He was staring at her, not believing what he was seeing, wondering what had happened to her to result in that appearing on her skin. Norbert stared at her, watching the white ivory pattern go up her arms and legs, reminding himself of the runes he saw earlier. She watched it go up to her face as it circled, growing whiter as it continued forward, his face showing a mask around it.
aTurning his vision to normal, the marks disappeared from her face. Staring down at the cube, he dropped, looking completely grey with no colour in it. Bending to pick it up, Norbert dusted it off before placing it in Lily's hand.
Lily went on her tiptoes and whispered to him, "Talk, later." Norbert nodded in response as he stepped fast, looking at the horizon.
Taking his mask off, Norbert ruffled his hand through his hair, cleaning the dust out of it and freeing up the stuck pieces of hair from his scalp. Feeling the grit in his hand, Norbert took each glove off. Seeing the dust pooling in his hand, he let it drop to the floor.
He was brushing out his hands on his pants, seeing them being slightly cleaner now. Putting his gloves back on, Norbert turned around, looking at the three staring at him. "What?" Norbert asked them.
Count von Count just shook his head, the rags falling around him. "So, what's next?" Norbert asked them.
Lily stepped away from Count von Count, Obsius hopping onto the vampire's head. Norbert followed her as she continued to walk forward, watching as she turned around. Norbert stopped looking at her, seeing her dagger no longer on her waist but in her hand.
Unsheathing his sword, Norbert went into position, holding one arm in the air and the other with the sword thrust out in front of him. The tip held perfectly still as he stared down the blade, half seeing Lily's reflection.
Opening her hand, the dagger flew out, coming right at him, moving the sword to the side, a clang resonating as he brushed it past him, watching it go to the side. She stepped forward, slashing to the side, unexpectedly feeling the clang of metal again, and saw another dagger appear in her hand.
Stepping forward, Norbert kicked into Lily, sending her flying; as he stepped forward, he felt a sharp pain shoot down his leg. He faltered in the knee, coming down as he looked behind himself, seeing a dagger lodged into his calf. Reaching down, just before his fingers grasped, a wind buffeted it away, taking the dagger, the weapon shooting in front of him into Lily's outstretched hand.
Pushing energy through his body leg, he felt the flesh knit itself as he held the clothing out of the wound. Not wanting to rip it out later, remembering stories back on Earth of bandages and stitches getting integrated into the body needing to be dug out.
Healed up, Norbert, standing up again, rushed forward, and Lily threw the dagger out towards him. Sliding on the ground, Norbert felt it clang against his mask, Norbert keeping an eye on it as he rushed forward.
Swiping at her, Lily ducked under as she punched up at Norbert. Not even feeling the impact, she reached forward to grab her arm. Holding onto her, Norbert whipped her around, slamming into the ground on the other side.
Lifting her at the top of her arc, his hand reflexively letting go, sending her arching through the air. Looking at his arm, seeing two lines of blood going down his arm, the wound already healed. Flexing his hand, Norbert confirmed that it was functional.
Staring at Lily, Norbert leapt forward, pushing his energy into his body, not wanting to get distracted by the daggers flying at him. The sword came. Norbert swung it up, waiting for it to impact. Only for it to stop mid-way, half a meter from her body.
Staring down at the sword, I saw the wind moving around it, creating a force that stopped the blade from moving. Kicking the dust into the air, watching as it wrapped around Lily before being chucked around.
Norbert turned to his magical vision and saw the white barrier form around the sword, a shield, constantly moving towards the sword and blowing it out. Swapping back to typical, Norbert let go of the sword, letting it fly far into the air.
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She was crumbling forward, feeling himself getting pushed back before he went too far forward, and his body was thrown forward into Lily, the two of them in a ragged pile. Lily was on top, straddling him. Norbert flipped the two around, grabbing her arm as she was flung to the side.
Spinning himself around Norbert, he latched his legs around Lily's shoulder, placing his feet on the other side. Holding the arm, Norbert leaned backwards, flexing his body up.
Continuing to put pressure on it, starting to feel the joint bend, "Give in, or it's broken." Norbert said to her.
