August Intruder- Chapter 206- Mental Fortitude (Patreon)

“This is so fucked.”

Enjin stared at the boy lying in the infirmary, his body battered and bruised. It hurt him to look at it. He had spent years as a Delver to prevent this very thing.

There were too many marks on the boy. Too many injuries. Most of it was covered in bandages and a hospital gown, but… it was just horrible.

Two brothers had disappeared on the backs of each other, they had both returned in the middle of the night. Both wounded, both battered and bruised.

Now they both lay side by side on different hospital beds.

He frowned, anger rising, threatening to unmake him. The injury in the boy’s shoulder was the worst of them. It was a deep gash. Enjin recognized it. Someone or something had dug into his shoulder with a blunt blade.

Unable to keep looking, he turned away.

He wasn’t the only one here. There were three other teachers. Each one of them had gone into portals to close them when they chaos had begun. They were not the only ones, though. There was no teacher with a combat capability that had not ended up in a portal that day.

Not all of them had made it back, but they knew what they’d been signing up for when they accepted teaching roles in the school.

Theirs were the lives to be laid on the line. They were the ones to come back battered and bruised and unfit to do much. Not the kids.

Not alone, Enjin was with Jonathan, a [Crafter] and a teacher of Gifted Engineering class, Tenerif, an [Empath] who was one of the school’s many counselors, and Mr. Okoro, a man whose business was supposed to be with the college section of Fallen, not the high school.

It did not escape anyone that he was spending a little too much time in the high school.

“It still makes no sense,” Tenerif said when Enjin turned away from the bodies of the students.

“I know,” Mr. Okoro muttered. “Why them?”

Everybody paused to look at him. He had not been talking to anyone specifically, just to himself.

Enjin narrowed his gaze at the man. “Why them?” he asked, tone a bit malicious. “That’s what you have to say?”

“Enjin.” It was a single word from Jonathan. A request that he control his temper. “The question is not an unreasonable one.”

“But it is out of place,” Enjin barked.

Today, the infirmary was practically empty. For all the portals that had appeared, there had been only one Chaos Run by the time the entire dilemma came to an end.

Tenerif’s lips scrunched up in thought. “That was not where I was going with this, but it is a fitting question.”

Enjin could not believe what he was hearing. Here were two kids fighting for their lives, hooked up to every kind of drip that would help them and these guys were being investigative.

“Put your scorn away,” Mr. Okoro muttered in disinterest. “It is a question that needs answers. These two disappeared before the portals began. The cameras show that Melmarc,” he pointed at the younger of the two, the one with a ruined shoulder, “was the first to go. A portal appeared, sucked him in, then disappeared. Then his brother got up and left his classroom. We traced him to the restrooms later on, that was why we could not tell what had happened.”

Tenerif nodded slowly. “There are no cameras in the restrooms.”

“The question becomes what happened to him when he got to the restroom,” Jonathan mused, seemingly unable to stop himself.

“What happened to him or what he did,” Mr. Okoro corrected.

A deep sense of disgust washed over Enjin. He rounded on Mr. Okoro and grabbed him by his expensive button-up shirt. “You better not be insinuating what I think you are insinuating.”

Mr. Okoro looked at him as if he was harmless. “I am speculating, not insinuating. And right now, that is all they are, speculations.”

Enjin’s grip tightened.

The door to the infirmary opened and the vice Principal, Delet strolled in. “I find the speculation that the boys had anything to do with the appearance and haywire behavior of the portals to be completely unfounded.”

He closed the door behind himself and strolled up to them. Once with them, his eyes moved to Mr. Okoro.

“Wouldn’t you agree?” he asked. But it was not a question. The man was actually scolding Mr. Okoro.

Mr. Okoro nodded very slowly. “However, that is not the direction of my speculation. For two brothers to disappear, and I assume the older,” he looked at Tar’arkna Lockwood, “was also taken away by a portal, just before the other portals appeared, is a cause for concern.”

Enjin threw his arms up in exasperation. “Are you fucking listening to yourself right now?”

“Mr. Enjin,” Delet said in a respectful tone. “If you cannot control yourself, I will be forced to remove you.”

Enjin growled at him, his anger getting the best of him.

“And,” Delet continued without missing a beat, “if I am required to use force to remove you, then all I am willing to say is that your beloved students will miss your time with them at this institution. So what will it be?” He folded his arms over his chest. “The control of an adult or the punishment of a child?”

