“I’m here to see Lady Stratis. She invited me,” I said, holding out her medallion in an outstretched hand. The bulky guard to the left of the gate took it from me and held it up to the light. Apparently satisfied, he handed the medallion back and jerked his head towards the guard.
“He’ll show you in. Please be respectful of Lady Stratis’s abode and household.”
The gates creaked slightly as the guard pushed them open, and I carefully followed him in. My bodyguards were on high alert, scanning their surroundings constantly. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a gardener meticulously pruning a small bush into the shape of a snake.
After knocking on the large double doors at the entrance, the guard handed me over to an older gentleman in elegant clothing.
“May I take your cloaks for you?” he asked politely.
“No, thank you,” I declined. Even if Venari had already seen them before, I didn’t want my bodyguard’s appearances to be needlessly exposed to others.
The man, who I assumed to be the butler, didn’t seem too pleased at my response, but he didn’t push it any further.
“I will take you to Lady Stratis. Please follow closely,” he instructed, turning on his heel and walking deeper into the mansion. As we walked, I looked at the many trophies mounted on the walls. While there were a few heads, most of them were simply body parts of the monsters that had been slain, such as scales, fur, or teeth.
The butler led us to a room on the opposite side of the mansion. Standing in front of a door with several locks, he spoke softly to the person inside. “Lady Stratis, you have guests. They came with your insignia.”
I heard the soft scrape of a chair being moved, and the soft shuffling of footsteps from inside. The locks on the door unlocked with a small click. As the door slowly opened, I got my first look of the governor’s daughter and the vice-captain of the Wild Hunters.
Unlike what Mors had seen when he had met her in the woods, she wore a pretty yet utilitarian dress that came down to her knees. In her hands, she held a wet towel that she used to clean her delicate-looking hands. Her dark brown hair was tangled and disheveled, and I noticed her eyes had dark bags underneath.
Handing the towel to the butler, Lady Stratis spoke softly. “Go keep an eye on him please.”
The butler bowed slightly and entered the room, closing the door behind him.
Turning to face me, Lady Venari looked directly into my eyes. “You are the one Mors told me about?”
I nodded silently.
“How skilled of a physician are you?”
“I believe I can address and treat most illnesses. I will, however, need your full cooperation no matter what. Compared to what you have probably seen, my treatments are extremely unorthodox.”
“Fine,” she said, nodding sharply. “But before we begin…”
Suddenly, the weight of the world crashed down on me. I felt like I was trapped in a maelstrom of water, being thrown around by the current.
“AIR…I NEED AIR…” I thought, nearly gasping out of reflex. My knees shook slightly, and if I still had a body of flesh and blood, I was sure I would have collapsed instantly.
“[Detecting host distress. Temporarily suspending host emotion.]” Eve’s calming voice said in my mind.
A sense of detachment washed over me, putting an end to the strange influence that had warped my sense of reality. Instead of feeling as though I was drowning in an endless sea, it was as if I was watching everything through a screen. Despite the fact that nothing had changed, I could almost feel the water on my skin, rushing all around me. Images of torrential rains and cascading waterfalls flashed through my mind.
“I guess this is what it’s like to feel someone’s understanding of their law.”
"Why did you do that?” I asked flatly.
Venari frowned in confusion, likely from my lack of a reaction to her releasing her power.
“If that’s all you wanted, I think I should start treating your patient,” I said without a hint of annoyance or anger.
Venari stared at me unabashed for several seconds. Unwilling to be cowed, I gazed directly into her eyes, noting that the color reminded me of the sky at twilight.
“Fine. Come on in,” she huffed, restraining her power and turning around to open the door.
Eve reconnected me with my emotions after Venari’s power was gone. I surreptitiously leaned against one of my Predators, my knees threatening to give out from under me.
“Hey Eve…”
“[Yes?]”
“Remind me not to underestimate mages again, ok?”
“[Duly noted.]”
With a quick exhale, I forced myself to stand upright and entered the room. The room was brightly lit with several lamps even though the curtains on the windows were closed. Venari and the butler from earlier stood at the side of a bed, upon which laid a scrawny young man. His black hair was matted with sweat and stuck to the sides of his face, and his skin was abnormally pale. He had a small amount of stubble across his chin, giving him an unkempt appearance.
“This is the patient?” I asked curiously.
“Yes,” Venari whispered, obviously dismayed with the man's condition. Right now, she didn’t look like the fearsome monster-slaying vice captain of the Wild Hunters, but simply someone worried for a loved one.
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“Alright, set those down there,” I ordered the Predators holding my machines and tools. There was a small thud as the machines were put in position, and my robots quickly began plugging them into their power supplies and running some tests to make sure everything was in working order.
“Now,” I said as I grabbed a chair from a corner of the room and sat down in front of Venari, “I need you to give me all of the information you can, got it? Even if something seems unrelated, I still need to know. And even if some of the questions are erm, very personal, I still need the truth.”
“Certainly.” She looked at the butler and nodded subtly. Taking the hint, the butler said, “I shall attend to my duties in the meantime.”
When the butler had left, I asked her what the patient's name and age were.
“His name is Nicodemus Marsus, and he’s 25 years old.”
“And his occupation?”
“He’s a battle mage in the Wild Hunters.”
“Now, when did the first symptoms appear and what were they?”
