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"Justin...?" A strange, muffled voice was calling out to him... pitch darkness was still all Justin could see. "Hey, Justin!" the strange voice called again... No response. "He's still out of it, I guess," the voice concluded. This voice sounded like a man. Justin could still feel his heart beating, but instead of wet, coldness, he felt warmth, a bed, and soon a fat finger placed on the side of his throat.
"Is he still alive?" asked another voice, sounding more like a woman, "Please be okay, Justie..." The girl hung her head down and covered her face with her eyes.
"It seems he is still alive," said the first voice, "but in some sort of trance. His eyes are open, but he sees nothing. He opens his mouth, but not a sound leaves his throat. It seems our enemy had something to do with this..."
"Enemy?" asked the second voice, "Who? Is it a man? Oh, if I find out who did this to my Justie... Pain... Thank you for sending the letter, Doctor. I'll wait in the front." the woman got up and slowly walked out of the warm room. The man, however, continued to examine Justin. He grabbed a needle off of a silver table and took a sample of Justin's blood. He then covered the point where the needle had entered with a bandage and tape to stop the blood. Soon the man left as well.
*Where am I?* Justin began to ponder, *What's happening? How long have I been here? Why can't I see? Why can't I say anything? Am I dead?* Justin laid on the bed for three days wondering the same things over and over, day in and day out. When the fourth day had finally come, Justin regained his sight, but his eyes were heavy with drowziness. He sat up, putting his hand to his hand.
"Ah, my head... What the hell happened?" Justin looked around. Apparently, he'd fell into some sort of poison-enduced coma. Suddenly, he felt a slow pain in his other arm. The head of a ninteen-year-old girl was on his arm, sound asleep.
Justin's head felt heavy and warm. He just sat there with his right hand on his head, and his other slowly and carefully moving out from under the ninteen-year-old-girl's head. finally, he was out, and the girl was still out. He placed his hand gently on her head, and just sat there, staring at her smooth, forest-green hair.
About two hours later, the girl opened her eyes, and quickly closed them again. Justin quickly but gently moved his hand away. The girl sat up in the chair that was next to Justin's bed and started rubbing her eyes. A few moments later, she opened them to find Justin staring back at her with a smile. She screamed and jumped into his arms, crying on his shoulder.
"JUSTIN!!! YOU HAD ME WORRIED SENSLESS!!! I WAS HERE FOR THREE DAYS!!!" She gasped in a great breath of air for a while, and then caught her breath.
"I'm fine, Jannie," Justin retorted. He held her in his arms and stroked her hair. She still held on, crying away on his shoulder. Another ten minutes passed, and she let go of him, rubbing the tears from her eyes.
"What happened to you?" asked Jannis, still sitting on the bed, staring at Justin. Justin simply shook his head and replied, "I haven't the slightest idea. My guess would probably be as good as yours... Ohh man, my head!" He reached his hand up to his head again.
Soon, in walked another familiar face. He stopped and looked at Justin. "Hmm..." He began, "I won't want to bore you with the details, so I'll just tell you right off the bat. You were poisoned with an ancient elven dart. It was well cloaked with an illusion spell, but my medical sensors detected it right away. In any case, it was a minor poison that posed no major threat, but it's very dangerous to a certain list of races, and it could have killed you, had I not removed it immediatly. So, are you feeling a bit heavy?"
"Now that you mention it, my head feel like it's on fire... ugh! You got any medicine, Doctor uhh..."
"Thand," he interrupted, "Thand Yug-dizer, at your service. So what have you been up to all of these years, Justin? Been messing around in that Dran-forsaken Monistary... Hmph... I don't even want to think about that place right now. Here's a small dose of menill neul electicide. It should give you a boost, Justin." Thand threw a large, wrapped box with a few needles inside. He unwrapped the package, opened it, and took one of the needles with the M.N.E. out and injected himself with one.
"I'm so glad you're alright again, Justin!" Jannis blurted, "You still haven't forgotten me after ten years, have you?" She took out a small package from out of her pants pocket and handed it to Justin. he opened it up and looked at what was inside. It was a case with an assortment of labled herbs and ingredients for various cures. He closed it and put it in his pocket.
"Wait a moment..." Justin raced through his mind. He forgot what he was doing *Let's see here... I was walking north, then I saw rain... Headed to the cave and met Tibbs... who was the person that was with me...? Oh no... crap...* "I have to leave, now! I'm sorry to be rude, but I have to head north. It's for the sake of Tjed... uhh, which way's north?"
"Well, Justin, you're in luck," Thand stated, "We're in the northern fringe of Tjed. The only place of real importance 'HERE' would be a bit farther north, to the dock. I can't see why you'd want to go there, but there's a market to the east of the dock if you need to stock up your supplies... or there's the Dark Camp to the south of the market, but uhh, heh... that's not a very nice neighborhood."
"Dark Camp? What's that? And how can I get there from here?" Justin dumbly asked. Thand sighed and looked down.
"The Dark Camp is really not the place to be, son. It's the Crimson reinforcement; they'd kill you and take your stuff clean... but if you really want to get there, I suggest you head to the docks first. There's a friend of mine up there that can take you there through a secret underground waterway. If you take that route, You'll end up under the Dark Camp's dried-out well. If you climb that, you'll end up in the middle of the Dreaded halls, in a locked room."
"Sound's easy enough," said Justin, "So then, how do I get passed the locked room, Thand? Some kind of riddle I bet..."
"Yep. You got it right on the dot," Thand continued, "Once you get out of the well, knock three times on the door. A Lizard-man will ask you the password. You must simpley Reply 'If my enemy's blood is not crimson, my blood be spilled for the empire'. You got all that?"
"Yeah. I got it. So who's the guy I have to meet at the docks who'll take me through the underground waterway?"
"His name is Zenthak. He'll probably be wearing a black robe to cover his skin and face. Don't get too close to that man... He's a vampire, bit by Umbra himself, they say."
"Which Umbra, the darker one, or the bloodier one?"
"Bloodier," Thand replied.
"Okay, I'll see you again some time soon." With that said, Justin got out of his bed and stood on his feet. A few moments later, he fell over on his face. "... crap... Could one of you help me up?"
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