The same day as Morgan’s and Mary-Ann’s ritual a frustrated Alina diminished her class after only a few minutes of fruitless effort.

“You lot are hopeless! If you’re that bloody worried that you can’t even focus properly you’re better off just taking the day off and checking up on those two.” She grunted and left the classroom leaving the three students behind.

The diminished class was embarrassed and stood in silence for a few moments before Rina spoke.

“Well, I guess we should go and make sure they are okay…” Rina said a bit embarrassed.

“I guess we could go to the healer’s wing than, Mary-Ann said that they would go for a check-up thereafter to make sure that there was nothing wrong.” Ross said carefully.

“Well we don’t know how long it will take so maybe we should go grab some food first since we don’t know how long it will take.” Marith’s words earned him an unamused look from Rina.

“We just ate. Is food the only think you can think about in that small head of yours?” Rina’s words were as sharp as ever but her tone was far less harsh than usual.

“I’m a nervous eater okay!” Marith said, offended. “Besides you barely touched your food this morning, so I am sure you will be hungry in no time.” He said with a snort.

Before Rina had a chance to snap at Marith Ross intervened.

“Calm down sis, he is not wrong. We should grab some food before we go. If nothing else I’m sure that Morgan and Mary-Ann would appreciate a meal after what they have gone through.”

Rina opened her mouth to argue but with some effort she took a deep breath, nodded and walked off. Marith’s jaw dropped and he looked at Ross who just shrugged and followed his sister.

“I’m surprised that you pay that much attention to my sister.” Ross said, giving Marith a sidelong glance.

“Wouldn’t anyone notice if someone that normally takes every opportunity to verbally snipe at you is suddenly all quiet and just sits there picking at her food?” He shrugged before giving a half smile. “Besides it just kept reminding me of how Morgan always refuses to leave food behind.”

“Yeah, he keeps stuffing his face even after he turns that rather funny shade of green.” Ross said laughing.

After the three got some food to go and paid the extra to get some for Mary-Ann and Morgan they made their way to the healer’s wing. Once there they stopped dead in their tracks.

The infirmary was in utter chaos. Enforcers were running around with stretchers carrying robed figures. In the middle of the hallway stood Grandmaster Hypocra directing a group of healers while trying to fend off a tall woman with a wet towel. The Grandmaster’s authoritative voice was tinged with annoyance as he intermittently glared at the woman that looked to be about his age and was determined to wipe away the dried blood on the sides of the Grandmaster’s face. He still managed to send the healers scurrying to where they were needed and once the hallway cleared up a bit he rounded on the woman. It was the woman who got in the first words however.

“Stop struggling!” She almost snarled. “If the Grandmaster runs around all bloody everyone is going to be worried!” With that she grabbed the Grandmaster’s ear and pulled him close and wiped away the blood as he grumbled.

Seeing this extraordinary scene the group was at a loss of words and it was not by conscious effort that Rina managed to speak but by a slip of the tongue

“What’s going on?” Speaking her thoughts aloud Rina’s voice was filled with both astonishment and worried.

“There was an accident in one of the labs.” A healer that had just come out of an adjacent room said as he wiped his face with a wet towel. “Apparently both masters that oversaw the experiment are unconscious and many of their assistants and apprentices were wounded as well.” He sighed tiredly. “At least the Grandmaster is back now.” The healer said as he walked off while shooing the three with hand.

The three found a bench to the side and waited for the commotion to settle down. As they did so they ate and watched as the steady stream of singed and moaning patients slowly came to an end and the Grandmaster stopped shouting orders. Sometime later a bewildered looking Louie arrived with a black eye and Marith waved him over.

“What happened to you?” Marith asked, interrupting Louie’s own question.

“I got distracted so Elionora punched me. What’s going on here?” He simply glossed over his black eye as he looked around the hectic healer’s wing.

“Some accident.” Marith said, shrugging.

Louie frowned at him but as the others weren’t any more forthcoming he just sighed and sat down to wait with them.

After about half an hour of healers running up and giving reports to the Grandmaster the hallway was finally free of traffic. The three had managed to finish their early lunch by the time the Grandmaster and the tall woman were the only ones left in the hallway. As the two were about to leave Ross stopped them with a shout.

“Grandmaster Hypocra, excuse me but do you have a moment?” His tone was very courteous.

“How can I help you?” Hypocra said looking over the four students with a raised eyebrow.

