Excerpt from lecture notes on how healing works from The Academy of Ten Stars
The most basic type of healing spell is to flood the body with life essence to stimulate the healing process. However, this can be detrimental to the patient. A bone may not set correctly, or the flood of life essence could also boost the growth of a tumour that they were unaware of. In cases of attacks involving a large amount of essence, the healing process can also be hampered, leading to a failed or partial healing.
This means a healer needs to know how a patient has been affected by such ailments and also how external factors may influence how the healing may work. Most healers require life essence for this process, but there are other essences that can supplement this. Flesh and blood essences are the two most common examples of this.
Another approach is to remove the damage from the essence first before attempting general healing. For example, damage done by a fire essence would be best cured by an ice essence user first before the healing is attempted. Otherwise, there is a risk that the healing will fail because the life essence alone cannot remove the damage from the fire.
For more, read Sapient Anatomy Book 1
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Jake looked around the group and realised that none of them was in good condition. Silt seemed to be fluctuating from fever to chills at random intervals. Drak was still hard of hearing and seemed somewhat dimmer as if some of his spark had been drained by overuse of light essence. Ell was leaning against a wall, breathing heavily with the strained red face of someone who couldn’t quite get enough air into their lungs. Jake himself was feeling very tender and sore, as if he would bruise with the slightest knock.
“Any idea where we are?” he asked them as they leaned, sat or sprawled against the walls of the alley they were in.
Each of them looked around a bit. “I think I do,” Ell said, squinting at one end of the alley. “That looks a bit familiar.”
“We need a healer,” Silt said, shivering. “Do you know any nearby then?”
Ell pushed himself to his feet and carefully walked to the end of the alley, looking up and down the street. “Yes, I know a guy not far from here. He’s a little bit unusual, but he’s a solid healer.”
“Unusual?” Jake queried, frowning.
“I don’t care,” Silt interrupted. “If he can do the job, that’s all I care about at the minute. I can’t stand these chills and fever spells much longer without passing out.”
“Let’s jump on a cart. It is about 10 minutes this way,” Ell suggested, pointing to his left. He hesitated for a moment, trying to catch his breath. “I don’t think we are really up for walking right now.”
“What’s happening?” Drak asked loudly.
“This way, healer,” Jake shouted, pointing to where Ell was standing.
Drak gingerly pushed himself up, holding his side. “Good idea.”
The group made their way to the alley entrance. Ell saw one of the many carts that made trips across the city and flagged down the driver, asking if he was heading to a certain area. He confirmed he was passing it and they could catch a life.
They all piled into the rear of the cart, ignoring the odd smells coming from some of the cargo. None of them had any energy to speak so Jake simply looked at their surroundings and tried to ignore the bruises building up on his backside from the bumpy cart ride.
A short while later, the cart stopped and Ell pushed himself down, gesturing to the others to follow. They called thanks to the driver who left.
They were still in The Husk; if anything, this area seemed seedier than the ones they had already visited. There were more people, either moving purposefully about some business or standing in darker corners talking with one or more other people.
“This way,” Ell said, pointing to one particularly dingy alley.
Jake started to follow, momentarily wondering if this was a good idea. After all, they didn’t actually know Ell. But he realised they were simply in too bad a condition to be picky about who they got help from. He glanced at Drak, who gave a little tired shrug and followed as well.
Halfway up the alley, Ell stopped at one building. It has definitely seen better days with a rundown exterior and a door that had been replaced by a piece of wood that didn’t really fit. There were no signs or indicators that this was a healer’s place of work which didn’t fill Jake with any more confidence.
“This place?” Silt asked her tone heavy with scepticism.
“I told you, he’s a bit unusual,” Ell replied. He rapped on the door and stepped back.
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A moment later, the wooden door rolled to one side and a hunched human appeared. He had wispy grey hair trying and failing to cover his mostly bald head. He was wearing overalls that might have once been white but were now a combination of red, yellow and a sickly grey colour that defined definition.
“Ell?” he said, his voice raspy. “Been a while.”
“Yeah, rough few weeks,” Ell replied. “We need your skills Doc.”
The man looked at each of them in turn. “Yeah, you lot look like shit. Come in.”
He turned and walked into the house, so Ell followed then Silt, Drak and finally Jake. He paused to slide the door back into place before following his friends further into the house.
The inside was no more confidence-inspiring than the outside. They were led into a room that held much of the normal equipment you would see in a healer’s space, but everything looked grimy and run down. There were some questionable stains on the floor and the place was only dimly lit by a single crystal hanging from the ceiling. But then, Jake realised, if it was any better lit, the sight would probably put him off from getting healed entirely.
