Izzy opened his eyes with a groan.

  “Oh fu-” he tried to moan, the pain rudely cutting him off.

  Everything hurt.

  The flickering of the torches sent stabs of pain through his eyes and brain and the pressure of the cot on his back was like somebody was pushing on second-degree sunburn. He quickly realized that his entire body felt like that and stopped trying to move. He caught the outline of a cat-person just before he closed his eyes again.

  “Hey Rajir,” he managed to get out, taking weak breaths to not let his ribs and stomach expand too much. His skin felt tight and wrong and was starting to itch. “How did I do?”

  “I’m not Rajir, Izzy,” a female version of Rajir’s voice said. “I’m Elana.”

  That didn’t make sense to Izzy, Elana was the patient that was missing a statistically significant portion of her anatomy. She was one of them he was going to heal, but no way she was already up and about. Izzy made an attempt at remembering what happened and had a fleeting feeling of somebody telling him he did a good job.

  Despite that feeling of success, it was impossible that the woman was moving around and having conversations after all that physical trauma.

  “Yeah, okay, and I’m Bill Nye The Science Guy,” Izzy croaked, accidentally chuckling and making his back and brain hurt.

  “Oh… I’m sorry Bill,” the woman said. “Rajir had told me your name was Izzy.”

  At this, Izzy slowly opened one eye, the buzzing in his brain slowly clearing. He focused with his one eye and, sure enough, looked right into the adorable face of a cat-person with the same calico markings as the patient named Elana.

  “Well shit…” Izzy said, closing his eye and laying his head back down. He really needed to stop thinking certain things were impossible. “No, sorry, I was joking. My name is Izzy, nice to actually meet you Elana. Not to be rude, but how is it that you’re already up and about? You were in pretty bad shape last I remember.”

  She chuckled before explaining, “Well Izzy, I wouldn’t describe it as ‘already’. It has been 2 days since you cast the healing coin. I was awake the next morning and Titus has been walking me through some healing motions for my regrown limbs. He’s really impressed with your work and keeps saying he thinks you lied to him about never casting a healing spell before. He wants to know where you studied. Rajir is keeping Titus off of you for now, but I think you are going to have to give him some straighter answers soon enough.”

  She laid a soft paw on his forehead, he winced for a moment but then the touch felt smooth and cool on his burning skin.

  “I will have other duties now that you’re awake, but I’ve been watching over you for the last few days. I wanted to make sure I could thank you before I went off.”

  She leaned over his head, he felt her presence come closer. A whisker teased his nose and she kissed him on his forehead where her paw had lain.

  “Look me up when you’re back on your feet,” she said, standing up. “I owe you a drink and you can tell me what it is like casting a Grade 4 coin. It sounds amazing and terrifying. I’ll go get Rajir before I head out. Thanks again, Izzy.”

  Izzy felt her move away from the cot and could feel where she had kissed his forehead. He racked his brain, trying to remember everything that had happened.

  “I cast a spell on four people.” He thought. “A SPELL! I thought I’d accepted that magic was a thing already, but this is just too much. She was missing half her foot and an ear two days ago!”

  Izzy had caught a glimpse of the lithe creature on her way out, stifling down some sudden and inappropriate thoughts. Izzy was still trying to shake his head clear when he heard Rajir come quickly into the room. He sat on the chair previously occupied by Elana.

  “I hear you met Elana,” he started, quietly. “She isn’t the only one who wanted to thank you, but she’s the only one who decided to stick around to do it in person.” He paused and Izzy opened both eyes this time, the pulsating pain in his head a little better and letting him focus on Rajir’s face. He saw relief and humor in the cat-person’s face. “You’re one crazy, tough son of a bitch. You know that right?”

  “I think I do now,” Izzy said, grinning. “But hey, let’s not do that again? I’m still getting my bearings here and that was… a bit much.” He shut his eyes again, the buzzing starting to come back. “I feel like I had jumper cables attached to my ears and was left out in the sun on a turning rotisserie for two days straight.”

  Rajir didn’t respond, and Izzy opened an eye and glanced at him quickly. The look on his face was now a little confused and concerned.

  “Izzy…” he said, but broke off.

  “You have no idea what I just said, do you,” Izzy finished for him. Rajir shook his head slowly.

  Izzy just laid there, trying to decide how to broach the topic of him being from another world. Izzy was pretty smart, if he dared say so himself, and the mounting evidence was making it quite clear to him.

  “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” he grumbled.

  “Yes,” Rajir said quietly. “I barely understand you sometimes, even when I think you’re agreeing with me that I don’t understand you.”

  “I’m getting pretty curious about the details with that, too,” said Izzy. “Eventually I might be ready to go over the details with you. For now, can we just pretend like I’m just from somewhere far away you’ve never heard of? Also, can you tell me what happened? Elana said it has been two days.”

