8 A Known Truth

After teleporting the students back to their dorm Atlas picked up his phone and opened it to find that he had over thirty text messages and missed phone calls from Dirk who had been unable to find him after the assembly. Atlas tried to focus on what the words were saying in the texts but his vision seemed to be going in and out preventing him from being able to read anything comprehensively. The system had told him that he needed to go to a doctor to deal with the extra damage, and given his previous episode he decided that he should cave in and go visit the infirmary before he met up with his family for dinner.

He decided not to teleport to the infirmary and instead briskly walked to the main building where the infirmary was located. His vision was still messed up which caused him to have a bit of trouble at first but he eventually got used to navigating things with his current condition. The wind blew past him and he took in a deep breath while walking down the empty road to the main building. All of the students would still be in classes for another hour so he didn't have to worry about running into anyone on his way to his destination. It was a peaceful experience which would have been better if he didn't have a sharp pain shoot through his lungs every time that he took a breath. Shaking his head and rapidly blinking he tried to clear up his vision so that he could read the messages while he was walking but that ended up being a waste of time since he reached the main building without any progress.

Atlas was hesitant to get a check up since he knew if things turned out to be bad Dirk and his mother would most likely flip out, and his vision being messed up on top of that really wouldn't do any favors toward the situation. He knocked on the door infront of him and was emediatly greeted by the doctor who dragged him into the infirmary and forced him to sit down on one of the beds without a word. Grabbing Atlas's arm he lifted it up and inspected the black mark which had grown since that morning. It was now several inches thick and made the doctor frown in annoyance at this sudden development. He then changed his focus and looked at Atlas's face only to see that his pupils were dilated and when he shown a light on them they had almost no response which mad him shake his head and continue with his inspection which ended up taking over half an hour. All during that time his face turned grimmer and grimmer as he handed more items to the list of problems with his current patient.

When all was said and done he sat back and let out a sound which could only be classified as frustration toward his current patient.

"You look like you are falling apart, no wonder Dirk was so worried about you. You can't even see properly and you have more problems then all of my patients combined."

Atlas just sat there listening to the lecture about how he needed to take better care of himself until the doctor finnaly stopped to catch a breath.

"All I need are my eyes to be working, can you manage that? I already know how bad my condition is I just need to make sure that I don't look like how I feel. I just need to hold out for another season, by then a more permanent solution can be found."

The doctor nodded his head in defeat, he knew that Atlas was doing what needed to be done, and that it would be pointless for anyone to be told of his condition. The only thing that would be accomplished would be unrest among the people.

Strengthening his resolve, the doctor lifted his hands and placed them on Atlas's temples emedeatly activating his ability to heal. Pain shot through his arms as he focused on healing Atlas's eyes which seemed to have more damage than he had initially expected. By the time he had finished a black ring had formed around his own wrist.

"Sorry to bother you, here this should help get you a vacation so you can have time to recuperate."

Now with restored vision, Atlas patted the doctors shoulder and smiled at the noticable decrease in blackness on his arm. Healers were unique in their ability to take the darkness onto themselves since they usually had an easier time getting rid of it. Once the doctor accepted the document that Atlas had been holding out to him he went back to his room to change into a long sleeved shirt which would be able to cover up what was left of the black ring.

After cleaning up he pulled back his hair out of his eyes and tied it back in a ponytail. He looked quite nice after the change, other than his scars which he had accumulated over the many years. Looking down at his hands he smiled remembering the first time he had met his family, having met them he found even more reason to make sure his students succeed in their destinies.

The house where Dirk and his mother lived was simple in design and the line of shrubs on either side of the walkway leading up to the front door gave off a familiar and safe feeling that Atlas couldn't help but enjoy. A simple one story house with two bedrooms and two full bathrooms, which also included a kitchen, laundry room, and living room. It was the same design that their old home which they had been forced to abandon when the fog rolled in.

Atlas stood at the door and prepared to knock, but before he could the door opened and he was tackled by a familiar figure wearing black.

"I missed you so much, are you happy to see me?"

