Dee was standing inside a small golden dome that isolated her from the outside. The healers were all standing right outside the dome, ready to dash in. The idea was that Dee would be the only viable target for the spell wrecking the body of the young man lying on the bed in front of her. Once the spell did move, the other healers had to do their part immediately. They didn’t need to be touching the patient, although that would help, so once Dee gave the signal they would start working immediately.

Dee exhaled a small breath she had been holding, not because her part was dangerous, but because the situation had other implications. She was pretty sure of her ability to cleanse the offending spell from herself, so that was not a problem. The problem was that the patient needed to die first for the malicious spell to move, and in this case, Dee was the one to kill him. She had killed plenty of people and would not even blink at one more, but the mages might take a dim view of her role if this whole thing went sideways. True, the patient would have eventually died anyway even if she did nothing, but emotions in situations like this didn’t work entirely rationally, and the mages were likely to blame her. To an extent at least. With risk came glory of course. If this worked, then they would also see her as the one who allowed it to happen.

The formation slowing time around the patient came down on her command, as the others were unable to work through the field even if she wasn’t affected, and her hand softly touched the patient. There was no point in doing any further damage to the patient to kill him, and it didn’t take much to take the life of someone significantly weaker than her anyway. A bit of psionic power applied in the right place and the patient’s body stopped functioning. Death in the magical sense followed almost right after as the soul exited the body. As it did, Dee gave the signal to the waiting healers, knowing their actions would come after a small delay due to their reaction time.

Several things happened almost simultaneously. Dee used her blessing from death to take control of the soul but did not consume it this time. Instead, she simply held it in place and stopped it from moving. A net made from thin threads of dark flames surrounded the soul from a safe distance. The black flames felt just plain wrong and unnatural to the healers, but they didn’t have the time to care. The malicious spell lashed at the soul while transferring to the only available target, Dee.

The attack towards the soul was easily consumed by the flames as it was not all that powerful. It didn’t need to be as normally souls were rather easily dispersed. As soon as the malicious spell was affecting her, Dee let go of the soul and the dark flames surrounding it, and moved away from the patient, ending up outside the protective dome. Now the dome was there to protect the healers inside, as they did their best to repair the damage caused by the malicious magic.

The toxins created by the spells didn’t just vanish, the disease was still there, and the weakness caused by the curse was still present. They were simply inactive as the spell no longer controlled them, and they were currently being removed by the four healers. The healers also dealt with the after effects from Dee killing the patient, as minor as those were. The grumpy priestess started casting the long spell that would pull the soul back into the body currently being repaired. That particular spell would take a bit longer to cast, but that ended up being a good thing, as it would be easier to accomplish resurrection once the major damage to the patient’s body was fixed to a degree at least.

While the healers were working on the patient, another black flame surrounded Dee, though this one felt less unnatural as the previous one. It still felt wrong, but there was also a feeling of purity within. Purity of darkness, but purity nonetheless. Anything foreign and unclean was removed from within her body and from the outside as well, as the flames seemed to swallow her completely. ‘Ok, so there’s a slight downside.’ Dee commented to Croestia as those clothes and items she had not fed to the shadows earlier were also burnt away. All dirt and sweat were removed as well, but that was kind of pointless in this situation. She also had more effective ways to accomplish that minor cleansing.

‘Good thing you’re keeping most of your wardrobe within the shadows already. Otherwise, you’d be kind of naked right now.’ Croestia replied with a tinge of amusement.

‘Still lost the new gloves. I liked the red color. It was a nice change from all the black I’m wearing thanks to the shadows changing the color of everything they eat.’ Dee was kind of peeved at the loss of her gloves. She often had clothing items that were not fed to the shadows just because she didn’t want to always wear all black. The black look made her look a little sinister, especially since she already felt dangerous to most people.

‘Well, now you know not to use that flame when you’re dressing in other clothes. Or at least store the damn things inside me first. That’s what I’m here for. The best way to learn is to lose something first.’ Croestia teased.

‘No, the best way to learn is to learn before you make a mistake in the first place. What you’re talking about is the best way to remember a lesson you learned the hard way. A way meant for those who have difficulty learning via other, better methods.’ Dee corrected.

While Dee and Croestia sent barbs back and forth, the malicious spell was quickly cleansed away. The healing of the patient was taking longer. The damage done before the slowing effect had been applied was rather extensive, and the healers would not be able to fix everything at this time. Although it was easier to perform a resurrection when the body was intact, it also became progressively harder the more time passed. Thus it was a balancing act of sorts.

