The Aestas outpost was as close to the cursed city as she had managed to get. The overwhelming pressure from the magical that resided there had came close to strangling the life out of her the day before, she had been left with no choice but to retreat. A longing filled the silver eyed woman as she looked out from behind the warded gates towards the city of Aysut. She felt hopeless, useless, lost. The only reason she had ventured into the desert had been to aid the world in its fight against the high priest as the dead were reanimated, but she couldn't even get close. The energy and magic gathered in the city was enough to rival the gods. The living, the dead, and even the gods themselves were all fighting, but the combined presence of such magic made her continued existence there impossible.  Lonely, lost, and useless. Silvery hair fell in front of her face as she looked to the ground and turned away from the gate, walking further into the outpost. Even from this far away she could feel the magic being used. The lingering effect that would be the price to pay for its usage that those beings seemed to not have to pay. For her kind, where there was magic, there was always a price to pay. That had kept a balance within her people and made the abuse of over using magic all but nonexistent. She had always agreed and felt it was the best way for things to be. Take away the choice and things will work smoothly, but now… it felt like a burden. She could not help with the fate of this world, she could do nothing.  She truly was useless here, why did she bother even staying? 

Meow?

A small noise lifted her from her depression and she looked to the source. A stray cat rubbed itself against her legs and she smiled. She knelt down and pet the light orange colored kitty and was rewarded with a loud purring. "Is it about that time? I'll go get it ready, alright?" She said fondly to the cat as it looked up at her. That was right, her reason for remaining. These cats. There were so many and with all the chaos they were having a harder time finding food. Several litters of kittens had been born only a week before and the mother's were struggling to keep up the energy to keep their babies fed. One of the others who resided in the outpost had mentioned something about the cats keeping the undead away, so she had decided to help in the only way she could. Help keep the outpost safe, by keeping the cats safe.

 She stood and walked over to the tent she had been permitted to use during her stay here and opened her bag. She dug around inside until she withdrew a piece of parchment, quill, and ink. She then quickly made her way off to an abandoned looking hut on the other side of the outpost. The door was boarded over and the single window it had was smashed, but on the back wall there was a small hole that the woman was just barely able to squeeze through. Once inside she took a few deep breaths. It was still difficult to breath, but she could manage. She was suddenly surrounded by cats and a bright smile made her face light up. She sat in the middle of the room and opened her parchment. She quickly drew a summoning circle upon it and places her hand over it. She closed her eyes and called forth her magic, feeling the pressure from the magic around her whose price had gone unpaid close in on her, as if looking for a way to be brought to a balance again. She pushed it away and focused upon her own spell. She let her magic surge forth and in an instant a burlap bag appeared before her. She quickly let go of her magic gasping. It was getting harder to keep this up the longer the fighting raged on. Out of breath and a little dizzy she opened the bag to reveal it full of food for the stray cats. She upended the bag and watched happily as the cats darted forth to grab their meal. Once to wave of madness passed she collected up some of the food and delivered it to the small boxes that held the mother cats and their new kittens. She gave them each a scratch behind the ears vefore returning and picking up a dull canteen that was in with the food. She filled several small bowls with water before putting it back into the sack and calling forth her magic to return it from where it came. She had help on the other end of the summoning for this…

Anyways, she proceeded to then sit leaning against a wall as the cats climbed all over her like she was an interesting piece of furniture. 

The evening was setting and the fighters that were exhausted from fighting were returning to the outpost. It broke his heart seeing so many injured people being carried by their friends, tears in their eyes. The air was chilling slightly, though the heat was still obnoxious and sweat clinged to the dirt on peoples skin. Serci himself, his usually clean white and grey robes were brown and tattered, could need a bath with cold water. A bit of wind kicked up within the base and stirred up the never still sand into the air, irritating Serci's eyes. The air was thick with the scent of mud, and blood. The metallic sting of it burned his nose, and saddened his heart. He thought about trying his hand at healing but he had never healed a human before. He thought it was best to let the experts do what they do, and him stay out of the way and cut down mummies.

The rolling dunes paled in comparison to the giant setting sun. Here in the desert without the obstruction of mountains of forests showed the sun in its true form. Here in the desert, it received the full brute force of the sun. The light was blinding during the day, and the heat exhausted most of all life. It made him miss his home back in Adeluna. Regardless, he was here in the desert. Next to the city of the dead, which was not a comforting thought to fall asleep too. Some times, late at night when he can't sleep, he swears he can hear the city scream. It wasn't pleasant, he admits, but he can endure this for the better of land. But it wasn't all bad. It seems Angela had listened to him where he made his half joke about drinking all of her wine. It seems the Clergy had several bottles with his name on it, each given with a message of health from the the member that handed him a bottle.

