Life Giver

By the time Casmir had returned to the medical room, he could barely keep his eyes open. The mental fatigue from identifying the various types of Qi energy on the Qi energy detector had set off a domino effect in Casmir's body.

Having only rested for a short time after he was captured by the Guardian's men, Casmir's body still hadn't recovered from its extensive wear and tear throughout the night. Just fighting the Giant Black Viper and carrying Zaya to the main camp had severely strained and injured his body.

If not for the treatment he had undergone to partially heal his broken arm and the medicine he had been given to reinvigorate his body, Casmir would barely be able to move on his own. However said treatment also compounded Casmir exhaustion even further.

Instructor Redfire had explained to Casmir that although he had been treated, his body was still healing, the underlying damage such as bone fractures and torn muscles would take time to heal fully.

The reason Casmir wasn't fully healed by an experienced Qi Healer, which the Dragonfly does house, was to prevent the acc.u.mulation of hidden injuries or sequela.

This was done by giving Casmir a special type of medicine that would linger inside of his body, slowly drawing upon his own energy to heal his wounds and prevent any such hidden injuries from developing.

Such a treatment had its own disadvantages however, firstly the user would need more sustenance and rest while it was in use. Secondly, the injury would still remain for a time causing pain and weakness appropriate to the injury, so Casmir would need to be careful with his body to prevent worsening his injury.

Due to this treatment method, any form of training, with the exception of the use of Qi energy as long as it wasn't on his body, were strictly forbidden for the time being. Instructor Redfire or Master Bluefire would be able to give Casmir a check up in a week or so to ensure his full recovery before he could continue training as normal.

Casmir was aware of such treatments so he didn't think much of it, this form of treatment was especially important for cultivators as they strengthened their bodies. The stronger a body the harder it was for it to heal itself correctly and thus sometimes it was even necessary to slow down the natural healing process, to properly rebuild the body.

So, as Casmir reached his medical bed his body was truly reaching its limits, his eyelids drooping heavily as he collapsed onto his medical bed like a dead log, falling asleep instantly.

Unfortunately this bed wasn't his home, it was only 15 minutes later that Casmir was abruptly woken up by Redfire as he informed Casmir it was time to leave.

The still exhausted Casmir cursed Redfire under his breath before he asked what was going on.

However Redfire simply smirked at him, shaking his head before he spoke.

"This isn't your home, this is a military facility. You're only here because we didn't want to waste the time sending you home while the investigation was still under way." He said with a slight laugh.

Casmir's face flushed red in embarrassment at these words, remembering his current situation.

"Oh.. sorry." He said softly.

Ignoring Casmir, Redfire walked over to Zaya's bed, checking on her condition before picking Zaya up carefully. He only used one arm while he used the other to open a nearby metal cupboard and retrieve a small crystal vial containing a pill.

He then turned around, throwing the vial at Casmir prompting him to catch it and examine it.

"Here, take this pill. I know you're still groggy and you need rest but you'll likely need to be awake all night while you're at the council. It's a Grade 2 Invigoration pill, it'll keep you energetic all night."

Casmir nodded, opening the vial to take the pill without hesitation before he suddenly stopped and started questioned Redfire's logic.

"Wait, wait.. Why do I need to testify at the council tonight? Can't it wait until morning? More over why are you carrying Zaya? Can't you just wake her up?" Casmir asked curiously yet in an annoyed tone thanks to his fatigued state.

Redfire looked at Casmir sternly for a moment before he remembered Casmir was still young, he didn't know anything about the far reaching consequences of this event he was caught up in.

Redfire took a deep breath before he tried to answer him calmly, although his rough voice and intimidating appearance did little to reinforce his intended attitude.

"Over 50 experienced cultivators died tonight, a Grade 6 ferocious beast with the potential to massacre a large town of tens of thousands of people infiltrated the country AND a strategic military force, the Dragonfly Special Forces Shuttle, was deployed to investigate the incident."

"The Ellaris higher ups are steeped in hot water with the military breathing down their necks for answers, if they didn't act immediately to investigate the incident, they would be washing their own necks and waiting for the guillotine." Redfire said roughly without an ounce of pity for anyone so stupid.

"The Council want this incident cleaned up into a nice little bundle, they're not wasting a second. As for Zaya, it's best she doesn't see classified military technology like the Dragonfly or she'll need a thorough background check and she might meet other troubles later."

"The only reason you don't need one is because of my sister. So, we'll wake Zaya up on the way back, agreed?"

Casmir scratched his bushy hair for a second, as he thought about Redfire's explanation. He wasn't fazed by Redfire's attitude as they had grown familiar through their teacher-student relationship and more importantly Casmir knew how 'tough' Redfire actually was, thanks to Master Bluefire's scolding attitude towards him.

"Ok, ok. Sorry for second guessing you, just explain some of these things to me.. I've got no idea how things are dealt with in a situation like this.." Casmir said with a sigh as he quickly swallowed the Grade 2 Invigoration pill.

It would take a few minutes for the pill to take affect, during which time Redfire led Casmir through the narrow metal corridors of the Dragonfly and into a larger, more open, bay area of the shuttle.

