Death Healer

Lily woke up to the tolling of a distant bell. She rose silently in the dark, approaching the basin of water she had filled before sleep and splashing some cold water on her face. She was slapped by the icy water and shivered herself fully awake.

Some light came into her room from below the door, giving her enough visibility to get dressed in her robes.

I need to do something, she told herself after putting on the white and gold garment and draping herself in a black cloak to stave off the cold. Dad said the [Monks] could help. They do look… knowledgeable.

She gave a long look at the mostly empty room before setting off to the refectory. It was a stark contrast to the opulent chambers of her childhood home and the Papal Estate.

I didn’t just lose the ability to heal, she sighed. Good, though. I need it. I need this pain.

…

The refectory hummed with life—well, a quiet life filled with hushed movements and the soft shuffle of sandals against stone. The room was dominated by a large wooden table at its center, laden with the day’s humble sustenance.

Someone had already arranged all the food on the table, and many huge [Monks] were already sitting down, consuming a rather small meal for their size. As they ate, some were lost in their thoughts, while others silently mouthed prayers of gratitude.

Lily recognized the [Monk] Marcus had introduced to her the previous day.

Brother Lucien was easy to spot because his sun-kissed skin told tales of hours spent under the sun in the monastery’s garden. He leaned over, exchanging whispered words with the monk next to him. As Lily approached, his eyes lifted, crinkling at the edges with warmth. He offered a subtle, reassuring nod of acknowledgment as she approached.

“Aurora,” he smiled as she sat before him, taking in the food in front of her. “I hope you had a good night’s rest.”

She shrugged in reply, not knowing what else to say about the cold and uncomfortable room.

She glanced down: there was a rather large portion of food given to her diminutive size. As one could have imagined, at five in the morning, she wasn’t the hungriest. Still, seeing the [Monks] eating in silence in the refectory, she didn’t have the heart to complain. So, she bit into the strong cheese and simply shut up.

“Brother Lucien,” Aurora addressed the [Monk], “can I ask a question?”

“Are you curious about the bread?” Lucien smiled.

She wasn’t but said yes just to be polite.

“The bread is the creation of Brother Matthias, who had been a baker before he joined the monastery. It’s got a wonderful golden crust, and it’s soft and airy on the inside… The goat cheese came from the small herd we have.”

Lily frowned, “Is it okay if I ask you about my situation?”

“Of course, but I’d need you to fill me in before I can answer any questions. Brother Arcadius did not give me any details when he said you’d be assigned to me.”

Right, Lily had been assigned to the man because he was one of the youngest and, apparently, had experience with dealing with kids, unlike the rest of the [Monks]. Marcus had briefly let her know that Lucien had lost his children in the war; he came from the Empire and joined the monastery after his family had been killed in a raid. He was one of the newest recruits and, as Marcus described him, one of the kindest.

“I lost my Light Magic when I sneaked into a church during the Quiet,” Lily explained, not hiding a pained expression.

“Oh,” Brother Lucien frowned, worried. “Are you ok now?”

“I still can’t use Light Magic. My father brought me here to get help. Where should I start, exactly?”

“Oh, dear,” the [Monk]’s blondish eyebrows jumped, “I have no idea.”

…

The first thing they did after eating was pray.

“Lily, I saved you a spot,” Brother Lucien spoke in a hushed tone as he gestured to the place in the pew beside him. She nodded begrudgingly.

She had asked other [Monks] in the refectory, but no one had been able to provide her with an answer. Most of them looked completely lost as to why she would have been brought here to deal with this problem. At this point, Lily figured that she would need to ask Marcus for guidance—perhaps that was it.

“Thanks,” Lily smiled in return, looking ahead, kneeling on the pew, and joining her hands in prayer. She looked eagerly at Marcus, who was at the front, before immersing herself in a prayer.

God of Light, if you are out there listening, please, please, give me another chance. I need my healing powers. I can’t be like this. I can’t.

She spent the first half an hour like that, meditating on how she had tried to save Elysium—how it had backfired, and so on. It didn’t leave her with any more peace than what she had when she entered the monastery, but it made her feel slightly better to reflect on it. There was something inspiring about praying among the silent [Monks].

