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It has now reached the third week of the heatwave. And while the villagers of phoenix drop have proven themselves to be resilient, everyone is sceptical to the elements, especially the climate where even KC can’t bare to bake due to the heat of the oven.
Unfortunately Lord Aphmau was forced inside after she almost collapsed while taking care of Levin due to heat exhaustion, leaving her ill and bedridden for a couple of days.
this means responsibility and the health of the people falls to the guards, of more importantly Garroth. Garroth being the head guard means he is the 2nd in command while lord aphmau rests, so a lot of the responsibility falls to him.
he takes cares of levin, he caters to the villagers, he patrols, he trains with the younger guards, he brings water to the farmers, he deals with the paperwork, he helps anyone suffering from the heat, he takes care of Lady Aphmau, he learns how long the others can last in the sun so they won’t suffer while patrolling, and most importantly he forgets he’s simply human.
It was in the afternoon, the blazing sun scorching the ground from directly above, hitting his helmet uncomfortably, he had been patrolling for what seemed like almost 7? Maybe 8 hours? Garroth couldn’t tell. His armour burns, his eyes feel like they’re fighting to stay open, not to mention he’s sweating so much it’s sticking his shirt underneath his armour to his skin.
He really feels like he needs to take a break but he doesn’t switch shifts for 2 hours, too many guards were suffering due to the heat, except Laurence, his tan skin protected him but still even a guard such as Laurence didn’t enjoy patrolling in this weather, as well as being a shadow knight meant he already runs hot, merely making it uncomfortable for him, So naturally Garroth took the longest shift to protect others.
he pauses by the guard tower, he can feel his legs shaking and his chest tighting, and the air around him feels humid and used. He was just so tired..
”Garroth!” Laurence yells as he walks with purpose towards the head guard,
”Laurence? I-is.. is everything alright?” Garroth tries his best to pull his words together to not worry the auburn-haired guard in front of him.
”well uh, I was going to talk to you about training, but you do not sound well” Laurence’s face contorted to worry, “are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just the sightless bit drowsy” garroth could hear the buzzing in his head get louder and his vision darkening around the edges.
”you sure?”
“I’m certain, Laurence”
Garroth managed to survive the next 2 hours without collapsing and was able to pass patrolling onto Dante, who seemed nowhere near as relived as Garroth. Once Garroth made it to the guard tower, he managed to scrape his armour off, putting on slightly more causal clothes. When he had planned out the patrols, he had left these 4 hours so he could sleep, but since Lord Aphmau fell ill, he has been unable to, instead spending this time doing her Lord duties while she was unable to.
Garroth can feel his eyebags growing darker and heavier as he sits at his desk, to work out new strategies and paperwork, he couldn’t feel more thankful for his helm, even if it suffocates him during the day, he knows villagers, specially Laurence would worry if they could see what was under neath the iron.
Garroth stares at the piece of paper unfront of him, having to support his head as when ever let go, it grew closer to the table, drooping down before quickly snapping back up, he was so exhausted.
the next day continued as normal, he ended up not sleeping once again. Garroth swapped patrol with Dante who gave him a concerned look before sprinting away to his house, he’d been up for too many hours and was due some sleep. 3 hours in to the patrol, Garroth was exhausted and he once again ended up by the guard tower, standing on shaky legs and short harsh breaths.
He noticed Laurence, he was having a conversation with another guard but it seemed to be coming to a close as Laurence began to walk to wards him instead.
”Garroth. I don’t know who you think you’re fooling, I can literally sense the exhaustion coming off you.”
mabye he was right, he was tired.
”how much have you actually been sleeping? If you needed help, there are others to do the job, me included!”
the floor seemed so comfortable, not to mention the darkness consuming his vision promised clarity he couldn’t give up on
“Garroth..?”
The world was suddenly spun on its axis, causing his shaky legs to give way.
”GARROTH!!”
the head guard wakes up in his bed, located in the guard tower. He feels..weirdly rested.. still tired but no where near to how he felt before, Garroth reaches to rub his slightly teary eyes, he finds a cold towel on his forehead, and holy Irene does it feel heavenly.
but still he has duties to attend to and patrols to do, regardless to how he feels, so he tried to sit up but it feels like his bones are weighted, before he even gets half way through the attempt when Laurence walks in, holding a cup of water.
”hey. how do you feel?” Laurence walks towards him, resting the cup on the table after shoving papers out the way, Garroth could hear and see through his half lidded eyes the frustration in his friend covering up the equally obvious worry.
”I’m fine. W-what time is it..?” Garroth noticed how he had to retch the words out his sore painful throat, like someone had forced him to swallow thousands on needles and mini shadow night swords, he also noticed the lack of light spilling out the window, instead the source of light being the small candle he kept by his bed, now lit with a small blazing flame.
”uh I think around 10pm?” Laurence questioned no way near confident in his answer, but Garroth trusted Laurence enough to be able to roughly guess the time from that, it was all the information he needed.
The blonde immediately tried to get up, moving unbearably slow for his own tastes. He was quickly interrupted.
”what do you think you’re doing?” The former shadow knight grabbed his arm, preventing him from getting up and possibly collapsing once again.
”I’m late. Dan-..” Garroth took a second inbetween to swallow the pain in his throat, “..Dante was suppose to get off now..”
Laurence paused for a second, trying to figure out what Garroth was talking about. “Get off..? Wha- do you mean patrolling?” His blue eyes shimmered with anger as his voice grew, “Garroth. You have to be kidding me.”
”I’m sorry..?” Garroth pardoned, taken aback by the tone of his friend.
”you collapsed! Collapsed. and not once have you asked me, ‘oh how did I get here?’ ‘Oh what happened’ NO! You immediately fling yourself into your self-sacrificing habits which got you into this mess in the first place!” Laurence’s eyes glimmered red for a mere second “god Garroth do you-“
Laurence felt a hand suddenly rest on his shoulder, snapping him out of his rant and realising how angry he had actually gotten. Garroth honestly could barely bare the pain in his throat again so he decided to stay quiet.
”sorry..” Laurence spoke with a sigh “but you have to understand, Garroth, you scared me half to death, and that’s a lot for someone who physically can’t die, I was so worried”
Garroths eyebrows furrowed into a apologetic and worried face, despite being unable to speak, his actions spoke millions.
”it’s not all on you. If anything I should be helping more, im one of the few people who can deal with this heatwave, and I can tell you, you are not equipped to deal with the heat, especially with that helm” Garroth seemed to crawl back into himself before finally relaxing, a show of acceptance of Laurence’s words.
“I am snitching on you to lady Aphmau after this though” garroths eyes closed as he grimaced, picturing the lecture he would get from the Lord was scary enough.
(Then they lived happily ever after and nothing horrible happened after)