Am I getting arthritis or something?, I thought, as I walked down the street.

My limbs had been getting kinda stiff these last few days, and today it had gotten a lot worse. While I would just like ignore it like I do every few years, this year it felt as if every part of my body was a little extra stiff

Better go see Loco soon. If he can bring back the dead, he can fix my stiff limbs. Even if they are extra stiff, I thought, with a smile on my old face.

I was currently walking down the street towards a certain Inn. The Inn my student was staying at.

Well, I would say he was my student. I haven't taught him anything personally, so I would be what you call a teacher. But, I did give him a few books, and five silver, for free so that he could start his career with a head start. So, I'm just going to call him my student.

While it normally would be impossible to know if he was in the Inn, I cheated a bit on that front. When he was at my store a few days ago, I planted, my own little version of, a tracker on him. Or, more precisely, his mana. With the health of this little device, I had been keeping track of my young ´student´. Needed to be sure he didn't die on me. A few days ago, he really scared me with his stunt. Almost thought I had to go out after his body.

I could finally begin to see the outline of the Inn.

Almost there. Move those old bones of yours, I thought to myself.

From the outside, I could hear the sound from the inside of the Inn. I could hear the laughter, glass clinking together, the cutlery, and the faint sounds of a bard. Almost brought a warm smile to my face.

I walked inside and looked around at the people. When I looked around, I could see many people who had come to my shop before. They had all looked for something they wanted, found something they needed. I don't think any of them would recognize me, with how I look.

While walking towards my target, I began reading the people at the Inn.

When I say reading, I did not mean reading like a book. I mean reading their ´auras´ if you want to call it that. In my younger days, I used to sense everybody's ´aura´, as a fun little hobby. I would try to figure out what each little piece of ´aura´ that I saw meant, and then write it down in a little notebook I had on my all the time. After a couple centuries of doing it, I began being able to know almost everything about the people's aura I saw. As long as they were not powerful, I could read people's life story by just having a glance at their direction.

That was in my prime of course. The good old days where I was a figurative god amongst men. If he had not cursed me, I would still be in my prime, but he did, and now I am just an old man.

Maybe, not for long though. Maybe my plan will strike a success.

I finally saw my student. He was sitting at the bar while chatting with another person. Unfortunately, I could not see this person. His body was obscured by a big fellow, standing a meter behind him, who was trying and failing, to charm a woman.

Little does he know, that a woman is actually a man.

It took me a good minute of shuffling between people before I got near my favorite, and only, student.

He noticed me and took on a friendly smile.

“Hello”, he said, while trying to make a slightly wider smile. He had a piece of food between his teeth, so it did not look that good.

Seems like I should teach him a few cantrips about basic sanitation.

“Hello”, I say. “How are you doing…”

I stop talking mid-sentence, as my eyes drifted over to the person my student was talking to.

There was something wrong with him. Two things actually now that I look closer.

The was a connection between him and my student. Now a connection of friendship, or love, but a connection of mana. My student was continuously sending small pieces of his mana reserves to the other person.

Now, that was okay from my perspective. In one of the books I gave him, there was a chapter about enhancement. One of those is a spell where you continuously send small pieces of his mana reserves to the other person so that they get slowly get stronger.

There was one more thing wrong with the person though.

His life energy. Or should I say, lack of it? He did not have any life energy in his whole body. It was as if he had been dead for days, but was still living.

It was as if…

And then I realized it. There was only one spell in the book that could have caused it.

Emergency resurrection.

My student was keeping this person alive with an Emergency resurrection.

This was a serious threat to his own personal life.

I looked at my student, with an intense stare.

“Your room. Now”, I say, with a serious voice.

If this means what I think it means, we are in big trouble.

While walking up to my student's room, I could almost feel my bones creak from the effort. Not an immediate issue, but an issue nonetheless.

The person, whose name I later learned was Jack, sat down on the bed, and just stare out into the empty air.

Shit. If he has come this far in the process, it will be hard to save my student, without wounding his magic. Maybe I'm lucky, and he is just showing early signs of the symptoms?

I look at my student, and it seems like he isn't surprised by this behavior.

How long has it been since it started? If it has been over a day, then I don't think that even Hel can save him, without permanently scarring his magic.

I think back to how Eros´ voice was down at the bar. The voice was what I should have guessed at the start. Emotionless.

“How long has he been like that”, I ask my student, with an as serious face, as I could.

Please say under a day, I thought to myself. I would, of course, never say it out loud though, or even show the slightest hint of it on my face.

“Been like what?”, my student asked, with a confused face. Could he not see what was happening to his friend? Did he not care?

“Emotionless”, I answer, with my serious face still standing.

This time you better answer my question, or I am just going to probe it out of you myself, I think to myself.

My student thought about for a few seconds. He pondered so long, that I, in fact, thought that he heard my threats. I really wish he didn't.

He finally looked over at me, after having thought about it, for a far too long amount of time.

“A few hours at most”, he answered me, with a worrying face. It seemed that he was finally beginning to see the seriousness of this situation.

I looked away and thought about it for a few seconds.

A few hours. That should be a short enough amount of time, for Hel to save him, without scarring, or damaging, his magic in any way possible.

I looked over at him again.

“Pack your bags. Only the essentials. We are leaving this town, and it will be a long time before we come back. If we ever come back”, I say to him, as I walk over to Eros.

I shake him and check how long it takes for him to notice.

One… Two… Three…

He woke up in the third second of shaking.

Seems like he really has a chance.

“Where are we going?”, my student asks, with a confused face. I thought he would know by now.

I look at him, with my serious face.

“To an old friend”

Seems like it's time to go see Hel.