Then, Marcus led a thirty-minute session of communal prayer, with the [Head Monk] leading a sermon later. Every now and then, he enunciated a blessing, and everyone repeated it.

“May the Light shine upon us.”

“May the Light shine upon us.”

“In the Light of our Lord, thou shalt not fear.”

“In the Light of our Lord, thou shalt not fear.”

“Let the Radiance guide our thoughts.”

“Let the Radiance guide our thoughts.”

“Through the Luminance, our hearts are united.”

“Through the Luminance, our hearts are united.”

“As Daybreak’s children, we bathe in the Glow.”

“As Daybreak’s children, we bathe in the Glow.”

As Lily’s eyes turned, she noticed a rather wiry [Monk] just staring plainly ahead, sighing his way through the blessings, not repeating a single word. His dark frown swept over her a few moments later, as if he had known she was staring at him. He wrinkled his nose and continued to stare ahead, leaving her wondering as to who that [Monk] was.

…

“Brother Hadrian,” Lucien explained as the prayers ended and the [Monks] started dispersing.

“Why does he look…” Lily couldn’t find any kind words to describe the man’s expression.

“Disgruntled? Always angry?” The tan [Monk] supplied some adjectives. “You should be careful around him. He’s in charge of the library, and he’s obsessed with keeping his tomes clean and orderly – to the point that he once beat one of the other [Monks] within an inch of his life when the poor man accidentally ripped a page out of a book.”

Lily frowned, “and he’s still here? Didn’t Marcus kick him out?”

“I heard someone call my name,” Marcus suddenly appeared from behind, casting a long shadow. The smile on his face was reassuring, but his massive size wasn’t.

“We were just talking about Brother Hadrian,” Lucien explained. “Lily noticed he wasn’t really interested in the prayers, Marcus.”

“Well, Lucien, everyone deals with their fate differently. Now, I believe you have to tend to the gardens while I walk Lily through her training.”

Lucien quickly left the two, and Lily remained alone with Marcus inside the prayer room.

Turning to the little girl, the giant man explained, “I’ll be in charge of your initial training since your father asked me. I hope you’re ready for it.”

Lily nodded, relieved that Marcus seemed to know what to do.

…

[*Ding!* Running level 23!]

“Urgh,” Lily heaved, feeling like she was about to vomit the heavy, cheesy breakfast. She tried to push out a question through the retching her stomach was putting her through, “how is this helping?”

“You’ve never trained?” Marcus asked curiously. “I thought you were at the Papal Estate.”

Lily shook her head, still trying to keep down the breakfast after the deadly series of sprints she had just gone through. “I wasn’t… blergh… I wasn’t trained as a fighter. Not yet. And I didn’t really see fighters run much. They just… sparred.”

She stopped trying to talk, feeling that she might actually be close to erupting into a fountain of vomit.

Who puts a child through this? Lily found herself wondering, her hands on her knees, and her previous thoughts about training completely changed. And how’s this helping me with Light Magic?

“The [Pope] clearly doesn’t value the basic qualities of a trained warrior. But I suppose that if you spar long enough, it might actually be beneficial for your stamina. We just like to do things in… isolation.”

Marcus glanced at her with a wide smile, but the joke was lost to her.

“Anyway,” he recovered with a light cough, “this was mostly to assess your physical fitness. Stamina can be trained even before you get your Class, Aurora. If you are still interested in learning to fight, you shall run daily for at least an hour.”

Run? He means non-stop sprinting back and forth uphill? She looked down at the slight slope they were on, feeling woozy.

“How does this help with recovering my Light Magic?” She suddenly asked, finally managing to stand up straight and not pant like a mildly fatigued pug.

“I don’t know,” Marcus gave her a simple reply. “This was for your Stamina.”

“Wait… what about Light Magic, though?” She asked.

Marcus shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“But… why did my father bring me here, then?”

Marcus hesitated. He looked like he was about to give her the same answer as everyone else when he took a big breath and tried to sound more reassuring, “there is something he told me to teach you. Why don’t we move on to that now? We can continue with the physical training later.”