As of right now, he was drinking alone on a bench outside of one the shelters. The bench was made hastily with out care of final product. It seems the whole outpost was made the same way, with patches in wood covered with cloth, shady structures that leaned in the sand were supported with piles of lumber. It wasn't discomforting in the least, just… shabby. The conditions weren't terrible in the outpost though. Water was given daily, and food was rationed well with out worry. Healers did their job well and Angela's barrier stood strong through buffeting winds. The truth was he just missed his home sometimes.

It wasn't all bad though. He found comfort in feeding the many stray cats around the area. He felt close to cats when he a child. He was never allowed a pet as his parents feared it would be a distraction to him and his sister, but he sometimes would feed the strays on the streets. And many years later, he was doing the same thing. Tonight's lunch was lamb stew with bits of potatoes and bread. Serci would hide away his bread in his pockets until evening where he would feed the strays. He saw some regulars among the crowd. A large orange tabby came padding along with a white and black speckled minx by his side. There two were familiar with the procedure by now and rubbed his leg, thanking him for the meal and affection. Of course there new comers in the mix. A grey and tan bobtail curiously poked his head through between some trash along with a black birman. The two came up slowly, sniffing the air and Serci him self, which he gladly put out his hand with some bread crumbs.

He gladly fed the cats and took out a piece of mummy cloth that vigorously cleaned in soap in water. He began running the strap through sand and chuckled as the group sat on their haunches and watching  the straps pattern. A brown Siamese was the first to strike, with a lunge he threw his paw out and swatted the strap in the air. Following suit, the cats took turns running around and batting at the piece of cloth, which Serci happily dangled. A few minutes passed when he heard a commotion close to the entrance of the barrier.

"Hey! Hey! We need some healers!" Serci paused the play session to bring some healers towards the group. Upon arriving there were 3 young men with one carrying a black and grey tabby with a great cut running down belly.

"We were out in the city and we got attacked by a horde of mummies. Before I knew it, I was about to be struck when this cat came out of nowhere and took the blow for me. I don't know if it was just pure luck, or if this is the bravest cat I've seen, but I couldn't leave him after saving my life." The young man said, the cat breathing heavily. It broke his heart when the healers denied his request, scolding him for taking them away from patients for a stray cat. The group softly put the cat down and headed toward the barracks.

Saddened, he went back to his bench and petted the many kitties. "… r fri…nd." He heard a raspy voice but couldn't quite make out the words. He straitened his back and tilted his in the air, moving his ears from side to side. "Can you help our friend?" He followed the sound to the orange tabby who was looking up to him. "Hey, big guy." The cat said, clearly impatient with Serci. "I said, can you help our friend?" Serci looked at the cat, wide eyed. "Great, now I'm going crazy." Sereci said, a hand over his face.

"What? You think you spend your time with us all the time, and you don't imagine us talking to you?" The cat asked, Serci wondering if he should take the conversation seriously or not. "Look, all Im saying is our friend feels grateful for you people feeding us so he wanted to help. But he cant take on a mummy by his self. You know healing right?" The cat asked, his head tilted to the side.

"How do you know that?" Serci asked, understanding fully he was talking to a cat.

"I'm a cat. I have 9 lives. I've seen things." The cat said, stoically.

"Yeah, I've practiced on dummy's but I've never used it before." Serci answered honestly. Feeling shame in his answer.

"Well, nows your chance, blondie."

Retorted the cat. He lifted his leg and started licking the inside of his leg to the outside of his belly.
He looked at the injured cat and got off his bench. He walked over to the cat and placed his hand over the large cut. The cat looked up to him with large eyes and sniffed his hand. Serci closed his eyes and focused on a warm feeling and concentrated on spreading it to his finger tips. He began running the hand over the cut in slow motion back and forth and opened his eyes to see a comforting green glow around his finger tips as he watched the cut slowly seal it's self. Minutes later, the scar on its belly and the cat graciously licked his fingers and spoke to him.

"Thank you very much, stranger. From now on, I'll leave the fighting to you. Is there anything I can do for you?" The tabby asked, a smile on its face.

Serci picked the cat up and put him inches away from his face.

"You and your friends never talk. Again." Serci said, seriously, adding a pause for effect. "Ever."

And with that, the cat let out a meow and licked his nose. Serci put him down and petted the tabby before leaving towards a healer hut.
He parted the heavy curtains and walked in and introduced his self.

"Hi. I'm Serci. I'm sorry to bother you. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to learn from you how to heal. I never learned properly." A healer smiled and took him by the shoulder and led him to an injured shoulder and explained to him the basics of healing.

