Debilitating Injury

The first thing James could feel was pain. A sharp stabbing in his left leg roused him from unconsciousness. He tried to open his eyes, but dirt filled them, causing him to quickly shut his eyes in pain.

Instead of using his eyes, James moved his arms to get a feeling for the area around him. His arms seemed relatively alright, the pain from his leg drowning out the sensations from the small cuts and scrapes. He felt around his sides, remembering how he had pulled down Henry right as the explosion hit.

"Henry, are you there," James tried to shout out for his friend, but his voice was rough and hoarse, the words eliciting a coughing fit. James felt something brush up against his outstretched arm. A low groan came from that direction.

"Henry," James croaked, "Is that you?" James stretched his arm out further, gritting his teeth as he shifted his left leg slightly. He came into contact with something warm and soft. A coughing, rasping laugh came from the person James was holding onto.

"Careful there man," Henry said in a quiet but humoured tone, "That's my dick."

James sat there quietly for a second, before a chuckle escaped his lips. Henry joined him and the two devolved into hysterical laughter that ended in hacking coughs from the two of them.

James lifted his hand towards what he thought was Henry's shoulder.

"How are you doing?" James asked.

"I'm good I think, which is insane. We had a building dropped on us and all I have is some minor scrapes. I think you managed to shield me," Henry responded.

"That's good," James said, smiling even if Henry couldn't see it. "Be careful when opening your eyes," James remarked, "There's a lot of dust in the air."

James felt Henry shifting the arm his hand was resting on, a second later hearing a short gasp.

"Shit, your leg's in a pretty bad state," Henry said.

"How bad, I can only feel pain," James grunted.

"It looks like there's a metal pole or pipe in your leg," James heard Henry shuffling around, moving closer to his leg. "That's good at least," he heard Henry mutter.

"The pole isn't connected to anything so you should be able to move a bit," Henry said. "There's enough room to stand here, let's see how well you can move." James felt Henry grab hold of his hands. James lifted his right knee closer to his body, ready to put his weight on it.

"You ready?" asked Henry. James nodded his head and gritted his teeth.

"On three, one, two, three!" James let out a gasping cry as he stood, the metal in his leg shifting slightly, but he was able to stand by leaning on Henry's shorter form.

"There's an opening a few meters in front of us that looks to be bigger than this space, you think you can make it?"

James gritted his teeth before replying. "I don't have much of a choice." The two started moving with small, hobbling steps. Every time James' put the slightest amount of weight on his left leg, a wave of pain spread through the limb, originating from multiple points in the limb. James started to think that there was more wrong that merely the metal pole sticking out of it.

The worst part came as the two had to climb over a small hill of rubble. It was only about two meters tall, but the loose rubble kept giving away beneath James, every slip causing more pain. He nearly passed out multiple times from the pain, the only thing keeping him awake was the fear that the whole area would collapse on top of him.

They managed to get over the hill, but the effort left James exhausted. He was sweating heavily, his tattered clothes coated in sweat and blood. His whole body was shivering, causing a constant flow of pain from his leg. Henry gently sat James down, leaning him against the wall.

James heard Henry say something to him, but he couldn't hear what. The pain was getting to him, and the blindness from the dust made it hard to ground himself. He felt like the world was spinning around him, making him want to throw up. He tried to stabilise his erratic breathing. He tried breathing in deep, but the dust in the air just caused him to violently cough.

'Great, now even my lungs are hurting,' James could feel himself slipping closer to unconsciousness. His sense of pain started to fade as his thoughts started feeling thicker, but something new started to fill in the the void. There was a sense of something filling the area, flowing around him. He started focusing on this sense, trying to drown out his pain with something different. As he focused on it, he started to realise that it was remarkably familiar, but alien at the same time.

There were seemingly two different feelings wrapped within his senses. The first was seemingly more, the second resting in it like a boat in the middle of the sea. The first felt, fluid or shapeless, like water in glass. He got the sense that he was only sensing a tiny portion of a whole, analysing a grain of sand to get an understanding of a continent. He shifted his perception to the second, more recognisable feeling.

It had a similar hardness to it that the guards and the magic he felt from Miss Kalieta's demonstration. As he concentrated on it, he realised that it was originating from himself. It pulsed out of him, like a slow, weakly beating heart. He felt that the analogy of the boat on the water was wrong, it was more like putting a single drop of food colouring into a bathtub, the colour ever so slightly shifting.

As he emersed himself in this feeling, something entered the first feeling, disrupting it in the same way as he apparently was, but with a slightly different feeling to it. Almost as soon as this new sensation appeared, it stopped, and he felt something cold wash over his face.

James spluttered and wiped at his face, feeling the water wash away some of the dust on his face. He felt something press lightly into his eyelids, pulling them up as another splash of water hit his face. James wanted to cry out as the water his his eyes, but he felt to weak. He resorted to furiously blinking as the water washed away the dust in his eyes.

He finally opened his eyes, his vision still blurry from the water in his eyes. He made out the worried face of Henry, crouched down in front of him with a water canteen in his hand. He didn't look great. A large gash split his forehead, dried blood marring his even paler than usual skin. He took a swig of the canteen before handing it to James. James took a deep drag of the canteen, the water settling some of the discomfort in his body. He hadn't realised how thirsty he had been.

"Where did you get this?" James croaked, his throat still felt dry. Henry looked back behind him, a look of queasiness on his face.

"How are you feeling?" Henry asked after a second. James noticed the obvious deflection, but decided to not press the issue.

"A little better. Would prefer not to have a metal pole sticking out of my leg, but hey, can't win it all," James tried to smile, but he couldn't hide the grimace of pain. James looked away from Henry, looking at the area around them. They were in a fairly circular area, about ten meters wide. A partially obscured path on the other end of the area seemed to lead into a corridor that split into a T-Junction. The area was littered with stone debris, although something felt off about that. In fact, there was something of about the whole area.

James tried to concentrate on the area, but the pain in his leg made it hard to concentrate. He remembered back to how the pain had been reduced when he had focused on the strange sensations that seemed to to be somehow magical. He tried to focus on the sensations that had faded into a background of his senses. He felt as those senses spiked briefly, the energy coming into focus in his mind. He caught hold of the feeling, holding it in his mind. He could sense as Henry sat down on his left. Henry's unique energy bled off of him, slightly weaker than his own.

He focused on the flow of that energy. In seemed to flow in a general direction outwards, but the energy closest to James seemed to flow downwards and towards James. Following the flow, James realised that it was slowly gathering around the metal in his leg. Feeling at his own flow, he realised that his energy was doing the same, but more aggressively. The energy seemed to resonate with the metal.

'Metallurgy, that's what Miss Kalieta called her magic, it seems mine and Henry's is the same,' James thought, a feeling of excitement brimming within him.

It was as he observed this that he realised what was wrong with the area. All the debris in the are was stone. There was no shattered glass from the light fixtures, no metal piping like the one in his leg, no thick metal doors in the doorway like the one he had seen when entering the gymnasium they should be in. He swiped at the thick layer of dust underneath him and found not the lacquered wood that should've been there, but smooth cut rock.

He realised they were definitely not in the Area 51 site.