Only hearing the groaning from Lily, Norbert bumped his hips upwards, thrusting into the air as a crunch shook around them. Lily's scream followed afterwards, only to be silenced by herself biting on her tongue, Norbert seeing her eyes water.
Letting go of the arm, Norbert leapt onto her, straddling her as he removed his knife from his belt, holding it under her throat. Through teary eyes, she nodded as Norbert pressed the dagger into her neck.
Removing the knife, seeing a faint line of blood on it, Norbert flicked the knife to remove the blood before shedding it. Lily is lying there; Norbert walks towards Count von Count, picks up his bag, and brings it over to Lily. Looking inside his medical kit, he was happy with what he found.
Pulling out the red potion, Norbert held it out to Lily; looking at him, she took it, groaning as she did so. Holding it up to her lips, she downed the potion the moment it stopped, holding her arm in the correct position with the other.
Norbert watched it rippled, the bone sticking out and returning into place. After several seconds, the movement stopped, and Lily rested as she breathed heavily; after a minute, her breath calming down, she went to her feet and began walking back.
Norbert picked up his backpack as he walked with her. Count von Count following behind, the rush of before now lost, the three idly walking towards the portal.
***
In the medical ward, Norbert watched over Lily as one of the nurses looked at her arm. Twisting it around as she looked at the arm from all angles, confirming the joint movements were still functioning correctly. Holding their hand over the joint, a green light appeared where the two people connected, lifting their hands off Norbert, seeing a faint glow on the skin before disappearing.
Changing to magic, watching it spread around the wound, wrapping around it before disappearing. Seeing the white swirls over her body before changing it back to normal again. Looking at the wound again, Norbert confirmed it looked better now, more normal than compared to the way it was before.
Feeling Lily staring into him, Norbert looked around the room, seeing it was the same as before. Count von Count turned around, leaving the curtained area and closing the curtain behind him. Norbert turned to Lily, seeing her stare at him, going up a bit higher on the bed, patting next to her.
Norbert sat down where he was instructed to. Lily holding her arm out, Norbert feeling the air moving around the bed, a slight disturbance seen on the ground. Changing to magical vision, clearly seeing a circle around them of whiteness, Norbert sees it is whipping around them, originating from Lily looking.
Looking back to Lily, he took out a coin and started flicking it in the air, half seeing it spin, catching it before seeing it and through the air again.
"What did you see?" she asked him.
Norbert caught it as he thought, changing his vision to magical. Norbert explained, "One of the elixirs I drank allowed me to see magic in the air; the other strange one was for night vision." Norbert said as he flicked between the two before returning to the magical site.
"The white lines going up your body, starting on the arms and legs, slowly winding its way upwards and seeming to go around the face, creating a mask around your cheekbones," Norbert said as he started to trace up the arm, lifting his hand as he pointed at her face.
Lily just nodded. "Makes sense. When you have fifteen or more in you, it makes sense to have the non-usual ones—just wondering how you bought so many?" she asked him, perplexing.
Norbert just shrugged. "Gambling a bit; the rest is just given to me in a case by a stranger. I have no clue who the stranger was or could be, but it is useful, very useful. What's with …" Norbert finished, waving his arm up and down.
"Oh, just the usual mad mage experiments. Trying to merge a human and a wind spirit after both are born. Resulting in this." She finished, waving down at her body. "One of the spirits broke out; the Frontier came, stopped the madman and brought me in," she explained to Norbert.
Nodding along, speaking his thoughts, "And I'm assuming that you don't want this spread to others?" He asked. Lily just nodded her head in response. "But how did that work? Do you know how the pieces fit?"
Lily just shook her head as she raised her hand; Norbert, seeing the wind around her, stopped and changed to normal, twisted her feet around her, got out of bed, and looked towards Norbert.
"And you saw nothing else?" She asked him.
Norbert just tilted his head to the side, trying to think. Coming up with nothing, replying with a single "Nope."
Lily nodded as she unfurled the curtain, seeing Count von Count leaning on the curtain next to the entrance. The hospital staff moved around the vampire, Count von Count waving in response, baring his fangs.
Lily just shook her head as she walked past him, Obsius hopping over onto Norbert, the two men following after Lily. Wondering where they would be going next, Norbert once more stepped through the portal, feeling himself being stretched out.