The tall tent is warm and would be smoky had the top not been opened up at its sides. There are poles all over some thin and some thick all in parallel lines. In the very center is this huge firepit being kept alive by red coals and fed by cut logs being tossed in by a small kid. Next to the kid, is an elderly long-eared man slightly shaking as he shoved ashes into jars. 

Along the sides in between pillars are cots with various-looking injured folks who have been patched up. The ones in life-threatening danger are in the back where many doctors rush about healing and treating them. Along the sidelines wrapped in blankets are uninjured, scared out of their mind, folks just like me. They either rock themselves or cling to one another like lifeboats. 

Charlie motioned for me to sit on a cot in the middle, where he summoned someone with a clipboard and had them write things down as he checked my vitals like any other doctor's visit. Once he finishes he settles me down on the floor with a blanket and a cup of slightly too warm water. 

To my left is a long-eared woman with a flowing autumn-collared layered gown. She sees Charlie and stands up grabbing his attention. She speaks in a light-tilted musical language, and Charlie replies in the same language. I'm a bit envious of them, I wish I could talk to them too. Am I going to have to learn all of this? I've never been good in language classes, always got confused and bored. 

To my right is another human. He's dressed in a modern white-collared suit, rocking himself and muttering under his breath. 

"Hey, man. Can you speak Coggoad?" 

He looks up from his lap, eyes red and puffy from crying. He speaks in a gritty and low booming language that sounds like a bear growling. I shake my head, "Sorry, I don't understand." He sighs and returns to rocking himself. 

After thirty or so minutes I get antsy shaking my legs and shifting from side to side. The panicking anxiety, the disorientating confusion, and the mind-numbing fear that had clouded my judgment is gone and I am left with this impatience. 

Where are my sisters?

Frustrated I stood up walking around. No one really paid me much attention, and I kept out of the way of those running. I watched as doctors patched up people with small injuries like cuts and those with huge injuries like broken legs and more. Some people used bandages, and others used... magic... I've never seen magic before, only heard about them in storybooks and history class. 

There's a painfilled scream from the tent entrance, three leather-covered men rush in with another warrior carried in their arms. His arm is nearly torn off along with half his shoulder and part of his chest. It's an unsurvivable wound! Charlie rushes over barking orders and setting a cot for the man. I keep a respectable distance from him watching. He sets tools up on a table, an open jar of ash, red thread, and a burning candle. His eyes glaze over with focus as he hats up the needle while threading it. After it's bright red just like the thread, he grabs a handful of the dust and like a painter spreads it all over the man's injuries. With grace and patience, he sews up the man. 

I lean in close, like everyone else in the room watching him like a musician in a concert. Sweat drips down Charlie's face,  he moves in on the shoulder shifting positions. I get to see his previous work. The ash has become like a second skin, Opec and smooth pressing tight. The wound is held together by tight red lines that pulse with his heartbeat. I can't believe he was able to put together a man who was split in half. He finishes, stepping back and almost falling into the arms of another doctor. 

A different healer rushes over and hands the man a blue-like potion which he drinks and lies back down to fall asleep. Charlie sits down drinking water. I walk over to him, and he has a look of surprise trying to stand up. I wave him down, "I can't handle being stationary. I'll do anything, get me any job... can you understand me?" I rub the back of my neck trying to play off as cool, "I'm speaking Coggoad, I guess not." 

Charlie just sighs, motioning for another person. They talk for a bit, and the tall woman leads me to an area in the back with bandages and tools being put into kits being taken by errand boys out of the tent. It's a near-constant flow. I guess this is my job. I pump up my fist showing off my biceps to her, "I got this." I do my best for the next few hours or so when Charlie taps my shoulder. 

"Charlie?" 

He smiles kindly handing me a small black herb ball and a cup of water mimicking me to swallow it. I look around, watching the others along the walls being handed the same thing. Is this a vaccination pill? "Thank you," I take it, draining the cup of water. It has a grassy taste but it does go down fine. "What is this?" 

"A communication orb," Charlie says. 

"A...." I turn to him eyes widening, "I understand you!" 

"That's the magic power you just ingested that allows you to understand all spoken languages." He gives me this strange bow, "I am Charlie, and in charge of healing for my guild. You are?" 

"Jack. Jack Jr. Wells." I look around, "I want to keep helping. I don't like doing nothing." 

"Can you help Nio then," He points to the little girl, "She's my assistant, help her with whatever she needs?" He tenses as there's another scream, "I have another surgery to do." He pats my shoulder, "I am happy you are alive, and I am so sorry you are here." With that, he vanishes. 