“We are friends of Morgan and Mary-Ann.” Ross felt like that would be enough of an explanation.

“Ah, I see.” Hypocra nodded and got a rather serious look on his face. “Wendy would you be so kind as to take these kids to the Archmage and his apprentices? I have to make sure this mess is all sorted.”

“Fine dear.” She turned to the students. “This way.”

The three followed Wendy now rather anxious due to the serious expression that Hypocra got when they mentioned Morgan and Mary-Ann.

After going up a flight of stairs and moving to the part of the healer’s wing that was designated for the wing’s longer term patients the three were getting bad premonitions and when they were about to reach the end of the hallway the woman spoke in a sombre voice.

“The girl made it through just fine and will be fully recovered in a day or two.” She stopped and turned around to face the students. “The boy is still critical and although his life is not in danger at the moment, it is still up in the air.” She gave the pale students an apologetic smile. “We will do what we can but it is mostly up to the boy and the gods now.” She let her words sink in before she spoke once more. “You will probably find his appearance rather different and maybe even a bit startling as well.” At this one of the students swallowed hard.

After looking the three in the eyes she pushed open a door to the right and gestured for the three to enter. The boys hesitated afraid of what they might find on the inside but Rina rushed in when she saw Mary-Ann sitting on a bed with a book in her hands.

“Mary!” Rina shouted as she rushed in and grabbed Mary-Ann’s hand. “Thank the gods you are all right.” Rina pulled the slightly startled Mary-Ann into a hug.

“Yes I’m fine, thanks for worrying…” Mary-Ann said trailing off as she glanced over at the other side of the room that weren’t visible from the door.

When the boys entered Rina followed Mary-Ann's eyes only now seeing the room’s other bed and gasped loudly. The boys instinctively looked over to where Rina’s eyes were fixed and the room was suddenly so silent that a pin drop would have been disturbingly loud.

On the bed lay the deathly pale and white haired Morgan, he was perfectly still except for the barely noticeable rise and fall of his chest as he drew shallow breaths. Rina took a step towards Morgan but stopped horrified by the transformation he had undergone and she could not help but stare at the slow pulsing of his now alto visible blood vessels.

“W-what…?” Rina was unable to even finish her question.

“From what Master told me the disease was in its final stages and would have killed him within days without treatment.” Mary-Ann looked at Morgan with a sad smile. “To save him Master had to basically burn out the disease with mana and he had to do it while repairing Morgan’s body to prevent the mana from destroying him from the inside out.” She put down the book and got out of the bed to stand next to Rina on her rather unsteady legs. “It was a miracle that Morgan was alive in the first place and even with months of preparation and an obscene amount of power this is the result of treating an incurable disease.” She placed an arm around Rina’s shoulder. “What I went through was not even comparable” She added sadly.

The boys just stood there too shaken to move or speak as they looked upon their friend that they could only recognize with the help of circumstance. Yet Rina took a step forward and grabbed Morgan’s hand that was thin to the point where it could almost be seen through.

His hand felt cold and bony like the hand of a grandfather on their deathbed, not like one that belonged on a young teenager like Morgan.

“You look like hell.” Rina said surprisingly gently for her.

By now Marith and Ross had managed to recover and walked up to Morgan.

“I have seen better looking corpses.” Marith said as he grabbed a few strands of white hair. “I wonder what it would take to leave a person in such a state.

“You don’t want to know.” Mary-Ann said in a calm voice as she sat back on her bed. “Trust me on that, I was there.” She got a distant look and pulled herself back into the bed.

“Hope it was worth it.” Ross said placing his arm around his sister’s shoulder and pulling her closer.

Ross' hand trembled slightly and Rina for a moment imagined that it was Ross on the bed instead of Morgan. She imagined that this was what was going through Ross’s head as well but she was rather surprised by her reaction.

Her eyes widened as she came to the conclusion that she would not be feeling much differently. She tilted her head confused and just stood there looking down on Morgan. The group just stood there for a long time before Marith spoke up.

“I almost forgot we brought some food.” He walked over to the door where they had unceremoniously left remaining boxes of lunch they had brought from the cafeteria. “I’m not sure if you have eaten but here.” He handed Mary-Ann one of the boxes and looked sadly at the other.

“Thanks, I only had some of the healer’s bland porridge before so some real food would be nice.” She opened the box and slowly began eating.

