old man, and then at all the patients. He gulped and seemed to be shaken awake, Paugu following him in just moments after.

They both got up, untangling themselves, and looked at each other with guilt in their eyes. Then they both turned to my mother and bowed to her simultaneously.

“WE’RE SORRY, DOCTOR ESSELOR!”

Their voices echoed out into the clearing as they earnestly apologized. The crowd watching the scuffle had various reactions, but a light smile was the common theme among the older folks. The two remained in a bow even after apologizing.

“Come over and help me if you want to be useful. Make those who’ve been healed comfortable for starters.”

“YES, MA-”

“Stop yelling.”

“…yes ma’am.”

With that, they both jogged over to the patients to make them more comfortable as Paugu conjured moss pillows and Yindi gently moved them underneath the patients' necks, backs, and arms. They both looked at each other, guilt still in their eyes, and nodded as they didn’t even stop to pause.

I watched for a bit longer, seeing how they adjusted from conflict to helping and how the rest of the crowd quieted down in their own worry to make the job easier. The other doctors who had been working before my mother arrived were even more grateful, as they were clearly stressed out. As the environment calmed down, tension still in the air, it became easier for new groups to chill out as they arrived, and new patients were taken in.

Those who were affected by the “mana ravaging” seemed to be those who were either very young or old and less powerful. I frowned as I realized I was both young and weak since I had gone through the same thing.

Looking down at my body, which had previously felt so weak and feeble, I was glad I had my parents around to heal me. If they were late or weren’t as capable, I probably would’ve…died. While I did survive, how many others haven’t so far? There were close to a thousand people gathered here and more coming, but there were at least a few hundred that weren’t. How many of them were dead? I guess that was why Yindi was so angry and wanted to help. Why didn’t I feel that way?

It didn’t…feel real. I could still be in a dream for all I knew, or maybe I was dead. That was probably why I felt fine now.

“Weird…”

“Harvoth!”

A familiar voice broke my concentration as I saw a young troll I knew quite well rush towards me, Dima Scepva, who had just arrived at the village center. He was just about my size, 5’8, had light green skin speckled with dark green freckles, a head full of extremely short orange hair, and piercing yellow eyes. His tusks were inscribed with many local amphibians and reptiles, most notably the Rainbow Galliswasp, which took up a large place. It was an exact copy of the one I could see resting on his shoulder, about a foot long, with an orange belly, yellow, red, and black striped scales, and a dark orange head. Its eyes were pointed directly at me, and it was directing my friend Dima to me, who had a worried look on his face.

He ran up to me and stopped, breathing heavily as he was clearly exhausted, but continued speaking anyway in a worried tone.

“Have you seen my sister?”

I blanked for a moment before realization came to me. I had seen Dima’s sister being treated by my mother when we had left our house. She was currently doing fine and was asleep on a moss pillow.

“Yeah, she’s asleep with the rest of the patients now and is doing fine. Don’t worry, man.”

“Ah, thank fuck, man,” Dima said with relief as he slumped over, holding my shoulder to keep himself up. “Avestra was over a friend's house for a sleepover, and we had no idea if anything bad happened to her. My parents are asking around, panicking about it.”

I helped him stay up by propping his arm up with my own, letting him catch his breath. His lizard, Diphus, looked at me with what I could only assume was appreciation as he rubbed his chin on my hand. I gave him a smile.

“Well, go find them and let them know. I’m going to go find the others and see how they are. Meet you in the nook?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Again, thank you so much, dude.”

With that, Dima quickly gave me a hug and ran to find his parents. I smiled to myself, grateful I could help him out and that his sister was doing alright.

Turning towards the Starmoss tree and walking forward, I began to make my way to the nook. I just hoped the rest of my friends were doing ok.

I love when I get chances to do research about animals for my story and in this case I got to do some fun study about Rainbow Galliswaps. They’re really cool lizards and I have some fun ideas about how they’re powers will work too (That is the best part of the research).

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