Leandra Silvers, Head Healer - Threat Level: E+(?)

Liz swiped the screen away, sitting down onto the foldable metal chair in front of Leandra’s desk. The Head Healer’s office looked quite like any normal office she might have seen, except for the abundance of weapons scattered around the room.

She frowned at that. It looked like even a room deep into the city had to be prepared for a potential attack.

The woman cleared her throat, pulling out a clipboard with what she assumed was a spreadsheet on it. “So you’re Marked?”

Liz nodded, showing the green swirl on her shoulder.

“Interesting.” Leandra muttered something to herself, squinting at her. “Alright. Well, what do you know?”

Liz gave her a sheepish look. “Uh, not very much. I’ve only been in the wilderness before coming here, fighting voidspawn and earning credits. I came as part of the Second Wave.”

The middle-aged woman scribbled something onto her clipboard, “Hmm… I see. Why did you choose the healer mark?”

“Well, three years ago, I suffered a debilitating injury to my spine. The Void gave me an opportunity to heal myself and walk again.” Liz lifted her shirt, showing the woman where the scars had traced down her back.

“Nerve damage?”

She sighed. “Yeah.”

“Stop lying.”

“... what?” Liz stared at her, confusion plastered on her face.

Leandra snorted, rising from her chair. “Look kid, I don’t know who you’re trying to fool. I’ve been doing this Void shit long before you got here, and I’ve been a practicing doctor of another two decades before that. I know each and every Mark that has the slightest potential for healing, and none of them can heal prior nerve damage. So, could you kindly cut the BS and tell me the real reason you’re here?”

Kid?

“Head Healer, with all due respect, I’m telling the truth.” Liz clenched her fist, releasing a puff of green energy. “I healed myself.”

“Oh really now? What Mark do you have, then?”

“The Mark of the Healer.”

The woman opened her mouth, but Liz carried on. “I was offered the third transaction by the Void, and I took it. That’s why I’m different from all your other healers, and that’s why I can heal nerve damage!”

Leandra crossed her arms. “Oh, what a wonderful fantasy. Fine then. If you’ve really got an all-powerful Greater Mark, why don’t you prove it? Ian!”

Ignatius Dunai - Threat Level: E(?)

A black-haired young man with bags under his eyes opened the door. “Yes, Head Healer?”

“Ian, go tell Samuel to come to this room. Tell him that we supposedly have a solution to his injury.”

The man’s eyes widened, and he quickly exited the room. As they waited, Leandra set her eyes on Liz.

“Samuel is a former E-plus ranked warrior who was injured before any of the healers here acquired their Intermediate Marks. I came just in time to allow him to regain partial control, but even my Adept healing energy couldn’t fully heal him. If he hadn’t suffered the injury, he would have reached the D ranks by now.”

The door opened again, revealing a muscular man in a wheelchair.

“Leandra? You needed me?”

Samuel Sanders - Threat Level: F(?)

Liz’s eyes widened as she saw the man’s Threat Level. This was someone like her. Someone who had had their body locked away at the height of its power. Her throat caught, but she shook herself. She could help him.

The Head Healer motioned him in. “Samuel, this girl says that she can heal nerve damage. Would you allow yourself to be healed by her?”

He shrugged, and she turned back to Liz. “If you have truly healed yourself from such a debilitating injury, why don’t you help him too?”

She nodded. “Alright.”

Samuel waved at her, and Liz offered the man what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

“I know what it feels like, having everything I valued about myself stripped away. I helped myself escape, and I can help you too.”

This was the power of her Mark. The power that she had sacrificed her talent for.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and sent her senses into his spine.

It was hazy, but not as hazy as it had been with the beetle. Having a willing participant might have smoothed the process, though that could have just as easily been because she was doing it on another human.

As she spread her senses through his nervous system, she could see the injury to his spine, a red mass of frayed nerves and scar tissue not unlike her own.

Perfect. It was still like looking through a fogged-up window, but now that she had located it, her healing energy would do the rest. She still had plenty left from her journey to the city, courtesy of her self-consuming technique.

So, with the energy in her grasp, she pushed her spirit into action. Memories of the days after the bombing resurfaced, and she channeled them into her spirit, willing the energy to repair the cluster of damaged nerves and muscle.

A green aura flared up around them, and she concentrated.

The energy slowly made its way through the man’s body, snaking like a river through his spine and into the afflicted area. She could already feel the man’s cells rejuvenating just from being near the soothing green essence. And as the energy pooled at the wound, she commanded it once more.

Heal.

She pushed the energy in…

And it absorbed without any effect.

“What?”

She opened her eyes, looking over to Samuel. He raised his eyebrows, and she gritted her teeth in frustration.

“Apologies. Give me five seconds.”

She refocused her efforts, pouring more and more healing into the site of the wound. She had probably consumed most of the dense spark when she had healed herself, and her energy still hadn’t achieved close to that level of quality.

But five seconds turned to ten, and ten turned to twenty, and twenty turned to forty. All the while, she channeled more energy into the wound, her confusion mounting.

Minutes later, her healing dried up. She stepped away, staring down at her hands.

“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know why it didn’t work. It should have worked! I —”

The man laughed. “It’s alright, Elizabeth. You know, being in a wheelchair really isn’t the worst thing in the world.”

“N-no! I’m really… ” She looked up at him, her own experiences still fresh in her mind.

He said something else to her, but she was too caught up in her own thoughts to process it.

Why hadn’t it worked? It had worked with her. Her greatest desire had explicitly been to heal herself from that injury!

She blinked. To heal herself.

Usually when this happens it involves restrictions being placed on your power. The raw force of healing will likely be much less than normal, and you may be locked out of a specific facet of healing, such as bone or blood. You could also only be able to heal during the day, or have your healing deal damage to yourself in the same breath that it heals others. However, the restrictions will never prevent you from ever achieving your ultimate goal.

Her ultimate goal was to heal herself, but that didn’t say anything in regards to healing others.

Would her healing always be limited to just her?

Leandra slammed her hand on the table, rousing her from her thoughts. “What a waste of time. I could have been healing victims who actually could have been helped, but instead I’ve wasted a quarter hour watching a child parade delusions around my office. Samuel, you’re free to leave.”

“I apologise, Head Healer. I believe that it has to do with the circumstances of my Mark —”

“You!” the Head Healer snapped, “Out. You can find another way to earn your credits.”

“Wait! Let me explain!”

“Enough. You’ve wasted enough of my time as it is. I don’t want to hear another —”

The doors opened, and just as Samuel wheeled himself out, another man walked in.

Cameron Brown - Threat Level: D-(?)

“Hey Samuel, hey Leandra! I just got back from Williamsburg with all the Second-Wavers we could find. I'm not gonna say anything for certain, but I'm fairly sure there's about to be a lot of prospective healers waiting at your door.”

The man turned, and she locked eyes with him for a brief second. She couldn’t quite put her finger on why, but for some reason he seemed familiar.

The man raised his eyebrows, and he turned back to Leandra. “Oh hey, is this a new —”

“Thank you for the information, Cameron.” The Head Healer stood, grabbing her clipboard. Then, she turned to Liz, glaring. “Elizabeth Sayler, get out of my office.”