The stuffy silence returned as Mary-Ann slowly ate the long cold food. Feeling that the tension in the room was unbearable Marith spoke in a tone that was more upbeat than he felt.

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“So what was it like for you Mary?” He smiled. “Yours was successful right? Feel any different?”

“Humm…” Mary-Ann put down her cutlery and rubbed her chin before inspecting her own hand. “Well, it was like something inside me burst. Sort of like a water skin filled with hot water, it flowed from my heart to my skin where it sort of settled…” She frowned, not happy with the explanation. “It is a bit hard to explain.” She reached over and took a swing from a glass that was placed on a small table next to the bed. “If I feel any different?” She looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. “No, not really. I don’t feel much different if I’m honest. There is this slight tingly sensation in my skin but that’s about it and I’m told that is from the mana gathered at the edge of my new vessel and it will fade over time.” She chuckled lightly. “Master says it will take quite some time until I can sense a noticeable change in my mana capacity since my body has to get used to housing mana outside the heart. Only then will Master begin training me to gather mana more efficiently and to cast spells.” Her excitement was clearly tempered by what had happened to Morgan but thankfully it did not kill her excitement completely.

Rina walked over and sat on Mary-Ann’s bed. They talked about magic and Mary-Ann’s strange Master. When Mary-Ann was describing the immense power that Aspartos had displayed Marith asked a question he had been thinking about for a long time.

“How come you are normally not taught magic before the second year of the Academy? The Ilian mages are renown across the continent and only the council enjoys a reputation of better mages...” He looked at them questioningly. “Yet training is started much later here than back home…” He trailed off as he wondered if he had picked a bad time to ask.

“It is because your core doesn’t stabilize before you are around twelve to fifteen.” Mary-Ann said unconcerned with the interruption. “Thus any serious training could not only hinder your growth but also ruin your potential.”

“Would that not stop being a problem if the ritual the Archmage performed became more widespread?” Ross asked before glancing over at Morgan with a troubled expression. “The reason it went well for you and not for him is because of his disease right?”

“Yes, but both me and Morgan were excellent candidates.” Mary-Ann wore a serious expression. “Both me and Morgan had very low mana capacity and rather weak mana vessels. If that was not the case your odds of surviving the ritual drop significantly.”

“How does that work?” Marith asked, confused.

“Well, you see mana itself is a very potent force. This is why beasts that absorb a large amount of mana become monsters, those that survive at least.” She grimaced. “Like most beasts the human body is not built for holding mana, thus to be able to house this potent force inside us and use it we create a vessel that protects the rest of the body from the mana.” She took another gulp of water. “Thus having a low mana capacity is the key to not simply destroy the body from the inside when breaking the vessel.”

“But when we cast spells we channel mana through our bodies though…” Ross sounded uncertain.

“Yes but that is only temporary and only a fraction of your full capacity. From what Master told me, our bodies slowly get used to mana over time and what he did for us is just a shortcut of the natural process of adapting to mana.”

Mary-Ann was about to continue when the door opened and Igor the bespectacled healer stepped into the room and frowned at the students clustered around Mary-Ann.

“I think you students should get back to your lessons for now, both my patients need their rest, you can come back later or tomorrow.” He looked over the group. “I’m sure you can understand that the both of them have been through a lot today.” He walked over to the bed and gently but firmly directed the students out of the room.

“We will be back later to make sure you get some proper food.” Rina glared at the back of Igor before waving and leaving the room.

Igor looked at the door and waited for a bit to ensure that none of the students would suddenly burst back in before he grabbed his small notebook.

“How are you feeling?” He asked looking at Mary-Ann from over his glasses.

“Tired, but better now.” She smiled at the door and bowed her slightly to the healer.

“I see, you are to stay here until Sunday morning so rest up well.” He looked over at Morgan. “Eva will be in the room all night to make sure there is no deterioration in your friend’s condition.” He gave her a half-smile. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“It's fine, when I stay with my grandfather there is always a maid in the room so I’m used to it.” Mary-Ann gave him another smile.

“That so...” Igor walked over to Morgan.

He held his hand by Morgan’s mouth then placed it against his neck and finally placed it on top of Morgan’s head. After a few moments he pulled his hand back and jotted something down in his notebook.

“How is he?” Mary-Ann asked worriedly.

“No change.” He said without preamble. “But for now, that is a good thing.” He took a thin envelope from his pack as he spoke. “For the first few days stability is all we could ask for. In a week from now we will be able to know better.”

