Rynth: Four Beats

| 6th of Teryusin — Year 362 of the Cycle of Synthesis, Grand Cycle ??? |

“How’s the arm, Cali?”

She lifted a hand over her lips and sighed, finally sitting back to relax. Idri immediately bent down to massage her shoulders, still sending worried looks in Raoul’s direction with each pained groan he made.

“I have managed to bandage the arm tightly, but it is not a permanent solution and must be seen to by a physician as soon as possible. Have you managed to pinpoint a suitable hospital, Master Avil?”

“Yeah,” Avil replied, pulling his phone out to scrutinize their distance from their destination. His brows furrowed in irritation. “Seven minutes. The next station’s our stop. What of Merlin, Cali?”

“She made no such attempt to follow us. I suspect she will not give up so easily. We should prepare for a possible second ambush. She caught us off guard the first time, and so we were not able to retaliate effectively in those few minutes.”

“Talk about crazy… ah, sorry, Raoul.” he nodded along, cutting himself off. “Do you think she has the police in her pocket as well? Not a single one even tried to interrupt the battle.”

Raoul sat himself upright. “...I wouldn’t put it past her. She’s always had close relations with law enforcement. It’s possible the gathering of them we passed by along our way to the station was her doing.”

Idri crouched down to his level and crawled over. A stream of tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she stifled it for fear of looking weak in front of the person who had just lost his arm. Instead, she stuck close to Raoul’s side and embraced him tightly. “I’m so sorry, Raoul. If I’d only seen the attack… you would still have your arm.”

“I don’t blame you. It was… out of nowhere.” he replied, softening his tone to sound as reassuring as possible. At the corner of his vision, something shone in the far distance outside of the train. “...Hey, Idri.”

“Yeah?”

“We still have the prosthetic from the dungeon, right? Could you… reach into my bag and pull it out?”

“...Prosthetic?” Avil repeated.

At his words, Idri immediately lit up. She reached behind him, unzipped his backpack, and fumbled around a bit inside before pulling out the metal prosthetic arm they had retrieved from Narrow Hallway. She couldn’t help but smile at the prospect and hurriedly flashed it in front of his face. “Do you think it could fit?”

“I’m hopeful. Never mind that it’s a left arm like the one I lost, it’s also the same size.”

“Whoa, whoa…!” Avil hurriedly waved his arms in interjection. “Where’d you guys find this? And is it even safe to put it on?”

“Before we visited you and Cali, I searched for Idri—this you guys know already. We did a little bit of adventuring in Under Buril and found a dungeon that we kept secret. We found this prosthetic there and had a dwarf inspect it.”

“Grandpa Urfrey already explained how cool the artifact is. Back then, Raoul only kept it because it was a relic of our first time dungeon delving together. I didn’t think we’d be able to find a use for it.”

“Never mind the fact that you guys found a random prosthetic in a dungeon, I’m more concerned about any side effects it might have. Your wound’s still healing, so you’ll be in pain if you put something that tight on.”

“If I may, Master Avil.” Cali held him back, and then gestured for Raoul to continue with a bow of her head. “Raoul is already determined. If we take him to a hospital as we initially wanted, then we would have to spend more time in Cias Buril. Dangerous, given Merlin’s ironbound pursuit of us. He wants to leave as soon as possible.”

Raoul nodded along, reaching his free arm for Idri to take as she assisted him in standing up. He limped over to the closest plastic seat and offered his bandaged arm. “Cali’s right. I don’t want to stay here any longer. Worst case scenario, we’ll be stuck waiting for a day or two waiting for a cleric who can regenerate my lost arm. Or… we can use the prosthetic to bring me back to a functional state and leave the city now.”

“I… I suppose when you put it that way, you’re right.” sighed Avil. “Okay, go ahead.”

Still gritting his teeth, Raoul tilted his arm to meet Idri as she brought the open end. Like a key to a lock, the prosthetic whirred as it affixed itself to his stump. A continuous blast of cold air seeped all over where his injury was, frigid enough to shiver Raoul but also served to numb the pain. Small hisses pushed out the hot air from where the vials were hidden, and within seconds the prosthetic stuck to him cleanly.

That wasn’t so bad. He thought as he slowly began to wave it around. Phantom pain hadn’t begun to set in yet, and once the prosthetic fully locked around his stump did it feel like he had finally regained feeling in his arm. It even cooled the wound. It’s… tight, but not so tight that it hurts. Doesn’t seem like it’ll fall off.

“How is it?” Idri muttered, only able to hear the slight echo from the hollow arm as he swung it around. “Does it hurt?”

He didn’t reply instantly, still getting used to the feeling. Slowly he clenched each of his fingers inwardly one by one, testing for motor function and rapid response. To his surprise, he felt each one of the metallic joints as they curved backward. “No. It’s a perfect fit. I could feel it lock around my arm and adjust.”

A sigh of relief left Idri’s lips. “Oh, thank gods… I thought it might backfire.”

“You’re able to move that perfectly fine?” Avil questioned, stroking his chin in growing astonishment. His eyes followed each tough groove and crevice that conformed to Raoul’s movements.

“Fascinating. Are you capable of concentrating Jati through the arm?”

“Yes, and yes.” Raoul confirmed, but quickly pushed himself upright with both arms. The arm continued to soothe his wound with chilled air, ensuring the pain was kept to a minimum. By then, he was able to move fairly normally without much issue. He stuck out a finger from his left and aimed it just outside of the window. “We should probably leave questions for later. Mother—or rather, her clone, isn’t done with us yet.”

His warning did little to prepare the three of them for the crash. Merlin flew just outside, keeping pace with the high speed of the train. Mouthing another incantation, she retrieved Fensi’s Blade from thin air and shattered the window in one slash before floating in. In response, Idri and Cali moved forward and drew their weapons, while Avil retreated back to where Raoul was and began shouting at the other passengers to move to the succeeding train cabins. More screams flooded the interior as they ran, leaving only the Batan and Merlin standing in a tenuous deadlock.

“Come back, Raoul. I’m willing to let your friends live if you agree to return home with me peacefully.”

Raoul couldn’t help but let a resigned chuckle. “Mother, you’re making it very hard to hear you out. You didn’t even bother to come after me yourself. Instead, you sent over a Clone to retrieve me like some kind of lost dog.”

“You’ve grown a backbone since finding your friends,” she bit back. “Why would I come myself? I’m a busy woman. You should be grateful I even return home to cook for you.”

“Haha…hahahaha… Sorry, I don't think I’ll be able to stop myself from laughing. Enough, mom. I’m leaving, and it’s final. And if you’re going to try to stop me, then I’m going to show you otherwise.”

He continued. “Idri. Avil. Cali. Please help me defeat my mother. Let’s treat this as my graduation ceremony.”