This room held various vehicles inside of it including regular oil driven military vehicles and smaller shuttles like those Casmir had seen the cloaked figures use or the one Instructor Do'Shan had used to assist Redfire as he fought the Grade 6 Shadow Wolf.

Once they arrived in this room Redfire spoke to the logistics officer in charge, who brought them to a standard metal boat-like shuttle.

The shuttle was raised on a small pedestal that allowed access underneath the shuttle for maintenance with a set of stairs to its side for boarding.

Having never seen such a thing before Casmir was quickly intrigued by its design, standing at the bottom of the steps and blocking the way without considering Redfire's situation. After all it was quite awkward to be seen by his fellow soldiers carrying an unconscious young girl like this.

"Come on Casmir, we haven't got all day." Redfire grunted to make Casmir get on the shuttle faster.

Unfortunately Casmir moved too slowly, before Redfire could climb aboard the shuttle a small squad of soldiers in their imposing uniforms passed by right next to the shuttle.

The leader of the squad, a particularly burly man with the white aura of an Elemental happened to notice Redfire as he smirked at him rather cheekily.

Clearly they knew each other and the burly Elemental didn't hold back his chuckle as he looked at Redfire holding Zaya like a doll. The burly Elemental pointed at Redfire and gestured with his hand as if he was drinking before fanning his own face in a feminine way, all the while still marching forward.

Redfire's body shook from his friends teasing, he cursed at Casmir thinking about how he'll be teased about this for years to come.

At the same time, completely oblivious to this interaction, Casmir finished boarding the shuttle before he quickly started questioning Redfire about it as he boarded and placed Zaya down carefully.

Casmir had fortunately seen another shuttle levitating of the ground as it carried a group of soldier out of the open bay doors of the shuttle, so he knew this boat like object was a Qi energy powered flying vehicle. Similar ground vehicles were very incredibly rare in Ellaris, let alone flying vehicles.

Sitting at the front of the boat, Redfire was greatly irritated at the moment and placed the blame directly on Casmir but he still explained the shuttle to Casmir only in an irritated tone as he fuelled the shuttle with his Qi energy, preparing to take off.

"Look, its a smaller shuttle alright? Nothing fancy. You don't see them in towns and cities because they're generally not allowed over population centres, however this ones slightly special because it belongs to the special forces."

"We can pass straight over Ellaris and into the city centre, most people wont even notice us.. Honestly, they're not a secret, we have one at the academy for aspiring Qi Refiners to oogle at, having you seen it already?" Redfire said in a disparaging tone, as if Casmir was ignorant to not be aware of them.

Redfire's tone quickly shut Casmir up, he did remember Master Bluefire speaking of shuttles before but he didn't bother asking what they were, she simply referred to them as something higher level Refiners often make.

Now silenced, Casmir chose to examine the simple rowing boat like structure of the shuttle, matching a rowing boats curved oblong body with metal beams acting as seats for the occupants.

As he did so, Redfire guided the shuttle out of the open bay doors of the Dragonfly, picking up speed as it climbed into the sky until it reached a height where it appeared like a small dot from the ground.

Witnessing this, Casmir was at first excited and filled with a sense of awe before fear took over as his body was hit by a wave of vertigo.

Casmir went from leaning over the side of the shuttle to sitting squarely in the middle, breathing quite deeply to calm himself down. On the plus side his fatigue had passed, whether from the fear of falling or the Invigoration pills effects.

"How.. How high are we?" Casmir asked nervously.

Redfire turned around to look at Casmir with a grumpy face but when he saw Casmir's nervousness a odd light shined in his eyes as a small smile appeared on his face.

"Hmm..? Scared of little drop Casmir? How about I show you some of my skills?" He said with a growing excitement in his voice.

Unfortunately for Redfire's excitement, Casmir had seen the look on his face before, in Master Bluefire's eyes when she had toyed with him for not following her instructions correctly.

Casmir knew from his experiences under her tutelage to immediately change the topic of conversation or face some form of unorthodox punishment, so he quickly leapt over to the still unconscious Zaya, trying to wake her up.

"No! No! We need to wake Zaya up so I can talk to her! I should explain what's going on before we get back after all.." Casmir quickly interjected, using Zaya as a human shield.

Redfire saw straight through Casmir's intentions but looking at Zaya he realised it would hard keeping her still while he 'showed off' his shuttle flying skills to Casmir.

He was forced to give up on his idea as he raised his hand, sending a small flicker of red Qi energy into Zaya's body to awaken her from her induced sleep.

"Be careful with her Casmir, don't let her move about much because she's still healing. Her condition was much worse than yours so she needs a couple of days of bed rest before she can move about normally."

"Also, just tell her that I picked you both up from the main camp with some soldiers. Don't mention anything else about it for now." Redfire said before he turned around, letting Casmir do the rest.

Casmir knelt next to the raised seat Zaya was laying on to be closer to her as she slowly woke up, he looked down upon her once again looking at her injuries as a pang of guilt resounded in his heart.

Subconsciously he took her hand in his own as he watched her eyes flutter open weakly.

"Hey, Hey.. How are you feeling Zaya?" Casmir said calmly but anxiously as Zaya's eyes suddenly widened and locked onto Casmir's face intensely.

"Casmir.. Casmir..! Why.. Why aren't we in the cave!" She cried out in a groaning voice as she moved her body to try and get up.