He poured a reddish-brown power from the envelope into a mug of water and after stirring it with a small spoon, he then propped Morgan up with practiced hands and poured the liquid carefully into Morgan’s mouth making sure not to spill. The ease of his movements spoke volume of his experience and once the mug was empty he put Morgan back down. He pulled the sheets back and made sure that Morgan was as comfortable as possible before turning to Mary-Ann.

“Now miss, you should try and sleep. Your body and mana is exhausted so you will need a lot of rest.” He reached into his pack and pulled out a small envelope. “If you have trouble sleeping you can take this or you could get another room.”

“Thanks.” She accepted the powder. “But I’d like to stay. I think I would be more worried in any other room.” She looked over at Morgan.

“I see, don’t push yourself.” He said with a smile. “Half the powder with one mug of water. I’ll be back later and as I said Eva will be here tonight.” Mary-Ann nodded and Igor walked off with a wave.

Mary-Ann put the envelope on the table and slipped deeper into the bed.

“Sleep tight” She looked over at Morgan and closed her eyes.

At dinner time there was a knock on the door and Mary-Ann put down her book. She was still feeling a bit weak but more importantly she had been given a book by Aspartos tilted ‘Mana Breathing’ and even with her Master’s warning she had found it hard to sleep after reading a few pages. Had it not been for Master Igor and her friends she would have never put down the book in the first place.

“Come in.” Mary-Ann said as she hid the book.

The door opened revealing her four friends. The first to enter was Rina who held two glossy apples in her hands.

“Feeling better?” Rina’s mood had apparently improved. “Green or Red?” She said while holding out the apples.

“Still a bit tired, green.” She said smiling, accepting the green apple.

“Maybe you should sleep more and read less than.” Rina said as she reached out and pinched Mary-Ann’s cheek while glancing at the poorly hidden book.

“Yesh, mm soawwi.” Mary spoke with difficulty and Rina let go of the cheek.

“She is right you know. The book isn’t going anywhere.” Ross said as he walked up. “Did you get anything to eat?”

“Yes, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She hung her head a bit but her vague smile sort of ruined her apology. “Yes I got rice porridge with some mushrooms. It was surprisingly good.”

As the three of them were chatting Marith and Louie stood by Morgan in silence. There was obviously no change from earlier but Louie still had a hard time accepting what he was seeing. He just looked down on the small boy that made his own pale skin look healthy.

“He looks like one of those cursed princes from the legends.” Louie said after some time without really meaning to.

“The ones that were cursed by the undying?” Ross said joining the two as the girls chatted.

“Yeah, like all the life was just sucked out of him leaving a body behind that only by the thinnest of margins can sustain the soul.” Louie touched Morgan’s cold cheek.

“Don’t say ominous stuff like that.” Rina snapped. “We can all see how bad it looks, so unless you have something positive to say don’t say anything.”

“Sorry.” Louie felt how the mood in the room had deteriorated from his words.

“How do they cure the princes in those legends?” Marith asked not reading the room.

“Well.” Louie thought for a moment as after deciding that his response would not upset anyone he spoke. “They either slay the lich or the princess goes on a journey to create an elixir of the four seasons…” Louie’s words faded as the room grew silent, much to the confusion of Marith.

The students looked at one another for a few moments and Marith was going from confused to upset at being left out once more. When Marith had all but had enough of feeling excluded and was about to explode Mary-Ann spoke.

“Would that work?” The group looked at Louie.

“Why are you looking at me?!” Louie said a bit alarmed by the looks they gave him. “I don’t know. I’m sure Morgan would have a better answer as he has read far more than I have.” He looked a bit upset.

“As if, you constantly read those stories.” Marith still upset snorted “If any one of us could be considered well versed in the ancient stories and legends it’d be you Louie.”

Louie fell silent at that as he thought, as there were quite a few things to consider. First of all Morgan was not cursed, which the princes of legend had been, yet their conditions were remarkably similar. Secondly it was a very old tale that might not have anything to do with the truth, still Louie had been told and experienced first-hand that almost all story’s held a grain of truth. The third thing was that the recipe was anything but clear. The legend only spoke of the flower of the north that dances in the northern wind, the flower of the south that flows with the ocean breeze, the flower of the east that twirls in the storms and the flower of the west that rises with the breath of the desert.

