“Unknown,” she said. “Physically he’s okay, but… he’s sort of been trapped as a giant monster for the last six months or so.”

The woman just stared at her for a moment, then began checking his vital signs. Jia turned to Fort, who couldn’t look away, and gently pushed him toward the teleportation circle. “Go,” she said.

He nodded in acknowledgment but stood still, unable to leave his father. After all this time, his dad was just feet from him, back where he belonged. But why hadn’t he woken up? He’d said Fort’s name, so at least he hadn’t gone feral like the elf had after who knew how long being a Dracsi.

“Fort,” Jia said. “He’ll be fine.”

As much as it killed Fort to be anywhere other than at his dad’s side, he knew that Jia was the one who could really help heal him. And right now Fort had to make sure no one else got hurt because of the risks he’d taken to save him.

With one last look at his dad, Fort forced himself to turn and run out of the room. He stopped just outside, unsure where to go next. If the Old One had come here, there should be some signs of him, like screaming students and the guards defending the school. But the facility was also big enough that he might not be able to hear it from where he was.

He needed to get somewhere more central first, and then see what was happening. He teleported himself to the armory, the place he’d most feared the Old One would go, but thankfully, the room was empty.

Unfortunately, the screams coming from beyond the armory’s door told him that the hallway outside wasn’t.

Fort unlocked the door, then ran down the hallway as alarms began to blare. The screams were coming from a few hallways away, so he raced as fast as he could only to stop dead, shocked into paralysis by the trail the Old One had left.

Two guards had been merged with the wall, somehow still alive and otherwise unharmed as they tried to free themselves. Another was tied up in her own arms, which were now long enough to wrap around her body over and over. Two more had been connected at the back, and both were trying to pull away in opposite directions, just trying to escape.

“Help us!” one of the guards shouted.

But there was nothing Fort could do, not without Healing… or rather, Corporeal magic. Instead, he sprinted through the hall, knowing that he had to get the Old One out of here above all else. Jia and the other healing students could help the Old One’s victims.