Having gotten a peach the party decided to head back. With the money they were going to get, there was no need to collect other plants. Plus, with Javi’s injury, they needed to get him medical attention.
They got into town and under Javi’s insistence, they went to the Union first. With the haul they got, they were already earning lots of money. But when the Peach of Immortality was added to the pile, the value of what they brought back quadrupled. The Union became a flurry of activity as they processed the find. The group didn’t stay long though as Bella and Wren rushed Javi off to the hospital.
With how severe the injuries were, it didn’t take long to get a doctor to come and help them. And after inspecting him the doctor made some grave statements, “So, let’s start with the small injuries. You are covered in scrapes and bruises, these are of no concern and we just need to make sure they don’t get infected. You have a relatively large wound on your left leg, you probably gashed it when you were thrown back. Keep it bandaged for a bit and you’ll be fine. Your chest is a bit worse off. You’ve surely noticed that the entire thing is pretty much one big bruise. It’ll be sensitive for a while but the damage seems to be only skin deep. Now let’s get to the issue. Your arm.”
The doctor poked and prodded at his arm, Javi occasionally wincing in pain and finding that the arm wouldn’t move for him. The doctor finally moved back and nodded, “Yep, it is as I feared. The arm is useless. We’ll have to amputate it.”
“What!?”
“Hold up!”
“Wait a minute!”
All three responded at once. They had not expected such a severe response. Javi gestured for the other two to quiet down and then turned to the doctor, “Why do you say it has to be amputated?”
“There are a couple of issues with your arm. First of all, the bones are pretty much completely shattered. Secondly, most of your tendons have been ripped up. Now normally, we could use Aether artifacts to accelerate your healing factor and this would not be an issue. However, the foe you were facing was a really nasty one. Whatever the blow you got hit with was, it infused your arm with its Aether. And probably due to your arm being destroyed, it was temporarily not considered as a part of you by your Aether. Which means that the enemy’s Aether took ownership of your arm. Your arm has now been rejected by the rest of your body. Soon enough it’ll start to rot as the body refuses to provide nutrients to it. And then it’ll just be a dead weight that’s in your way.”
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Javi looked somber. Both Bella and Wren merely sat there in silence, they had nothing they could say to try and cheer him up. Wren merely put his hand on Javi’s good shoulder and gave it a squeeze. All he could do was silently communicate that they would support him. Javi finally looked back up. “If I amputate, will I be unable to adventure? Surely not having an arm is a large liability.”
“Well, yes if you were to try and adventure without an arm, you would be a major liability. However, amputating doesn’t mean you’ll be missing your left arm forever. There have been some relatively recent advances in medical Aether artifacts. In Skyfa, they have developed artificial limbs. They say it can be a perfect substitute and do anything a normal limb can do. So it’s certainly possible for you to have an arm again.”
Wren watched Javi’s expression. He had no idea how he would react. He may not take this well. Or at least that’s what he thought. He watched as Javi’s face hardened. He looked forward and sat up straight. Slowly, a fire was lit in his eyes and he gave a determined look. He turned up to Wren and Bella, “You two, I have a favor to ask. Would you be willing to accompany me to Skyfa?”
The two looked at each other and nodded, they had let him endanger himself for them. There was no way the wouldn’t pay him back, ““Of course.””
With that confirmation, Javi turned to the doctor, “Amputate it. I want it gone quickly so I can start preparing for the journey.”
The doctor looked a little surprised at that determination, but gave him a smile in response, “Of course sir, right away.”
Wren and Bella left the room and waited just outside.
“Hey Bella. I’m sorry to make you do this detour. I know we had said we wanted to go on the Dragon’s Highway. But now it seems like that might take a while.”
She gave a small, sad smile, “It’s okay. This situation is my fault anyways. I shouldn’t have gotten greedy and told you two about the Peaches of Immortality. I baited you into going for an unrealistic target.”
“No, it was my fault. I was the one who insisted on trying. I’m the reason he went and fought it. I should’ve just let us back off.”
“No! I was the leader! I shouldn’t have let you do it. It was my responsibility to know better.”
“No! I-”
“Will you two quiet down out here.” Wren and Bella whipped around at Javi’s voice. He was standing there in the now open door. Where his arm had once been, was now just a stump. “It wasn’t any one person’s fault. I volunteered to fight it. In a way, we all have a part in the blame.”
Wren leaped forward and hugged him. Javi reciprocated with his one arm, patting Wren on the back. It seemed odd that the injured one was comforting the uninjured one, but it felt right to them. Javi could see Bella was standing right beside them. She looked like she wanted to join in but didn’t want to intrude on them. But Javi waved her over to join. She gladly joined the hug as well, a single tear crawling out of her eye. “All right guys, enough getting emotional over me. Let’s start planning on how to get to Skyfa.”