"Carn, are you okay?" Alicia exclaimed, rushing to his bedside.
It looked like Carn tried to respond but all he could do was cough violently, struggling to catch his breath. Alicia quickly hit the emergency call button and the sound of medical staff rushing in could be heard in the distance.
Alicia watched in horror as Carn's condition worsened. His face was turning red and he was gasping for air. She knew she had to do something to help him.
She put her hands over carn and her dark skin shone with a white light that poured onto Carn. Doing this seemed to slightly help but Carn clearly wasn’t a permanent solution as he gasped for air.
As the medical staff arrived, Alicia explained what had happened on the phone call with Mr. Cho.
One of the nurses quickly administered oxygen to Carn, which seemed to help. Alicia held his hand tightly, trying to comfort him as he struggled to breathe. The medical team worked quickly to stabilize Carn's condition, and eventually, his breathing began to slow down.
As the immediate danger passed, Alicia breathed a sigh of relief. Carn had become a good friend over the past couple days and seeing a friend struggle for their life while you are powerless to help was a new scary experience for her.
When Carn was stabilized Alicia sat at his bedside and Dr. Stevenson entered the room, asking Alicia to step out for a moment while he checked on Carn. Alicia obliged, stepping outside into the hallway and leaning against the wall, trying to calm her nerves.
After a few minutes, Dr. Stevenson emerged from the room with a solemn expression on his face. "He's stable for now, but we need to run some tests to see what caused this sudden attack," he said, looking at Alicia with concern.
Alicia nodded, her mind racing with worry for her friend. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked.
"For now, just keep him calm and comfortable," Dr. Stevenson replied, patting her on the shoulder before walking away.
----------------------------------------
Dr. Stevenson re-entered the room a couple of hours later, his face grim. "The tests show that his condition isn't related to the injuries from the attack. I also heard that you performed emergency healing on him," he said to Alicia.
Alicia nodded. "Yes, I tried to heal him, but it only stabilized him. My magic wasn't enough to fully heal him."
"I've heard that you're a very powerful White Mage. It's surprising that your magic wasn't effective," Dr. Stevenson said, looking concerned.
Alicia sighed. "I'm just as surprised as you are. I've never encountered anything like this before."
“Well if your magic didn’t work this can’t be any normal disease. We will continue running tests but if he doesn’t improve I suggest that you get a less qualified nurse to take over your position.” Dr. Stevenson said as he left the room.
For three days Alicia did her work in Carn’s room hoping that she could catch him awake. Over that time his condition seemed to worsen. He began having seizures and heart attacks periodically and whenever they occurred Alicia performed some healing magic as the emergency crew came in.
The situation seemed hopeless. Mr. Cho made sure the best doctors were on the case and even they were stumped. There were doctors from Britain, India, Egypt, but none of them had an answer. She was getting worn out and was starting to consider what Dr. Stevenson said to get a different nurse to take her post instead.
On the fourth day she sat in Carn’s room and was doing paperwork when Dr. Stevenson walked in. “Alicia, it's quite stuffy in here. Can you open the window?”
Alicia walked over and opened the window, a nice breeze entering the room.
Dr. Stevenson sat down on a chair and spoke, “So Alicia it seems we can’t determine the cause of Carn’s illness. The British quacks think that he is faking it for attention…” The doctor paused, “Anyways the rest of the sane doctors think it might be genetic on some level but it is hard to determine on some level due to the rarity of Carn’s species. ”
“Carn’s species? Is he not mostly a human?” Alicia asked.
“Oh uh you didn’t know. Don’t let anyone know that I told you this but Carn is half human and half high-elemental.” Dr. Stevenson said in a whisper.
“High-elemental? I fought one of those in God’s paradise once. Our whole guild was wiped in an hour and we still can’t think of a way to take it down. Have you looked at him? He is such a human that you would think he is pure blooded. But half high-elemental? Are you sure we are talking about the same thing?” Alicia bombarded Dr. Stevenson with questions.
