"Elma!" I yelled.

She was unconscious in front of the fountain. I sprinted toward her and got on my knees a few feet from her. I slid the rest of the way to her and scooped her head onto my lap as I reached her.

"Elma! Hey, Elma!" I lightly slapped her cheek. "Elma! Wake up, Elma!"

"Mmm--urgh--mmm." Her lips were quivering, and her face looked pained with how she was scrunching it. I could feel that she was burning up too.

"What the?!" I flung my gaze toward Dorthaunzee. "Dorth! What's going on here? I thought she was feeling ill. She's fully unconscious!"

Dorth reached us and dropped to her knees, where she then started applying healing magic on Elma. From what she was conveying, it seemed that Elma was still on her feet when Dorth ran to get us.

"Then... is this problem progressing faster than we could have imagined?" Svilran asked. "How much worse is this going to get?"

"Damn," I said, frantic. "I don't know."

I shifted her hair and noticed the scars on her neck. They seemed darker than I remembered. Or were they? Did I even see them in good lighting before?

"Dorth--is your healing magic not doing anything?"

Dorth, with tears in her eyes, shook her head as she kept the blue glow on Elma. Seeing Dorthaunzee trying and still not causing any significant improvement, I turned to Svilran.

"Svilran, please. Do you have any ideas?"

Svilran's brow was furrowed, and her hand was on her chin. "Elma... Might have an illness."

"I-Illness?" I asked. "But she died, didn't she? And we gave her a new body too!"

"No... Not exactly. This concerns the fine details of the Hero Hub's mechanisms... When a Hero comes here through the <Portal>, they are given an Imaginal body that is mostly identical to the one they left. Any condition that led to or will lead to their immediate death will be removed. But if it's not fatal... Our <Portal>..."

My heart raced. I recalled something crucial--Elma couldn't keep her food down. Even though she came to this world in a new body, she still had a debilitating condition--a shrunken and weak stomach.

I stammered as I began speaking. "So you're saying... Elma would still have diseases or conditions that could impact her health and make her suffer."

Svilran nodded, still deep in thought. "I think so... The thing is, the dorms have a slight restorative effect. It's not strong, but eventually, resting there would heal chronic conditions. The reason they're not better at it is because--"

"It's not their main purpose," I said. "Whatever she has is hurting her faster than the dorms heal her... Svilran, is there a Building whose main purpose IS to heal a Hero? Like a hospital or something?"

Svilran nodded. "There is—the Rare Building: <Infirmary>. But Fainn, we don't have the points for it right now."

I went cold, and my chest tightened. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears.

"We don't have enough points," I repeated.

Just when I was about to start yelling at myself internally, Dorthaunzee held my hands between her own.

"I'll get the points!" I felt her convey.

She whipped out a notepad and frantically scribbled a message. It read:

"Elma told me the missions! I'll help a Hero with magic! I can do it!"

As soon as we read the message, Dorth pulled her sleeve back and showed her muscle.

"I can do it," she conveyed.

My voice broke. "Dorth... Thank you!"

Svilran helped Dorthaunzee onto her feet and nodded at me. "Fainn, you take Elma to her room. I'll take Dorthaunzee to the <Portal> and get her sent to the mission! It's still available!"

"Got it!"

I picked up Elma and ran to her dorms as Dorth and Svilran ran the opposite way.

 

***

 

Elma's Room--

I had brought her back here, and then Svilran joined us afterward.

"Come on, Elma..."

I was kneeling at her bedside, holding her hand. She had gotten worse. Her temperature was unparalleled, and she was sweating buckets.

"I don't understand why she's getting worse..."

"Fainn, whatever she had must be causing her to deteriorate faster than the dorm's recuperative effect," Svilran said. She came in with a bucket of cool water and placed it on her head.

"I don't understand, Svilran. Why let Heroes deal with these types of things? Illnesses are not heroic."

"Plenty of Heroes are made stronger by the challenges they overcome. Illness can be one of those challenges."

"Okay, but what happens when illness gets them killed--"

"Fainn, it's not perfect, but adversity is needed. You must be able to understand that. The reality is, yes, Heroes have challenges they need to overcome, and some of those challenges end up defeating them. We can't just make their lives perfect." Svilran rubbed my back. "Can you imagine sending people who have never struggled and persevered up against some ancient evil? We're already doing so much by giving them a second chance after death."

"... Point taken. This is just a bit more stressful than I thought it could be."

"I know. Let's believe in Dorthaunzee. We'll care for Elma in the meantime." Svilran brought up the menus and pointed at the <Infirmary>. "We just need 100 Build Points to erect it. We are currently sitting at 95. We'll definitely get it with Dorthaunzee's help."

"Wait, what about upgrading? If we upgrade the dorms, will it increase the recuperation rate?"

"It would, but we're speaking of an increase by a small percentage of an already small number. I also fear that we may need to upgrade the <Infirmary> immediately upon building it. If we were to come short of the critical upgrade..."

My grip on Elma's hand tightened. "Right. It'd be just like now... Dammit, this is so frustrating. We can't help her..."

"We can be here for her." Svilran stoked Elma's cheek. "Well... I hope she's having nice dreams at least..."

"Nice dreams?" I asked, puzzled and mildly annoyed that was how she chose to contribute.

I mean, really? Why would she say that... Hold on. That was when I realized that someone else might have been saying that. When I looked at it from that perspective, it occurred to me!

"Svilran!" I grabbed her face and kissed her forehead. "You genius!"

"F-F-F-FAINN! What are you doing?!"

"Oh--uhh, I was just so happy--"

"About what?! Elma's unconscious, and we don't know what to do!"

Oh dammit. Obviously, this would look strange to Svilran. I just went from depressed to ecstatic... I got too carried away.

"I can't believe this. Your lover is unconscious, and you're kissing another woman at her bedside?!"

I got irked. "You're calling her my lover now?"

"Are you suggesting she's not?" Svilran gasped suddenly. "Fainn! You cad! Don't you dare abandon this woman after what you've done to her!" She slapped my shoulder and arm repeatedly. "I can't believe you! Did I misjudge you?!"

"What I did to her--I didn't do anything--"

"You took advantage of her!"

"Oh my god," I said, exasperated.

"Take responsibility!"

I put my hands down. "This is not the time, Svilran--"

"Not the time?! You started this by kissing me in front of her. Do you have no shame?"

Okay, I was done. I was only going to make things worse. Goddammit, I had just realized that I hated keeping secrets. I separated myself into two and went to the Inverse. Of course, I had to withstand Svilran's angry lecture all the while.