“How is it?” The high ranking mage that represented the patient’s parents approached Dee, noticing she seemed to be done. He also knew from previous conversations that Dee could see more of what was going on than he was able to.

“Well, I succeeded in my part. The malicious spell is gone and the soul was protected. The healers seem to be doing as well as one can expect in the circumstances. The damage that needs to be fixed is extensive, and there’s a long process of healing still left once this part is done, but he seems to be in good enough condition to survive. The only thing that remains is the resurrection. I have no idea how good the priestess is at performing the spell, but it’s up to her now.” Dee explained. Magical healing was effective, but it was not perfect. The young man’s body had experienced a large trauma and would take a while to recover even if all of the obvious damage could be healed. For now, the healers focused on the vital things that would help keep the patient alive.

The important moment came and the resurrection spell was finished. Dee watched as the soul reattached to the body, though noticed the connection wasn’t entirely perfect. That connection also seemed like something that would recover over time. In the meantime, the man might not be able to exert all of his potential and might experience a slower growth in power, though not by a large margin. “It seems the spell was successful. I would avoid anything that puts a burden on the soul for a while though. It seems the connection will take some time to heal perfectly.” She recommended to the mage.

“You can see that? You never did mention how you have so much power over souls.” The mage prompted for an explanation but didn’t receive one. Dee was certainly not going to volunteer anything. “Well, I’ll pass on your recommendation.”

As the process came to an end, the healers looked a little spent, but alright on the whole. The grumpy one actually checked up on Dee. “How is it? Did you manage to get rid of the malicious spell?”

Dee was slightly surprised at her concern, but the other party was a healer after all. Removing the spell from Dee at this moment would have been much easier as it wouldn’t have had the chance to really do damage yet. “It’s gone. I did mention I have a way to remove it from myself that would not work on others.” She replied calmly.

“Yes, those black flames. I noticed. They felt…I’m not sure if evil is the word I should use. I’m a pragmatist though. A tool is a tool, and it’s all about how the tool is used. That said, I’ve never seen a tool before that gave me that kind of cold shivers.” The priestess almost seemed to be convincing herself.

“It’s my flame as a kitsune. It is what it is.” Dee replied simply and thumbed towards her tails. She already volunteered more than she wanted, but the flames did require some kind of explanation considering she would be using them again.

“Interesting.” The mage mumbled. He had seen many kitsune and they all had unique flames that acted in weird ways. This one had been the weirdest so far, but the kitsune part made sense in general.

“Well, we still have other patients to heal.” Dee stated firmly and led the healers to the adjoining room where the other important patient was waiting.

In a weird twist, Dee was actually the one using the least power during the process, even though she took the largest risk in theory. The second patient was healed just as successfully as the first, but at this point the healers were starting to show their fatigue. The two patients had been the important ones, but not the only ones affected. There were three other mages that had accompanied the two first ones as bodyguards. One had already died, just as Dee had guessed, when the healers first tried to help him.

The third patient was healed, though was left with more damage in her body as the healers were getting tired. She would need extensive care in the near future. The fourth patient paid the real price from the exhaustion of the healers, despite Dee using her own powers to supplement the healing as much as she could. There was one part she could not help with after all. The priestess in charge of performing the resurrection finally failed and the soul was only partially reattached. That was not something that could be fixed easily as you couldn’t just kill him and resurrect him again. The damage was already done. The man would have to spend years if not decades to recover and would never recover his full potential.

It was good in a way that the fifth person was already gone, as the healers were tapped out and would not be able to manage a fifth healing today. Healers had to get used to working when fatigued, but they had their limits and would start making mistakes like what had happened with the last patient. Normally they could all heal dozens and even hundreds of people, but that was with simple combat injuries or normal diseases. Something like that would not be too hard to heal and some of the power used for healing came from the patient. These four patients had complicated magical and physical damage to all their organs that required care to fix and the patients could supply none of the power due to the weakening effect of the curse.

“So how can we thank you?” The mages had sent a small delegation to deal with Dee while the other healers were resting. They knew her presence here was little different from the others. “I got the impression that while you were sent here by the Radiant Sun, you’re not part of their order. So, I’m going to assume you’re not doing this just out of goodness of your heart. I mean no offense.” The same mage that had dealt with Dee before was leading the delegation.

“You are correct. The old goat you know of as the grandmaster of the order only wanted to utilize my skills so you’d owe him a favor. Don’t feel too obligated to repay that favor. He didn’t really do anything. I just happened to meet with him at the right time. I come from the second circle community Five Winds and we are in need of enchanters. Your best enchanters to be exact. Now, of course I’m not assuming you’ll provide them for free just because I helped with the healing. I do expect a discount and your serious participation though.” Dee said with a grin and proceeded to explain the general situation.

