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A Soldier's Life - 264 - Hard Lesson

Added 2024-09-17 05:46:00 +0000 UTC

Chapter 264: Hard Lesson

When I woke, my suffering had not ended. My muscles would not work; having been seized for too long, the ligaments had been strained, and my muscles were brutalized. I still tried to move, but all I could do was shudder. I moved my head with great difficulty and couldn’t see Maveith. Had he abandoned me? No, he wouldn’t do that. Crusty, acidic salt caked my lips as I tried to speak. My vocal cords were sore and would not work—had I been screaming?

I tried to channel my healing spell form, but I couldn’t control the aether. It felt like sand running through my fingers. Panic welled up inside me as I feared I might have permanently damaged my ability to channel aether. However, it wasn’t the same fire in my aether channels as when I had burned them.

Instead, it was my abused aether core that was not directing the aether as I willed it. I couldn’t even focus inward to study the problem, as the pain was too distracting. I fumbled for the lip of the tub, planning to pull myself inside, but stopped. That would be stupid, as I might drown if I passed out again.

I released the tub, grunting as the floor greeted my face. The door creaked open, “Maveith?” I tried to say, but it just came out as a hiss of air.

Viridia stood in the doorway, her hand covering her nose and mouth with a wet cloth. Her voice was slightly muffled. “He left to get help. I said I would watch you, but the smell was too foul. I have been waiting just outside the door.” I could see her daughter just beyond her. Clara got a whiff of the odor and vomited in the common room. Viridia hissed at her son to help his sister clean the mess. She came in and closed the door behind her.

I pointed weakly at the canteen, and she retrieved it and fed it to me. I greedily drank it down, coughing because it was so hard to swallow, but realizing I needed the fluids. “How long?” I said with a sore larynx after finishing the remainder of the canteen.

“Maveith left perhaps two hours ago. Before that…I think he said you passed out an hour ago, or you took something an hour ago. He was frantic. Are you poisoned?” She asked as she took some towels and started rubbing away the crusty film on my skin.

“Something like that,” I said painfully. I could barely move. I thought the apex water essence had finished its work, and my body had been tempered, or at least my aether core had been. I tried thrice to look inward at my aether core, failing each time.

“Whatever you are doing, stop. Your skin is burning up, Eryk.” Viridia said in a scolding tone only mothers had. Had I even told her my name? Maveith must have given it to her. To her credit, Viridia did not shy away from my foulness as she worked to clean me.

“Into the tub,” she ordered with a huff after she had fouled a half dozen towels. I almost laughed, as the simple act was too much for me. She helped me to my feet, and I fell into the cool water almost pulling Viridia with me. Water rushing over the side soaking the woman. It had been warm when I consumed the essence hours ago, and now it was cold, and I numbed my aching body.

“We will work from the head down,” she announced determinedly. She worked on my hair and face, making coughing sounds as she scrubbed. “It would be easier to just shave the head.” I looked at her and was about to agree, but she added with a weak smile, “I was kidding. Eventually, we will get it all out.”

The water had turned to a murky brown by the time she finished with scrubbing my hair and face. She helped me out of the tub to drain it and clean it. I lay on the wooden floor and fell asleep from exhaustion. She roused me softly. “It’s clean with fresh water. Back into the tub,” she ordered. We repeated this a third time before the water finally stayed clear. I heard the door to the suite open, and Maveith's heavy footfalls sounded as he rapidly crossed to the bathroom.

The door slammed open, and he coughed as he inhaled. “You're awake!” He said, relieved. “I found a healer of mages! Took most of the night and some convincing to get him to come.” His head whipped around, looking behind him, and he thundered out the door and down the stairs, returning with a man in a nightshirt and sweating heavily. The healer had aged lines on his face, which was surprising with his pointed ears. Maveith introduced him awkwardly, “This is Elaro Morlamin. He is the best healer in the city.”

“Not the best. But the best for a mage in distress.” The healer caught his breath in the doorway, putting his hand over his mouth as he took in the scene. “How many did you consume, boy?” He asked with his hand over his nose. “No time to lie. I have never seen an emergence this extreme in all my considerable years.”

“Just an apex water essence,” I said with a dry throat.

