As she focused her power into the young, currently nameless Lyrhean, Luxnilae found her own strength fading at a rate faster than she had expected. Healing someone was easy enough, as she had been a decent student before the Apocalypse happened, and she had always taken an interest in medical science and biology.
In that regard, it really was no surprise why she had been granted the coveted and influential powers of a Healer when the Fog fell down and transformed everything. If what common sense dictated was indeed true, then her knowledge and skill were what made that power establish itself as a part of her being.
It would also be why those with decent skill with ranged weapons, usually ‘cold’ ones, were almost always granted Jobs that allowed or encouraged the use of bows and crossbows. Before she and Olga had been manipulated and had their bodies controlled against their will, she did encounter a great number of people who were pissed that guns no longer did anything at all.
With the fall of everything, the age of Modern Science had ended, and in its place was a fantasy nightmare, one where the tools of the Old World were near useless at best and a detriment at worst. Still, though, that did make her job easier.
But back on topic, the art of healing even severe injuries was simple enough if you understood anything more than the level of a middle school education when it came to biology and medical treatment. Hell, the powers coursing through her and other healers often picked up the slack and lack of knowledge on its own, filling in the blanks and doing that which she could not.
But keeping someone who was literally starving to death from dying was a different story altogether, especially since the target was not human at all. Then again, neither was she, but the fact remained that while restoring stamina and fighting extreme hunger was difficult, doing so with a new being that she had never had the privilege of learning about was even more difficult than usual.
Besides, when the blanks were filled in, it often forced her to use up her own vitality in exchange, and that was what was happening right now. Still, she would be satisfied even if only the newest member of her kind survived and she perished.
She knew that would make her unhappy, but she still cared deeply for her new sister, so it was a sacrifice that she was willing to make.
Then she heard the fast and rhythmic sound of feet hitting the ground, and she braced herself for an attack. Even if she fell here, she would use her last moments to heal ‘Olga’ to the point where she could escape and find their Mother.
“Here.” said a familiar and welcome voice. Unconsciously, Luxnilae held ut an open hand and felt something warm and soft be placed in its grasp. She never got the chance to find out what it was, as her new nature took over and she shoved it into her mouth and swallowed it whole.
She immediately felt a surge of power course through her once the… whatever it was made its way through her neck and down into her body. “And another.” Lyrhea’s voice stated. She didn’t let her body act on instinct this time, though, and she consciously split her attention in twain, one part focusing on using her new surges of power to heal/ restore stamina/ fight hunger and the other to grab anything put into her hand and shove it into her face.
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Eventually, after a few more minutes of this, the condition of Luxnilae’s patient stabilized and she woke up. Her eyes darted around a bit before setting themselves upon Lyrhea, and she held out her hand.
This time Luxnilae got to take a look at what she had been absentmindedly eating, and it sickened her. She could not stop Lyrhea from putting a still-living creature in the hand of ‘Olga’, nor could she stop ‘Olga’ from eating it, along with at least ten others of equal or smaller size.
“God…” she muttered in shock. “We eat living creatures…? Alive…?”
“Like I said back then.” Lyrhea said, her tone showing that she had long since grown used to it. “There are some things about our existence that you’ll just have to deal with until it isn’t something you care about any longer. But, hey, at least you both lived through it the first time, eh?”
Luxnilae just shook her head in a mix of disbelief and utter shock.
“I… I don’t think I can…”
She was met with a pat on the shoulder and with her Mother merely replying that she, too, had felt that way, but that it was better to keep living and defying death than it was to simply bow one’s head and reject life. In her new Mother’s words, the things she would eat and had eaten up till this point, even when she was human, all were, at some point, alive. This was, to quote her, simply taking out the middleman and getting far more usage out of her food than could be done normally.
“Think about it this way.” Lyrhea mused. “If you’ve ever eaten fresh produce, and I mean ‘literally picked a few minutes ago fresh’ produce, you’ve eaten a still-living being in a brutal and violent manner, rending it apart with your teeth and crushing it to a pulp before swallowing it. How much pain do you think it suffered while that was happening? How much agony was that poor plant in when it was faced with gastric acid? Swallowing things whole like this kills it instantly, there is no pain or butchery, just an instant embrace by oblivion.”
“You’re saying it is a mercy?”
Lyrhea nodded. “Yes. Animals eat animals all the damn time, though some people back before the Fog Fall liked to claim otherwise, the deluded fools. Meat-eating is a real thing, and dogs, cats, fish, and so on all do it, even the domestic variety. By devouring our prey with not a single bite taken out of it, we are giving them a mercy that no other carnivore has ever been able or willing to bestow upon its prey. We grant a quick, painless, instant death, all without suffering or misery. We don’t need butchers and we don’t need chefs, and we don’t need to process our food. We are merciful in a way that no human could ever be, so take pride in that.”
Luxnilae understood that, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow. It would not have helped her swallow said pill if she found out that Lyrhea had improvised that bit of philosophy on the spot to help her deal with the shock, either.