Mama Golem, as Severance liked to call it, was a house-sized rock balanced on stubby little legs. Glowing blue veins cracked across its surface and filled in the joints between leg and body, somehow providing it with the power to move. These blue areas were also the only weak points of the Golem, so it was just a matter of attacking those until the Golem fell. That, and staying alive in the process, but Severance figured it would be an easy fight. Considering how well they've done so far, the battle would probably be over before they knew it.

He settled in beside Vast and Batin and used Skyfall and Pivot Cut liberally. If he got stuck on cooldown, he'd switch to simple slashes with the sharpened edge of his war fans. As long as he kept in Sky Dance, even those little cuts did some damage.

Being right up in the fight like this was actually more fun than he'd thought it would be. Every little move the Boss made meant he'd have less time to react since he was so close, but that was part of the excitement. He flowed around the Boss like water, his skills carrying him from one place to the other, while each cut from his fans left a mark.

It was liberating, this freedom of movement. No wonder so many people liked to play Shades!

The fight went on, with Vast snarling around its legs and the rest chipping apart the blue veins. Soon enough, the Golem rumbled and creaked as it leaned to one side and lifted a leg.

"Watch out," Maun warned, though Severance inwardly rolled his eyes. He'd been in this fight before. He knew what to expect. The Golem would drop its leg in a stomp attack, and it would knock over anyone who didn't brace themselves. No big deal.

The foot came down, and Severance leaned forward, making sure his stance was steady. He was expecting the concussive force to smack into him, maybe stagger him a little, and as soon as that happened, he could-

It punched the breath right out of his lungs. His vision darkened, his ears popped and then began to ring as if shrieking an alarm. And it hurt. It was like he'd gotten a full body slap.

He kept his footing, though he was barely aware of it. The fight faded beneath the overwhelming information assaulting his senses. For a horrible, long moment, he couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. Couldn't see straight. But he could feel, and it was awful.

Then a familiar voice called out to him. "Everything all right?"

A little wild-eyed, Severance snapped his head to look at Maun dumbly. "What?"

Even to his own ears, his voice sounded thin and higher pitched than normal. He swallowed hard, because his body felt like one giant bruise and that wasn't supposed to happen.

The Golem shifted its weight, and began to slowly lift its other leg. Again? Already? Severance inhaled sharply, suddenly close to panic.

He didn't want another of those! Everyone had taken damage from that stomp, he could see it in the party list, yet no one seemed to bat an eye. Surely they had felt that horrible concussive force as well. Yet he was the only one left reeling.

What is going on?

"Sev?" Maun watched him with a gaze that was a little too sharp.

Severance flinched. Right. He had a job to do. That was easy to focus on.

"It's nothing. Earth Dance." Green winds gathered around him. He let them build for a moment, taking in the subtle, soothing warmth. "Radiant Dome."

The skill poured out over them, enclosing them in a transparent dome. Severance gasped. It was like a refreshing hug of warmth that instantly soothed away the hurt. It felt absolutely amazing and nothing at all like he was used to. Before, getting healed was just a thing that filled up his health bar. But now, there was no comparison.

So distracted by this change, he missed the Golem's leg touching down, deceptively soft like a bird coming in for a landing. The resulting shockwave slammed into the group.

Unprepared, Severance felt like he'd been hit by a wall. With a startled cry, he staggered and collapsed onto a knee. Dizziness nearly made him throw up right then and there but he clenched his teeth. Oww! The ringing returned, louder than ever.

He lifted watering eyes and saw Maun gouging a deep line across the Golem's joint. It was like the attack hadn't even phased the man.

Didn't these people feel it?

Severance pushed himself to his feet, swaying a little as the movement made the disorientation worse. He had to heal. It was the only way to get rid of this awful sensation.

Maun moved around the leg, finding another angle to attack. As he did so, he looked over at Severance, brows raised. Aware of the attention, Severance hastily straightened, although that made his entire body ache like someone was squeezing a bruise. He forced himself to raise his fans, gathering energy. A moment later, Mend ghosted over him in a gentle sigh of wind.

Just like that, all hurt and discomfort faded. Severance frowned, even as he topped up the others, including Vast. He didn't like this. Players weren't supposed to feel pain, even if they've been dismembered and dipped in acid. They weren't even in real bodies!

A thought struck him, and he slowed, attention darting over to Maun, then Batin in quick succession. What about them? They frequently fought in dungeons, which meant they were constantly getting hurt. He'd seen Maun get covered in blood from his own injuries more than once. Yet the man had never once complained.

Getting smacked by a little air blast from the Golem's stomp attack paled horribly in comparison to what he'd seen Maun go through, but it was enough to give Severance a dawning realization. What he'd previously thought were just NPCs there to help players run dungeons were actual people getting hurt, risking loss of life and limb. The players, on the other hand, couldn't feel pain no matter what. They couldn't die, not in a true sense, anyway.

It wasn't fair at all.

He felt ashamed now, because he'd asked Maun for help in dungeons before. Same thing with Dhin and Rasin and even Wellon, as bratty as that teen was. All of those Veiled clan members had been grievously injured for his sake. They'd never said anything about it, but looking back, he could see now that their agony had been written on pale, drawn faces, in hunched shoulders and stiff movement.

He'd just been too stupid to see it.

He threw himself into the fight with the silent decision to never ask them into a dungeon again. It wasn't right. Especially when there were many players out there. Players could laugh off injuries and simply respawn when they fell. Let them wade into the battlefield and face the worst of it. In this, at least, he could help keep his clan safe.

But what about me? The thought snuck in like a creeping shadow, and it made him shiver. He didn't want to think about that. Or what any of this meant for him as a player. If he couldn't fight, then what use was he to the Veiled?

