Pain

My body ached, blood coated all over my face and hands, and I felt like my head was being bashed into a wall. But nothing hurt worse than that burning feeling that overwhelmed my senses, just behind my left shoulder.

My senses heightened from the pain, and I took a glance around.

More people had gathered than when I ran out of the shop, even some water-magic users had approached, sending water onto the dying flames. The state of the shop was abysmal, the windows had all been shattered, and parts of the ceiling had already caved in, which probably happened right after the explosion.

Damn! I just remembered my target was still in there! I instinctively brought my hand up to my face, my skin stung at the touch, and shrapnel from the explosion was probably riddled all over my body. I took that explosion almost as hard as the rat man I had knocked out, and I barely managed to protect Sera from more damage by jumping behind her.

Speaking of Sera, she was still sitting there, her hands now retracted back to her sides instead of gripping my wrists.

I took a seat next to her, looking at her arm, which was the most damaged part of her. It was pretty scraped and burned, but probably nothing that would need stitches.

I would take her to a doctor of some kind, but I can’t take that risk myself.

In all my years, I’ve been in so many dangerous situations and been injured so many times. However, nothing has prepared me for having to help someone else like this.

I could see Sera wincing in pain now, her cuts continuing to bleed over her torn clothing. It seemed everyone else around was too occupied with the fire, omitting a few people who gave glances but offered no help.

“Sera,” I looked down at her, “You need medical attention. I can bring you to a doctor, or I can help bandage you up, but we need to act quickly, we’re both losing a lot of blood.”

She looked up at me, a mask of shock and pain on her face. Another expression crossed her face, if only for a second. An expression I could recognize, a helpless face. It was a look that screamed, ‘I want to run away!’

Sera took a shuddering breath and replied, “I’ll go with you… Just- be careful with me.”

I nodded, drops of blood falling from my forehead as I helped her to her feet. She winced in pain and grabbed her leg, and I helped prop her up by tucking my arm under her shoulders. She bit back a cry as we started walking away from her destroyed shop.

“Easy,” I said, “I have a place, I’ll get you patched up there.”

Sera flashed me a pained smile. “Thank you,” she said, returning her focus to walking with my help.

…

I could feel the blood loss taking its toll on my body; the whole walk to my home was complete misery. During the time it took to travel, my body had begun to stop its bleeding, but I remained covered in injuries that needed tending. Sera stayed mostly quiet throughout the short journey, limping along next to me.

My house blended in with the rest of the small residences on the city street, and I hurriedly unlocked the door and walked inside with Sera. I placed her down on a chair and stumbled my way into my kitchen, taking a knee before opening a cabinet and pulling out medical supplies. When I stood up again, I took some thin cloth rags for bandaging and returned to Sera’s side.

Her face and body were almost entirely covered in soot and dry blood; Thankfully, I shielded her from most of the heat and burns when I jumped behind her.

Her expression was grim, her eyes peering downwards at the ground, and her teeth gritted. Her left arm was still bleeding, her burnhole-filled sleeve soaking in blood that was nearly dripping onto the floor.

With a quick motion, I slid a pair of shears under her charred sleeve, cutting it away to reveal skin blistered and torn. “Hold still,” I said, reaching for the bandages.

“Is it really bad?” Sera said, her eyes looking off to the side, her vision averted from her damaged skin. I glanced down at her arm again.

It could be worse, but I’ve never had to worry about burn damage before.

“I can fix it up,” I assured her, placing a hand on her knee. I considered the possible treatments to heal her injuries. I could bandage her up, of course, like a doctor would, but then it would take at least a month for her to heal and risk infection. Or, I could give her the same medicine that I do, using my foxfire…

I can’t reveal my identity, then everything will be ruined, I thought, fear creeping into my mind. I did save her life, so maybe she can owe me secrecy as compensation. Can I trust her?

“Leon, it hurts. Aren’t you going to bandage me up? I- I can’t look at it, I’m not good with blood.” Sera said, her voice cracking slightly from the pain she was in.

I got lost in my train of thought… I reached into the medical bag again and brought out a salve this time, uncapping the jar it was in. “Stay still, this might sting a little, but you’ll heal up real fast.”

“Fast? Is it magic?”

I slid the balm over her wounds, her teeth gritted as I treated her. It’s not conventional magic, but she doesn’t need to know that. I’ll just trust her for now. “It’s a special type of healing magic.”

As I finished applying the salve, I held her hand to raise her arm, hovering my other hand just above the ointment-covered wounds. Her eyes looked carefully over at me with a look of concern and interest.

I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes, feeling for the foxflame inside me. I felt its power surge and opened my eyes, still retaining control as I changed the composition of my fire to a pale blue, the light-colored flames licking over the edges of my palm. Sera looked frightened, or maybe just anxious, but she didn’t move a muscle as I pressed my fire-covered hand onto the salve.

Sera jumped as the flames spread over parts of her body, but they didn’t burn her. It was a comforting warmth, like sitting next to a wood stove on a cold night. She quickly relaxed her arms and slumped back on the chair she was sitting in, letting the flames lick away her pain.

…

“That’s strange magic, I’ve never seen any healing magic like that before,” Sera noted.

“I learned it from my parents before I journeyed here,” Leon responded, telling her the truth but still keeping his secrets guarded. Leon was rinsing off dirt and blood from his face with a water pail he had filled up.

