by D. Levesque
“You know how I said, Alex, that the energy from your Chakras are seeping into your body and your body might be changing?” Bridget asks me, looking at me to make sure I am listening.
I nod to her, yes. I remember her telling me that she wasn’t sure what it might be. I thought at first it was radiation, but I didn’t think my God would be so cruel as to put me here after all he did for me, just to have me die of radiation poisoning.
“Well, that energy is coming out of your two Chakras now. It’s seeping into the broken bones fast, and I mean really, really fast. But Alex, it’s not healing your bones. It’s changing them, and I am not sure what is going on,” she cries in dismay.
I reach out for her hand and seeing it, she grabs mine. “It. Will. Be. Fine,” I breathe out between bouts of pain.
But then something happens that I didn’t expect. All I hear is loud popping sounds and then the pain starts. Pain that is unexpectedly so awful that I see red. No, wait. That’s blood in my eyes, and that popping sound as I fall over sideways to the ground was all my bones breaking at once. The pain is so bad that it feels like I had a building fall on me.
“Alex!” I hear the two girls scream in horror. Wait, horror? How bad can it be, is the last thing I remember thinking before the pain is taken away with darkness.
The darkness, though, is disjointed. I start to pull out of it, but the pain is too much, and I leave for that darkness again. I am not sure how long it lasts. Eventually, I feel like the pain isn’t as bad, but even though I try to go back to the light over a dozen times, I keep pulling back, away from the pain. I stay in my little bubble of darkness, no thoughts, no emotions, other than knowing that going to that light hurts.
I can hear sounds, but where I am in the darkness, I don’t understand them. I just stay here, enjoying the peace and the no-pain. I like the no-pain. But I know I should be going to the light. There is something there for me. Something that is soft and squishy. That brings a smile to my face. Wait. Face? How do I have a face if I am darkness?
I am the darkness. Where have I heard that before? Somehow, that thought makes an alarm go off somewhere and my brain yells, ‘wake up jackass!’ but I ignore it, as I like this darkness. Even though I am not a cute bat. Wait. A bat? I’m not a bat? Then what am I? I shake my head, and it’s being held by something.
I hear that voice again, and it sounds desperate. What is it trying to say? I know if I head to the light I will understand it. But that means pain. Then that voice says something again, and this time I hear anguish. Why anguish? For me? About me? Curious, I head slowly towards the light, ready to rush back to the darkness if I feel pain again.
Unexpectedly, the choice is taken away from me as suddenly, as if thinking of the light, I am dragged to it as if going at light speed. I see stars on either side of me flashing by faster and faster. Then, without warning, I am in my body again, lying on the ground on my back.
I look up and see that Leeha is crying, with tears streaming down her face. When she sees me flutter my eyes open, she screams in joy.
“Alex!” She bends down and hugs me hard, as if she is desperate to feel me.
I try to say something, but I am parched and I still hurt all over, although compared to the pain from before, this is nothing. I know though, in some sense, that it’s still painful as Hell. My brain has just dealt with levels of pain I have never felt before.
“I’m good,” I croak out, and my throat hurts as I try to speak. “Throat dry,” I say.
Leeha pulls back and looks down at me and smiles. “You’ve kind of been screaming in pain for days,” she says with tears still in her eyes.
“Days?” I ask her, surprised at the amount of time that has gone by. “Bridget?”
“She left after you passed out. I guess she is part of you so that if you get knocked out as you did, she leaves. I have been here all along, taking care of you and protecting you.”
“Protecting?” I ask her.
“Call up Bridget please. I need help if something comes. I am so low in power, Alex.”
Fire, I think. “Bridget?”
Suddenly next to me is Bridget in her Fire Elemental form, but then she changes into her Elven form as she throws herself at me.
“Alex! I thought you were dying!” She is so beside herself that she is crying. “I tried to get out to heal you, but I couldn’t.”
“Get out of what?” I ask her in a hoarse voice.
“Gods, you must be thirsty! I heard you scream for days! Give me a minute,” she says, and suddenly she is gone from my side. Seconds later, she is next to me again with her hands cupped, and there’s water dripping out of them. She brings them to my lips, and I drink from them gratefully, and the water is cold and refreshing. Once that handful is gone she leaves again and is back within seconds, giving me more.
“Not too much,” Leeha warns, “he has been out for days without water or food.”
“Oh, all right,” Bridget says, nodding. “Good?” she asks me.
At my nod, she looks relieved and says, “Give me a second,” and then she leaves again for a third time, before returning seconds later.
“Where did you go?” I ask her curiously.
“The water pedestal,” she tells me meekly.
Both Leeha and I stare at her. “But that’s hours from here!” Leeha says in astonishment.
“Yes, but you needed it,” she says, and she is gazing at me. “Alex. Hmm. Your bones have changed,” she says tentatively.
