Diagnosis
POV: Alexandra
The water magic exam was probably one of the worst things I ever had to go through. It felt like I was drowning. Even more alarming was that the water came out with a pinkish hue. Lucien’s question to Theodore Befent had been what the diagnosis was. Theodore nodded at Lucien, “Well…it isn’t bad but it isn’t good. Even before the magic parchment was done, I knew that we had an issue.” I looked up into his grey eyes, “What do you mean?” He sighed, “The water color was not what we wanted to see honestly. It meant that you would likely need another surgery. I knew this before the results were done. The parchment just confirmed it.” Lucien squeezed my hand and then spoke, “What type of surgery?” Theodore looked over at him, “Well, Your Majesty, when we conducted the first surgery, we stitched up the wounds we saw but this parchment says that we missed a small tear in the stomach which was further in. Likely the arrow just barely pierced it. It will require that we open Lady Alexandra’s stomach and repair it. The problem is that in order for us to do that, she will need a small amount of blood as a reversion. We recommend it be pyrio with strong wind magic.” Lucien let go of my hand and stood up. He rolled up his sleeve, “I have a strong proficiency in wind magic. She can have my blood.” Sylphia placed her hand on Lucien’s arm and asked, “Lord Befent, would it not be beneficial to have fae blood?” He rubbed his chin, “It couldn’t hurt but I would say His Majesty can save his for her recovery. We won’t need much blood after. Even though she lost a lot of blood, it says here that we will only need a pint of blood after. I have a theory that she will need less considering who her donor is and what I know of your relationship with each other.”
I widened my eyes and looked at him, “How?” He smiled at me gently, “It’s a rumor in the castle. Don’t worry, Your Grace, I will say nothing to anyone. I keep to myself most of the time anyhow.” I sighed, “Why is that, Your Grace?” He shrugged, “I guess I never really fit in with society.” I reached over and grabbed his hand, “I know how you feel. When I lived in Terre, I was alone as well. If you need a friend, Theodore, you can always come to me.” I smiled at him and he looked surprised, “Th-thank you, Your Grace. I will keep that in mind.” He cleared his throat and regained his serious face, “Now then. We can have you take Her Highness’s blood but I will need to call on the doctor to do the reversion treatment.” Lucien looked at him, “How does that work?” Theodore looked at him seriously, “I believe it was the same as when Her Grace was poisoned by that reversion potion the last time. This one needs to be weaker so I cannot make it for you. The doctor has weaker magic than my own so he will need to make it. We need to do it soon since the tear could keep bleeding and Her Grace will need more than just a pint.” He placed the magic parchment on the cart, “If you’ll excuse me, I will return this to the doctor’s office so we can prepare for the surgery and reversion.” Lucien nodded, “Please do.” Theodore turned and left the room, wheeling the cart out with him.
I turned to Sylphia, “You don’t have to donate blood, you know.” She smiled at me, “I have a feeling that you and I will need to help each other out a lot in the future. For that, I need you to stay alive. It’s only natural, also, to help your friend out.” Lucien made a curious noise behind her and I looked up at him, “What’s going on?” He snapped out of his thoughts and said, “I was just wondering why Sebastian didn’t make an appearance when you were hurt. You would think seeing your own blood would have brought out your fear and with it Sebastian.” Sylphia looked at him confused, “Who is Sebastian?” Lucien looked at me, “Do you want to explain it to her?” I nodded, “Sebastian is a Heavenly Realm shadow creature born of Hades’ on Cerberus. He is a dog that lives in my shadows. He is supposed to protect me but I haven’t seen him much lately. Lucien makes a very valid point.” I held my side and said, “Sebastian, are you there?” Nothing happened so I tried again with similar results. I looked up at Lucien, worried, “What could have happened to him? He’s not only my protector but my family now.” Tears started to roll down my face and I buried my face in my hands.” I felt Lucien’s strong and warm embrace around me, “We will figure it out, my love. When was the last time you’ve seen him?” Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen him since the Reception. I gasped, “How could I have not noticed he wasn’t there for a whole week? I am a terrible master. What if he’s dead?”