Her eyes fluttered open as the cries of the wounded started to fill the air. She had fallen asleep for a few hours and woken into the despair of the wounded. She could feel the magic in the air spinning, healing magic was dominant in that moment. She looked to the cats which had made a nice home on her and said, "I'm sorry but I really should be going. I might be able to do some good before it gets to be too much." As she stood a few more cats entered, she could sense someone's magic upon the grey tabby that entered. "Something happen?" She asked and nodded as the cat explained in a wordless way to her about the mummy and the blonde guy that had helped him out. She nodded and responded, "Well I'm glad you're ok. There's still some food left if you're hungry, I better get going though, I'll be back later. Stay safe." She turned her gaze upon a more elderly looking Bombay cat and asked, "You coming again?" The cat yawned and nodded to her. She cradled her way put of the shack and waited, stretching in the evening air. Once finished the cat jumped up onto her shoulder, wrapping it's tail around her neck. He didn't seem to really belong here with his black fur in this oppressively hot climate, but he seemed to enjoy it none the less. Walking quickly she made her way over to the healers hut. 

Screams interrupted her as two people who she assumed her warriors in this war carried a third who was screaming in pain clawing at his stomach. She instantly changed into more nurse like attitude as she jogged along side them the rest of the way. "What's the situation?" She asked and after receiving a questioning glance from one of them she got an answer, "He's been stabbed but it's happened before and he didn't take it this bad. Something more is wrong, can you help?" She nodded and rushed into the healers hut with them. The amount of magic being used hit her like a brick but she had no choice but to ignore it. She had to do something, be useluf in some way. Her eyes scanned the room quickly and said, "over here." And made her way to a table with someone with a broken arm. She quickly touched the persons arm and nodded then said, "This will hurt for only a second." Before forcing the bone back in place, ignoring the blood curdling scream as she did so.  Sparks ran up and down the patient's arm as she applied  her healing magic to mend what she could quickly. She gave them just a moment to recover before shooing them off the table and saying, "Give it a few days before you go full force." 

The screaming man was then placed on the table. There was a stab wound in his stomach that was torn open even farther as he kept scratching at his stomach as if trying to pull out his own insides. Tearing open his shirt farther to inspect things better she noticed it had a slightly blackened veiny look around the entrance. She glanced to the cat on her shoulder and said, "Looks similar to what happened to Thiea." The cat nodded to her and she told the two that had come with him, "Hold him down, be sure to keep his arms under control. This won't be pleasant." She closed her eyes and placed a hand upon his stomach letting small sparks traverse his body as she read them for anything else that might be wrong. She frowned and sighed before stocking her fingers into the wound. The man screamed more but she ignored him, keeping her eyes closed. A charge seemed to fill the air and anything made of metal seemed to try and gravitate towards her as the man's screams became more and more intense. After a moment she slowly pulled her fingers out of the man only to place her free hand over the wound and start her healing. Her other hand was covered in blood and what looked to be fragmented pieces of some sort of dagger. She placed her hand over a brown and the electrical charge dissipated from the air and the pieces dropped from her fingers into the bowl. She was deadly serious as she then used the blood on her hand to draw a symbol onto the now much calmer man. She pressed her palm to the symbol and with a small flash if light she nodded. The dark veiny look upon his quickly healing wound was retreating. "You can let him go now, it should be fine." She said as she finished up her healing. The man seemed to have fallen unconscious but was healed and that's all that really mattered. "What was that?" One of the two asked. "Cursed blade, did either of you get cut by it before it was inside him?" She responded in a very clinical fashion. They shook their heads and she nodded and responded, "Good, now if you're not injured would you mind taking him somewhere to rest?" They complied and after cleaning up a bit of blood from the table and off of her hands she waved over the next person waiting to be healed. 

After tending to several patients she was getting a bit light headed. She knew she had the magic to help so many more, but the pressure from both the not so far away city and here's magic was starting to react negatively. She could fear her heart skip a beat as it struggled to maintain normalcy. "Would you mind?" She asked the cat still perched upon her shoulder and it dug its claws into her skin, the pain helping her get a stronger grip upon herself. She couldn't stay here much longer so made her way over to another healer who seemed a bit worn out. "Doing ok, or would you like a bit of a pick me up like last time?" She asked with a small smile. The healer looked her way and smiled back, "Ah, Lily, yes that'd be nice actually, met your limit already? Pity we can't do something about it you're a pretty good healer and we really could use you." She laughed lightly and said, "Yeah, I wish I could do more too, but I wouldn't want a repeat of the first time I tried to keep going. It's just a bit too suffocating, you know?" They nodded knowingly as they finished up healing someone. Once finished they turned to her hand held out their hands palms up. "Ready when you are sparky." She placed her hands over theirs and let her magic flow into them, renewing their strength and replenishing their power. She let her hands drop and said, "There, much better." They nodded and said, "Thanks" before waving her off.

She stopped by the healers one by one sharing what she could. Her last stop was a healer who seemed to be teaching someone healing. "Need a refill?" She said in a slightly joking manner to the healer. They paused when a good time came and nodded, holding out a hand and she held it for a moment as she repeated the process she had been doing. Once done she looked to the student, a blonde haired guy who looked pretty dirty, as if he had been out fighting. "Need a pick me up or are your levels ok?" She asked, a but hesitant to interrupt the lesson too much longer.