“Apex?” he sounded impressed but frowned. “How many apex essences, and were they all water? You didn’t try to emerge more than one affinity at once? If so, you are lucky to be alive.” He said as he moved into the room. Maveith and the healer squeezed out Viridia due to the size of the bathroom but she was probably glad for some fresher air. Maveith had apparently given the mage healer some background about what I had done. I didn’t blame him, as convincing the mage to come here must have been difficult in the middle of the night.

“Just one,” I said, but the look on his face told me he didn’t believe me. The elf knelt at the edge of the tub, a spell forming between his hands as he studied me. The faint aetheric lines were traced too quickly for me to follow. His brow furrowed as the spell form completed, and his eyes stared blankly ahead. I could feel my body being violated by the spell form and reflexively tried to resist. The more I tried, the more the pain flared.

The elf shook his head disappointedly, “Your aether core is a mess, boy. It is leaking aether like a sieve.” He muttered to himself in Elvish, “Just one, and I’m the son of a dragon.” His hand roamed over my chest, around my heart where my aether core resided, “You are fortunate. Not anything that cannot heal itself in time.”

“Why does it still hurt so much?” I asked with some relief knowing I would heal, and not caring that Viridia was hovering just beyond the door.

“You created a new facet on your aether core to create water aether.” He switched to Elvish, “Waste of good apex essences if you ask me.” He continued in the local language, “This filth,” he indicated the soiled towels, “is your body removing anything antithetical to water aether in your body.” He looked over the bathroom and sighed. “When you first create an affinity aspect on your aether core, it is usually quite bad. Each successive essence is less—impactful. By the fifth or sixth essence, it calms quite a bit, and you don’t even stink.” He chuckled, then coughed after breathing in too much. I figured I had completed the entire purification process with one essence due to my convergence spell form.

“It wasn’t this bad before,” I said defensively. I didn’t want him to think I was an idiot. I was sliding lower in the tub and forced myself to sit up, wincing at the effort.

The elf was shocked. “How many affinities have you unlocked? What fool taught you it was worth unlocking a new affinity, boy? You would need a hundred apex essences to learn the simplest spell form. An utter waste for a warrior.” He reverted to Elvish to curse me, “The foolishness of youth to grasp what he cannot have.”

“This is my third,” I replied in Elvish. He was momentarily shocked by my words, either because they were Elvish or that I had unlocked two other essences, or both.

“Third?” he said in mild surprise. After regaining his tongue, he was now speaking only in Elvish and ignoring the fact he insulted me twice. He created a more complex spell form and entered his examination again. My body still resisted his probing, but I could not stop him. “Your core is—complex. How many affinities do you have?” He asked as he continued to inspect me with interest.

I weighed the importance of telling him the truth. He was clearly a skilled and probably powerful mage who I knew almost nothing about. But he was my best chance to recover my magic. “Thirteen,” I replied in Elvish.

The elf mage stopped and sat back on his heels away from the tub, stunned. “Are you lying to me, boy?” At least the mage couldn’t decipher what affinities I had by his intrusive efforts.

I looked him in the eye. “Yes, I am lying. It is actually fourteen now if I just added the water affinity. When can I channel aether again?” I asked impatiently. Maybe the elf could heal my injuries, and this folly could be put behind me.

He studied me for a long time before responding, “Let me explain. Your core is small. Twenty-five on the scale maybe.” He didn’t wait for me to reply. “Your core didn’t have enough space to add the water affinity, so it distorted your aether core, fracturing it to make space. Right now, it cannot hold aether with the damage, it is leaking aether as fast as it is pulling it in.” He sighed, looking even older. “The good news is it will heal like any physical injury. I just need to seal your core away for a time. It will be unpleasant not to have access to your aether, but find me in two weeks, and I will inspect it. If it has recovered enough, I will remove the seal.” He shrugged, “Or you can let your aether core leak and eventually collapse and never use magic again. It is, of course, your choice.”

I had a dozen questions, but Elaro didn’t wait and once again invaded my body with his spell knowing what my choice would be. This time, it felt like he was squeezing my chest, and I couldn’t breathe. Then, a great emptiness filled me. It was as if my heart was missing, but that organ thudded steadily in my chest. I realized the empty feeling was because I couldn’t sense any aether in my body. Either there was none, or my aether sensing required my aether core.