“Yes we are talking about the same creature.” Dr. Stevenson confirmed.
“But like, uh, how can something that size even, you know, copulate with a human. The one we fought was the size of a skyscraper and made of pure fire.” She said.
“Oh so you fought a small one.”
“A small one?!” Alicia said shocked.
“Yup they say the Water high-elemental on earth makes up 50% of our ocean water. That is besides the point, high-elementals can transform into any living species they desire so one presumably took the form of a human allowing cross-species breeding. However, we still can’t determine which high-elemental he hails from, and since he doesn’t know either of his parents we have no clues either.” Dr, Stevenson explained.
“Holy shit,” Alicia sat dumbfounded, “But Carn is so kind and he seems quite weak for his age if I am being truthful. He is nothing like that monster we faced in God’s Paradise.”
“Well Carn only started playing God’s Paradise about a week ago.” Dr. Stevenson stated.
“Really at his age? But then how did he kill the blood imp?” Alicia said, her voice trailing off.
Before the doctor could respond the two saw Carn move, Alicia immediately reacted and started using healing magic, “He is probably going to seize soon get the emergency team in here.”
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Dr. Stevenson was about to hit the emergency button but stopped.
“What are you doing? Hit the button!” Alicia shouted angrily.
“Alicia it's alright, I don't get what is going on but I am fine I promise you,” said Carn in a hoarse voice.
The two stood dumbfounded as a patient with no hope of recovery suddenly was awake and seemed fine, “Could I get some water.” Carn asked with a smile.
Alicia ran up to him and hugged him tightly, relieved that he was okay. "Don't scare me like that," she said, tears of relief in her eyes.
Carn patted her silver hair, “It’s alright sorry I scared you.”
“Oh I didn’t know you two were in a relationship. I’d like to give you some space as a friend but as a doctor I must check to see what changed with the patient's condition.” Dr. Stevenson said with pride and principle in his voice.
Alicia and Carn backed off. They both blushed and wove their hands in the air, “It’s not like that I swear,” the two said at the same time.
“Sure its not, Ms. Williams can you please fetch some water as I run some tests?” Dr. Stevenson said teasingly.
Alicia nodded and covered her blushing face with her hands as she ran out of the room, the tips of her pointed ears poking through her hair bright red.
A while later Alicia re-entered the room with a water jug and some cups and saw Dr. Stevenson and Carn talking with one another. She handed each a cup of water before sitting beside them.
Dr. Stevenson teased the two while waiting for the test results. When they were completed he left the room to check on the results.
Carn sat with Alicia and they talked for a bit as a nice gust of wind came from the window. The sun was setting outside and the golden rays lit up the room.
“You know, that breeze feels great, we should have had that window open more often.” Carn said as the breeze ruffled his hair.
“I agree,” Alicia said with a smile.
As the two talked Alicia realized how comfortable she was talking to him. Carn was someone who talked to her like a regular person and he seemed genuinely interested in what she was like as a person and not the famous White Mage Alicia Williams. It had been so long since she had a conversation where she didn't feel like she had to put up a façade or be guarded and could just be a 21 year old girl and nothing else. She found herself opening up to him in a way she never had with anyone else.
Carn was also feeling grateful for Alicia's company. He craved human interactions and longed to be appreciated by someone and Alicia's warmth and kindness made him feel like he had a friend. He was fascinated by her incredible magical abilities, but he appreciated that she never made him feel like he was less important just because he wasn't as powerful.
As they talked, Carn noticed that Alicia’s eyes kept drifting to the small necklace that carn was fidgeting with in his hand, "What's that?" she asked, gesturing to the necklace.
Mixed emotions appeared on Carn’s face, “This is the only thing my parents left me. Or at least I think that’s what it is, I have had it my entire life.”
Alicia was intrigued, “Could you show me?”
Carn handed over the necklace. Alicia looked at the half flame and half water pendent made of silver and exclaimed, “It’s pretty.”
