Ian cleared his thoughts, zoning out the screeching cries of the cabor eagles and the galloping footsteps of the mercenaries. He focused on holding onto the dismembered arm and weaving the needles in and out of the broken veins and arteries. With the agia salve applied, the tendons, arteries and veins magically aligned together like glue, relieving Ian the painful task of discerning the tiny channels without a microscope. He simply needed to suture them together to allow proper blood circulation into the dismembered arm. A real surgeon can complete the rest.
By the time he finished, they arrived into the emergency room of the community hospital. The hospital was once a normal community hospital, but due to its close proximity to the Beacon #6 realm, the emergency department was well prepared.
The old ER doctor examined the mercenary in critical condition and then inspected the others, making sure that they wouldn’t die on his watch. After assessing the situation, he commanded his staff to prepare the beds and medications.
“You again…” The ER doctor said as he noticed the two spectators.
Ian and Reja both grinned.
“Dr. Harris, thank you again for your service,” Reja replied. Reja’s team appeared in the ER every month.
“Yeah, sure,” the old doctor responded sarcastically and then looked at Ian. “What are you doing here? Is this your work?” Dr. Harris pointed to the shoddy stitchwork between the shoulder and the right arm.
“I tried!” Ian didn’t like the stitchwork, but he was literally stitching while going down a rocky steep hill. The stitches that were evenly spaced happened when they waited at the checkpoint. They didn’t leave until their time slot was up.
“You know Dr. Harris?” asked Reja.
“I was an intern here,” Ian replied.
“Before dropping out and complaining about the lack of real work,” said Dr. Harris. “I heard you have gotten yourself in a jam with the medical association. Ever consider coming back?”
The medical field wasn’t big in the area, but it wasn't the reason Dr. Harris knew about his situation. The good doctor was also his parent’s friend, and they talked.
“Nope, I’ve already decided when I left,” Ian knew he had no patience dealing with patients and hospital politics. “Are you going to report me?”
“Well, it’s not like the medical association has any say within the otherworld realm and it really was an emergency. Your friend here will recover within a week. Did you message me earlier knowing you were going to be here?”
“Sort of. I was just wondering if you have noticed anything strange going on.”
“It is busier than usual,” Dr. Harris replied. Having read Ian’s message regarding a recent psychosis, Dr. Harris was aware it was a sensitive topic. “Come, I have something to show you.”
Ian followed Dr. Harris while Reja checked on the rest of her team. Inside the hospital’s mortuary, Dr. Harris rolled out a cooler with a body covered up by a white linen. The report on the side of the cooler door indicated suicide as the possible cause of death.
”The police found the body three days ago, but they had probably been dead for a week,” said Dr. Harris.
“Hemorrhage as a result of a fracture to the middle cranial fossa and asphyxia of the air passages,” Ian read the report. He slid down the cloth to inspect the neck and head. “He slammed his head first before hanging himself?”
”It seems like it,” replied Dr. Harris. “I’m surprised you’re not throwing up like before.”
“That was years ago.”
“Four years isn’t that long.” Dr. Harris showed Ian the other files. “Here are the reports from the other two cases.”
The second case involved hemorrhage from blunt force trauma. The third report was even more bizarre.
“Asphyxia from air passages as a result of self-inflicted strangulation?” Ian couldn’t imagine someone chocking themselves to death.
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In one of the photos, the indented handprints were still visible on the neck of the third victim.
Dr. Harris sighed. “Yes, three suicides within two weeks. If we count the occurrences within this year, maybe twelve. That’s twice as many as last year.”
"No drugs in their system?" asked Ian.
"Nothing is showing up on the toxicology report and no witnesses for any of these."
“Is it possible for them to be awakening suicide?” asked Ian.
The term was coined only after the appearance of the otherworld field. The victims were generally aware they were inflicting self harm, but their main purpose and intention was to trigger a geist. In the late 1970s, ten years after the appearance of the first otherworld field, different countries had developed secret laboratories to study different ways to trigger the mana field within the human body. Some called it dantian, some called it sacral, but the word that developed around the time was geist.