Between the four of them, they steadily brought the Boss's health down to about halfway. Then rocks began to break off from Mama Golem. They hit the ground and started pulling together into baby Golems. While that happened, the air began to crackle, as if building up a huge amount of static.

Severance's spine tingled. He knew what that meant: the Golem's nasty lightning attack. He quickly considered his teammates, wondering which one would be targeted. There wasn't much time and no way to tell, so he decided to give Ward to Vast. The beast was still growing, after all. Getting stabbed by lightning probably wasn't good for his development.

Vast faltered as the strange, invisible bubble snapped shut around him. But only for a moment, because there was a huge rocky leg in front of him that needed chewing on. He tossed his head, dismissing the strange bubble, and did just that, with gusto.

It almost made Severance smile. Vast was such a good boy.

Thunder cracked. The world flashed pure white.

And Severance abruptly went numb like he'd been dropped into a tank of ice water. It lasted just a moment, hardly long enough for him to even begin to process what was happening. Then a spike of white-hot agony struck him like a terrible beast, pouncing with wicked claws and cruel fangs that tore into him without mercy.

Somewhere in the distance, he could hear someone yelling.

Somewhere distant, the ground shook and sent little tremors beneath him. Sparks flashed behind his eyes and the stench of burnt meat curled into his nose.

Somewhere, an awful plaintive howl sang through the chaos.

Oh, he thought faintly. Everything snapped to black and his awareness fled in the face of the beast. The sensation of cool water splashing against his face drew him back to consciousness. He wished it hadn't.

He felt. He felt, but there were no words to even describe it. Tears instantly sprang to burning, dry eyes. He managed a hollow gasp that quickly morphed into a low moan. It was all he could manage, because the sheer enormity of sensation radiating throughout his body stole his breath away. He couldn't even scream.

A soft whine came from nearby, a worried, anxious little sound. Vast, Severance thought. With enormous effort, he cracked open an eye. Leaning over him was a dark shape. It moved a little as he watched.

Maun, he dimly recognized.

This was confirmed when the shape spoke. "Sev, can you hear me? Your fans are in your hands. You need to heal yourself."

Heal? Severance blinked once, then took a very shallow breath. It scorched through his lungs like fire. More tears welled in his eyes, to the point a few began to spill over. That sounded impossible. He couldn't even move.

"Come on, Sev. You can do this. Just one heal, and you'll feel a lot better."

That was a lot easier said than done. Just the thought of even twitching a finger sounded insurmountably difficult.

Another whine came from Vast. It sounded weak, strained, and not at all like the vastlhidan's usual energetic self. Suddenly, Severance was very concerned. He could see nothing past Maun's dark form crouching by his head. Vast sounded close by, but it was hard to tell where, exactly.

"Vast?" He whispered, only to hear an answering whimper.

There was a rustle of movement, followed by Batin's quiet murmur. "Easy there."

What was going on? Was Vast hurt? He looked around as best as he could despite being unable to move his head. Just past Maun, he could catch a glimpse of the empty room where they'd fought the Golem.

There was no sign of the Golem now.

Behind, then. Vast must be somewhere behind him where he couldn't see.

"Heal, Sev," Maun said firmly. There was a hard edge to his tone now, and it served to grab Severance's wandering attention. "Vast needs you, but you need to look after yourself first."

There was a distant weight in his hands. He instinctively squeezed his fingers around them. Pain shot up his arms as a result, shaking free a few involuntary tears.

"Hurts," he gasped.

Maun's blurry expression softened. "I know it does. But you have to heal now."

There was no other way around it. Especially if he wanted to help Vast. Severance recognized that, and so reached out for the skill that lingered within his awareness. He shoved energy at it as best he could though it felt heavy and sluggish like it didn't want to move.

"Hm." Maun watched closely. "You're in Sky Dance, Sev. You'll have to change it to Earth."

Of course he did. Because nothing seemed to be going right at the moment. He fumbled a bit before managing to focus on the correct Dance. Getting the words out was even harder. "Earth... Dance."

Something within him seemed to calm and steady itself, and the faintest breeze caressed his feverish face. It bolstered him, just a little, and he managed to focus on his fans. Mend.

More wind tugged gently at his clothing, then rustled through his hair. It felt like a gentle caress that soothed both mind and body, erasing the worst of the pain. What was left still hurt, but it was bearable for the moment.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, then immediately twisted around to find Vast. His jaw dropped, horror flooding his heart. What had once been bright silver was now seared black with fresh, bloody wounds. Vast lay on his side, his ribcage rising and falling in stressed panting. Batin pinned Vast down, holding him in place so he didn't make his injuries worse.

A million questions flooded Severance's mind, but he didn't ask them. He immediately scrambled over on his knees, wincing as his own injuries cried out angrily. "Mend," he said, and right after that, placed a Radiant Dome over them all.

He watched as the pale green wind settled around Vast, who in turn stared at Severance with a too-bright silver-blue eye. The tip of his tail thumped weakly on the ground while he whined faintly. The intensity of both actions increased as much of his wounds vanished with the wind.

"Mend." A second heal restored the healthy silver fur to its original condition. Batin sat back on his haunches, letting Vast get to his feet. Immediately, Vast bounded over to Severance, making excited little sounds. Yet he oddly held himself back as if careful about touching Severance.

Something big swelled in Severance's heart, his vision strangely watery. He had the strongest urge to wrap his arms around that goofy animal, but logic told him he'd better finish healing himself first, otherwise that would probably hurt.

So he did. Another Mend, followed by two more, plus one for each Maun and Batin, who had lost a good portion of their health as well.

Finished, he held out his hands to Vast, who immediately threw himself at Severance and did his patented slobbery tongue attack. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but Severance found himself relaxing, a huge amount of tension lifting from his shoulders.

"So." Maun crouched by his side. "Let's talk."