  Rajir seemed enthusiastic at the change of topic. Izzy had a feeling that Rajir liked routines and a lack of exciting events. Anything that confused him was a reason for concern. He latched onto the knew topic with vigor.

  Rajir described the events of the spell from his point of view, Izzy laughing along with him when he described the swan dive straight into the floor.

  “I think I remember why I did that,” Izzy coughed out through the laughter.

  It was getting easier to breathe and talk, his skin easing from pain to itchiness and the static in his brain calming down to background noise. He launched into an explanation of the spell from his point of view. He left out terms like image, computer model, music video, and video games, managing to stick to the amazing magical bits and satiating Rajir’s curiosity of a, as he called it, Grade 4 spell coin.

  “Incredible…” Rajir said aghast, helping Izzy to sit upright on the cot and propping him up against the wall. “Titus said it was one of most remarkable things he’s ever seen. He’s convinced you don’t even have a core but somehow managed to pull it off. He took care of you right after. He said to not move you until you woke up.”

  At that moment, Izzy looked down and saw he was fully dressed. He had on a off-white tunic and blue pants that reminded him of Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. He pinched the shirt and looked up at Rajir, raising an eyebrow. Rajir shrugged.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “It had been a full day and you hadn’t moved. You needed to get cleaned up and… umm.. Well…” He paused and Izzy had a feeling that, if cats could blush, Rajir would be beet red. “Elana needed to get active to start using the arm and foot you healed. She offered to clean you up and get you changed. She really does owe you her life…”

  Izzy groaned and looked to the ceiling, embarrassed and more than a little uncomfortable.

  “Seriously man?” he said, blushing and looking back at Rajir. Then a thought about the last thing Rajir said made his eyes go wide. “Umm… there isn’t like… uh.. How do I say this as politely as possible… Indentured servitude here, is there?”

  “Oh no… this isn’t like that,” Rajir said, catching Izzy’s meaning. “The life-debt stuff is only recognized in some places in S’or Voril, and usually not for just the casting of a healing spell. Otherwise half of the world would be indentured to roaming healers and alchemists.”

  “Umm… then why the special treatment?” Izzy said, leaving alone most of what Rajir just said.

  “She really did just want to show her gratitude and help out,” Rajir said. “She is an apprentice at the keep in the healer’s ward. She’s a professional and helps prepare people for healing or assist in burial preparations. She’s really quite kind and handled your… ummm… bare necessities?” he said, a grin breaking out on his face and raising an eyebrow jokingly at Izzy. “Elana cleaned you up, got some clothes on you, and then made sure you had everything you needed over the last day or so. She takes her job seriously and barely slept.”

  “Oh does she now?” Izzy asked, not liking the joke as much as Rajir. “Did she tell you she invited me out for a drink?”

  Rajir’s eyes went wide for the meagerest second before he schooled his face. Izzy groaned.

  “Oh… well,” Rajir said, starting to chuckle. “Maybe she really did see something she liked on you. IN you.” he hastily corrected and started laughing.

  “Anyway,” Izzy cut in, thinking about all the millions of furry jokes his friends back home would be making. “What happened while I was laying here like a rock? And is there anything to eat? I’m ravenous. I can’t tell if it is the two days of not eating or all the spell coins I used, but I seriously need some food.”

  Rajir recapped the rest of the night of Izzy’s arrival and the following 48 hours. As Rajir talked, one of the healer’s assistants who had stayed behind fetched something for Izzy to eat. If Izzy hadn’t been starving, the food would have been left neglected on his plate due to the increasing implausibility that was the story of the events during his convalescence.

  The creature that blew the path of destruction Izzy had crossed was killed around the time Izzy had been casting the spell; Izzy was glad he hadn’t needed to encounter the monstrosity that could do the amount of damage he had witnessed, especially because it had been dubbed an “Eradicator”.

  Then early in the morning on the first day, the giant aquatic aberration that had broken through the battlements on the causeways facing the ocean, and had thrown the Eradicator into the city, was brought down. Apparently, it was still in the port and nobody could figure out what to do with it as it oozed caustic gore into the water.

  The next day and a half was spent tracking down more of the rest of the smaller monsters. Izzy thought of them as “adds”, additional monsters that just acted to increase the difficulty of a boss battle. From the way Rajir talked about it, the city had done a pretty good job thus far and there weren’t any just roaming the streets anymore.

  Rajir had been hard at work on the walls, replacing ballistae parts and helping with bigger repairs. The big creatures had really messed up some of the key locations of the causeways and the walls of the lower and upper cities. If more aberrations came, there wouldn’t be much in their way.

  Rajir was on a team of Earth core users shoring up the defenses in these key areas, moving earth and stone into makeshift barricades while new blocks were shaped from boulders from the mountains and brought down to be put into place.

  Along with the caravans bringing boulders down to help the city, other cities had sent supplies to assist the torn up city. Some of the local shops were getting supplies into the city untaxed and sold at lower prices to help people get back on their feet. Price gouging was heavily monitored and while there was still a black market forming, any establishment taking advantage of the situation was swiftly audited and anywhere the black market dealings were found the city administration replaced it with an aid site.

