Rifles and Rapiers: An expansion of America Stranded

Jürgen groaned as his eyes fluttered open. He felt a soft bed underneath him, and a cushion propped up under his head. His entire body ached, and when he tried to move his arm, he saw a bandaged limb and felt a sharp, searing pain. He quickly ceased the action. He couldn’t remember what had happened to him, and his head hurt like it had been hit by a concussion spell.

Wait…

He blinked as the memories rushed back into him. The flying metal constructs, John, the mage. The explosions, the fire, the explosions, the…

He gulped in a huge breath of air as his heart began to beat uncontrollably fast. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, and it was as if a knight was tightening their gauntlet around his neck. He fell off of the bed, bringing a load of objects and jars to come crashing to the floor as he remembered more and more. The shattering of the glass echoed throughout the room, and his face planted onto the warm wooden floorboards. He felt his nose break and blood fill his throat as he continued to choke on nothing. Except now, he wasn’t choking on nothing.

The blood came into his throat and went down his lungs, causing him to flip over to try and cough it out, but that just made it worse. He flailed about, trying to grasp something, anything, for reasons beyond him. His vision started to become obstructed by black dots as he struggled to breathe.

Suddenly, the doors BANGED open. He felt himself being propped upright and a soft, soothing voice begin to speak in a lilting, almost musical language. He couldn’t see who they were, but their efforts weren’t in vain. He felt something liquid eject itself up out of his lungs, and he began coughing up blood as he finally regained his breath.

Strong hands lifted him off the ground and placed him gently back in the bed. As the voice began to softly sing again, he felt himself begin to drift back into sleep. As the spots from his eyes cleared, he saw long hair and stretched ears. A single thought crossed his mind before he fully succumbed to the alluring song of sleep and dreams.

The elves. The elves have found me.