> [Pacify Thoughts] - 4th circle spell.
>
> Element: Thought (Quad: Air, Fire, Light, Water).
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> Type: Mind.
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> Classification: Debuff. Support.
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> Target: Intelligent creature.
>
> Removes all passion and aggressivity from the target's mind. The mental capacity and reactions of the target are halved. Target will usually be docile and compliant, obeying any command that does not involve self-harm. Effects of insanity are greatly lessened.
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Aidan was surprised with the message he received early morning, even before they departed for classes. Claire found a volunteer among the prisoners scheduled for execution, a rare harpy-beastkin halfbreed. The man was charged with banditry, arson and mass murder. When they reached the laboratory building, the volunteer was already safely kept in a cage at the basement.
Sometimes monsters bred with people. 90% of the time the offspring would be of the monster parent race and the other 10% would be a cross between both parents. These children faced a serious stigma and were usually forced into a life of crime.
The volunteer was a lean man with feathered arms ending in pawed hands, black-orange striped fur on his muscular and lean body, bird feet, a very aquiline nose, red-orange striped tail and cat ears popping from a feathered head. A mix of the tiger faction cat-kin and a harpy. He was sitting on a chair, restlessly waiting, his tail swinging behind him. He was wearing only a loincloth, but the only part of his body not covered by either feathers or tiger fur was the face.
Astromelicus and his trio of private pupils were standing in front of him.
Aidan tried to start a conversation with the prisoner, "Good morning, mister..."
"Name's Kamak, lad. I presume you will be the ones torturing me." He growled fearlessly.
"There will be some pain involved, Mr. Kamak. However, torture is not our goal. What did the people at the castle explain to you?"
Kamak leaned forward, resting his hands on the knees. His eyes swiveled between the people, carefully watching them like a predator. He sniffed the air and smiled.
"That you are going to cut me up, heal me and if I survive I can walk away." He spoke slowly, wary.
"That is an oversimplification, but basically yes. We are going to try our best to keep you alive." The young man answered.
"Do your worst, boy. I doubt there is anything you can do that will be worse than dying in this cesspit."
Aidan stopped to think what to say, but Astromelicus intervened. "Then you don't mind if we start right away, right?"
"The sooner the better."
"Excellent." The archmage used a spell.
"Pacify Thoughts."
Kamak's attitude changed immediately. His tail drooped and remained still. His tense muscles relaxed and he returned to a neutral sitting position. Astromelicus unlocked the door and called him.
"Mr. Kamak, please follow us."
The man just stood up and shambled through the open cell door. Astromelicus led him to another room in the basement where a coffin made of lavender crystal and glowing green glyphs was placed next to a stone platform wide enough for a person to lay on. And that was exactly what Astromelicus directed Kamac to.
"Cadet Aidan, please restrain our volunteer."
Aidan took leather belts bound to metal handles beneath the platform and buckled them around the man. A helmet was also placed on his head and strapped beneath his chin. Finally, manacles were placed on his arms and ankles. Pulling on the leather straps, they were dragged down until the man's limbs were immobile.
Astromelicus turned to his students. "I am going to harvest his body parts now and administer trollblood potion immediately after. Do you want to stay and watch?"
Before Pearl could speak, Aidan did. "I think Pearl should go upstairs into our private lab and study with Dawn. I'll stay and witness the process." He turned to face Pearl. "This does not involve you. It is better if you don't watch now."
She was disturbed and just a little curious, but she understood what Aidan was telling her. "Yes, I understand. However, I'll be present to support you when it is your turn, my friend. That is not negotiable."
Aidan laughed, nervous. "Who knows. I might chicken out after seeing it done on others."
Pearl held his arm just above the elbow, smiled and looked in his eyes. "That is well within your right, my friend. Know that you have my unconditional support either way. Her gaze shifted to meet Dawn's eyes, "And I'll be right by your side anyway."
Pearl grabbed Aidan female half's hand and led her out. After the door closed, Astromelicus activated the wards and talked to Aidan.
"Now that they are gone, here is the big secret, cadet Aidan. Either the heart or the brain must be intact for the soul to remain in the body. But either a heart without a brain or a brain without a heart dies in a minute. We must cut the body and stow the part not attached to the soul in the crystal coffin where it will be maintained in stasis. For the two most delicate parts of the procedure, our time limit is a minute."
Aidan was absorbed in thought, trying to comprehend what Astromelicus said. And he got an idea.