For a moment Atlas looked blankly at the woman who was hugging him tightly before realization dawned on him and he embraced her in a return hug.

"I have to say this is quite the pleasant surprise I thought that you weren't getting back from the sight for another two weeks."

The hug lasted for about a minute before the woman reluctantly let go and backed off so that the rest of the people standing at the doorway could give their own greetings.

"Before we continue with the greetings, Mary I know you two haven't seen each other in a while but it's cold out and the last thing any of us needs is to get sick, plus mothers delicious food will get cold if we don't hurry." Dirk gently shepherded the group into the kitchen which also doubled and the dining room and quickly got everyone seated before Atlas could even try to greet his mother who sat next to him at the table.

The food which was already plated was mashed potatoes covered in gravy with a medium rare steak, steamed broccoli, and a glass of iced tea. While he was tempted to just go and eat the food Atlas instead waited and turned to his mother giving her a quick hug to make sure that she didn't feel outcast from the situation.

"It's so nice that you were able to take time out of your schedule to have dinner, Dirk told me that you had taken up teaching a class of troublemakers on top of your other work and I was afraid that you wouldn't be doing well. Thankfully you seem to be in good health so I guess I was worried for nothing." While she was very soft spoken and seemingly unemotional Atlas could tell that she was happy so he decided to just nod in agreement with her, but looking across the table he could see that both Mary and Dirk were glancing between each other having a wordless conversation.

Mary had formerly been part of the same mercenary group as Atlas and actually been several years younger than him which had led her to treat him like an older brother. The rest of the family had eventually fallowed suit in treating her like a member of the family. It seemed that she had noticed something was up when they had hugged earlier, surprisingly she wasn't the one to bring anything up.

"Son, have you stopped by the doctor for a checkup lately? You look a bit paler than normal, I know that there have been more attacks than usual, so make sure that you aren't overwhelming yourself." His mother said this in an offhanded way but her tone had a kind of hint note to it that gave away her concern.

Atlas smiled reassuringly to all of the people around the table. "To tell you the truth I have been feeling a bit under the weather as of late, and I actually just got out from visiting the doctor before coming here. He gave me something to help with the problem so I should be improving soon."

While not a complete lie, it still hurt to have to keep such information from her, but that was what he and Dirk had decided on after she had lost her husband to the creatures in the fog. Thankfully she seemed satisfied with the answer and the rest of the meal finished without any problem. Atlas talked about his students, Mary talked about the project, and Dirk and their mother talked about things in their own lives.

When it was finnaly time to head out they all gave their goodbyes and Atlas left with Dirk to head back to their homes.

"So you fimmaly went to the doctor, I wont bother asking how it went since I will have a report straight from him, but do you really think that it is best for you to go out on the patrol with your group of students?" Atlas stopped in his tracks and looked up at the stars which were out in full, it was beautiful to him, and was one thing that had not changed in either of his lives.

"I saw one of those things today... The ones that killed dad, and had us fight." During his time transformed he had caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure, but not until now looking up at the sky did he understand where he had remembered it from. "I need to get them ready to fight because they will be coming back, and when that happens there goal will most likely be me. So we need to make sure that those kids can handle themselves when that time comes."

Dirk walked up to his brother and gave him a hug, Atlas couldn't see his face, but given the fact that he was trembling with rage he could guess what might be going through his head. When the creatures had killed their father all of them had been devastated, and in the months after the incident all of them would stick close together even falling asleep grouped together in fear of losing another of their own.

Now that he was hearing about them coming back for his brother the habit had kicked in once more. Atlas hugged him back and spock to him in a calming tone until he slowly released his grip. "Well it's good that it didn't bring this up over dinner, or mom probably wouldn't have let either of us leave the house."

After that they continued walking in silence until Dirk left him with a parting statement. "Let's just hope that you are right about the kids, I don't know what the family would do if we lost another member due to them trying to save others. Who knows we might end up destroying the rest of this forsaken race."

Atlas smiled and watched as his brother walked away from him. Once he was out of sight Atlas turned directions and walked to his own room where he lay down I'm his bed and instantly fell asleep only to be greeted with nightmares of the past.