A Sample of Her Pain

Thanks to the blood trail, I easily caught up with Dahlian and Lora, who kneeled before a man slumped against the cobblestone wall, his ragged clothes stained in red. Green wisps of light fluttered out of Lora’s palms and onto his stomach, patching up his wound in no time.

“Ugh, thank you, ma’am,” said the stranger. “You’ve saved my life.”

“It’s no problem, sir,” said Lora. “Are you okay now?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Hey, did you know who stabbed you?” asked Dahlian.

He scratched his shaggy hair and scowled. “Someone in a robe came up to me, stabbed me out of nowhere, and left. Tsk, I didn’t even do nothin’...”

“Do you know where they went?”

“No idea. I was too busy tryna stop the bleedin’ to notice. And now I’m getting sleepy all of a sudden…”

“Guys, the trail is still going,” I said, pointing ahead. “She couldn’t have walked past us, so she probably went that way!”

“Yeah, you’re right! Let’s go!” said Dahlian, continuing his sprint. I also rushed after him.

“Take care, sir!” said Lora, waving farewell before catching up.

The homeless stranger let out a grunt and fell asleep.

⮽⮽⮽

To our disappointment, a dead end greeted us at the end of the trail, but we nevertheless investigated the area for any new leads.

Lora examined the left wall, and Dahlian investigated the right wall. I approached the middle wall, my attention already drawn to something sticking out like a sore thumb.

At the center of the wall, something flat and red lodged itself in between the cracks of the cobblestones. I carefully approached it and pulled it out. “It’s a… card? It’s so dirty…”

I inspected it more closely with a raised brow and wiped some of its dirt off. The moment I did, an image of a clown greeted me with a wave of his hand and eerily laughed, and before I could react, he pulled out a knife and somehow stabbed my thumb out of its 2D surface.

“Ow!” I threw away the card. “What the hell! It just laughed at me and poked my finger!”

“What the? How?” asked Dahlian.

“Urgh, it’s one of those devilish gag props…” My words trailed off as my mind started to click.

The stranger’s behavior and that card… I started to wonder if…

Unfortunately, a tug on my hand abruptly snapped me out of my train of thought. I blinked at Lora, who inspected my bleeding thumb with furrowed brows.

“Haruma, this cut looks pretty deep,” she said. “Here, I’ll heal it for you.”

“What? No, I can’t possibly make you use your magic for something so little like a tiny prick…”

“It’ll be fine! I’d barely use any mana for a tiny cut! And this one is too painful to be left untreated, right?” As if making her point, she ever so gently tapped on my thumb.

I winced. “Ow, o-okay, yeah, it really hurts. Uh, if you say so, then I’d appreciate your help.”

Lora began to emit some of that familiar green light from the tip of her index finger and hovered it over my cut.

But, rather than getting embraced by relief, something else washed over me. Something more extreme and far beyond anyone’s expectations.

Absolute, raw, incomprehensible pain.

Like a thousand bullet ants started stinging me all over my body. Like a hot, molten stick fresh out of the forge speared through my chest. Like someone rearranging, twisting, and squeezing my organs around as if they were playing with dough.

Blinding static flashed my vision, and a deafening noise pierced my eardrums. Even standing up burned my muscles like fire.

I thought getting hit in the groin was the most painful experience I could possibly have, but this far exceeded that by a thousandfold.

“GYAAAAHHH!” I screamed at the top of my lungs and collapsed on my knees.

“Huh?!” Lora immediately stopped healing and stepped back.

With that, the excruciating pain immediately vanished like it'd never happened.

Lora stared down at me in shock and horror while Dahlian rushed over and held my shoulders. “Oi! What’s wrong?!”

My breath grew irregular, my body trembled, and sweat broke through my skin.

“Hey, deep breaths!” Dahlian patted my back, making me flinch. “Breathe in. Breathe out.”

I followed his words and slowly eased my breathing. “What… the hell was that? I thought my soul was getting torn to shreds.”

Dahlian and I looked at Lora, who wore an equally confused expression. “I-I was only using my healing like always!” she said. “It shouldn’t be painful at all!”

