Ryker growled as he saw Eke in pain, before slamming his chest with his fist.

As soon as he did that, the aura dispersed from around him.

He then quickly grabbed Eke, and held him close.

"Oh geez..." he muttered.

"Ohhhh man... ohhhh, this isn't good." he said.

"And here I am with basic medical knowledge, at best." he went on, looking around.

'And nobody in sight. We're alone.' he mentally cursed.

Ryker's eyes widened when this happened.

"Nooooo..." he said, laying Eke down.

"No, no, no, no, NO." he repeated, pressing his hand on Eke's chest.

'How... how do I start a heart!?' he thought, panicked.

Then, as if reacting to his thoughts, the power within him started to forcefully pulse into Eke, keeping his heart beating and his lungs pumping.

"Crap, crap, crap." Ryker muttered.

He then lifted Eke onto his back, balanced him, and then started to sprint forward.

"Just hang on, kid." he told the unconscious Eke.

"We'll make it to the next city." he said.

"I'll getcha there, I promise." he said further.

"Just stay alive!"

Ryker didn't stop. Not once. He didn't even slow down. He ran and ran, until he reached the hospital. Once he was there, he almost collapsed, as the staff there grabbed Eke to tend to him.

And tend to him, they did. They worked on him for close to 8 hours, before he was released from the OR, and taken to a room, where he was resting in bed.

Ryker was there as well, but he was exhausted from the mental and physical gauntlet he'd just run.

He was sitting in a chair beside Eke's bed, but collapsed forward, his arms folded in front of him, resting at the side of the bed, while Eke slept as well.

After he reconciled the tube in his nose, he noticed that Ryker was on the floor... on his knees. He had been leaning against the bed, arms folded in front of him, watching over Eke.

And, at some point, he'd fallen asleep again.

His head was face down in his folded arms, and he was snoring lightly.

He was also mumbling slightly, but it was mostly nonsense... though he DID manage to catch a few words, such as 'wake'... 'please'... and 'protect'. Everything else was pretty much gibberish.

"Nngh..." Ryker grunted.

"Mmmnnnh." he grumbled further, before Eke shook him a little, softly.

He then yawned, and looked upwards, pausing when he saw Eke.

"...oh." he said, his eyes opening a little wider as he sat up straighter than before.

"Good, you're awake." he said.

"You gave me quite a scare." he told him.

"....a lot." Ryker responded.

"But I'll truncate it." he said.

"White dragon showed up, turned into woman, you turned into dragon, she turned into dragon, you scared her off, you turned back to being a human, you passed out, your heart was stopping, I ran you to the hospital here." he explained.

"That's the basics." he said further.

"...yeah... you were almost gone, there, I think."

"I guess they had to operate." Ryker replied.

"And yeah... seems you almost did." he confirmed.

He then sighed, and grabbed a glass, as well as a pitcher of ice water that the staff had left for him. He poured some in the glass, and handed it to Eke.

"Here." he said.

"Odds are you could use a drink."

"At least you're ok." Ryker said.

"That's what mattered." he told him.

He then sighed, and sat down in the chair beside the bed, shaking his head and yawning.

"You'll be here for a bit, though." he then said.

"You need to rest, recover, and recuperate, after all." he reasoned.

"Well, we can talk about 'should have's and 'would have's all we want, but... doesn't change the fact that what happened, happened." Ryker told him.

"It was probably the best thing to do, really... in spite of the consequences." he reasoned.

"So all we can do is work with what we're dealt." he said further with a small sigh.

"Which involves YOU making sure that you recover in good time." he then told Eke, looking right at him.

"Y'hear? Doesn't matter how much you might not like it here, you NEED to be here until you're set to go." he told him further.

"I refuse to have you skip out on this place, just to collapse and possibly REALLY die."