Once a person acquired 10 SP, it was possible for them to awaken a geist naturally. For some others, they had to awaken the geist by force. Many of the early experiments were performed on the homeless and prisoners. Only 1% remained alive. The key to unlocking such power was putting them in a life-or-death situation. The combination of different drugs were used to induce cardiac arrest. If the person survives, they have a chance to awaken their power. Aside from drugs, there were other torture methods used. Whistleblowers appeared in different parts of the country, but it wasn’t until the early 80s when reports with gruesome images leaked to the public.
After pressure from the public, the West Federal Alliance released information regarding the study. The WFA confirmed the existence of the research, but revealed that they had shut down the project a year ago. None of the studies produced qualitative and safe results for all the resources they were funneling into the program. Analysis had determined that the technique lacked survivability to be considered feasible with a high degree of addiction and reduced life span.
The controversial materials created an unusual spike in suicide. Media coined it as awakening suicide, as many hapless non-rankers tested their luck. If they were to trigger a geist, then it would mean changing their entire life around. If they fail, it wasn’t like there was any point to continue living.
“I’m not sure what it is,” Dr. Harris replied. "The police are investigating the three latest cases, but they haven’t been able to find any relationship between the three. It’s a small town, so the two of them were passing acquaintances, but the third was a new resident with no relations to the two. It’s likely they will close the case as another failed attempt to trigger a geist.”
The town near Beacon realm had a population of less than three thousand. For them to have such a high suicide rate, it was rather unusual.
“Did the police find a bottle of ibuprofen with them?” asked Ian.
Dr. Harris curiously raised his brow. “As a matter of fact, I believe they did. I looked at one of the bottles, and it appears to be a generic brand from CCPharma.”
“Is that the company in Birming City?” Ian asked. He was looking around for a short-term apartment in Birming, but he wasn’t too familiar with the city area.
“Yeah, they are the most common brand we use in the area.”
Ian wondered if the police had looked into it, but Dr. Harris wasn’t aware of the current investigation.
“Is it possible for it to be some sort of micro-organism that’s not traceable?” asked Ian
“I am afraid anything is possible,” Dr. Harris gave Ian a report from two other hospitals. “There has been an unusual spike in violent behaviors across the country. I’m not sure if there is a connection, but you should be more careful.”
Ian flipped through the report. Lack of symptoms leading up to violent episodes, but no unusual drugs were found. Ian scratched the back of his head. If the drug he took was somehow related to CCPharma, then he had to be more careful. “Thank you.”
“In the meantime, I heard you’re job hunting. How is that going?”
“I have a couple of interviews lined up.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come back to the medical field?”
Ian shook his head. “You know my limitations.”
Dr. Harris patted him on the shoulder.
Before departing the hospital, Ian checked up on Reja. He asked her if she knew of an apothecary, but she didn’t. It made sense as most apothecaries like to work near s-rank realms. She offered him the remaining contents of the salve. There wasn’t much left, but it was enough for Ian to study the content. Medicine made from apothecary was complex, even more so than alchemy. The agia grass salve made by apothecaries had at least 400 different chemical compounds, but an alchemist’s salve had 200 compounds. Most people advised against using any type of medicine in the real world as the effects weren’t properly understood. Side effects were normally vomiting and diarrhea, but the general consensus was that the ranker can naturally expel the harmful substance within the otherworld realm.
As soon as returned home, Ian placed several samples into multiple test tubes of solvent. The contents separated as they flowed through the column of the high pressure liquid chromatography machine. After an hour, the computer generated a chromatogram of the salve.
Having identified a dozen different compounds, Ian tested the salve on himself. He suffered from an itchy rash for the next three days, but he was never one to let a rash deter him. He focused most of his time examining the mature minort clover (25 SP.) The SP had doubled in a month, but it was slowly wilting and dying. The most fascinating part was the seed pod that had fallen off and floating within the item creation space.