Why else {{Badly Ill}} would I act like this?

Ardell could think of only one thing that would set off this illness. That one event, so mysterious and brief, that could possibly lead to the hot fire in his head and skin, or the shakiness in his vision. The chest.

It had been a normal exploration through some ruins- the idea being much more common than it would first sound. There were many sites in Iria that had been abandoned long ago, leaving only peculiar scars to mark its existence. Most had been discovered and marked out by now, the finders paying any willing enough to go through the unexplored region and recover what they found. It was good money, to say the least.

Ardell had done this sort of job a few times already; sometimes his resources began to run low, and an instant payment was just what he'd need. This time the money was for new materials...his sketchbook had waited long enough for its designs to come alive. The elf had signed up, and went through what he'd expected to be a harmless and quick run.

For the most part, it had been. He snatched up a few artifacts that he came across, most unrecognizable, and warded off many of the creatures that lurked there. The amount of stuff he found, he estimated, could have been worth just the right price. He had begun to turn back when his pack began to feel thrice its original weight.

But then he spotted a chest. It was an ancient thing, with mold and deep scratches reminiscent of a disturbingly green, congealing wound. He ended up pausing a moment to consider opening it, and upon a brief memory about someone telling of a valuable figurine found in a similar situation, headed over. It opened almost too easily; its ancient clasps shattered apart as though made of glass.

An unfamiliar dust coughed out at him, engulfing him. He coughed and tried to keep from inhaling it, but was not entirely successful. It took too long to leap away from the site, and by the time he did, the cloud had entirely dispersed. Nothing else was in the chest.

Feeling no symptoms at the moment, the elf had decided to shrug it off and collect his reward. It was, as thought, a hefty sum that would pay for quite a collection. As he returned to his shop, he quickly locked it up and headed for the nearest Healer. Despite his worries, the Healer had found nothing out of the ordinary.

The mysterious dust seemed to have no ill effects on him.

But now this memory was the only one to come back to him, as he leaned against the counter of his store. His breathing was labored, sight shimmering as the heat on his face blazed.

The legs under him wobbled as he began to collapse.

"--Woah!" Came an exclamation from the door, a young woman rushing over to the elf and catching him before he collapsed. "Ardell- what's wrong?" She asked, now putting a hand to his head. She recoiled immediately, "What the hell- Ardell, you're on fire!" She exclaimed in shock, "Good God- I leave for one day and you manage to give yourself some devastating disease!"
Kina began to drag the elf to the back room, face determined and confused at the same time. What had the elf gotten into to make him so sick?

Ardell allowed himself to be dragged with little resistance, hands weakly clutching onto the human woman. "Kin..a...?" he asked wearily, brown eyes closing. A moment later and he lost consciousness.

Kina did not respond, only continuing to drag him to his bed. She slid him onto the mattress- above the sheets to avoid heating him up anymore. The human looked down at the elf, sighing and shaking her head. "...What did you get into...?"

A few minutes passed before the elf regained consciousness. His eyes blinked open halfway, head turning to face the human girl. His mouth opened as though to say something, but closed without words. A hand reached out towards her.

Kina rolled her eyes, reaching out with her own hand and taking his. She clenched it securely but lightly. "What am I going to do with you...?" She muttered, sighing.

The elf's eyes closed again. "...The...Healer..." his voice was very low already from the unexpected exhaustion. He seemed close to falling back asleep.