Heavenly Mortals-Act One

XVI-Calum ( II )

After some time, they were sent to an infirmary. Numerous Prasidiei with white armour adorned with golden lines, the inverted versions of the ones with the spears, carried them on stretchers. Anemos had tried to fly there himself, but he stumbled onto one knee almost immediately. "You are hurt, Commandment. We will escort you there," One of the Prasidiei had said.

The whole trip there, Calum was blinking spots out of his eyes. He hoped that the recent lightshow didn't leave him with permanent optical damage. He decided to close his eyes and sleep it off.

He had expected dreams from Adrenus, but he didn't receive any. Strange, it had been days since the last one he had. He wondered if his friends had received any.

When he opened his eyes, he was lying in a spacious hall with the white, blue and golden theme of the entrance hall. The ceiling had to be at least forty feet above him. The place felt like a cavern.

Calum got up and looked around. He realised he was in some sort of... hospital. At least that was what his father used to describe a place filled with beds, curtains separating some of the beds, and numerous medical staff rushing here and there. In his case, the medical staff was all white-and-gold armoured Prasidiei. He got the feeling that it was a makeshift hospital, since the beds and curtains didn't exactly belong in the room. They varied between dark blue, white and yellow.

A Prasidius flying overhead noticed him awake and touched down beside his bed. "Hello there,"

Calum suppressed the urge to flinch. He hadn't thought there were any female Prasidiei in the Floating Sanctuary. She had a distinctly feminine figure, with a slimmer waist and broader hips. Her chestplate was more curved than Aetos', and any of the Prasidiei he'd seen before her.

"You have been asleep for a few hours now. How are you feeling? Are you still seeing spots in your eyes? Does your head hurt?"

Calum sat up. The feel of the bed was nostalgic. It had been years since he lay on his own bed, but lying on this one brought back memories.

He shoved them away and replied, "I feel fit as a fiddle, no pain, dizziness, and I can see perfectly fine," The Prasidius-A nurse?-nodded and took notes on a strange looking golden tablet. She wrote something on it with her talon.

"Well, if you are feeling fine, then you are discharged," She said. Calum thanked her and got out of the bed.

He took his sword and scabbard from the table next to it, surprised that it hadn't been confiscated or anything.

Before he walked out, he turned to the Prasidius, "Pardon me, but is my friend here? Human girl, wearing white clothes and a grey tunic,"

The Prasidius replied immediately, "Oh, that's easy. She's right beside this unit," She pointed to Calum's left. He thanked her and sprinted to the neighbouring hospital unit. The curtains were for some reason drawn.

He knocked on the whitewashed petition, "Qi'ra? Are you awake?"

No response.

He slowly slid the dark blue curtain aside. She was still sleeping, the covers pulled over her.

Calum walked to the bedside, lowering himself to Qi'ra's face level. Her expression was peaceful, which Calum thought unlikely for someone as hot-headed as her.

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. The colour had completely returned to her face. She looked as if she had never been possessed by a freakish smoke-bodied demon in the first place.

Within a split second, Calum found himself against the wall, Qi'ra grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

The look on her face gave nothing away.