“What? How? Like I have extra ones?” I ask her, perplexed and worried.
“No, they aren’t white bones anymore. They look more like. Well, they look more like steel, they are shiny. But not like silver.”
I try to understand what she is saying, but my brain just hears her say blah blah blah, although something inside me agrees with her.
“What?”
Chapter Nine
“My bones look like steel?” I ask her, bewildered.
“Well, I’m not sure it’s steel, but some kind of metal,” Bridget says with a frown, staring down at me.
“Well, does it look like this?” Leeha says, bringing out a long thin needle from somewhere on her body. What the hell?
“What’s that?” I ask her.
“I can’t always rely on Magic,” Leeha says with a cocky grin. “So I have to resort to other weapons. But also, there were times when this worked better for that close and personal touch when I did my work.”
Right, she was an assassin. It makes sense that she would use weapons other than Magic.
“So you carry around a steel needle?” I ask her.
“Among other things,” she says, reaching down, and before I can blink, she’s pulled out five of them and is holding them in her hand.
“Damn,” I whistle, in appreciation of her skills.
“Here,” Leeha says to Bridget, handing her one of the needles. “This is one of the best steel needles I have ever had made. The cost was exuberant but worth it. They don’t break easily.”
Bridget takes it from her and focuses on it. She looks back at me, but I can see from her gaze that she isn’t focusing on me but in me. Then she shakes her head.
“No, the metal of Alex’s bones are not as dense as the structure of this needle. The metal of his bones are like something else. They are open, airy?” she says, and I can tell she is trying to find the words to describe it.
“Like a matrix? A honeycomb of holes?” I offer.
“Yes! It’s like a honeycomb. Damn, this context stuff but no experience is annoying at times. Until I hear the word, I don’t know it,” she says in frustration.
“So, it might be some other kind of metal,” I think out loud. “Not that I am thrilled to hear that my bones are now metal. But I wonder why my Chakras did that?” I say, looking up at both of the girls.
“What about you? You got injured earlier,” I tell Leeha. “Well, I guess that was days ago really,” I amend.
“I’m fine,” she s
ays, waving her hand.
I look at her without saying anything for a good thirty seconds, until she starts to get uncomfortable with my staring. “It’s fine, Alex. It will heal by itself.”
“Or you can let Bridget heal you,” I tell her with a soft smile.
“It’s just a slight injury,” Leeha says defensively.
“Let me heal you,” Bridget says, putting a hand on Leeha’s arm. I realize that somehow I missed her putting away those five needles. I didn’t even notice Bridget giving her back the needle she had been holding.
Leeha sighs and says, “Fine.” She turns around and lifts her shirt, showing us her back.
Both Bridget and I gasp in dismay. “That’s not a slight injury!” I exclaim.
Leeha’s back is covered in dried blood. At least she isn’t bleeding anymore, but she has small wounds all over her upper and lower back.
“Do they go up and down your legs as well?” I ask her chidingly.
Instead of answering me, she nods, and I can see that she is blushing. Sighing, I point to her and say to Bridget, “Go ahead and heal her, please.”
“With pleasure,” Bridget says with a smile. She goes up to Leeha and places her hands on her back, and then closes her eyes. But a couple of seconds later, she frowns.
“What’s wrong?” I ask Bridget.
“I’m not sure,” she says slowly, confusion showing on her face.
Bridget again closes her eyes, but within seconds she re-opens them, and her confusion is even more pronounced. She looks between Leeha and me, and then she scoots over to me and places her hands on my leg. A green glow of healing appears briefly and I feel somewhat refreshed from it, but then Bridget sits back on her haunches and frowns.
“What?” I ask her again.
“I can’t heal,” she replies.
“What? But you just did,” I tell her, pointing to where her hand had just been.
“No, I mean, I can’t heal Leeha. I can heal you just fine. But when I try with her, the power of healing doesn’t come out.”
“What? But that makes no sense. I know I can heal, as I did with Marken, but you can heal as well. Want me to try and see if I can heal her?” I ask Bridget.
“Yes. I should be able to heal, as I am a part of you. I know you cannot heal yourself, but I should still have that ability,” Bridget says with a sigh.
I wave Leeha over and she backs up until I can place my hands on her back and focus on her as I did with her brother when I healed his hand. I concentrate on healing, and as before, a green glow appears around my hands on her back.
You are healing your target. Time to fully heal, 00:05:00.
“It says it will take five minutes to heal. So it’s working for me. I’m not sure why it would not work for you, Bridget. We will have to look into it, see what is going on. Let me focus on Leeha first, all right?” I tell her.
Bridget nods, but I can tell she is somewhat upset at not being able to heal. I watch Leeha’s back as I heal her, and the injuries, while small, are numerous. As I heal her, I see the wounds slightly open and things start to pop out. Those would be the rocks, I assume, that went into her like shrapnel. So the healing is getting the pieces out of the body. Damn, this healing magic is smart. It knows to remove foreign objects first before healing the wound.