“Yeah, those guys earlier were totally fine from your magic,” said Dahlian.

“Then, I… I-I think my curses made the process so painful… That’s the only explanation.” I looked down at my thumb, now perfectly healed. “B-but hey, at least… it still worked…”

“At the price of getting some trauma, apparently!” he said. “Are you sure you’re okay now?”

“Y-yeah, the pain’s gone. I-I’m just shaken up, that’s all…”

“D-does that always happen whenever you get healed?” Lora worriedly asked.

“No, I was fine after drinking Wymond’s health potion the other day, and I didn’t have any issues with Sloane’s healing magic inside that rift instance either. I think it was just yours, Lora.”

“R-really?!” She looked down at her palms, utterly baffled. “Then… Why me? What makes mine different then?”

“Hell if I know…” With a groan, I crawled toward the cobblestone wall and leaned my back on it. “Give me a moment… I feel dizzy…”

Unfortunately, the break I wanted never arrived, but instead, the sound of marching, heavy footsteps rapidly grew louder.

Trapped in a dead end, we all stood helplessly as a group of armored knights rushed toward us.

“You three over there!” one of them shouted.

“Shoot! It’s the royal guards!” Dahlian whispered. “Lora, hide your face!”

“O-okay!” She tugged her hood, lowered her head, and turned around.

Dahlian stood firm as the guards approached us. “Hey there. What seems to be the problem?” he asked.

“We heard someone screaming from this direction,” said another guard. “It sounded like he was gravely in danger, so we all rushed to investigate the commotion.”

“Oh…”

I groaned and slumped my shoulders. Great. Leave it to me to cause trouble again… I weakly raised my hand. “Sorry, that was me. It was just… erm, a-a prank.”

“A… prank?” The guard squinted at me in suspicion. “What kind of prank would cause a scream to sound so… genuine? Not to mention, whose blood is on the ground?”

“Uhhh…”

“Hold on,” said another, stepping forward and pointing at me. “That blue hair… It’s you! You’re the boy who launched us into the air that night!”

“Eh?”

“Eeeeh?!” Dahlian and Lora also cried out, gaping at the guards.

“And you!” He pointed at Lora next, who’d forgotten to keep her head down. “You’re the missing escapee!”

“Oh no…” She stepped back.

Dahlian swore under his breath. “Haruma, can you stand?” he asked.

With a pained grunt, I nodded and slowly rose to my feet. “Are we really doing this?”

“No, you will not,” a familiar, gruff voice answered in Dahlian’s stead. “I suggest you all stand down.”

Color drained from our faces the moment a giant figure entered the fray.

Wymond ever so steadily stepped through his unit, wearing his usual stoic expression. He continued forward until he stood directly in front of us.

Dahlian relaxed his shoulders, stunned. “It’s… i-it’s you from before,” he sputtered.

“Indeed I am, so you must be aware that resistance will do you no favor.”

“C-can’t we talk things out?”

“Yes, we can.”

“Oh, what? Really?”

“Based on our investigations, you and Haruma are deemed unwitting accomplices, so you two may be spared, but Lora must come with us under the suspicion of conspiring against the kingdom.”

“What?!” all three of us asked.

“After our meeting a few days ago, we’ve thoroughly inspected our sigils and closely monitored surrounding activity for any suspects, and we’ve gathered enough evidence pointing toward your friend being a suspect.”

“What evidence?! That can’t be right!” said Dahlian, stepping in front of her. “She’s been with us in a rift instance for days!”

“If you can prove her innocence, you may present them during her trial, but for now, she must come with us.”

“Like hell we’re letting that happen!” I said, also standing in front of her.

Lora widened her eyes. “You guys…”

As if Wymond expected that response, he sighed in disappointment. “Then you’ve given me no choice. I apologize for this.”

He vanished in a blur.

A split-second later, Dahlian let out a grunt, and before I could even look in his direction, he collapsed on the spot.

“Wha—”

Another second later, something struck behind the back of my neck, painfully knocking all my senses out of me.

I instantly collapsed next, and in my fading consciousness, I met Lora’s terrified and guilty gaze as they handcuffed her and dragged her away.