“It could work, I mean it is said that the elixir of the four seasons can restore the vitality of anything but a corpse.” He frowned at the hopeful looks he was getting. “It could work but I don’t even know what the flowers are, I might have an idea about the flower of the south but…” He wore an unconvinced expression as he shrugged.

“I know what the flower of the east is, or at least I think I do.” Ross said looking at his sister. “It has to be Dawnbloom right?”

“Well it sounds like it.” Rina said nodding and looked over at Louie with an expectant expression.

“Well, the southern flower should be the Golden Lotus…” Louie said as he noticed Rina’s eyes and he too locked over to Marith. “Do you know what the flower of the west might be referring to?” Louie swallowed.

“It’s not really a flower per say, but the only thing I can think of is Crystalvine…” He cleared his throat at the doubtful looks he was getting. “You see, Crystalvine normally hidden under the dunes. However after particularly fierce sandstorms anything from tiny branches to building sizes nests of yellow-golden crystal can be found deep within the deserts.” He paused for a moment. “They really do look like pants that have been turned into crystal and I can’t think of anything else that might fit.” He shrugged as if to say that it was fine with him if they did not believe him.

They turned to Louie with hopeful expressions. Louie for his part just grimaces and pointed out of the window at the snow that was gently falling from the sky. And he spoke in a serious voice.

“Say that we are right and somehow manage to get the recipe right. How would we get the ingredients? It is over a month by caravan to the sea of sand, two weeks to get to where the golden lotus grows and at least three to get to Stromwall.” He paused. “And that is during summer without all this snow.” Louie words plunged the world into a strained silence.

“Well I don’t know about the other stuff but.” Marith pulled on a leather strap he had around his neck. “Everyone in my family has a shard of Crystalvine as a sort of charm.” He pulled out a thumb sized yellow-golden crystal that looked vaguely like three intertwined leafs.

“Well…” Louie chuckled dryly. “That would help but I don’t just have a golden lotus lying around.” He looked over at Rina and Ross.

“We grow Dawnbloom back home…” Ross said.

“Isn’t Golden lotus and Dawnbloom used in a lot of different elixirs and potions?” Mary-Ann said enthusiastically and everyone but Marith nodded. “Shouldn’t the alchemist have some than? Could we not get it from them and maybe even have them make the elixir for us?”

“I mean maybe, but alchemists are generally rather stingy with their ingredients.” Louie sounded less excited than the rest. “I doubt they would waste their valuable stock on such a longshot…”

“What do you mean waste?” Rina said, irritated.

“He means we don’t even have a proper recipe, we only have vague guesses on what could be in the elixir.” Ross said placating his sister.

“Well, it is not like it hurts to ask.” Mary-Ann said. “I can also ask Master if he knows anything about the elixir tomorrow.”

The group decided to ask one of the Master alchemists the following day as it was getting late and then take it from there. As they started filling out the all said their good nights to Mary-Ann and the unconscious Morgan. The last to two leave was the twin as Rina walked over to Morgan she grabbed his cold hand and after gently running her fingers over his cold skin she spoke softly.

“We will do what we can, so keep fighting.” She tucked his arm back under the cover and pulled up the cover to his neck before leaving.

The twins walked in silence for some time before Ross asked what he had been thinking about for some time.

“Sis, are you perhaps in love with Morgan?” His voice was rather curious.

There were a few moments of silence as the two kept walking. Ross was surprised by this as he was sure that his sister would either firmly reject it or try to hide it depending on how she really felt.

“No, I don’t think I’m in love with him.” She hummed a bit as she thought about it. “But I do like him a lot and he used to be so cute that it really hurts to see him like this.” This is what she said after having thought it over for a good while.

Ross was silent at this as he tried in vain to figure out what the difference was between liking someone a lot and love. Then he silently prayed that his sister would never call Morgan cute to his face as that was probably nothing any man wanted to be called, at least not Ross. As he thought more on his sister’s words she spoke up once more in a self-derisive voice.

“Besides haven’t you heard? I’m a mean-spirited, foulmouthed brat. There is no way I would fall in love is there?” The smile she showed Ross was both hateful and very, very sad.

“If you add self-centred you might be getting somewhere.” He said with a snort and laughed at his sister’s slack jawed expression. “You really should stop thinking like that sis, we have real friends here. Not just those sycophants that want to curry favour with uncle or father.” He flicked his sister’s head making her glare at him but he just laughed as he could see that her mood had improved.