NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: Is There A Cure?
"Your sister is a lucky one, Adalas. And quite literally too." Rum spoke without looking at Toothie. His eyes were closed and his mana was feeling around the woman, trying to get a grasp of her mana signature – the particular configuration of her mana revealed upon close inspection. It was not revealing anything obviously wrong with her unfortunately.
So Rum decided to give up and instead analyzed his own mana. He was still heavily caffeinated and his mind felt clearer than it had in years. In fact it was a bit too clear, and several thoughts about the nature of personal magic were trying to surface at this rather inconvenient moment when he was trying to cure a person. Rum was quite acquainted with studying his own mana though, and so he noticed rather soon that his head had mana flowing at rather unprecedented speeds, and flashes of magical activity where happening all around his brain. This must be the coffee dose.
What was going to happen next would be a bit tricky though. Because Rum wanted to make a spell for producing clarity in other people's heads. But if he tried to make a mana ghost of himself, he might cause himself to collapse from the freezing of internal bodily functions, or even worse: he could die. The chance of death was rather slim though. But it would be embarrassing to just suddenly fall over into this demented old woman's lap. And even if he didn't die he didn't want to give himself internal brain injuries which might happen, and which sounded horrible.
No I'll have to somehow automate the mana ghost conjuration. I need something that can latch onto my mana from the outside, and produce a mana ghost of me without my involvement. Rum pondered for a minute, loudly "hmm"-ing and "hah"-ing, having completely forgotten his audience of two little boys, their mother, and the old single-toothed man, all of which had no idea what was going on. What if I mana ghosted my own mana ghosting? Could this give me a spell that'll automatically collect mana ghosts for me?
Rum decided to try. If anything, the experiment sounded too fun not to try. I mean, how can something as mind-blowing as magic-on-top-of-magic not make me try it out immediately? Damn this coffee is amazing. I'll have to use that clarity spell on myself when I get it.
Rum leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. He was going to start by mana ghosting Rhathie. As such, he unfolded his mana and let it latch onto Rhathie. At this Rhathie burst out a desperate breath, and Rum could hear his little crowd shifting their feet and everyone collective taking an inward breath in worry. Then Rum proceeded to manifest his strange new idea by splitting his mana; letting the secondary flow of mana onto his first flow of mana. Further Rum tried to activate two conjurations of mana ghosts simultaneously. And for a long time, much longer than he probably should've: Rum tried to to make his mana ghosting of his mana ghosting partially take on the shape and form of the initial mana ghosting, such that this secondary mana ghost would be able to do exactly the same as the first one, just with his little twist of independent action letting the spell take control and steer the complicated affair of mana ghosting for him.
As the mana ghosts eventually finished up, Rhathie fell forward and crashed with the floor. Rum meanwhile almost followed, suit as his upper body fell forward under the mind-overloading massive stream of magical information flowing into him. He managed to arrest his fall though. More or less as a consequence Rum also decided to relinquish the initial Rhathie mana ghost, wasting the effort of collecting it. However, from his second mana ghost he was left with a rather interesting piece of magic. Yes! Rum thought. The mana ghost of a mana ghosting! He made no time for celebrating his victory though, but immediately rushed to integrate the mana ghost into his mind, where he settled it into his memory like a spell – a piece of solid and clear knowledge, capable of invoking magical power.
He opened his eyes. He was hunched forward and a bit tired. In front of him was Adalas sitting on the ground next to his fallen sister, a tear in his eye. The mother and two little boys standing next to the bed now, looking with concern at Rum. The wizard wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead.
"Your sister" he spoke softly to Adalas who looked back up at him, "she should be alright. Isn't she?"
Adalas got down on all fours and put his ear to her mouth. "She's breathing, yes. But she's sweating a lot. Did you fix her?"
"No", Rum responded firmly. "We're not done yet. This was just the first stage. But it was a success. I got something very valuable out of it. Now, please put your sister back on the bed while I perform an experiment on myself."