"Do you mean that if a beheaded person grows another head in less than a minute they won't die?"
The corners of Astromelicus' mouth rose. "Reattaching is possible and I've done it in the field once but growing it is impossible, even for a master of wizardry and life magic to regrow a functional head in a minute. And there is another problem."
"Do you mean the otherworlder theory that the mind is stored in the brain?"
"Indeed. The brain of a sentient creature is a very delicate and advanced organ that can manipulate energy. Mental energy and mana are just two types of energy a brain can control. Brain damage disrupts the lattice of mental energy, reflecting in the soul, and causes a loss of memories and knowledge. That is the reason we failed to keep the goblin alive. A monster's brain is primitive and they need cores to process mana. And this is a crucial step on restoring the princess."
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
"You need to put both her intact brain and her soul back together."
"Yes. But we are in luck, as you currently have your own brain to store Dawn's memories and vice versa. Without it, we will only create a living person that looks like Lumina but is not her. And this is why the prisoner that will emerge from the crystal coffin will be the one to be executed. All his knowledge and memories, including those from this very conversation, will be gone."
"What about Dawn's memories? Would Lumina have access to them?"
"I don't know, but if I had to guess, no. Remember, memories are a combination of the brain and the soul. I think Lumina won't have access to them at first. Maybe later as she attunes to her body again. Because we won't be able to completely separate you. There is a band of already-fused soul that will go both ways. A little bit of her will remain with you and vice versa."
Once again Aidan needed time to think. What they were doing was not beyond reproach. He doubted that even Helios would agree with this. Where was the line between the acceptable and the despicable? Executing a prisoner, a man tried and convicted to death was one thing, killing a bandit intending to do the same to oneself was one thing, but where did they stand?
'Maybe I will be fine as long as I have these doubts', thought Aidan. The Headmaster read his thoughts through his face.
"Don't falter. As you are, you cannot live without Dawn to stabilize your soul, and it is impossible to separate the fragment of your soul from her body. Even if it was, that fragment grew to the size of a whole soul. It would be almost impossible to blend it with the other fragment you are using right now. We could even say that the real you is in Lumina's body, and only a portion is keeping your original body alive."
"This makes sense. I've felt mentally unstable whenever Dawn is not available."
"Yes. But it won't do to keep our volunteer this way without need. We will harvest his body in six steps. First the arms, the easiest part. We will just use a Regrowth spell to regenerate the arms. Next is the lower body. We will cut him in half right below the ribcage. This will need a trollblood potion because the body would die from bleeding before a Regrowth spell can regenerate enough. The third stage is the head. It also requires a trollblood potion to regenerate the head and keep it alive. However, we can only administer the potion after we sever the body. The potion would ruin the parts harvested attempting to regrow from them."
"If you take off the head, how is the potion administered?"
"We make a puncture in the stomach and deliver the potion directly inside. It can be done to people with heads that don't want to drink a potion. But it must be carefully done with healing magic available, or you might draw too much blood or damage the lungs."
"I can see how that didn't spread into basic survival training."
"Fourth stage we remove the ribcage, stomach and the lungs. A third trollblood potion is used. And finally the spine and heart for a total of four trollblood potions. Everything can be done during the span of a day as each potion lasts for two hours."
Aidan was queasy. "Didn't you mention six steps?"
"Yes. The first five don't give us a whole body. There is one element missing in the crystal coffin at the end of the fifth stage."
Head, lower body, arms, ribcage, spine, lungs, heart. All bones accounted for, all organs too. What was missing to make a body? Aidan looked at the teacher, eager to wait for the student to have that moment of illumination.
"Blood. We need blood."
"Indeed. The sixth step is to gather six or seven liters of blood in the coffin. But this blood also cannot be tainted by trollblood potions. We use hematopoietic potions. Two for a grown person, one for a child or a goblin. Three or more for bigger creatures. There is the problem of supplying the body enough energy for creating all the blood. How would you solve it?"
"Nutrition potions would be too slow and destroy the fat in the body. You wouldn't want to see how emaciated and bony I was when I finally restored this body. Maybe raw mana. Too ineffective. Or typed Blood mana. But Blood is a quad or tri-element. I don't know the combination for Blood."
"It is a tri-element. Light, Water, and Earth. And this is your job."