“I guess so, I wish I hadn’t only been left with this you know? It was only when I got admitted to this hospital that I found out I was half human and half high-elemental. Like, where is the heads up you know?” Carn said with a sigh.
Alicia was surprised that Carn told her about his species. She thought that he was withholding the information for some reason but it seemed like that wasn’t the case, “Well I am sure they had some good reason,” Alicia resigned, “You know I am a dark elf but when I entered God’s Paradise I found out I am part angel as well. It isn’t all bad, just think of it as a new aspect of yourself and strive to make sure that it doesn’t affect who you are and how you treat others.” Alicia said, patting Carn’s hand.
“Thanks for that I’ll do just that,” Carn said with a smile, “I had guessed the dark elf bit but Angel? Does that mean you are gonna grow wings at some point?”
Alicia turned around and lifted up the back of her nurse’s uniform and two giant white wings materialized. They looked fused to where her shoulder blades were and each was roughly 5 feet long outstretched.
Carn reached over and brushed his hand over the wings. The feathers felt so nice like the smoothest and softest blanket of all time.
“So pretty,” Carn said subconsciously.
She quickly pulled her uniform back down and the wings disappeared as if made of magic. She sat back down and her face looked like a tomato, “I can make them appear and disappear with magic, it is quite convenient.” She said covering her face with her hands.
At that moment Dr. Stevenson walked back into the room holding a clipboard and a bunch of papers, “Sorry to intrude but the test results have come back.”
“And?” Alicia said impatiently.
“Well he looks completely fine except for the internal injuries from the incident. The problem is that the test results are exactly the same as when Carn was seizing and in critical condition and we are 100% confident that the internal injuries have nothing to do with this episode,” Dr. Stevenson said. He shivered and said, “Do you mind if I close the window? It is getting quite chilly in here.”
“If you could leave it cracked open I would appreciate it, the fresh air feels refreshing.” Carn said.
“Alright,” Dr. Stevenson walked over to the window and as he was closing it he stopped, “That’s it!” he excitedly shouted.
Alicia got spooked by the doctor’s shout, “What’s it?”
“The window! We opened the window!” Dr. Stevenson said with excitement, “Carn what is the longest period of time you spent inside without fresh air.”
“Uh, maybe 3 days at the homeless shelter, but it made me feel weird and I didn’t like it there so I decided to find a good alleyway instead.” Carn said as if reaching back into his memories.
“That has to be it! You have been in this room for 4 days without fresh air! It might be a problem with your species or maybe a drawback from your latent talent but I hypothesize that if you don’t get fresh air that your body starts to shut down. That’s why Alicia’s healing didn’t work. You can’t fix starvation with magic and you were starved for fresh air!” The doctor said with confidence putting his hand through his hair, the dark circles under his eyes seemed to smirk alongside him, “God I am good.”
“Makes sense,” Carn said, shrugging his shoulders, “I always didn’t feel great when I had a long shift without being able to go outside.”
“I have some calls to make and some people to brag to, make sure this window stays cracked open at the very least for the rest of your stay.” Dr. Stevenson rushed out of the room. When the door closed you could faintly hear him yell in the hallway, “I AM THE BEST! EAT SHIT YOU BRITISH SCUMBAGS! HAHAHAHA!”
Hearing this Alicia and Carn laughed.
Carn was relieved that this wouldn’t happen again and Alicia was relieved that they found a solution.
After a few hours of talking, Carn started to feel tired. His eyes grew heavy, and he yawned, signaling that he needed some rest. Alicia offered to leave so that he could sleep, but Carn insisted that she stay.
"Please, stay with me, Alicia," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Alicia nodded and took a seat next to his bed. She watched as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, his breathing becoming slow and steady. While he was asleep she grabbed his hand and blushed.
As the hours passed, Alicia started to feel her own eyelids getting heavy. She leaned her head against Carn’s shoulder and closed her eyes, still holding onto Carn's hand.