Adventurer's Guild Adventurer's Guild - Raid: Slime Horde

[AliceShiki]

After the rude man unceremoniously picked me up and forcefully dragged me to the temple, I took a deep breath and prayed for miss Letianna's safety... He did not seem like someone with ill intentions, but it was hard to not worry when his personality was like that.

Nonetheless, I entered the temple once more, this time with the intent of helping... It was a... Very uncomfortable situation. This was not The Goddess' temple, I should not be here.

And at the same time, I was only a liability outside right now... So I took this as The Goddess' call to do what I can, regardless of how uncomfortable it was, and started helping out.

The hours passed quickly, wounded after wounded kept coming. We had long ran out of healing herbs, though from time to time a group of guards came with a new batch that came from the people that evacuated the city, as they tried to at least gather some supplies to those that remained to protect it... It was undoubtedly helpful, but not nearly enough.

It was tiring. There was no time to rest, and there was hardly any point in using spells to heal the wounded... They were just so many... Me and the other priests did what we could, but whenever we saw someone in such a critical condition that they needed magic to be saved, we had to decide between incapacitating one or more healers for a while, for the sake of saving one person... It was not an easy to choice to make, it never was.

I had seen far too many adventurers go out in their quests already... Far too many filled with hopes and dreams, with their wishes to help those that they loved, to become someone respectful, to be basked in glory... Far too many that never returned home, and were now only remembered by a tombstone in the local graveyard.

But this? This was different... I saw people with melted limbs, with parts of their bodies missing, people screaming in pain, begging for help, when all we could offer was a prayer that they'd soon find peace... One after another, a death streak that had no end... And for each person that we saved, two more arrived while in need of help... And often times, we'd have to choose one of them to live, and the other to die... How could I even make that choice though? What right did I have to decide on who was the person that deserved to keep their life?

And yet... It was all I could do, for if I did nothing, we'd lose both... To cut our losses, to heal those that needed it the most... And to heal those that needed it the least, because they would then be able to go back to the fray... To fight again, to risk their lives again... To put everything on the line for our sake.

I wanted to tell them to not do it, to pray that The Goddess would protect them... But I couldn't do that, they made their choices, they wished to protect those that they loved, so I could only pray that they would once again return safely... Often times they did not.

At some point we received news that the enemy's leaders were defeated, that they lost their organization, that their champion had fallen, that things would be better now, that they'd soon finish routing them and find peace... But there was no joy inside the temple, nobody was happy to hear the news... At most there was... Relief. Relief that maybe this would finally be over.

And that was what I was praying for... For this day to end... For all this to disappear, and to let my conscience rest in peace, for I did everything I could... And to let me have the strength to carry on for a while longer... Because as soon as finish treating them, we'll start arranging the funeral... The funeral, because there will be only one this time... To burn those that passed on, to thank them for their sacrifice, and to pray for their safe passage...

I was tired... I wanted to rest... And yet, wherever I looked, all I saw were tired people, people in desperate need of rest... People that were bandaging wounds, and applying salves to those that could still be saved... And as such, I continued working... Working, and praying that this would soon be all over.
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Nene, in the main temple.

For a while longer, we continued treating the patients we received, I don't know how many hours passed, I had long lost the sense of time... But eventually, more news came, announcing that the enemies had been driven away for good, that the breaches in the wall and sewers had been temporarily sealed, and that the remaining monsters were no longer aggressively attacking, so they were no longer an immediate threat.

Relief washed over the civilians that were taken refuge within the temple... And some joy as well, some were celebrating that the threat was gone at last, so they could return to their homes without fear... And as such, they started leaving.

Others remained. Praying for those that they lost, or are in fear of losing... And we? We kept treating them, treating as many as we could, while knowing that at least, no more would be coming... There was finally something worth celebrating in this day.

More time passed, and more people passed away while on our hands... It hurt. Each and every one of them hurt, but these ones were worse... When we no longer had to worry about saving strength to the next ones, when we were finally able to celebrate a bit that no more wounded people would come to us... That no more would be lost to this fight... To still lose some that were held in our very arms... It was a very regrettable feeling.

And yet, there was no time to mourn, there were still more people to be treated, and so we continued our jobs, spreading the blessings of the gods to all that needed them in those dire times.

Eventually we were partially finished though. The patients remaining were at least stabilized. They weren't nearly in good enough to stop being in pain, much less return home... But they would live... And for now, that much was enough for us. We were all at our limits... No mana, no stamina, no herbs... We were out of everything we needed to keep treating the patients we had, it was frustrating. To leave them as is when they were clearly in need of more, and yet being too exhausted and too out of supplies to help them in any way... We left them. We left them, and moved to our next task, it was not time to rest yet.

A part of the priests started talking to the families of the deceased, explaining what would happen next... Others went to talk with the guards, to learn who were those that were lost, and who were those that could have at least get their bodies retrieve... And others went to prepare the rites, I was in the last group.

We left the temple and headed outside the city, through the Northern gates... There was not enough space in the graveyard.

The people that took refuge outside, helped us gather the firewood... The guards, helped pile the corpses, and arrange the wood around them.

With enough time, the names were obtained, the deceased were gathered, and the wood was piled with them... That would be our last job for this day. A job nobody wished to do, but everyone needed to.

Eventually I started praying. I said nothing, I just lowered my head and prayed... Prayed that The Goddess would grant safe passage for all those poor souls... Those that were here, and those that had nothing remaining to themselves... The other priests soon followed, they lowered their heads, and prayed for their own gods. It was fitting, a number of priests of all religions, gathered together in a city with people from all places, each with completely different goals, each with different stories, each with different families... And each of them, died so that we could live again.

Who was suited to host a ceremony for this many fallen heroes? There was nobody that would take a step ahead to do it... And as such, we all did it. In our own, internalized way... A silent ceremony with each family mourning for those that were lost, and each priest wishing that they would have the strength to carry on without those that they loved.

Eventually it ended. Mister Harrison made the honors of lighting up the first pyre, and the others soon followed... The fires raised to the skies, sending the remains to a better place, while carrying our wishes to the gods above.

And what next? Much needed to be done... Parts of the city were melted, it would need to be rebuilt. Many of the defenders were lost, but their tasks still needed to be done, the guards would be overworked for the near future. The numbers of adventurers fell drastically, but the guild still needed to clear its many tasks. Many families lost their main earners, they would need to find a way to survive their daily lives... And the wounded... The wounded were still waiting for us, our job was not done either, we still had many to treat.

But as much as the future looked bleak... There was hope... A hope that was born from the survival of the attack of a monster army... A hope born from the will to move on, even when so much was lost...

Today, we survived. Tonight, we rest... And tomorrow... Tomorrow we rebuild.

But eventually... Eventually, we will celebrate. We will celebrate our victory, and celebrate the fact that we are still here, even if many aren't... We'll honor the dead, by living the lives we have to their fullest.

But not now... Now it is the time to rest, for even the mightiest warriors deserve a moment of relief, after a day of heroism... I pray The Goddess will ensure that this night at least, will be one where we can all rest.
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OOC: It was a bit longer than I expected, but I hope this works as a raid ending post?

Sorry for the bleak mood of it, I just can't imagine people celebrating and partying for their achievements in this situation! >.<

So uhn... Grab your rewards folks! We deserve that juicy exp and money after this well-done event where everyone was trying to make things worse! \(^^)/

Oh, and if anyone wanna write their personal aftermaths... I guess Freestyle is a good place? Grab that free 15xp and stuff! xD