Enjin gritted his teeth. The vice principal was right. He was being a child. Control was one of the many things that set an adult apart from a child. He had been a Delver once, control was one of the things he had learnt.

It was just that he lost his mind when children were not being treated as children. Especially when it was children who had been harmed. There was no reason to go after victims.

There was also the part where despite being the shortest in the group, Enjin did not doubt for a moment that the man could wipe the ground with him. It had happened before, after all.

Turning away, he went to one of the closest beds to the group and sat down.

“The nurses have informed me that the injuries of Melmarc Lockwood are not healing,” the vice principal said. “Have they been able to get back to us as to why this is happening?”

Jonathan was the one who replied. “They are not exactly sure, but we solicited for help from the Department of Health and Human Services.”

“What did they say?”

“That Melmarc Lockwood was once involved in a similar case of a portal going wrong as a child. Whatever happened during those events, he sustained a specific injury on his abdomen that could not be healed properly. In the end, it left a scar that the [Healer]s could not clean.”

Delet nodded slowly, sponging up the information. “What of the kids’ parents?”

“That’s what I find most concerning,” Tenerif said. “If there is anything out of hand going on here, the parents are aware of it. For starters, they did not come together. They came separately.”

Mr. Okoro’s brows furrowed. “Separately?”

“Yes. The mother is the emergency contact for both boys. We contacted her immediately, and she came first.”

“How would you describe the mother?” Delet asked.

“Accustomed to violence,” Tenerif answered. “I am not saying that she is violent, but she is accustomed to it. She cried when she was here, but the entire time she was alert.”

“A possible Delver, then.” Delet looked at Mr. Okoro. “Do we have anything on that?”

He shook his head. “Unfortunately not. If she is a Delver, then her records are classified so strictly that I don’t have friends in places capable of declassifying that information.”

“I see.” Delet stroked his shaved beard. He looked at Tenerif. “And the father?”

“He came yesterday.”

“And?”

“He was… odd.”

“Odd, how?”

“He just looked at both boys, touched their heads, said ‘not dissonant’ and left.” He shrugged. “I’d like to say I could read things of his body language, but his body language was… not forthcoming.”

Jonathan frowned. “How so?”

“His body language said that he was tired, happy, hungry, fed, washing plates, under duress, and trying to sleep with a chicken on the fourth night of the blood moon in katiki.”

Quiet eyes looked at him. Jonathan’s mouth hung a little loose.

Tenerif shrugged. “Told you it wasn’t forthcoming.”

“How do you get trying to sleep with a chicken on the fourth night of the blood moon in katiki from a body language?” Mr. Okoro asked. He looked genuinely curious.

Tenerif returned his attention to the students. “It’s a skill. The point I’m making is that most parents would make some kinds of complaints about taking their children away from school grounds to their own trusted personal doctors.”

“Most would actually make a scene,” Enjin opined. “God knows I would.”

“Mr. Enjin is right,” Delet supported. “They would ask questions like how their children ended up in such a state, and why only their children. Then they would probably demand an explanation, talk about sues, compensation. They would most definitely take their students out of the school for medical treatment.” He paused, sighed. “But none of them did.”

“None.” Tenerif frowned. “The father didn’t even flinch when he was being updated about their state. Not even when we told him that Melmarc was not responding to treatment. He also looked like a mess. Worse than Tar’arkna but better than Melmarc.”

“So he’s a Delver then,” Delet mused.

“With his size, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Tenerif agreed. “It’s possible he got caught up in a Chaos Run, though. Delvers usually get better medical treatment after a delve.”

Enjin nodded. That was true. It was always nothing but the best for Delvers.

“As for the mom,” Tenerif continued, “she just nodded while we updated her. We asked if she would like to take them, and I could read it on her that she wanted to take them with every fiber of her being.”

“Did you read why she did not?” Mr. Okoro asked. “Not very well. But I believe she was advised not to.”

“By?”

“I said ‘I believe’ Mr. Okoro. I am speculating. It simply felt that way. It felt like she had hoped something like this would not happen but was not truly surprised that it had, the way parents feel when a problem child finally got into a problem that was too big.”

“The Lockwoods.” Delet looked at both brothers.

