Ssarak Dyreackthanose

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Since Leith was with Annabeth, Ssarak moved to carry Meirin up to her room. It was probably a mercy that Meirin had fallen asleep when she did, as the walk up to their rooms was not all that pleasant. Guards were still rushing through the halls in teams, attempting to ferret out any demons that remained hiding in the college. More disturbingly, the bodies of students, guards, and other staff who died in the attack were still fresh on the ground. Ssarak tried to keep his eyes off of them as he walked by, but the devastation of the attack was too difficult to ignore. The faces on each of the corpses were like windows into their last moments, moments that were almost exclusively filled with pain or fear. In addition to people, Ssarak had to step over the remnants of golems, gargoyles, and fractured parts of the college's stonework that were damaged in the fight. The architecture of the college was far different than that of the nomadic village he grew up in, but even so the carnage around him brought back his memory of walking through the desolation that had once been his home. It was fortunate that he did not see the corpse of anyone he knew on the way up to his room, as he was not far from breaking down where he stood.

Ssarak did not know if the door to Meirin's room was locked, but with the large hole in the wall between their rooms, that was not really an issue. He carried her into his room, then ducked through the hole in the wall into her room. Meirin shared a room with Aruna, who was not present at the moment. Ssarak hoped she was alive as well, but he would really have no way to know until she returned. Ssarak was unsure of which bed was Meirin's, since they were of similar size, so he simply laid her down on the one that looked most like it belonged to a Human. She still seemed to be in good health, all things considered, so with nothing left for him to do, Ssarak returned through the hole to his own room and sat down on his bed. He took his helmet and placed it on the floor next to his feet, then started to undo the straps on his armor. Removing it was always a long and annoying process, and he was far too exhausted to put too much effort into it, so he lethargically began to remove it piece by piece. When he unstrapped his chestplate and let it fall to the ground, he was able to take in a deep breath, which in turn caused another shooting pain in his chest. The scales on his chest were bruised, bloody, and discolored, but his body was not what pained him the most. In his mind, all he could see was the mangled corpses of his children, the remains of those he loved more than anything in his life. The question of how many of his friends were now dead to this pointless battle still weighed heavily upon his mind. Unlike his village, the college had survived, but it hardly felt like a victory. He stopped for a moment and ran his hands across his snout, letting a few tears escape his eyes.