Note: Mentions of blood and blast injuries.

Chaeyoung had expected to see the same creepy trees that seemed to bend over and mock her when the fog disappeared. Instead, she was greeted with a much more disturbing and alarming sight. 

There were white Vetter tents set up in two rows parallel to each other and people in white coats were rushing about, carrying metal trays of medical instruments and other first-aid supplies. Some trays had chunks and rolls of cotton and gauze soaked in blood. 

'Are you a medic?' A lady ran up to Chaeyoung and shook the dismayed girl by the shoulders. 

'I-I'm a healer.' She mumbled, eyes unable to tear away from the amount of casualties that seem to be littered all over the area. There was even some lying on stretchers outside the tents, a clear indication that this place was understaffed. 

'Please, help us! We can't cope! There's too many!' She cried and dragged the healer towards the tents.

'What happened here?' She asked when she got over her shock and the professionalism kicked in.

The scene screamed disaster. Red, white and khaki were strewn across what must have been a luscious green field. The air which would normally be rich with the scents and sounds of nature and serenity was now heavy with the moans and cries of dying fighters and the scent of their blood, enough to destroy whatever courage is left in the survivors. 

'It's a warzone! These soldiers had been wounded from battling the resistance. Most have been shot and maimed and some were affected by the landmines and grenades.'

'How many casualties?' Chaeyoung rolled up her sleeves as they walked to the bed of the first soldier. 

The lady didn't respond immediately and Chaeyoung looked at her. She raised her hand and extended a shaky finger towards a smaller tent that seemed to have some white cloth sticking out from under the tent walls. 

'Those are the dead bodies are stored for now.' 

A wave of horror and dread washed over the short girl. She could see two men limping over to the tent with another white bag that had some traces of blood seeping through. She felt like she was going to faint. This was too much. Never before had she seen so much pain and suffering in one place. Is this how their battle was going to turn out? A bloodbath? 

'Please, save him!' She shook Chaeyoung's shoulder to bring the girl back to the situation and promptly ran off to help another doctor that was trying to defibrillate a motionless body. She slapped her cheeks to get herself focused. 

She assessed the injuries of the first man; third-degree burns on forearms and legs and a mangled finger dripping with blood. Wincing at the sight, she peeled off the gauze that was stuck to the skin and the man screamed in pain.

'Bear with this, it'll be over soon.' She said in the calmest voice she could muster and moved her hands over his burns. Immediately, the skin began to heal over the burnt area and it patched back to a first-degree burn. She decided that she should have all the burns reduced to at least a first degree. His finger was definitely beyond repair so she opted to close the wound. 

'Thank you.. thank you..' he croaked, finally able to rest in peace and free from his pain. 

'Rest well, I need to go.'

She moved on to the next and the next but she could feel her energy draining little by little and by the time she reached the sixth of the ten tents, she had paled considerably. Sweat had gathered on her forehead as she moved around. 

'Are you okay? You should rest, you helped out a lot.'

'But.. there's still more. I need to see them.' Chaeyoung gulped down a glass of water that was offered to her.

Stumbling to the seventh tent, she finally understood the severity of the situation. It seemed that they had been sorted by the severity of their wounds and she suddenly felt the urge to punch herself in the face. 

She could have started from the last tent. She could have saved more people. Why didn't she get a clear image of what she was dealing with before she started?

There were soldiers with half their limbs gone and some were lying there with a cloth tightly clenched in their teeth with a blanket over their lower half that seemed too flat to have anything below it. No.. This was not happening. 

'CODE BLUE!' A doctor shouted from the end of the tent and nurses immediately ran towards the bed with a monophasic defibrillator. Chaeyoung squeezed her eyes shut and ignored the lightheaded feeling and ran towards the bed as well. 

'360!' He ordered as he placed the gel pads on the charred and bloody skin. The current was adjusted and the defibrillators were placed over the pads.

'Clear!' And the shock was delivered. The patient was unresponsive and they charged up another shock which seemed to have more hope. 

Chaeyoung stepped up and locked her hands over his chest and began the CPR procedure while another nurse injected his thigh with a shot of Epinephrine. 

Stepping backwards from the bed, she almost let out a sob. All that she was seeing was too overwhelming. She almost witnessed someone die.

She shook her head and walked outside to tend to the ones who had yet to receive attention. 

She had just reached a stretcher when she heard a shout from behind her as another staff ran by. 

