The Martial Unity

”Really, I’m fine, Ria. You don’t need to fuss over me that much,” Runark insisted. ”I’ll be up and running in no time. And with Uncle Rui training me? I’ll be as strong as you soon, you’ll see.”

His pale face and the dark bags under his eyes begged to differ, of course. He looked like a mess despite being fine physically. There was a faint discomfort visible on his face.

Ria simply smiled at him in a bittersweet manner. Her eyes were red and puffy; tracks of tears could be seen visibly flowing down her cheeks. She, too, looked like she hadn’t slept one bit. She had been sitting next to the bed Runark was lying down on in a hospital room, accompanying him while doctors diagnosed his mental and neurological condition.

”You shouldn’t chide her when she’s only concerned for you, Runnu,” Fae gave him a pointed look.

”Don’t call me that, Mom.” Runark directed an embarrassed glare at his mother, earning a giggle from Ria.

”He’s just embarrassed because he doesn’t want to look lame in front of you,” Kane smirked, exposing him to Ria.

”Dad!”

Despite the air being jovial, Kane and Fae didn’t look any better either. Fae looked as scarred by what had happened as Runark himself was, while Kane held better, even if he was still troubled. Strangely enough, Runark appeared to be the most upbeat out of them all.

”As I said, I’ll be fine. So you don’t need to be worried. I’ll get better. I’ll grow stronger. And I’ll be right by your side once more,” Runark spoke with conviction to Ria, wearing a serious expression.

”…I look forward to it, Runark.” Ria smiled at him. ”I admire you. Your perseverance and fortitude. The fact that you can shake this off as well as you have. You are already stronger than me.”

”That’s why you shouldn’t worry so much,” Runark insisted. ”I’ll be fine. I know you have many things to take care of. I have my parents here. So don’t worry.”

”…Are you sure?”

”Yes, I am. I’ll send you regular updates. So don’t worry.”

”Alright then…” She got up. ”I’ll see you tomorrow. Take care, okay? If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me.”

It wasn’t long before Ria departed, leaving Runark’s expression to immediately become more anguished while his breathing grew more strained.

He had been hiding his pain.

”Switch on all the lights, now,” he gritted his teeth. ”Make the windows opaque too.”

Without even questioning it, Kane waved his hand, switching on all the lights in the room and turning the setting of the smart glass of the windows to make it opaque, making it impossible to see the night sky.

His breathing eased as he slowly calmed down from the intensity of the bright lights around him.

CLACK

The door opened as a red-headed hemosapien doctor walked in, closing the door behind him and smiling at the family. ”I just saw Ria walk by. You have good friends, Runark.”

”You…” Runark gazed at the Psyker with serious eyes. ”You didn’t tell her, did you?”

”Of course not,” the Psyker replied calmly. ”I take doctor-patient confidentiality very seriously.”

”Good… she can’t know. She would blame herself for it,” Runark squeezed out.

”Are those the results of the tests, doctor?” Kane glanced at the document in the man’s hands.

”Have you confirmed your diagnosis?” Fae asked with a concerned tone.

”I have,” the Psyker replied calmly. ”The neurological tests confirmed my informal, preliminary diagnosis. I’m afraid…”

He removed his spectacles, folding them and tucking them on his collar. ”…Runark has trauma-induced nyctophobia.”

Nyctophobia was the fear of darkness. A phobia that was rather commonplace.

”However, Runark’s nyctophobia is much more severe than the average instance of it,” the Pskyer continued with a calm, clinical tone. ”He recoils in the proximity to darkness even if he is in a place of light. He gets stressed when he closes his eyes. Even I haven’t come across more than a few cases in my lifetime of nyctophobia this severe.”

Runark gritted his teeth. ”This is so embarrassing…”

It crushed his self-esteem to be terrified of the dark, as if he were a five-year-old child once more. Hell, even when he was five years old, he hadn’t been afraid of the dark. It was another reason he didn’t want to tell Ria. He didn’t want to look lame in front of her.

He had done his damnedest not to fear darkness, but he couldn’t control what he felt. The time he had spent in a prison of darkness had wounded him. Darkness was the wound. It was genuinely painful in a way that was completely outside of his control, as if the darkness was a real force that inflicted fear on him.

The Psyker walked over to Runark, sitting where Ria had sat, placing his hand on the young man’s shoulder. ”There is nothing to be ashamed of. Anybody can be traumatized. Anybody can suffer adverse impacts from trauma. Nobody is above it. This is simply the nature of the human condition.”

He directed a deeper gaze at Runark.

”If you wish to overcome this hurdle, you will first need to accept that it is there without averting your attention from it,” the Psyker told him. ”Once you have accepted it and resolved to take this problem head-on, then you will have taken the first step.”

Runark slowly nodded with a determined expression. ”…So what’s the path forward from here?”

”…There are protocols in psychiatry and therapy that, while not ineffective, are simply too paltry, in my opinion,” the Psyker smiled. ”I believe that, with my expertise, I can come up with more effective treatments that are not necessarily a part of modern psychiatric protocols. I can custom-tailor a set of solutions that are most suited to you. And part of that will include hypnotic treatments to slowly reduce your fear of darkness.”

”…How long will it take for me to recover?” Runark demanded to know with a determined tone of voice.

”I couldn’t say, but… it would be extremely unlikely for you to recover completely in less than half a year,” the Psyker replied.

”Then we don’t have time to waste,” Runark declared with a serious tone of voice. ”I’m going to grind at the treatment process and recover in the blink of an eye.”