“Sometimes it was only when the time you have left drops to the last few months or weeks did things come into a clearer perspective. By that time, for most people, it was already far too late.” - Erik Muhlhausen, Elder from Anlef.

“Anyway, Erik, I actually brought these guests here because one of them is a healer. Very skilled at that,” Aida explained after the old man finished speaking. “You said you wish you have another decade or two to look after Niklas, so maybe she could help you with your ailment,” she added. “Also, even if your other kids don’t want to care for Niklas after you’re gone, rest assured that me and mine will take him in ourselves.”

“That’s mighty kind of you, Aida. You really shouldn’t have troubled yourself, though,” replied Erik with a wistful expression on his wrinkled old face. He had raised three other adopted children in his life, though the others had since moved out and started their own families, which was why he was worried that they might not be able to take Niklas in after he was gone. “I know my body, though. What I have is incurable, I fear.”

“Then you have nothing to lose anyway, no, sir?” asked Aideen politely as she sat down by the old man with a soothing voice. “May I?” she asked for permission as she offered her hand. As a Mortality affinity healer she needed direct contact to do her magic, as it was far too inefficient to do it from a distance. Old Erik hesitated briefly before he sighed and returned a smile, then put one of his skinny arms on Aideen’s hand.

Aideen immediately used her mana to thoroughly check the old man’s body for any ailments, and sure enough, she found quite a few of them. Many of them were just typical ailments that came with old age as the body’s functions started to deteriorate. None of those were endangering the old man’s life, and she could do away with them in mere moments.

On the other hand, she also discovered tumorous growths within the old man’s body. The tumors were pretty spread out, and they were likely the reason why the old man looked abnormally skinny, as they leeched off the nutrients from his body. Left alone, it was unlikely for the old man to live until the next year, so Aideen immediately went to work and started excising the tumors.

It was delicate work to deal with tumors. The first thing Aideen had to do was to detect every single bit of the tumors within her patient’s body, as if she missed any, they might grow into new tumors and the patient would relapse after a while. Given how tiny some of these might be, it was a rather time-consuming endeavor that needed quite a bit of concentration.

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That was, it took her around a minute just to locate the tumors alone.

Then Aideen began the real work as she isolated those tumors from their surroundings and then shifted them along old Erik’s body until they were concentrated in several spots. Then she made use of her magic to keep them contained there as she focused her mana towards one of the concentrations of tumors she created.

“This might sting a bit, so sorry about that,” said Aideen as a warning to old Erik before she began the last part of her work.

While the Mortality affinity was mostly associated with healing and bodily enhancement, Aideen had experimented quite a bit with the affinity over the centuries. Amongst her findings was one rather obvious conclusion, namely that anything that could be used to heal could also be used to harm. In this case, however, the harm she would inflict was limited to the tumors that grew inside old Erik’s body, as she made use of her magic to cause them to implode unto themselves, leaving only some filthy residue.

The process was not entirely painless, however, as old Erik made a slight grunt of surprise when she first did the purging. He was better prepared for the subsequent ones and made no more noises, however, allowing Aideen to do her thing.

After around five minutes of treatment, Aideen withdrew her hand from old Erik and nodded with satisfaction.

“I’m afraid I can’t do anything about your arm, but I believe that should take care of your ailments. You should have at least another decade or more in you, I would say,” she pronounced with a smile while Old Erik felt himself with his one hand with a surprised look on his face. He was old and experienced so he probably detected the tumors by feeling them through his flesh.

Aideen couldn’t help him with his missing arm as he never had one to begin with. She could have crafted an arm for him, but he wouldn’t be able to actually use it, so that would defeat the point. As for the tumors, however, she eradicated them with only some filthy residue left behind. Old Erik’s own body would naturally expel those residues after a while, so there was nothing more she needed to do with them.

She also took care of his aging-inflicted ailments and wiped them away, of course, which likely contributed to the shocked look on the old man’s face when he realized just how much his condition suddenly improved, and how the joints that used to ache all the time suddenly no longer hurt.

“I- How could this be- I don’t know how I can thank your kindness-” stammered old Erik as he realized what Aideen had done for him, at a loss of words.

“Just repay me by living the time you have left to you happily and as kindly as you have always done,” replied Aideen with a kindly smile. “Oh, and if you two don’t mind, please keep quiet on my passing through here? Also get your other friends who might have something bothering them if you like and bring them to me as well.”

Both Erik and Aida nodded to Aideen’s words.