Adalas did as Rum requested, and Rum closed his eyes, leaning back into the chair again. He was nervous, he didn't know how this next part was going to play out. Like he'd said, what he was going to do now had no guarantees for success, it was all hypothetical. If he cast the spell wrong, or even if his spell was wrong, he could end up killing himself at worst, or give myself internal brain hemorrhages. Rum though, was no coward. True, he had run away from fights often enough, but only out of concern for the other party, like he'd indicated when talking to the woman Elrith Heart-Piercer. When it came to putting himself in danger, he'd obviously done that many enough times that there should be no doubt, not to anyone who knew him, that he was a man of sufficient courage. Still, the risk of unintentional suicide did worry him, and he grew another sweat and breathed anxiously with a cold running down his back for several seconds. Then he'd had enough of his own hesitance, and he launched his new spell. "Conjure mana ghost."To guide the spell he tried inserting his will into it – his intense desire – to figure out what made him so clearheaded.
"What's the wizard doing?" the older of the little boys asked Lini. Rum with his eyes closed couldn't see how he may look to othersn, but to all the observers who could, a small ocean of see-through light-blue mana was swirling around Rum's head, looking like like a faint magical torch illuminating from a mist.
"We'll have to ask him when he's done, sweetie."
A long moment passed, then the magic faded away. Rum opened his eyes. "I know coffee magic" he announced to everyone present.
Lini – executing the promise to her son – could only say "What?" in confusion.
Rum turned towards her. "I now have a spell which can instantly make a mind clear. I see you are confused so I'll give you a taste of it."
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"What!?" Lini widened her eyes, but her mind was too slow to follow Rum's sudden turn of events.
The wizard pointed at her and said "Clear Mind!" An arc of faint light-blue magic zipped through the air and into Lini's forehead. Lini grabbed her own forehead and took in a deep breath inward, before exclaiming: "What did you do to me wizard!?"
"Have you ever tasted black coffee before?"
"No!" she shouted back, irritated.
"Then it's difficult to explain. Just try to think a little bit, and you'll see it for yourself. Basically, for the next few hours I think, your head should feel much faster, and your thoughts much clearer."
The two little boys looked up at their mother, and she looked down at them. Not knowing exactly what to say, she barked at him. "Next time ask before you magic someone! And don't cast any more spells in our direction, you were here to help her!" She pointed at Rathie.
"Ah, yes, indeed" Rum responded calmly, turning to his original target. "Now I have clarity. But how can I turn this clarity into a cure-dementia spell?" Rum pondered again. He rested his bearded chin on his right hand knuckles, and looked over at Rhathie, who was mostly awake now and trying to sit up straight in that awkward manner which people might do who aren't altogether present in their own body.
Eventually he got up from his seat and moved the chair back next to the shutter. In the new free space in the middle of room, he started pacing back and forth, between the chest at the end of the bed and the closed shutters, mumbling contemplatively while doing so.
"Wait!" His finger shot up to his face, as he held an idea at the edge of his fingertip there. "I have it!" If I merge her mana ghost with the clarity spell, and insert into it my will to battle dementia, perhaps the two mana bodies of the mana ghost and the spell can battle out the disease? Especially if I push as much mana as I can into the clarity spell, the woman's demented magical self should be overpowered, and the clarity spell will have to adapt itself to vanquish any signs of dementia!
Rum stood in front of the woman now. He felt determined to try it. However, as always this was just an experiment, and if it failed in the end, several bad things might happen. Though most likely, nothing much would happen, and it'd all simply fail. Rum took in a breath, preparing himself mentally.
"Conjure mana ghost" Rum pointed at Rhathie's head. The swirling glowing mist of mana that'd previously been seen above Rum's head, now materialized to swirl around Rhathie's. "Rhathie", Rum stepped in and leaned forward, hoping only the two of them could hear what he'd say next as whispered. "If this fails, I'm really sorry about it." He stepped back, and pointed his finger – not at Rhathie's head, but at the swirling light-blue mist above it. "Clear Mind!" His face took on a determined expression. As before, a zap of magic shot out of his hand and struck its target. Next, Rum inserted his will to vanquish dementia into the spell, willing it follow to a greater end and a greater objective. Through his will, the spell zipped and zapped across the mist, while mist itself startered to accelerate, spinning faster and faster. Eventually the two sources of magic broke out into a fight and a fierce storm of magic erupted over Rhathie's bed, causing the entire house to creak painfully for several seconds, frightening everyone present. Then the atmosphere calmed, and the storm died out, replaced by a permanent electric torus lighting up what was essentially a little thunder cloud above Rhathie's head.
