Chapter 37:

I’ve Done it for You

The Wind Calls the Flowers


The trap door opened as easily as any other door. The limestone greeted me as I peered inside. Lighting a small fire in my hand, I began walking down the stairs, able to see everything and making sure I touched every single step as I made my way down. The once cold stairs had now turned warm due to the heat emitted from me.

The trip that used to feel very lengthy now went by far quicker thanks to the anticipation stirring in my heart. It felt as though the stairs got shorter and shorter each and every day. Having walked down these stairs for around ten days now, it had started to feel like a second home to me.

I was even walking them alone now, way before Requa was able to even wake up to take me. After all, if I didn’t get an early start everyday, I wouldn’t have enough time in the day to work through learning the secrets to proper healing magic. In this short period of time I had learned so much that I had started even making my own book.

My book would be written far superior to those in the Capital. After all, a magical discovery that allows others to explore the far possibilities of true healing magic would be quite useful. However, I think I'll keep it a secret from Clauffer. If he knew, he would try to monopolize it for his own gain. I want everyone to be able to learn what I’ve found. I can help so many more people that way, even when I’m long dead.

I need to keep learning quickly for all the people I need to help. The little girl, my dad, and the other villagers still need me to help them. I have to hurry so that they can start using their limbs again. This is such a small price to pay for everyone to get better again.

Reaching the end of the stairs with this thought, I made my way over to the corner next to me so that I could grab the cleaver. The goopy crimson liquid falling from the blade dripped onto the floor and made a sticky puddle. Ah, it seems that this hasn’t been cleaned yet.

While this was my favourite part, it seemed that I would have to leave it for today. When I try to use the bloody knife on the test subjects, it sometimes causes them to get infected and die. While their deaths don’t mean much for what they could give me, it was better to try to keep them alive for Clauffer’s sake. Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to use something else to cut them off.

Skipping my way down the tunnel, I looked for my next trial. This one seems good. She's already strapped down and better yet, it seems she’s awake. Entering her cell, I lit up the room with fire magic, setting fire to all the torches propped against the wall. This caused the girl’s eyes to close for a moment due to the sudden shift in light.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did that hurt your eyes?” I asked her genuinely.

“You can’t control me you monster!” She snapped.

“Oh my. I was just concerned about you is all.”

“Yeah right, like I’d believe that from one of Clauffer Von Verses’ minions.”

“Believe what you want, but I am not his minion.” I told her as I walked clearly into her vision.

“Ha. Where are the torture tools? Too scared to use them?”

“Why would I have those?”

“Of course you would! You just want me to talk. I’m on to you.”

“To be honest with you, I don’t really care if you talk.”

“Huh?”

“You're my subject. As long as you play your part, you can keep your silence as much as you want!”

“Subject?” She asked, confused.

With a swipe of my hand, a gust of wind blew past her, causing her hair to gently move.

“What? Was that supposed to be wind magic?” She questioned me, unimpressed.

“Why yes. It was wind magic.” I answered her question with a smile.

“Ha, it was so pathetically weak I couldn’t even fe--.” She cut off.

She noticed a massive amount of blood was squirting out from her on the left. As she glanced over to the source of the blood, she saw that her arm had been separated from her bicep. The sudden realization of what had happened caused her to stay quiet in shock. After she watched more blood squirt out for a while, she was finally able to start screaming.

“Finally, music to my ears.” I complimented her on her lungs.

“IT HURTS! HOW COULD YOU? MONSTER!” She cried.

“All right. It’s time for you to shut up now!”

“WHA--?” She stopped her words as her mouth had frozen shut.

“Now, let's see what we can do here!” I exclaim with glee.

I grabbed the released appendage and shoved it back into place. Using electric magic, I sent large shocks through her body, causing her to jitter in response along with her separated arm. Now it was time to reattach. In about three minutes, the arm had been reattached, most likely including the nerves.

“Please try moving your arm now.” I told her.

“HJEIOJEIF!” Her muffled screaming tried to get past the ice.

“If you do this, I’ll melt the ice covering your mouth so that you can talk normally. Better hurry before your tongue freezes off, though maybe I’ll be able to fix it.”

She began trying to move her arm, almost as though it had never left her body. The arm moved around perfectly, not even stuttering at all. The girl’s eyes also showed a glint of surprise in them. But for me it was just another successful trial. I kept my end of the promise and melted the ice covering the girl's mouth.

“How did you do that?” She questioned, breathing heavily.

“I’d tell you, but if I did that I would have to kill you!” My comment had been accompanied by my manic laughter; I had been holding back all this time.

The laughter itself caused the spy girl to slightly recoil her head in fear. Well I should heal all her scars. She should be able to be sold for quite a bit I’d imagine. With a snap of my fingers, all the scars on her body disappeared as if they had never even been there.

“Why did you do that and how did you do it so quickly?” She asked in panic.

Ignoring whatever she was saying, I walked away from her, locking the cell behind me. On to the next one. I don’t have time to spend dealing with her right now. There’s just so many more people to test things on. This time I can try creating a whole new limb while also working with the nerves.

I walked down the tunnel for a bit until I found a new subject who had been strapped to a wall instead of a table. He had pine green hair and seemed pretty young, but not quite a child. Hmm, maybe he was around two to three years younger than me. Well whatever, he should do perfectly.

“Good morning!” I call out while strolling into the cell.

“Please….let me out……..I swear I won’t…….escape my owner…….again.” He pleaded, his sentence breaking due to his dry mouth.

“Oh, so you’re one of those.” I spoke curiously.

“One of……..what?”

“Those ungrateful people who couldn’t enjoy their new life.”

“How…...could...I enjoy…….something….like that….with….so much...suffering?”