“I think I see how this would work. We can certainly do what you ask if we can pinch some of the processed materials that we’ll end up enchanting. We’ll contact your community for the exact details.” The mages decided after a round of private conversations away from Dee.

“Excellent! I’ll send a detailed report back to the community then. I’ll be sure to mention your generous discount.” Dee grinned a little wickedly.

----------

“So explain to me, why exactly should I let you take the lead on this one?” Dee demanded as the two stepped out of the portal gate they had used to arrive at the city of Lacademonians.

Shunkaha had asked that she would let him do the talking this time. “Well, not to put too much emphasis on it, but you’re not exactly known for being diplomatic or subtle.” He answered with a grimace.

“I can be, if I choose to.” Dee replied a little defensively. That bought her a silent chuckle from Croestia, letting her know how much the magical item trusted that statement.

“That doesn’t really count if you never actually choose that option. We could all be many things, but the way we choose to act is who we are in practice.” Shunkaha tried to be both firm and diplomatic at the same time.

The two were slightly surprised to find themselves in a city surrounded by water on three sides. The city was built on an archipelago and was an oddity of sorts in that the Lacademonians had held that spot in the third circle for a long time, despite having the power to improve their rank if they wanted. They were one of the communities that had elected to settle down and maintained their spot despite the potential for more. They simply liked their current spot due to the terrain that suited them. On the other hand, they had connections to many other communities like the Radiant Sun and the freelancer’s guild and even maintained a presence in the Night city.

The city itself was very interesting. It didn’t have the beauty of some of the elven cities or high ranking magical construction that other communities preferred. Instead, the city was almost uniformly made of white stone and marble with red tiled rooves. The architecture was very open and airy due to the warm and moist climate and seemed to favor colonnades and wide promenades often filled with greenery. Nearly all of the people present were High Humans of the Lacademonian variety, and they all moved like people who had received military training.

After spending some time looking at the city, the duo noted that there were other races present, just that they were almost purely servants or merchants. Dee had known the Lacademonians were a warrior culture, but it was still odd to see such a stark division. Not that there were no Lacademonians that were craftsmen or artisans, but they were never servants and even they seemed to have received enough training to form their bodies enough to affect the way they held themselves and moved around. Nearly all of the Lacademonians were dressed in either white tunics, while those in active service were also in bright gold colored metal armor with red capes attached.

“Remember, let me take the lead.” Shunkaha reiterated once more as they got closer to the nearby guards watching over the teleportation gates.

“State your business.” The front guard demanded with an alert tone, while the other nearby guards clearly showed readiness to spring into action on a moment’s notice. Dee actually slightly admired their readiness as most guards dulled in their guard over long periods of time as nothing happened. Either these guards were very well trained, or they had already experienced and were expecting further trouble.

“We are here to find a person. Cynisca Helios.” Shunkaha announced with a placating smile.

Dee noted a bit of something creeping into the eyes of the guard. What that something was, was harder to identify. “And why would you look for someone from the Helios family?” The guard asked with a harsher tone. Apparently the name was not unknown.

“Do we need a specific reason to look for an old comrade-in-arms?” Shunkaha asked assuming with some confidence that a warrior culture would appreciate the connection.

The guard scoffed. “You hardly qualify as someone a Helios would call a comrade.”

“We were both part of the Order of the Radiant Sun.” Shunkaha pointed out. “As are many of your members as I recall.”

The guards nearby laughed. “I see. Just because you spent a little time together in training, you think that makes you equals? We send our young to such groups to learn their methods. True bonds are only forged in battle. True battle and not that peace-keeping nonsense the order is involved in.”

“I think I’ve heard enough.” Dee declared and stepped forward. Suddenly an enormous pressure settled on the guards as Dee revealed a bit of her more dominating aspect again. “I don’t think a half-assed soldier like you who has barely seen blood has the qualifications to question me.” This time Dee revealed more of the dangerous and deadly air around her, giving a small look into all the lives she had taken.

“What are you doing?!” Shunkaha questioned Dee in a hasty whisper.

Dee didn’t bother whispering her reply. “Your way wasn’t working, so now we’ll do it my way. He was disrespecting you, and you didn’t react properly. You reacted like a civilian. Warrior cultures like theirs only respect few things like strength and lives you’ve reaped. I’ve got plenty of both, so I’m going to get the respect I’m due.”