What remarkable pain tolerance, it’s as if he’s not even human. He’s covered in his blood, yet he’s not even flinching.

Leon finished rinsing and walked to a large freestanding mirror in the room. He looked horrible, a mix of soot, dried blood, and broken splinters of wood and metal shrapnel covering his entire body. Leon removed his charred shirt as he dumped the rest of the water over his body, beginning to pick out shrapnel embedded in his body.

Sera watched as he tended to his wounds, the flames still licking at her skin. “Doesn’t that hurt?”

“It does,” Leon said, pulling out the last few splinters, a slight amount of blood dripping down his body as new wounds opened up. “But I’ve dealt with worse pains alone before.”

Leon picked up the healing salve and slathered it recklessly over his upper body, covering nearly every inch since it was all battered and injured. He hastily repeated the foxfire spell, and his body burst into soft blue flames, his pain starting to subside as his wounds cleaned and healed themselves.

Leon could feel the pain from his shoulder failing to ease, pressing the tips of his fingers to it, trying to massage the pain away.

As he tried to peer back at his shoulder, Sera spoke, distracting him before he noticed the mark, “So… how long have you been alone?”

He paused, caught off guard by Sera’s sudden interest. He turned around to look at Sera, his fingers still prodding at the pain in his shoulder. The flames sticking to Sera’s body were starting to die down, leaving behind clean, healed skin.

“It’s been at least 8 years. I’ve lived here for almost a year now, though.” Leon instinctively rubbed his fingers against the silver sigil hanging from his belt, feeling the mana pull through his fingertips and into the sigil, a feeling that had become a comfort to him.

Sera observed his actions as he started to pace to the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water. He seems nervous, maybe because there’s a stranger in his once-vacant home, or maybe something that he’s desperately trying to hide. Sera felt a tinge of guilt as she realized. I just cursed him; whatever secret he could be hiding could never be as unforgivable as my curse. At least I bought some time before he sees the mark… How do I proceed from here?

Leon approached Sera as she was deep in thought, setting a glass of sparkling water on the table and offering it to her. “Have this,” he said, “I think you might be all healed by now, but please rest a bit before you need to leave.”

Leave? Sera shuddered at the word. All I want to do is run away from this mess I made, but my curse… I have to tell him somehow.

“Thank you,” Sera said meekly, her voice wavering slightly as she sipped at the drink. The carbonation hit her throat, and she nearly coughed, surprised by the effect. “I’ve never had this before. It’s… good?”

Leon smiled at her as he gripped his shoulder, the pain still gnawing away at him.

“How’s your shoulder? It doesn’t seem that the magic flames were able to fix everything.” Sera said, leading the conversation.

The last of the flames on Leon’s body flickered away, leaving no trace of damage behind, only a few lingering scars. “I probably dislocated it earlier, so it’s nothing to worry about.”

“You keep touching it, so it must hurt pretty bad.”

Leon kept pressing his fingers into the pain in his shoulder, still trying to massage it away. He peered up at Sera sitting in front of him.

She cast a worried look towards him, saying, “Let me take a look, maybe it’s something you just can’t see from your angle.” I’m just going to confirm before I decide to tell him anything.

Without waiting for a response, she stood up and walked over behind Leon. Sera tried to keep her breath steady, wary of how she felt like her world was about to collapse as she looked at the back of his left shoulder. A pale tattoo-like mark had embedded into his skin; it was the mark of her curse.

She bit on her lip as she fought back tears, her hand reaching out to trace the pattern of two spiraling lines adorned with mystic patterns. The mark glowed at the touch of her fingers, and the pain in Leon’s shoulder disappeared completely.

Leon felt her fingers slip away from his skin and turned to see her collapsed on her knees on the ground, tears streaming from her eyes. Sera’s hands were shaking violently as she stared at them, unable to keep her composure any longer.

Leon stood there for a second, confused and a bit overwhelmed by this sudden reaction from Sera. Is she still injured? Or maybe something is wrong with my shoulder? He thought, turning his neck left to peek at the back of his shoulder.

Sera looked up at him as he stood, keeping herself from crying for just a moment. “I’m sorry,” she said breathlessly, “I tried everything I could to keep to myself, and now you’re wrapped up in this mess with me.” She resumed her sobbing, her guilt and past trauma bubbling up again in her mind.

“Woah, it’ll be alright,” Leon said, concerned for her, “I’m not sure what you mean, but let's get you more comfortable, then maybe you can tell me about it.” He offered a hand, which she hesitantly took, and was led into the living room where she placed herself on the compact sofa.

Leon sat on a chair opposite her, flashing her a pleading and sorrowful face. Sera took a deep breath and calmed herself down, preparing herself for whatever could happen after she told him.

“Leon, I-” She paused, sitting up and looking him in the eyes, intently studying his reaction. She took a deep breath before continuing, “I placed a curse on you by accident. I saw the mark on the back of your shoulder.” Her speech paused, the guilt making it hard to speak. “Leon, you and I, this curse binds us by contact. If you ever leave my side, any longer than a day, you will die.”

Leon’s eyes grew wide in fear, his face becoming pale as he placed two fingers to the bridge of his nose, and his breath shaking uncontrollably.

“That’s not true, right?” He croaked through troubled breaths. His eyes peered at Sera through his fingers.

“I can’t describe just how sorry I am.” She cried, “I didn’t want to drag anybody into my tragedy again.”