“We’re all suffering. You’re not special.”

“I want…..my sis...ter.”

“Sister?”

“Pl…...ease…...help me…...find….her.”

“Sorry but that’s not why I’m here. Anyways, time to get started.” I said while thinking about how I wanted to do this.

Oh I know the perfect way. I opened up my hand so that I could see the misty blue emit from it and cover the area I was looking for. In seconds, his legs froze over.

“MY L...EG! I CA...N’T...FEEL IT!” He yelled out.

“That’s good. I can’t have you talking though, so it’s time for you to stop.” I told him while I covered his mouth in the same way I did to the person before.

Tapping the ice that entrapped his leg, I watched as it shattered into pieces along with his leg. The sight of the display caused his eyes to widen, after which he fainted. I guess he was just weak.

I shocked the open wound area to find the nerves like usual. Then, raising my hand to the empty space where his leg used to be, I imagined a leg rebuilding in front of me, nerves and all. First came a thick and solid mass of off-white. The bones would come first. Then came a wound up ball of white string: the nerves.

They attached themselves to the bones before spreading out. Flesh began to form around them, the muscles lengthening and shortening as I edited each muscle’s size. Finally came the skin which I took care to match the spy’s skin tone. The process to rebuild the leg took four minutes, my fastest time yet.

After the leg had come back, I melted the ice on his mouth and I woke up the boy with a slight shock to his head, causing him to wave up instantly with a jolt.

“Whe….re?” He spoke while looking around.

“Hey, try moving your leg.” I commanded him after giving him water so he could speak properly.

“It works fine, but didn’t you…?”

“That’s right. This is a brand new leg I made for you with healing magic.”

“I-I see.”

“Now, I think I’ll let you go.”

“You really will?”

“It should be fine. I’ll just say I killed you.”

“Killed me?”

“I’ll just pretend I did. After all, I have that.” I said that while pointing to the iced remains of his old leg.

“B-but why?” He questioned, fearing the sight of his old leg.

“Hmm. I’m not quite sure. Maybe I just want you to go find your sister. Or maybe it’s because with you, I have finally completed my research.”

“But how will I get out?”

“I’ll sneak you out tomorrow. If I was to do it today, I think Requa would find us.”

“Requa?”

“Don’t worry about it. Thank you for your help. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“T-Thank you!”

“Yeah.” I responded, unenthusiastically.

It seems with that final trial my work here is done. I should be able to go back to that village and keep my promise of healing that little girl. I’ll finally be able to do what I swore, I’ll be able to help her. But before I can go ahead with that, there should be one more trial I need to go through. I have to make sure this works so that I know I can safely use it on the villagers.

Reaching the area with all the tools, I saw Requa waiting there for me. Her elegance was still as stunning as the day I had first met her. It seemed that she was not always the way she was. It was only after she had been bought by Clauffer that she was trained to be as brutal as she had been.

Her eyes were the colour of roses, but they had a mysterious darkness to them which was captivating. However, after all this time, I realized that the darkness had just been from the brutality she was able to release. I wonder if I look into a mirror, would I have the same type of eyes?

“My lady, I apologize for how late I am.” She bowed her head while speaking.

“It’s fine. Raise your head.” I told her.

“I have cleaned the cleaver for you my lady.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Yes. I also brought the table and chair you had requested yesterday.” She spoke while pointing to the items in the corner.

“Thank you for this Requa. I’ll need you to leave now.”

“My lady?”

“This part won’t be the most pretty to watch.”

“I understand. I wish you the best.” She spoke and went back up the stairs.

Grabbing the cleaver from the area of tools, I looked it over. The sharpness of this cleaver still had not faded from the day I had first seen it. Maybe Requa was sharpening it each day, or maybe it knew that it had far too much work to do to be dull. Well, whatever the reason, it was time for its final task in my hands.

Taking the blade, I slowly walked over to the table. The wood of the table was very glossy, possibly the glossiest wood I had seen. It’s edges were not sharp at all, instead sanded to perfection for the most round edges you could see on a square table. Taking a seat in the comfortable chair, which was plastered in red velvet cushioning, it had started to remind me of Fae.

Pushing the thought out of my mind, I knew it was time for action. Stalling any longer would cause far too much delay and would stop me from finishing my book. I placed my arm on the table. It was well exposed, my supple skin feeling cold from the table. The feeling caused my arm to almost jump off the table, but holding strong, I kept it where it was until it adjusted to the temperature.

My arm was shaking like a leaf. It would seem after everything I endured through, this part still scared me. Don’t worry everyone, just wait a bit longer. Everything I’ve done until now has been for you, so please just wait for me. This last test will also be for you all. I’ll make sure you never hear of what I have done until now. I know you wouldn’t understand it.

With a flick of my right hand, I cut off my left forearm before I could go off course and mess it up. I hit it directly and sliced through it with the cleaver. At first my mind hadn’t registered what had happened, but it quickly gave sensations of heat. The pain I felt made me want to scream. Remembering everything until now, I grinded my teeth to stop myself from letting out even a semblance of pain.

If I can’t endure this, then I have no right doing this to all the others. Don’t worry, I’ll make everyone’s work and sacrifices worth it.

I shocked around my elbow, trying to find the nerves. Like usual, I did it with the served forearm as well, going slowly to make sure I didn’t mess this up. Then I brought the two sections together and pushed down on the arm against the table to make sure it was connected. With my still attached right arm, I healed back the left.

After about a minute of healing, I was able to reconnect it. Now for the final test. I began to move it around. Other than the blood pooled around me and the massive amounts on me, currently, it seemed that everything was fine. I have finally finished testing. I have finally found the perfect healing magic which will save everyone.