John

"It was all out now." John repeated as he layed on the bed. His friends had attended to his needs and had helped the healers dress his wounds but what of the wound that ran deeper?

The day had started normally for John as he was posted at the West Gate with Miss Kaelyn. She had assigned him to patrol the Rose and he had just returned to report to her that there was no violence there.

A Kaldorian entered the west gate, still wearing his helmet. John stopped the Kaldorian and asked him to remove it so that he could identify him. The Kaldorian explained, the helmet was stuck and he would need the help of a blacksmith to remove it. John was skeptical of the man's claim but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and accompany him to the blacksmith. As they moved toward the smith's shop, they came upon Cecil. Knowing that Cecil had been with the Kaldorian Army for some time and that probably everyone knew him, John decided to get Cecil to vouch for the helmed soldier. Some time and effort was spent to explain to Cecil what it meant to vouch for someone and in the end John was still not sure if he knew what it was because the only answer John received from him was his patented "As ya say". Still uncertain of the man's identity, John continued his trek to the blacksmith shop with the Kaldorian who had now revealed his identity to be "Maul Knight Duo". When they had arrived at the blacksmith, Miss Keina, who had insisted on following them, was asked to wait outside while the man had his helm removed. Thinking the Maul Knight might undergo some pain and didn't want the girl to witness it, John assured Keina that he would be alright and she should wait outside the blacksmith shop.

As soon as Keina left the room, the helmed stranger's tone changed. "You have disrespected me and now you will feel the Wrath of Raza!" John, disappointed that he would not be able to try his unlock spell on the man's helmet, closed his spell book and assumed a battle stance similar to the one the Kaldorian had taken. The Kaldorian unleashed a blow that knocked John down. A bit dazed, John picked himself up and began running into the other room.

"Have to get time to think, time to heal." John thought in desperate panic.

IN VAS MANI the power words that John had spoken several times in the past to help others were now being spoken to keep him alive. "If only I could get him off of me I might be able to do something to him." John spoke the verbal component to bind his adversary, but the act turned out to be the last act of a desperate man, because his opponent's will was too strong and the bind failed to keep him frozen for significant amount of time for John to act.

John began coming around and found that the Kaldorian had fled the scene of their fight. Still battle weary, John's staggered out the door of the smithy. Steps unsure, he stumbled down the sandstone streets of the city of Trinsic.

"You need to go to the healers.", John heard the voice of Kaelyn say.

"He wasn't Kaldorian.", was John's confused reply.

"To the healer that's an order"

John staggered toward the healer but his vision had blurred because of the poison in his veins. He took several steps, stumbled and fell to the ground. When he awoke he was in the healers building with all of his friends around him. They seemed to be relieved that he was awake. Amoung them was the young girl, Keina. She had been here the last time he laid in the healer's bed. On that occasion, John and Kamar had been knocked out by the undead at the moongate and they had gone to the healers to recover. John had fallen asleep and dreamed of his past mistake. This mistake could not be blotted out by the scribes quill. It would be revisited everytime John fell into a vulnerable position, like some bizarre tragedy replayed through his head again and again. When these dreams took him, they also took his body. Being transported to the time and place of the incident, he would reenact it. The last time it happened, he attacked Kamar with a spell. Kamar had said something to him about it but John did not remember anything. However, knowing in his heart that this had happened,John looked to the young girl and pulled lightly on her sleeve. "Don't let me fall asleep, you remember what happened the last time." The perceptive young girl nodded in remembrance.

Despite the efforts of the young girl, John drifted off into a restless sleep. In this sleep, he began to dream. With his eyes wide open but not seeing the world that we know, John began walking out of the Healer's building. Seeing the events of his mentor's death unfold one more time John responded as if it were the first time. "I'LL KILL YOU FIRST" John shouted to his invisible adversary. It was at this time, John felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He looked around to find everyone standing around him outside of the Healer's Building. He had no memory of the dream he had just left. "John, we will need to tie you up", he heard someone who he thought might have been Kaelyn say. Still weak from the effects of the poison, John agreed ashamed of the events that had just taken place.

John's body began to convulse violently as if it was fighting off the paralytic effect of the poison. The felinoid, Aisha shouted in panic at John's changed condition and quickly dabbed his forehead with a damp rag. After a time the convulsing stopped and John looked through blurred vision at what he thought was his dead wife Jennifer holding an apple. "Take this, it will make you feel better" she said through the smile that had won his heart. Somehow in John's confused condition he believed that if he took the apple and bit into it, he would be accepting her forgiveness for the things he had done. He believed, the apple could heal all his wounds even the deepest one, his guilt. John reached out his hand beaconing the apple to come to him but his wife only smiled as her image faded away, taking with her, her forgiveness.

Aftermath
After the healing balms had taken effect, John pretended to sleep on the healers bed until all people had left. The last to go was young Keina. If John did not know better he would have thought the perceptive young girl had known he was faking it and had made a game of waiting him out. Eventually she gave up and left, leaving John alone in the room. John sat up on his bed. He now knew with all certainty that his wife Jennifer's death was a result of his sleep walking. That the spell, he had been practicing to get through his graduation at the academy had worked while he slept and had slain his bride. Jennifer's death left John nothing except denial to keep him going. His mentor, Jordan had not realized how much John needed this denial until he had to pay the price for his ignorance with his life. Now John sat in the Healer's building, alone, with the full burden of what he had done on his shoulders. "It was all out now"....