Part 1: The Blessing of The Sentire

"NOOOOOO!!!! WHAATTTT!!! WHERE AM I?" The Ictan girl shrieked in pain, as I carefully felt her sword wound.

"Shhhhhh..." I explained, "It'll all be over soon, you're in the infirmary, you were stabbed." My console was not much help however, as she continued to squirm as I carefully massaged the cut, "I'm a Sentire, I can heal you." I assured while continuing to work on the cut.

"My mother... they..." She whimpered.

"There good as new!" I exclaimed, the wound, that had penetrated the right side of her torso had completely healed, you could barely tell that a few minutes before it was gushing a river of blood.

"Thank-you..." she said weakly.

"It was nothing," I replied, "It's my job, now you rest up and drink lots of water. You should be able to go back home by tomorrow morning."

"NOOO!!" She exclaimed, with more strength than I was expecting.

I raised an eyebrow, "No?"

She sighed, "My mother, I used to live with her, but now she's gone, killed."

"Ohhhh" I sighed in understanding, she was a pure breed meaning that she was lucky enough to get to stay with her parents after she was born. Most of us get moved far away from our parents based upon a mark that we bore, "I see, we'll make sure you get along fine, we can send you through Dimoro counseling if you like?"

She just sighed turning away from me in her medical bed, going to sleep.

I shed a little tear as I walked out of the room. I never knew my parents, I was taken away from them at birth like most children. I bore the mark of the Sentire, the healers and therefor was whisked away to the Sentire School of the Remedial Arts, to learn to become a doctor. Very few are as lucky as that girl to have parents with the same mark that they bare, or to be a purebreed. Nature tended to be cruel in that it wanted to separate the children from their parents.

I have a sister too, but I will never get to meet her either, its just the way things are. They told me her name was Emiliye, and I have secretly hoped that one day I might be lucky enough to meet her. But those thoughts were trivial, I had to stay focused on my work.

I strode up to the receptionists desk in the Infirmary. The Infirmary is the Sentire's pride and joy, pretty much every Sentire worked here, putting their healing skills to use helping the many other races of Stateron.

"Gabryel!" exclaimed the smiling secretary working at the receptionists desk today, "What can I do for you?"

"Aellyce," I smiled, it was a thing with Sentire to know everyone's name. You got a huge list of a faces and names to memorize for the final exam at the SSRA, "Can I get Dimoro therapy scheduled for patient 14309? Her mother died..." Another thing about the Sentire, we are never allowed to know our patient's names, so we give them numbers.

"Sure thing!" Aellyce replied, "Any preferences on a therapist for the patient?"

I pondered the answer to this question, any Dimoro would do in reality. They're mark gave them the power to read minds, making them extremely effective therapists. But, though it was forbidden, I had a good friend who I kept in contact with who is a Dimoro therapist, so I try to send work her way as much as possible, "Is Katlina available?"

"Looks like it," she replied pressing a few buttons on her desk, "I will get those scheduled."

"Thank-you," I nodded to her, "and can I get my patient check-off clipboard? I think I am going to head out soon."

"Yup, here it is" she handed me a clipboard with a list of patients I had healed today, I had to go through and check up on each one before I could leave.

"Thank-you!" I said enthusiastically as I turned to roam the hallways of the infirmary. It took me at least 45 minutes to get to my last patient, patient 14309. To be fair, the infirmary is massive, and there is no lack of injured people in Stateron.

I knocked politely on the door to her room before opening it. I noticed the girl, who couldn't be older than 16, lying in the bed sleeping soundly. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to let patients sleep, I have to check in on them before leaving after all, so I tapped politely on her shoulder. To my surprise, my hand went straight through her. Suddenly, I remembered the Ictan's gift, creating mirages.

Suddenly a man burst through the door dragging patient 14309 with him. I immediately recognized him as a Resorian by the mark on his forehead. The "Resorian Force" as they call it, are the regulatory group of Stateron, making them one of the few groups that can travel freely between the borders of each race's dominion.

"Sentire Gabryel?" He looked at me questioningly, I nodded, but I was focused on my patient, who seemed to be struggling against the Resorian's grip. "I found her running away from the infirmary, when she saw me she put up a fight. I detained her for unauthorized presence in Sentire territory as a Ictan, but she had explained she was a patient so I..."

"Yes, yes, I know the drill." I said interrupting him, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and I had a horrible feeling I knew why. I turned my attention to my patient, "Would you mind explaining why you ran away?"

She stood silent, I ushered the Resorian man out, "But Sentire, it's against protocol." He argued.

"You got her back here, I can handle it from here, thank-you sir, continue the great work." I rebuttled. The Resorians meant well, but they could be very intimidating, their gift allowed them to tell whenever a person was lying, and something told me I could make more progress on understanding patient 14309 without that sort of presence here.

He finally stepped out of the room politely, allowing me to turn my attention to my patient, who had sat down on the bed after clearing her mirage. "So I'll ask again, why did you run away?"

She opened her mouth the answer, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. In stepped the secretary Aellyce, she came over to me and whispered in my ear, "Her admission tests came back, Gabryel, she's a cusp, showing evidence of both Ictan, and Verto."

I stood there stoic as Aellyce stepped out of the room again. I was treating a cusp. They are the trash of Stateron society, the result of parents of two different races. "I assume you know what she just told me?" I asked my patient.

She nodded solemnly, "Then I'm afraid you know what comes next," I replied sternly. I grabbed one of her arms and lead her through the maze of hallways. She didn't put up a fight, which surprised me, as she was so adamant when it came to escaping the Resorians grasp earlier. I looked back at her as she followed me, her head was down, and I saw her shed a tear of all things.

We wove through the sandy streets of Sentrin, the city the Sentire call home. It was a magnificent city, mixing modern architecture with the relaxing palm tree beach setting. Sentrin's density began to fade as we made our way out to the outskirts of the town, until it was just me, leading my patient up a path to the Crystal Caves, home to the Sentire's leader, Ceria the dragon.

I am always struck by the beauty of the Crystal Caves, the aquamarine crystals lining the walls made for a magnificent site, but we were not here for that...

I lead her to the pit, at the bottom of which lived Ceria. I looked down seeing only darkness. I turned to my patient, "Do you understand why you have been brought here?"

She looked up at me, stoic in the face of despair, "I am a cusp, and for that you are going to give me to your dragon."

I nodded, "Will you sacrifice yourself willingly, or will you go down with no dignity?"

"I will do so willingly," she confirmed as she strode over to the very edge of the pit, "But you must know one thing first,"

"And what is that?" I asked scornfully.

"My name," she said taking one more step placing her right on the edge, facing towards me, her back to the pit, "Emiliye." and she fell backwards.