“Who’s first?” Doc asked.
Jake gestured to Silt. “She’s in the worst condition.”
Doc shrugged and gestured to an examination chair in the centre of the room. Silt glanced at Jake before crossing the room and sitting down.
He raised his right hand and moved it up and down. He then held his hand up over her head, but nothing happened. Then there was a bright flash of white light that lasted for a few seconds.
“Nope, I can’t do anything more for you. Not my type of thing. One silver,” he said flatly.
“You’re charging me for doing nothing?” Silt snapped.
“I’m charging you for my expert opinion, use of my facilities and basic healing. There’s never a guarantee that a healer can help you. You know that,” he added sarcastically.
Silt muttered something but handed over a silver coin from her purse. She moved out of the chair and Drak sat down next.
Doc repeated the process, but this time when he held his hand up to the dragonkin’s head, there was a glow of light mixing red and green with the whole of his hand outlined in white. He then moved his hand down to the wounded side and the glow intensified.
Drak yelled out, swearing. “That hurt!”
“Come with me,” Doc said, heading across the room to the connected room. Drak followed and Jake heard his friend give another yell followed by a string of curses. A few minutes later, he came back out, holding his side.
“Did it work?” Jake asked.
Drak winced. “I can’t feel much at the minute apart from there’s something cold and wet on my side.”
“He’ll be fine in a couple of days,” Doc replied. “That’s four silvers.”
“Four?” Drak choked.
“One for assessment, one for healing and the other two for the resources used,” the healer replied. “That was relatively fresh meat I used to bind the wound.”
“Meat? Drak repeated.
“Just pay the guy,” Ell said.
Drak shook his head but handed over the money.
Ell sat down next. Doc carried out his assessment and then held both hands over the centre of Ell’s chest. Brown and green light glowed from the hand and spread across the chest area. For a moment, Ell’s injured ribs were highlighted by the glow and then there was a sickening crunch. The man gave a yell and promptly passed out.
“What did you do? Drak demanded.
“Healed him,” Doc replied. “He’ll be able to breathe better. It’ll hurt like a bastard for a few weeks if he isn’t careful, but that’s not my problem.”
He waved a cloth under Ell’s nose and the man jolted back awake, wincing at the pain in his side. “What was that?” he demanded.
The healer shrugged. “What you asked for. Two silvers and three coppers.”
Ell didn’t even bother to argue this time and simply handed over the coins, then moved from the seat, swaying for a moment with pain as he stood up.
Jake sat down, feeling a little nervous. Doc moved his hand to carry out the assessment, but there was a bright flash of white light from his hand. He frowned and then held his hand above Jake’s head. There was another green flash.
“Two silvers,” the healer said.
“What healing did you do?” Jake asked, not able to feel any immediate benefit.
“Healed your bruising,” Doc replied. “Especially those bruises on your arse.”
Jake sat forward a little and had to admit that he didn’t feel quite as sore as before. He stood up and went to hand over the coins when another man entered the room.
“Doc, you got that parcel?” the man asked, eyeing them with suspicion.
The healer studied him for a moment. “Ah, you mean the heart. Hang on a sec.”
“Heart?” Jake asked, frowning.
The healer returned with a small box which he handed to the man. “That should fix the problem but make sure you use it within a day, or it will start to deviate. And I’ll charge you twice as much for the next one. You can’t just find the right bodies lying around every day, you know.”
The man nodded, took the box and left the room.
Doc looked back to Jake and took his coins. “Got a problem?” he asked.
“No problem,” Ell said quickly before Jake could speak. “Thanks for your help Doc.”
The healer nodded and turned away, leaving for another room of the house. The four of them retraced their steps to the alley, sliding the wooden door back into place as they left.
“Wow, some healer,” Silt said sarcastically.
“I do feel a bit better,” Jake admitted. “But I think the guy is some kind of organ dealer.”
“I told you he was unusual,” Ell said for the third time.
“What now?” Drak asked.
“We need to go and check in with Roy, make sure they got back okay and they are living up to their end of the bargain,” Jake said.
“I’m done in,” Silt admitted. “You guys go and talk to Roy, I’ll meet you back at your shop.”
“Can you handle Roy?” Drak asked, his hand still holding his side. “Got to admit I’m not at my best either.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ell said. “I’d like to make sure everyone got out okay too.”
Jake nodded. “Okay, we’ll meet back at the shop.”