The Stormbreakers’ branch was only a short ride away, but Luke spent most of it looking out the window. Shops selling weapons stood beside cafés and clothing stores, and a large advertisement above an intersection showed a smiling man recommending insurance while a monster repeatedly destroyed the house behind him. Apparently, some problems followed people into every world.
Their car descended beside a broad stone building with the guild’s emblem mounted above its entrance. A steady stream of people passed through the glass doors, several wearing armor that looked considerably less impressive up close than it did in broadcasts. One man had a dent in his breastplate deep enough to hold a bowl of soup.
The lobby was spacious and busy, with several reception counters along one wall and a seating area beside the windows. Directions floated above the corridors leading farther inside, pointing visitors toward recruitment, equipment appraisal, medical services, and Sanctuary transit.
Luke’s gaze lingered on the last one before Emma gently caught his sleeve and indicated an available receptionist. He approached the counter and shared his booking confirmation. "I have an appointment at two thirty."
"Luke Ashford?" The receptionist checked her interface, then glanced up at him. For a second, he wondered whether she recognized his name, but she simply smiled and continued. "Ms. Ellis is ready for you. Room six, down the corridor on your left."
They found the office without difficulty. The woman waiting inside looked to be in her early thirties, with brown hair pinned behind her head and a gray jacket bearing the guild emblem. She introduced herself as Mara Ellis and gestured for them to sit.
"I’ve read your application," she said once they were settled. "You’re interested in visiting our First Sanctuary stronghold as an unawakened civilian. Have you ever entered a Sanctuary before?"
"No."
"And what would you like to do during your visit?"
Luke considered repeating the vague explanation he had entered on the form, but he was paying this woman to answer his questions. Making her guess what he wanted seemed like a waste of both their time.
"I failed my second awakening yesterday," he said. "I want to know whether there’s anything in the First Sanctuary that could help me."
Mara paused, then closed the window she had been preparing to share. "I’m afraid we don’t offer anything like that, Mr. Ashford. There’s no verified treatment available at our stronghold that can awaken someone who has failed both attempts."
Luke’s enthusiasm faded a little. "What about rare herbs? Inheritances? I’ve read accounts of people finding things that changed their bodies."
"You’ll find plenty of those accounts. Establishing what actually happened is considerably harder." She folded her hands on the desk. "If we had a reliable method, we would be advertising it quite prominently. There are far more people willing to pay for an awakening than for a guided visit."
That was difficult to argue with. His family certainly wouldn’t have overlooked a treatment that could be purchased from a guild, and he doubted the Stormbreakers had built this place by keeping profitable discoveries to themselves. Still, he hadn’t come expecting someone to hand him a cure across the desk.
"I understand. I’d still like to hear about visiting."
Beside him, Emma shifted in her chair, but Mara simply reopened the information window.
"We can arrange that, provided you pass the medical assessment. Your results determine how long you can stay and what protection you’ll need. For a first visit, you would remain inside the stronghold with an assigned guide."
"And what would I actually be able to do there?"
"Visit the markets, view the public facilities, and observe the training grounds. We also have an exhibition hall displaying materials and artifacts recovered from the surrounding region."
Luke glanced at the images she shared. One showed a busy market beneath enormous white canopies, with stalls displaying everything from living plants to pieces of creatures he couldn’t identify. Browsing one of those stalls sounded considerably more promising than sitting at home waiting for his luck attribute to increase.
"How do I book the assessment?" he asked.
"I can arrange it right away," Mara said, checking her interface. "Our medical department has an opening, if you have time."
Luke glanced at Emma, who looked as though she would have preferred the next available opening to be several months away. Still, an examination wasn’t the same as stepping into another world. It might even tell him something useful about why his body had refused to awaken.
"Let’s do it."
A request appeared on his interface, listing the examination fee and asking for permission to share the results with the guild’s visitor services. He read through it before accepting, and Mara sent him directions to the medical department.
"The examination takes about half an hour," she said. "Once the results are ready, we can discuss whether a visit is suitable."
Luke stood, and Emma followed him toward the door. "Just the examination today?" she asked quietly.
"Just the examination," he assured her. "I am not in any rush."
The medical department occupied the floor above them. A nurse called Luke’s name a few minutes later and led them into a room containing a reclining chair and several devices he didn’t recognize. A silver frame curved over the chair, with small crystals set at intervals along its inner edge. Luke eyed it before sitting down.
"This isn’t another awakening attempt, is it?"
"No," the nurse said. "It measures how your body responds to a small, controlled amount of mana. The exposure is far below what an awakening orb produces."
That sounded reasonable enough, although he would have preferred an explanation containing the words completely harmless. He settled into the chair while she fastened a narrow band around his wrist. Emma took a seat nearby, placing her bag on her knees.
A physician entered shortly afterward and reviewed the information on his interface. He was a lean, middle-aged man with tired eyes and a name badge that identified him as Dr. Venn.
"Any dizziness, chest pain, or unusual fatigue after yesterday’s ceremony?"
"I went to bed early. It was a long day."
"Any discomfort today?"
Luke shook his head. He then asked several more questions, checked Luke’s pulse, and positioned the silver frame over his torso.
"We’ll begin with a baseline reading. Keep still and breathe normally. This is only a very small amount of mana, so you should not even feel anything."
The crystals lit one after another, casting thin blue lines across Luke’s shirt. He felt a faint warmth along his arms, followed by a prickling sensation beneath the band on his wrist. It was mild enough that he probably wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t been waiting for something to happen.
Dr. Venn watched the readings for a while and gave a satisfied nod. "I’ll now increase—"
The crystals flared before he could finish. Blue light flooded the room, and the faint warmth beneath Luke’s skin became a searing heat that raced up his arms and sank into his chest. His back arched off the chair as he tried to pull his wrist free, but his fingers had locked around the armrest.
Dr. Venn lunged for the controls. "Stop the flow!"
A bolt of blue-white lightning snapped between the crystals and struck Luke squarely in the chest. His entire body convulsed, his heels slamming against the footrest hard enough to bend it. He tried to scream, but his jaw clenched so tightly that all he managed was a strangled sound.
"Young master!"
Emma sprang from her seat just as a second discharge burst from the frame. The blast caught her and the doctor before either could reach him, throwing Emma across the floor and slamming Dr. Venn into a cabinet. Glass shattered behind him, barely audible beneath the crackling electricity.
Luke saw Emma hit the ground through flashes of blinding light. He tried to turn toward her, to say her name, but another surge tore through him and drove every thought from his head. Huge amounts of mana kept pouring into his body. All the crystals exploded, cutting him in several places.
Somewhere nearby, an alarm began shrieking, and red warnings filled the physician’s abandoned interface.
Dr. Venn struggled onto one knee, blood running down the side of his face. He pressed his palm against an emergency switch beside the chair. The lights went out, the remaining crystals darkened, and for one brief moment Luke thought it was over.
Then another huge bolt of mana struck him, tearing through the ruined frame and driving him against the chair. The armrest snapped beneath his clenched hand. Pain flooded his chest so violently that he couldn’t tell whether he was still breathing, and the room blurred behind tears he had no control over.
Dr. Venn recoiled, staring at the emergency switch. He struck it again, but the machinery was already dead. The fragments scattered across the floor had gone dark, while light continued gathering above Luke in a twisting mass.
"Shut down the supply to this entire floor!" he shouted. "This is an emergency! This is an emergency! Shut it down, or the Ashford young master will die today!"