---
"You can feed their stomachs and move their hearts. But when you heal their bodies… you own their loyalty forever."
---
[Scene 1 – The First Hospital That Shouldn't Exist]
On the east side of Brimvale, beside a wilted apple orchard, something impossible was being built.
Villagers stood in awe as walls of glowing stone rose from the ground. Smooth glass panels formed on command. Neon-blue veins pulsed through the structure like it had a heartbeat.
And floating above the front gate, a bright silver sign pulsed with futuristic letters:
> 🏥 COREMED – HEALING BEYOND TIME 🏥
Inside, there were scanning beds that hovered. Surgical tools that floated mid-air. Auto-clean bots zooming across the marble-like floor. Music softly played in the background—something calm, uplifting, alien.
No blood. No pain. No screaming.
Just science. Just care.
And in the center, wearing a silver medical jacket, was Zayden Core.
> "M.A.I.A.," he said, inspecting a nanobot replicator, "double the recovery gel output. The flu's spreading faster in Sector 3."
> "Acknowledged. Also: the mayor just tried to trade you three goats for exclusive access to CoreMed."
Zayden rolled his eyes.
> "Tell him the answer's no, but I'll take one goat and a good joke."
---
[Scene 2 – The Royal Visit]
That afternoon, a gold-plated carriage rolled into Brimvale.
Guards in red and gold armor flanked it. Banners with lion crests waved. The town bell rang once — nobility inbound.
The carriage doors opened.
Out stepped Prince Thalon IV, heir to the Kingdom of Velgarde.
Tall. Arrogant. Armor polished brighter than his future. His face twisted in mild disgust as he scanned the futuristic buildings.
Behind him walked his advisor, Lady Serrin, quiet, sharp-eyed, always watching.
Zayden greeted them at the CoreMed entrance.
> "Royalty. Cool. You guys do walk-ins, or you need a reservation?"
Thalon didn't smile.
> "You've caused quite a storm, 'Founder Core.' Burgers. Music. Now… disease prevention? That's power you're handing to peasants."
Zayden shrugged.
> "Everyone's got a body. I'm just making sure it works."
> "You're creating imbalance. The sick must turn to the Crown. That's tradition."
Zayden leaned in.
> "Well, I've got a tradition too. It's called not letting people die when you can stop it."
Lady Serrin tilted her head. "Are you declaring yourself a healer… or a ruler?"
> "Neither," Zayden said coolly. "I'm declaring enterprise."
Behind them, a child with a broken leg limped toward the hospital. A CoreMed bot gently lifted her onto a bed, scanned the wound, and began repair.
She smiled.
Prince Thalon looked furious.
> "Your methods… your influence… will be addressed."
He turned to leave.
> "This is not over, Future Man."
Zayden smirked.
> "Tell your father I do house calls."
---
[Scene 3 – Enemies and Allies]**
That night, Zayden gathered his inner circle:
Sir Garrick Ironvain, now Core Enterprise's head of security.
G-Rock, music director of Core Sounds™, and part-time bard trainer.
Lady Miren, a former noble-turned-ally after her son was cured.
Juno, a mysterious archer girl who volunteered to guard the medbay.
They sat around a glowing map.
Zayden pointed to multiple kingdoms.
> "We're no longer a mystery. We're a threat to their control. Medicine that doesn't need nobles. Food that doesn't need taxes. Songs that don't praise kings."
Juno nodded. "They'll attack."
> "Then we expand faster than they can move," Zayden replied. "Tomorrow we begin building CoreMed Outposts in four more towns. Speed is safety."
Garrick slammed his fist on the table.
> "Let them come. I'll fry their armor with a pulse cannon."
Zayden smiled.
> "Let's try peace first. But keep the cannon charged."
---
[Scene 4 – A Message from the Shadows]
In the woods outside Brimvale, a cloaked figure watched from the trees.
She wore a metallic mask shaped like a bird's skull. Her horse was dead silent. Her name: Vayra the Wisp — an assassin from the eastern isles.
She pressed a rune to her ear.
> "Target is growing too powerful. He's curing the weak. Feeding the hungry. Making stars out of bards."
A dark voice replied through the rune:
> "Then it's time we send a message."
The assassin notched her arrow.
---
[Scene 5 – The Night Before the Fire]
Back at CoreMed, Zayden walked the quiet halls. He checked on patients. Laughed with a nurse bot. Sat beside an old man who said he hadn't slept without pain in ten years — until now.
Outside, fireworks lit the sky. A local festival had started in his honor.
He climbed to the rooftop, looked over his city of light and change, and whispered:
> "This is what the future looks like."
And below, in the shadows…
The assassin drew her bow.
---
📘 END OF CHAPTER 5
Next Chapter:-Chapter 6: The Arrow and the Anthem🎵