Just then we heard a chuckle in the room and a dark-sounding voice echoed, “How utterly preposterous. To think a shadow dog could die like that. You make me laugh, Solamor.” A black orb was floating in the room and formed into Hades, “He hasn’t shown up because he is going through an evolution.” I looked up at his dark eyes, “Meaning?” He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, “Meaning that you’ve taken such good care of him that he is evolving. If you would shut up long enough, I would have explained that and you wouldn’t expend your energy.” I sighed, “Sorry.” He continued, “I’m not here just for that. I’m also here at All Mighty’s request because I discovered something rather disturbing in Vellum and I have been told to report this to the King of Vellum.” Lucien turned to him, “Please, my lord, continue.” Hades nodded at him, pleased at how Lucien treated him, “There is a mage here that is practicing forbidden magic. He is a part of the organization they call The Order of The Old Ways.” Lucien furrowed his brow, “What magic could one of my citizens be practicing, that it caught the attention of the Gods?” Hades sighed, “Necromancy. Meaning, that you likely have a few undead moping about in Vellum. I’m not sure their purposes for doing that but with the number of people they have resurrected, I don’t imagine it is a good thing.” Lucien clenched his jaw and asked, “How many?” Hades examined his fingernails and counted his fingers and held up two. Lucien said, “Is that all? Two is nothing.” Hades cynically laughed, “No, sir, it is more like two hundred. More than enough to defeat your Citadel.” Since Vellum was not in wartime, Lucien had only maintained about 100 soldiers. Sylphia looked up at Lucien, “You needn’t worry Lucien, Seely is ready to help out should a war break out with this army.” She turned to Hades, “Lord Hades, do you know of a way to defeat such an army?” He smiled at her gently, “Oh course, my lady. You would merely need one with a pure heart to bless the waters of Vellum. You would just bomb them with that water.” Lucien and Sylphia both looked over to me and he shook his head, “As wonderful as Solamor is, there is only one person in Vellum with a pure heart. She is not it.” I looked up at him, “Then who is, Lord Hades?” He sighed, “Oh how absurdly obtuse you are to those around you. Think Solamor. Who could you know that would have a pure heart?” One name came to my mind and blurted out, “Jess.” He winked, “She’s not so blind after all. Bingo, little queen. Now I need to go. The Underworld waits for no one, including me.” He disappeared in a cloud of black smoke much like Sebastian does when he phases into the shadows.
I was relieved to know my boy was unharmed and I sighed with relief. There was another knock on the door and my parents walked in. They both gently hugged me and my mother asked, “How are you feeling?” I sighed, “I need another surgery. We’re waiting on Theodore and the doctor to show up so they can revert me so I can take Princess Sylphia’s blood.” My father furrowed his brow, “Why another surgery?” I explained to him what Theodore had explained to us and they seemed to understand. My father rose from the bed, “I suppose it would be the wrong time to tell you our news and why we couldn’t come to visit you until now.” I looked up into my father’s honey eyes, “What is it?” He shook his head, “Forget I mentioned it, we will discuss it with you when you recover a little.” The doctor had arrived right after he said that so I didn’t get a chance to ask any further questions. He wheeled in a cart and Theodore was following him. He pulled a small vial from the cart and instructed me to drink it. It tasted bitter and it burned going down. Shortly after I felt a sting in my mouth as I had when I had been poisoned by my uncle’s arrow. I heard a click and my mother gasped and sobbed into my dad’s shoulder. My vision started to go red and I craved blood. Luckily, the doctor has asked that two guards accompany him so that they could hold me down so I couldn’t attack anyone. Theodore took a razor blade and pressed it into Sylphia’s flesh and as the smell of fae blood drifted to my nose, my mouth watered. They poured her blood into a cup and pressed the cup to my mouth. I drank like I was starved and when the red liquid hit my tongue, it was the best thing I had ever tasted. It made me feel tingly all over but shortly after, I began to feel drowsy. I looked up at the doctor who smiled down at me apologetically, “Sorry, Your Grace, we spiked the blood with Theodore’s sleep and pain potion so we can perform surgery on you. You’ll fall asleep shortly but you’ll probably be right as rain when you wake up.” The guards eased up on holding me down and I felt a warm hand in mine shortly after. I turned to see the face of the man I loved staring back at me, “I will pray to All Mighty for you, Xan. Rest well.” He kissed my forehead and I smiled at him drowsily. I slowly closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