If it were not for his promise and for the importance of the princess, he'd walk away right there. At least that man knew what was being asked of him and he was going to be executed anyway. Something didn't feel right though. Was it just his reluctance, maybe cowardice, or something else? Aidan pushed these feelings down. He was locked on a path and that was not the time to waver.
Astromelicus handed him a clear mana crystal. A monster core bleached by neutral mana until it lost all affinities. "Fill it with blood mana."
Aidan took the crystal and sat on a chair near a wall to focus his mana on it.
"Once we have enough blood in the coffin, I'll use the spell to create the body. Then we do the same we did with the goblin."
"We'll be here all day, it seems."
"Yes. Please let student Pearl know."
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Lunchtime came. In the basement of the laboratory building, Aidan alternated periods of resting and charging the core with blood mana, his conversion rate abysmal because of his low affinities with Light and Water. Astromelicus had just finished stage three.
Up in their private lab, Pearl diligently finished her spellcraft exercises for the day. She organized her things and looked at Dawn. The girl was quiet most of the morning.
"Dawn, I'm going to the castle to draft our trade proposal with Claire. Will you be okay here? Should I send for Sora to keep you company?"
She wanted to ask about how things were downstairs but refrained from. The girl's face told a lot and she could imagine what was happening there.
"I'll be fine. But maybe getting Sora to keep me the company is a good idea." She answered, aloof and weary.
Pearl asked, concerned. "Should I also tell someone to bring you food?"
"I don't think I'll be able to eat now. The stench... Oh, sorry."
Pearl waved a hand as if blowing away some smoke. "Do not worry. Is it that awful downstairs? I'd stay with you but I can't let my fellow princess waiting. Come, set your things aside and stay at the lobby until Sora arrives." Pearl took Dawn by the hand and gently dragged her out of the laboratory.
Before leaving for the castle she left the queasy girl under the care of the academy staff. It was their princess after all. Less than half an hour later, Sora was with her and Cythrel tagged along.
"We got Pearl's message and ran here. What is the matter, Dawn?" Sora asked while trying to catch her breath.
Cythrel just wiped some sweat from her brow and intruded under Dawn's arm, hugging it. "We are here now." She whispered with a melodic voice.
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They skipped lunch, but Dawn knew she couldn't hold it. Halfway through the afternoon, Astromelicus finished stage five.
"Hand me the mana stone. I'll now enchant our patient and tether the stone to the spell to convert the mana into blood. Release the strap of the left arm and tie it to the strap on the other side of the crystal coffin so the arm remains above the coffin. This way we'll collect the blood we need. You don't worry about our patient, ever since stage three he stopped feeling."
"Here. Is this enough mana?" Aidan handed over the partially charged crystal.
"Yes, almost enough for two sessions. tier-S mana pools are amazing, right?"
"Too bad I won't get to keep it."
Aidan remembered the difficulty in recovering the countess and how they had to bleed a child to recover her. He activated mana sight to see the spell Astromelicus used to generate blood.
"Sanguine genesis."
After casting the third circle spell, he cut the man's vein and blood gushed into the coffin.
Aidan was amazed at how prejudice was placed higher than charity. Just because the spell was of the wrong element, a tool that could save hundreds or thousands of lives was labeled a forbidden spell. Healing magic and healing potions can only mend the flesh, sometimes create new flesh. But blood is an entirely different substance for these spells. A blood mage could abuse this spell to get an easy supply of blood. In a way, even letting them have it would be humane, as it would drastically cut the amount of sacrifices blood mages would have to perform.
Without a formal ethics education, he could only graze these concepts. Utilitarianism, the results justify the means. Innocence, the man was guilty of mass murder. Astromelicus seemed unfazed. The archmage surely saw enough death to numb his perceptions, or he had long ago considered these points and Aidan's worries were unfounded. He thought he should trust his mentor's wisdom.
The mana stone was slowly crumbling as the spell drained the energy within to make more and more blood pour out of the man's open vein into the coffin.
Why a coffin? Aidan felt small before the great number of questions. After what went through that day, was the man in the bindings the same one that lied down this morning? Would the Lumina they were about to create the same person that was crushed by the rhinorses?
They were not breaking any of the twelve gods' taboo. However, Aidan knew intimately that their gods weren't infallible. His family was living proof of that. The King, the princesses, an Archmage, himself, everyone approved what they were doing. So why was he still unease?
Would the otherworlders with all their thinking and naming hold an answer?
Aidan knew not.