Tar’arkna was in a far better condition than Melmarc. He had injuries but was responding to treatment. His breathing was even normal right now. The only issue was that the doctors did not know why he wasn’t awake yet and when he would possibly be awake.

Melmarc was the real problem. At least all the bleeding had stopped, and his torso was wrapped completely in bandages.

“How is he even still alive?” Jonathan muttered. From the look of shock on his face, those had not been words he’d wanted to say out loud.

“Mr. Jonathan,” Delet said in a cool voice. It was a clear scolding.

“My apologies, vice principal. It is just that I have seen Delvers with lesser injuries die from those injuries without prompt medical attention.”

“Then there’s his injury.” Mr. Okoro walked up to the injury at his shoulder. The only one not bandaged. “There’s just something very wrong about it.”

“The medical staff said it was the first to stop bleeding,” Tenerif explained. “But each time they bandaged it, they came back and found it… what’s the word… Uhm…”

“Useless,” Enjin said, pulling the word from memory. “Each time they bandaged it up, the bandage would lose its luster. It would be thin and frail. One nurse called it hollow, empty.”

Mr. Okoro frowned. “Desolate.”

“Nope.” Enjin shook his head. “That was not one of the words. I don’t think that’s even a synonym. Why are you trying to make this some kind of dark shit, man? The portals appeared and went out of hand. Two poor kids were caught up in it.” He pushed himself up from the bed, feeling his anger rising but unable to put it down. “You should be worrying about the fucking amount of therapy they’ll need or if they’ll ever be able to become Delvers again because of whatever stupid shit they might have seen in that portal not all this BS you keep spouting!”

“They experienced this before.” Mr. Okoro’s voice was calm, collected. “Melmarc Lockwood was trapped in a portal for about two weeks before he was rescued during his mentorship program. Tar’arkna Lockwood helped with a Chaos Run during his mentorship program. It ended with a scar in his abdomen where he was stabbed through by some kind of creature.”

“Then there’s the events of their childhood where their home was attacked,” Tenerif said. At least his voice had the decency of sounding sad.

Mr. Okoro leveled his calm eyes on Enjin. “It is unfortunate, but they are not unaccustomed to this.” He moved now, walking over to a fuming Enjin and looked him in the eye. “Do not assume that every child going through a problem is a child crying out for help or in need of coddling. Some children know how to survive. Your job is to stand and watch and make sure they do not die or ruin themselves.” He pointed at both brothers. “They are not dead. Our duty is to make sure they have not and will not ruin themselves.”

“By speculating on how all this could be their fault?” Enjin gestured around, his hand moving in a sweeping motion that encompassed a situation and not a place. “That people have died because of something tied to them? You start speculating around them when they are awake and see how far a child’s imagination can go!” He stepped into Mr. Okoro now, meeting him head on. “Our job is to make sure they do not ruin themselves. What happens when they have to bear the burden that thousands of lives were lost because of them? I guess it works with your theory. We won’t have to stop them from ruining themselves because we would’ve done it for them.”

Mr. Okoro met his gaze. He did not flinch.

“Not every child,” he said very slowly, “is as lacking in mental fortitude as you.”

Enjin had never wanted to hit someone so bad before in his life. But he didn’t, his eyes moved over to the side, to Delet. The vice principal was doing nothing but watching.

Everyone was doing nothing but watching.

“You know what?” He stepped away from Mr. Okoro. “Fuck it. Whatever you guys decide, keep me out of it. I’m too lacking in mental fortitude to bear the burden of it.”

With that, he stormed out of the room.

When he got to the door, a man opened it and stepped inside. He had brown hair and blue eyes.

“Have a nice day, sir,” the man greeted.

Enjin paused. “Have a nice day to you, too?”

He didn’t recognize the man.

The man tilted his head to the side in curiosity. “Ah, you almost have free will.” He leaned forward, looked at him closely. “A very traumatic childhood made you question God, I’m guessing. How unfortunate. There aren’t many like you who think twice.” He held out his hand, and Enjin shook it. “You can call me Dorthna.”

Enjin had never seen the man in his life, but it was cool. It was not like anything was restricted from the man. Waving him off, Enjin headed down the hallway and took a turn while the man entered the room.

It wasn’t until he was well outside the hospital that he paused and looked back.

His brows furrowed in confusion.

Who’s that guy?

And why was nothing restricted to him.