  “Wow,” Izzy commented. “That seems remarkably efficient and good for the people. Sounds like you can help a lot of people really quickly with that system.”

  “That’s right,” Rajir confirmed. “The people of Xhansarim are proud. We’ve had it easier in the last century or so than they have in the past, but we all still work hard and the government does everything in its power to protect and serve.”

  “Must be nice,” Izzy grumbled. “So this is Xhansarim, good to know where I am.”

  “That’s the other thing we need to talk about before I go on my shift,” Rajir said, uncomfortably. Izzy knew what this was going to be about judging by Rajir’s reaction every other time the topic was broached.

  “As I think we’ve both figured out by now, you’re… well…” Rajir paused, thinking. “I think I said it best yesterday when I said you’re not from around here. I don’t care all that much, you’ve done us a great service and you could be from The Umbral Island for all I care. But there are going to be some people that have a harder time trusting you and will be asking questions. Titus already suspects something is off and I think he knows more about it than I do. He’s a good bloke, but he’s also a stickler for the rules. If you can’t give him straight answers, he’s going to take you right up to the keep and hand you off to the bureaucracy.”

  “You mentioned Titus specifically,” Izzy said. Noticing the reticence, he quickly added, “do I have another option?”

  “Well, remember the store next door?” Rajir asked.

  “Yeah, Yelric Mooni’s something something…”

  “Emporium of Fine Goods and Enchantments,” Rajir corrected. “He is also something of an oddity here. He claims to originally be from the islands to the west, but that has always felt a little thin to me. But he gives me and my housemates a good rate on the house so I’ve never pushed it. With his capabilities in magic and deft navigation of business and government, I think he’d be a really big help to you.”

  “Be straight with me Rajir,” Izzy said, getting serious as Rajir kept adding people and organizations to the list of entities that may want a word. “Am I in any kind of danger?”

  Rajir's eyes went wide at the glimpse of the fire on Izzy’s face that he had seen during the casting of the spell the other night.

  “From what I can tell,” Rajir said thoughtfully, “no. You helped in a time of need, and that usually goes pretty far in Xhansarim. But with how weird things are right now, being one more weird thing isn’t going to help your case. And you, friend, are very weird.” Rajir grinned sheepishly. “I won’t lie, there is a chance the administration might just lock you up until they have the time to figure out what your deal is.”

  “Dude…” Izzy said, furrowing his brow. “That sounds a little bit like I’d be in some fucking danger. Grab your torch and pitchforks danger. ‘Lock up the crazy guy for later’ isn’t exactly my definition of ‘thanks for your help, let’s figure out what’s up.’ Sounds more like inquisition tactics.”

  “They wouldn’t just cut your head off to no longer have to deal with you, Izzy. We don’t work like that in Xhansarim,” Rajir said defensively.

  “We who? The good folks helping put the city back together with spit and grit, or the rich assholes who get credit for it just by paying for it?” Izzy had raised his voice a little now that his future was uncertain once again. “And there are always rich assholes, Rajir. I don’t have any clue where I am, but I used to travel a lot back home. No matter where you go… there are rich assholes pulling the strings. I’m glad there is a system here to help the average person in their time of need but, as we’ve established, I’m not going to be considered an average person.”

  Rajir held up his paws, “Easy Izzy. I know what you mean, but with what you pulled last night you have a lot of people who would step up to help you and make sure you are okay. That being said,” Rajir put his paws down and thought for a moment, “maybe my idea works either way.”

  “What do you mean, exactly,” Izzy said, intrigued but his ire barely quenched. “I like you Rajir and I don’t regret any of this… yet. I need to make smart decisions based on good information. Give me something to go off of.”

  Izzy’s head was starting to feel clear, and a growing sense of dread came along for the ride.

  “Well, if we got you connected to Yelric,” Rajir said, “that’s about the best and biggest, in your words, ‘rich asshole’ in town. Honestly, I think you’re going to like him. He’s very kind and powerful, in money and business as well as magic. He charges exorbitant amounts for his wares, but I’ve watched him cut deals with people who were in need. I could swear he’s taken a loss a few times when it came to helping people get back on their feet.”

  Izzy’s temper and sense of dread started to ease as Rajir described this Yelric person and now he was truly and properly curious. He was getting good vibes from the story and was starting to look forward to meeting this guy. His mind made up, Izzy’s demeanor calmed and he moved to get up.

  “Great,” Izzy growled as he pushed himself up, chuckling at his own Tony the Tiger joke with a human-sized cat in front of him. “Let’s go kiss up to this asshole… oh.. Shit… Wait... That came out wrong…” Rajir chuckled as he led the blustering Izzy out of the sick room. “Fucking idioms. Please don’t tell him I said that.”