What does he mean by that? 

I head over to Nio, "Hey, I'm Jack." 

The little girl with bright blue eyes turns to me, "Oh hi! I'm Nio." 

"Charlie told me to help you out." I toss in a piece of wood, "Why are you doing this?" 

"Teacher needs ash for his magic. Fire is the base for his magic." She stands up dusting herself, "I need to get more wood, let's go." 

"Is it safe for a kid like you to be out there? It's dangerous for even adults." 

"I'll be fine, I know how to hide, and the camp is usually safe," Nio says trying to be prideful and serious, puffing out her chest. "Follow me. You're new right." 

"I guess... I barely know how I got here." 

"A sweep came and took you." She bolts from tent to tent looking about. 

"Who are you fighting?" 

"We call them wilders." She grumbles, "They are annoying raiders who don't do any work and stal all flory." She pauses and smiles brightly, "Kailee!" She runs to a human a little shorter than me, and taller than the Nio. Kailee drops her bundle of wood, lifting her and swinging her around. "You should not run at people." She says seriously but with a smile. She's a really plain-looking person with brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses she keeps unconsciously pushing up every few seconds. "Did Teacher say you are allowed out during battle?" 

Nio rolls her eyes, "I have Jack," She thumbs at me, "And the camp is probably the safest place to be." 

Kailee turns to me, "You, are new here?" 

"I am." I politely reach for her hand shaking it. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I have a question to ask, have you seen two young girls, taller than me but look similar? One's named Jill, she's sickly, and the other is Jewel, she is mentally different." 

Kailee thinks, then shakes her head, "I'm sorry, I have not seen or heard of anyone like that. They can be anywhere on Malkuth." 

"Malkuth." 

She motions all around us, "Almost everyone is a victim of the Sweeps, or born to someone who's a victim. Nio go ahead and take these to our teacher. Jack and I will go ahead and get more wood." 

Nio frowns displeased but only pouts, "Come back soon." 

Kailee rubs her head, "I will." As we walk back to the rest of the wood she asks me, "Where are you from? I'm from Canada, Earth." 

"I'm from Coggaod... I came with my sisters.... did you come with anyone?" 

"Nio." She nods to the little girl. "I was sixteen years old with my parents. And there just happened to be a mother and her baby... I don't know what happened to my family or that mother. Just that I woke up in a forest with a baby in my arms and a blanket with Nio sewed on it. I took her in as my sister, and we lived with a foster family in Papilio, my home, and once I became an adult I applied to apprentice for the guilds and here I am now."  

I clench my fists, "I have to find my sisters..." I pick up as many logs as I can, "Is it really safe here?" I can still hear the battle from this distance, and there's this tenseness in the air from others in the camp running around. 

"There's a barrier over us, and none of the Wilders have drakes with them." 

"Drakes?" 

"Ah, that's a type of Uraqur. You'll learn all about them Miasma, and Towers in no time." 

 

"Uraqur, Miasma, Towers?" 

She smiles, "You'll learn. In Papilio, there are schools for those Swept away from home. You'll go to the registration center and decide your future there." 

 

"My future is where I find my sisters. Nothing will stop me."

She has a misstep glanceing at me, before pushing up her glasses, "Oh well, you'll see later." 

There's a scream and cheer, people throwing things into the air. Kailee lets out a sigh of relief, "They pushed back all the Wilders. Now we just have to wait for the Climbers to return." 

"Climbers?" 

"People who enter the Tower." She points to our north. There looming impossibly tall is a black crooked tower chiseled in stone and with several curved points. 

I take a step back, its shadow reaching for me, the many glowing aburn red and smoky windows eyes staring me down. "W... What's a Tower?" I try not to let my voice shake as a strange overwhelming fear nearly takes over. 

"Dangerous places only the strongest, bravest, and smartest can enter. Right now, every guild from Papilio has sent its guild master, captains, and top squads inside to work together and destroy its core. They have been gone for a while, but I am sure they will return soon." 

"Is there any way to tell if there alive?" 

"Look as far up as you can on the Tower." 

I try my hardest to see past all the lights and from there a dazzling haunted ghost light shivers and pulses like a heartbeat. "What is that?" 

"It's a magic item called, "Heart" It was found by one of the first Climbers. It's a national treasure. The Allures allowed the guilds to use in this important mission. When its light vanishes, then we know all the people inside the tower are dead." 

"Can't they just escape?" 

"When inside a tower, no one can escape it." She opens the tent flap for me, "Welcome to Malkuth the world of the damned."