Rum studied this new object. He decided though the show was now over. Weak as he was after having spent so much mana, Rum pulled the mana body of this purified mana ghost from over Rathie's head, over and into his own brain, his own mind, wishing it there to gather and create a spell.
What resulted from all this was nothing short of the most complex spell Rum had ever had to make. Fearing that the spell might not work exactly as he'd hoped, he continued to nourish it with his will for clarity, and his will for vanquishing dementia. For a long time, he stood there in front of all his observers, deep in concentration. At some point he got tired standing and sat down on the floor, taking on meditative pose. Finally, he again opened his eyes.
"It's ready" He announced ominously, and stood up. "This is it. In a few seconds, Rhathie" he directed himself towards the half-present woman, "you'll either be somewhat still demented and by miniscule possibility brain-damaged, or you'll feel clearer in your head than you have in several years."
"Wait, what was that first bit!?" Adalas exclaimed hoarsely, taking a step forward to confront Rum, but the wizard was quicker. Rum had already managed to take a deep breath and was pointing his finger straight at Rhathie, his intentions aimed like a bowshot.
"RESTORE MIND!" Rum shouted for all and everyone to hear. Immediately, dozens of zipping electrical arcs shot out his hand and formed into a torrent of magic blasting at Rhathie's head. Adalas, unable to do anything, looked upon stunned, while everyone in the room: from child, to mother, to the granduncle; they all stopped breathing momentarily. The ensuing continuous lightshow almost blinded the spectators, while the magic only kept on accelerating, eventually becoming so intense that in the end Rum's entire arm was little more than one wide beam of colored lightning arcs, the various shades of light blue, pink, and even purple.
Time stretched on with anticipation as the air filled with violent magic, and the house again began creaking noisily, announcing to everyone present the alarming possibility of its imminent collapse.
But just as everything looked to only get more violent, the light collapsed. And as it did, Rhathie collapsed also, again, falling sideways this time into her bed pillow. Rum the wizard meanwhile was not so lucky. He promptly fell forward head first straight into the floor. Even less lucky for him, the floor cracked soon after its impacting with the wizard, and he fell down through the floor and into the end portion of the entrance hallway, where his face crashed into the ground floor. Down here Rum couldn't move an inch, and for several minutes he remained there, barely conscious.
In time though, Rum woke up, and it was to the sound of Adalas shouting his sister's name, and sounding absolutely ecstatic. "RHATHIE! It is really you!? Everything's fine? OH GREAT MAGIC TREASUUURE! YOU ARE BACK! RHATHIE, RHATHIE" he heard violent coughing from the old man, before Adalas resumed with "RHATHIE!" Rum imagined Toothie hugging his sister there upstairs, in the most tear-filled reunion of souls. Meanwhile Rum was left alone down on the ground floor, nobody bothering to check up on him, apparently. Except for when Rum heard two little feet coming over towards his body. He looked up from the debris, and saw the younger of the two little boys. For some reason he stood in front of Rum, looking down at Rum's dusty and slightly scratched face.
The wizard made an effort to push himself up to a knee. "Hello there, little boy. I never caught your name. What is it?"
"Yalovan" the little boy, likely four, replied shyly.
"Hello there Yalovan. Can you do me a small favor?" Rum pushed some more, and unsteadily got up to a standing. When his feet found balance again, he straightened, dusting himself off and checking for injuries.
"Yes?" the little boy Yalovan said softly, curiousity on his face.
"Great." Rum fished into his pocket, and got out a palmful of the remaining money he'd gotten from his own little brother. "Give these silver pieces to your granduncle Adalas up there. It's payment for my time here." He turned over his palm to let the coins slide into the little hands of the boy. "And remind him to split it with his sister, who was taking all the risk after all."
Yalovan nodded, turned around, and sprinted upstairs.
"Oh the gods be damned" Rum shook his head, tired. "I need a drink!" he said the empty hallway. He sighed, turned around, and departed from the scene.