“It was about a month ago. After eating dinner one night, he suddenly started feeling a tingling feeling in his mouth and stomach. A while after, he started retching and vomiting,” she said, sniffing.
“And you have no idea what could have caused it?”
“Not at all. I ate the same food, and I was completely fine.”
“Any family history of this condition?” I asked.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, did anyone in his family have these symptoms and illness?”
Venari fell silent, deep in thought. “I don’t think so? He’s never mentioned any illness that ran in his family…”
“Hmm…I’ll keep it in mind as a possibility.”
“Any ideas, Eve?”
“[Analyzing…possible diagnoses: Appendicitis would match with abdominal pain and vomiting, however considering the fact that he has been sick for over a month, this is very unlikely. Strep throat would match with abdominal pain, nausea, and fever. Symptoms of strep throat also include: White patches at the back of the throat, difficulty swallowing, headache, and swollen lymph glands.] ”
“Alright, I’ll check for that then.”
Standing up, I asked Venari, “Would you mind fetching me a hot bowl of water?”
Although she looked confused, Venari left the room to fulfill my request.
While she was gone, I donned a surgical mask and gloves, making sure to keep everything as sterile as possible. Grabbing a tongue depressor, I opened the patient’s mouth and pushed his tongue down.
“Hmm. Throat does look a little irritated. Lymph glands feel fine though. No white spots or anything.”
“[Subsequent possible diagnosis: Intestinal blockage. It would match with the vomiting, abdominal pain, and the fever.]”
“Alright, set up the X-ray machine.”
At that moment, Venari returned, holding a bowl of steaming water. Seeing me sticking my fingers and the tongue depressor Nicodemus’s mouth, she stood there in shock for a moment.
“What the hell are you doing?!?” she yelled, using the water from the bowl to make a spear and shooting it straight at me.
“Woah!” I exclaimed as the water spear pierced straight through my stomach. The blow slammed me into the wall, and I dazedly looked at the jagged new hole in my body.
“Well, that doesn’t look pretty…”
“[I believe there are some who would consider it an improvement.]”
“Hey! What was that for?”
“[I am merely stating a fact.]”
“Uh huh, whatever you say…”
I watched in slight disgust as the nanomachines that made up my body slowly began to wriggle and shift, rebuilding the destroyed section. Within 30 seconds, I looked as good as new. Groaning a little, I pushed myself up from the floor and poked at the repaired area.
“Eve, is everything working ok?”
“[Running diagnostic tests…all systems working at normal levels.]”
After a second, my relief was replaced by white-hot anger.
“Why the fuck did you just try to kill me?!?” I screamed at Venari. Several high-pitched whines echoed inside the room as the Predators aimed their tasers at her, with some even preparing to deploy their tear gas canisters.
“How did you heal so quickly?” she questioned with a furrowed brow.
“The fuck I’m telling you! You literally just fucking shot a spear through me!”
“Well you were sticking your fingers and stuff into his mouth!” she sputtered.
“I was checking him for strep throat!”
“WHAT IN THE MOTHER’S BLESSED NAME IS STREP THROAT?!?!” She screamed back.
“Ahem,” someone cleared their throat from the doorway. Both of us whipped our heads to look at the source of the sound, only to see the butler with his hands clasped behind his back.
“My lady, if I may be so bold, I would suggest calming down and refraining from impaling the one who is treating Sir Marsus.”
Venari stared at the butler before taking a few deep breaths. “I apologize for the unprovoked attack. However, please inform me before you do things like that in the future.”
“Fine,” I spat.
“Now,” she said as she started to manipulate the Law of Water, causing the puddles and droplets of water on the floor and wall to levitate and float back into the bowl, “here’s your hot water.”
I couldn’t help but stare in surprise at the bowl in her outstretched hand. The water was still steaming hot, and if I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought nothing had happened to it a few seconds ago. Gingerly taking it from her, I washed my hands thoroughly while explaining, “Strep throat is an infection that could have been causing some of his symptoms, but I’ve ruled it out. I’m planning on taking an X-ray of his abdomen to see if it could be appendicitis or an intestinal obstruction.”
Venari still looked bewildered at what I was saying, but I didn’t feel like getting into more detail.
“Just saying,” I warned her as the Predators put the finishing touches on the X-ray machine, “I would back up a bit if I were you. Prolonged exposure to this treatment isn’t healthy.”
“Then why are you using it on him?” she demanded to know.
I sighed in exacerbation. I was getting really tired of her questioning my every move.
“[Warning. Detecting an increase in mental stress. Please try to calm down.]”
“Well I fucking wonder why.”
“Look lady. You wanted me to treat this man. I will do that in the way I deem best. Now stop questioning my methods. Got it?” I said as calmly as possible.
Without bothering to pay attention to her response, I started taking X-rays of Nicodemus’s stomach and chest. Once the images had been developed, I let Eve take the lead.
“I’ll refer to your expertise for this one, Eve.”
“Analyzing images…no signs of internal blockage or appendicitis.”
“I guess we need to do some other tests then. Draw some blood for testing and do more imaging. Use the echocardiogram if you need to.”
“Understood. I will begin immediately.”
The Predators rushed into action, each one quickly setting up different machines and cables. In the meantime, I administered a few antipyretics and painkillers. Compared to before, where he had been tossing and turning every few seconds, he looked almost peaceful now.