The elf mage looked exhausted and stood unsteadily. His nightshirt was soaked in sweat and bathwater. “Your goliath friend knows where I live. Do not try to use aether, I have sealed your core, and the protective shell may shatter if you try. Avoid all potions that restore aether as well. Normal healing potions are fine, but use them in moderation.”

So that was why I couldn’t heal. My aether core had no aether to funnel through the spell form. “Do we owe you gold?” I asked as I tried to rise.

“You can pay me when I see you again. If you encounter—difficulties, you can call on me before then,” he said as he continued out the door. I was slightly worried. Was there a healer’s confidentiality code? Would he figure out what I had done and keep my secret? Maveith helped me to my bed.

Over the next week of bed rest, my body healed fast with the help of three orc Pathfinder potions, but I think my taste buds had been melted off my tongue. After four more days, I was walking gingerly ourside to get some sun. Maveith was always at my side, watching over me. It was frustrating not being able to heal away all my aches and pains with just a focused thought.

Viridia had been incredibly helpful over the past two weeks, but now that I could walk and care for myself, she took her children this morning. Her husband’s trading company had a small office in the city. Viridia had been trying to prove her identity and finally established that she was not dead and that she was Milo Janus’ wife during a Truthseeker’s interrogation.

Once confirmed, she learned that her husband was dead and that she inherited everything—offices and investments in seven cities in four different nations, plus a plantation with five hundred acres of young olive trees, and three merchant ships. There had been five ships, but one was missing at sea, and the other had been sold to pay dubious debts.

The woman was not at all helpless and planned to run the trading company and get revenge against the Telhian Empire for having her husband killed. We had gotten close while she cared for me, but nothing physical developed between us as she was more concerned with protecting her children.

During my recovery, Maveith had been disappointed that I could not retrieve the dreamscape amulet for him to use, but he shared Viridia’s caretaker duties of me. Healing mostly naturally had not been fun. Even with my impressive constitution, it had been a week before I could move without pain. Then, over the following days, I gradually began physical training.

At first, Viridia’s son, Marius, had hated me. He blamed me for being abducted to a foreign country and also his father’s death. I couldn’t blame him and even his mother explaining that I had actually saved them didn’t help. Then, as I worked on my sword forms in the suite, he practically begged me to teach him. Once I agreed, he wouldn’t shut up.

Marius had wanted to be a legionnaire before the Emperor had targeted his family. Now, he just wanted to fight to defend his mother and sister. It was admirable, and we developed a mentor-mentee friendship. Toward the end of my recovery he had even started pushing his mother toward me, but I was not a good choice for a surrogate father, and Viridia was grieving the loss of her husband.

After it had been almost two weeks, and I was getting stir-crazy being in the suite. So today, I walked the streets with Maveith. We had no destination or plan in mind. It was just a chance to get some fresh air. We were also both looking for signs of Castile and company. It had been three weeks since I heard of the death of the Emperor, but I couldn’t access the blood compass to see if Castile was closer.

Maveith had finally kept his ring on and grumbled about the smells of the carts not eliciting a reaction from his stomach. We still stopped at most stalls to sample the wares and spend some coppers. Fortunately, I had plenty of coins in my many pouches on the artifact belt.

We had just turned down a crafter street where woodwrights and metalsmiths worked. The sound of saws and hammers echoed in the air as we walked. Maveith was drawing a fair amount of attention, so I gave him some space to be admired, searching the small shops for something interesting to inspect.

At one of the forges, I paused as two smiths yelled back and forth. “You are a fool! Just listen to me. You need to fold it and hammer it back to length before folding it again!” The familiar woman’s voice was unmistakable.

“Old woman, out of my forge! I do not need to be instructed by you!” A hoarse, angry male voice barked.

I stepped into the forge to confirm my guess. A much thinner Ignis stood, confronting a smith. She was in dirty, baggy clothes. “Let me at it, and I will show you how it is done,” Ignis argued with the sooty, thick-armed smith.

“It is my forge! Out! Or I will call the guard. Go harass another smith!” he bellowed at her.

Ignis growled but turned away and took one step toward me. Even though it had only been a few months, she looked years older with new lines on her face. Recognition flashed on her face when she saw me. I crafted a smirk on my face, “Hey, Ignis. Are you available to make me a new suit of armor?”