After entering Catherine’s room everything was straightforward. She put soft ointment around my eyes, checked my arm, and took the chance to check Mara’s leg while she was at it. “You both suck you know that?” I flinched, and Mara chuckled nervously as Catherine glared at her. “At least your daughter has an excuse, but what have you been doing?”
“Well… You see…”
She rolled her eyes. “Just save it. You’re not allowed to walk on this leg for the next three days, got it? I’m casting it. I’ll have to use my magic to adjust the bone again too.”
She waved her hand and the needles and magical pins in Mara’s leg expanded so that I could see them even outside her clothes. They twisted like gears, and chills ran through me as I thought I heard bone being ground and scraped. She winced, supporting herself against the door, crushing the metal handle into a new shape.
“H-hey Cathy… I’m… Fine… right?” I gulped.
She narrowed her eyes. “Well, you’re arm’s not as bad at least. I’d fix it now, but that would probably make everything worse. You wouldn’t be able to use it for a couple of days, and it would be more vulnerable. Best to just wait till you're done.”
I wrapped my fingers around it, wondering if it would ever really be the same. “That makes sense…”
“Of course with what you’re doing you might not even need my magic by the time you get out.” She waved her hand in front of me, and a magic circle appeared around my arm, starting to turn.
“H-hey I thought you said you weren’t going to do anything?”
“This is your punishment for not listening, you should have blocked with your other arm! What's even the point of treating you people!” The gold disks started to vibrate my arm until my whole body started shaking. “Even if I don’t mess with the bone I can at least break up some of the scar tissue around the muscles.”
An intense pain stopped my breath, but it was over in a single moment. My arm wouldn’t stop shaking, but I was fine, all things considered. Something told me I couldn’t say the same for Mara though. Sweat dripped down her face as she gritted her teeth. “You know… I like you a lot more… When you’re sober…” She groaned, starting to breath heavily.
She forced herself to stand up on her own, grinning and bearing it as the bone-chilling noises continued to come from her leg. “You’ll thank me for this later.” Catherine said, waveing her hand, and intensifying her spell.
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‘Are you sure this isn’t just torture?’ Mara snarled then seemed to relax completely. ‘Did it stop hurting? The rings are still turning though.’ I leaned to the side to get a better look at her. ‘I mean, I know she said mediation helped you deal with pain, but isn’t this a bit much?’
Catherine started laughing. “There's no way, she actually passed out!”
My eyes widened. “What!”
“She’s still standing too! What a tough cookie.” She continued to jeer.
“THIS ISN’T FUNNY!”
She just waved her hand. “It’s fine, she’s been through worse than this. My magic will be done resetting the bone soon, and then she’ll be fine when she wakes up.”
She walked up to her and picked her up, carrying her over to the bed. “She might be a bit cranky though.”
‘She’s been through worse than pain that makes you black out…’ I looked at her as she lay unconscious on the bed. I knew the spell was helping her, but it was hard to imagine anything having that kind of effect on her, much less her having been through worse… I mean, that was my catchphrase, or so I thought. Looking at all of her scars though, and considering her past, it wasn’t that hard to believe, after giving it some thought.
“You need to get some rest too. Don’t worry about your mum. Your arm should be a little better by morning, but you DO actually need to sleep.
It had stopped shaking, but it was sore. It wasn’t that it hurt that bad, it felt more like I had just had a really intense grip workout the day before… Well, more like a couple of really intense grip workouts.
“And my eyes?”
She groaned. “Long as you don’t do anything stupid, like mess around with magic that strains them too much, they should be fine in a few weeks. You might find you’re tears come a little bit easier for the time being though.
‘I guess I can live with that.’ I let out a sigh and left, grabbing the small pouch of pellets on the table on my way out. She didn’t mention them, but I was assuming she just forgot since she was pretty wasted. I still had to meet with Rafi anyway, giving me even more reason to head out.
The moment I closed my eyes I whisked away to the great ruin in the void. “Ready to kill your first demon?” The mischievous little girl said. She seemed all too excited.
“Do I have a choice?”
She groaned, her smile rapidly vanishing. “Wow, you’re really going to just kill the mood like that? ok…”
‘Kill the mood… last time I saw you, you were balling your eyes out…’ Of course I didn’t actually say that. “Sorry?” I said slowly, trying to get a better read for what exactly the mood was supposed to be.
She rolled her eyes, “just come with me. And quit worrying so much, you’ll be fine.”
She grabbed my hand and everything rushed past me, fading to black and then slinging itself forward like I was rubberbanding through space.
Suddenly everything was bright as day, and I was in a grand castle. There was no sign of the void.
“Where…”
“Come on, there's someone I want you to meet.”
She tugged at my hand like a little kid, begging her mom to come and play.
I followed her through the halls as the knights in full plate armor walked up and down, with cheery voices and heavy footsteps. I could hear them talking, but for some reason, my brain couldn’t process what they were saying, it was just a blur.