'Don't bother! Too severe!' 

She couldn't believe her ears. How could they say such a thing? Checking his blood pressure she almost stumbled away in shock, it was dangerously low and could slip into a seizure at any given moment. 

Just when the thought crossed her mind, he began to shake violently. Any attempts to save him were futile and he stopped shaking once and for all. 

'Oh my god.. No.. no no no..' Chaeyoung fell to the ground. He really died under her care. How could this be? 

She scooted backwards and looked up at another stretcher which had a dead body. 

No way, that guy was still alive a few minutes ago!

She crawled to her feet and began to walk down the outside of the tents. Stretcher after stretcher composed of people either dying or dead. 

'Holy ..' the healer finally fell to the ground when her knees buckled. 'I'm a murderer.. Murderer..'

'You are not a murderer.' 

Chaeyoung looked up to see a young man with black, short hair almost fully covering his charming face. Sparkling brown eyes reflected kindness and compassion.

The scene around them shifted back to the forest and the cries of agony faded away, replaced by the chirping of insects and the calm, gentle breeze of nature. Her sight and smell were refreshed by the new setting but it did little to calm her mental breakdown.

'Relax, I'm Jason. I'll help you through this. I need you to relax your body as much as you can and breathe.' He gently held the traumatized girl by the shoulders and set her down on the floor to lean against the tree. 

Going through a couple of breathing exercises, Chaeyoung began to feel more composed and her mind began to relax. 

Jason lightly rubbed his thumbs over her temples, massaging them as he restored the girl's energy. 

'Do you feel better now?'

'A little I guess..' 

'That was your fear. The fear of death. You wanted to save everyone but life isn't always smooth sailing.'

'If only I started from the last tent, I could have-'

'Could have. Chaeyoung, you need to understand that sometimes, things like this can't be controlled. It's all up to the universe. If someone's time is destined to be up, he will have to go. Even if you save his life and he'll still die when he has to. The world works in ways so mysterious that even us mutants can't comprehend it. There’s no pattern in how events happen so it's almost impossible to predict things.' 

'There were so many people. So much blood.. So many injuries.. Is that how war looks like? Why can't people take a look at this stuff? Why would anyone start a war to make people suffer like that! They're basically living in hell with all that pain!'

'World leaders can be good and bad at the same time. Sometimes, it's just those every-man-for-themselves moment. The world is a selfish place. People would do anything for their personal gain. Their excuse? If they don't see this, it isn't happening, and if it isn't happening, they can continue doing it. That's how their minds work. Messed up, I know but like I said, that's just how the world rolls.'

'Will..' Chaeyoung swallowed the lump in . 'Will we end up like that? When we fight, is that what will happen too?'

'Every battle has a great amount of bloodshed. Some more than others but you need to believe that you won’t end up in the same plight as that group of people. You won't end up in the same plight as that group of people because you are you. You're Chaeyoung, a strong person. A dependable person. People don't see that in you yet but you will show them what you really are in time to come.' Jason smiled.

Chaeyoung looked into his eyes which assured her that he was sincere about every word.

'What makes you so sure?'

'I know you. The way you helped them and shoved your panic aside to immediately step into action? That's really respectable and cool. It's something that really shows what kinda person you are.'

'Wait. Know me? Are you the god of medicine?'

'Apollo? No no, he's a wild dude I'm tellin ya.' Jason laughed. 'I'm just another healer like you. Whatever the case it is, just remember not to blame yourself for the death of people you could have saved. All doctors make mistakes. The doctor you assisted eariler had his failures too. Losing patients is not something doctors should get used to and it won't be something they can get used to but they have to accept it and move on because they can't let it affect their work. That's how they become better at treating patients.'

I guess that's true.. No use blaming myself for things that would happen even if I did or didn't do something. Let nature take its course.'

'Exactly my point. You learn well, I'm glad.' 

'A-are my friends alive? Where are they?'

'They're alive and well. They should be completing their own personal assignments too. If you go now, you might meet some of them.'

'Where do I..' the scene shifted again and now they were at the edge of the forest. Chaeyoung could see the highway from below and also a few figures standing by the rail. 

'It's been a pleasure talking to you, Son Chaeyoung. Instead of saying goodbye which is.. quite sad, I prefer the term "see you again".'

'We'll meet again then.' The young healer smiled and waved before making the climb back up the hill.