Once the countdown is at zero, the flow around my hand disappears and her back is smooth again. There’s not even any scarring.
“Done,” I tell Leeha, rubbing my hand up and down her back. She looks over at me and smiles.
“Thanks, Alex. What was that feeling of things rolling down my back and legs?” she asks me curiously.
“That would have been all the stone that entered when that rock exploded. They were small fragments of stone.”
“Wow, the healing even removed those?” Leeha says, sounding impressed.
“Yep,” I tell her.
“You know you already have a price to pay soon,” Leeha says, “and you just added to it?”
“Oh crap,” I say with a laugh. “Yes. I guess I do, from healing Trag and now healing you. A price I’m willing to pay,” I say with a grin at both of them.
“A cost I am willing to help you with,” Bridget says with a grin of her own.
“Since you healed Trag over three days ago, we have four days to get you re-energized.”
“We?” I ask Leeha with a raised eyebrow.
“What was it you said about the three muskrats? All for one and one for all?” she says with a laugh.
“The Three Musketeers,” I tell her with a laugh. I had been teaching her some of my world’s stories in order to teach her English, and that just happened to be one of them since there were three of us.
Suddenly, I start coughing uncontrollably and the girls surround me again, with Leeha placing her hand on my back. Once I am done and I can breathe, I realize that I can taste copper in my mouth. I look at my hand and it’s covered in blood. Spitting the blood down on the ground, I look at the two of them in concern.
“What was that?” I say, spitting more blood out.
Bridget is looking at me intently. No, wait, she is gazing at my throat or my chest. She’s got that far-away gaze that tells me she’s looking inside of me.
“Alex,” she says with concern in her voice. “You might want to lie down.”
“Why?” I ask her hesitantly.
“Well, at the very least, lie down on your side, which might actually be better.”
I look at her with worry, but as I am sure she has a reason, I slowly turn over until I am on my side, and then I look up at her. “Why did you want me to lie like this?” I ask, but that is as far as I get before another coughing fit hits, and this time, I’m not just spitting blood; I end up with blood pouring out of my mouth in amounts that I am sure are unsafe!
My eyes are watering, and I can barely breathe since I am coughing so hard. Then Bridget places her hand on my throat, and I can feel the healing. It’s easing the pain some, but it’s not stopping the coughing or the blood coming up. Shit, what the hell is going on! I feel like I am about to cough up a lung.
Now I’m really getting concerned. I try to stop myself from coughing, but my body is betraying me and isn’t listening. It’s like having the worst itch in your throat, but no matter what you do, you cannot clear it or get rid of it.
Suddenly, without warning, I let out a significant cough and something considerable leaves my throat, forcing my mouth open wider, and ends up hitting the ground in front of my face with a wet flop. I look at it, and my eyes open up in horror. It’s a wet mass of something. I try to turn to look at Bridget and Leeha, but Bridget’s hand is still on me.
“Don’t move, Alex!” Bridget says with concern, but I can tell she is focused on something. Her answer is forceful yet distracted.
I nod, but I am still looking at the wet red mass that just came out of me. What the hell, did I just literally cough up a lung? I thought that was like a joke thing that people said? But wait, I can still breathe. So what the hell did I just cough up? I mean, was that thing inside me? It’s about the size of my palm, but it’s just a wet mess, so I have no clue what it is. I am not a human biology expert, so I can’t even guess.
I open my mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a wheeze of air.
“Don’t talk,” Bridget says, “I am almost there.”
Now I am getting genuinely alarmed. I just tried to say something, but it was like I could not do it. All that came out was a puff of air. Then I feel something odd. I feel something in my throat getting larger. No, it’s more like there was an absence, and now it’s being filled. This feeling goes on for a bit. I would say, probably a good ten minutes or so, and Bridget still has her hand on my throat.
Hold on! Is that my third Chakra area? Think Alex! There is the top Chakra, the head. Then there is the Third Eye. After that is what the Heart? No, too far. The throat! There is a Throat Chakra. Then the Heart, then the chest? No, the Solar Plexus. Followed by th
e Sacral? Secrel? I think it’s the Sacral. The girlfriend I dated said it was easy to think of it as the area where my testicles were. I think it’s the Sacral. And then the root. That one was easy since she said it rooted you in place.
Bridget removes her hand from my throat, and I turn to look up at her. She looks tired, but she is smiling down at me with relief.
“What,” I start to say, but then I clear my throat, as the sound that had just come out was much deeper than the regular voice I have gotten used to with this body. “What was that?” Jesus, why do I sound like Barry White?
“That was your third Chakra opening. And that,” she points to the wet red mass on the cave’s floor, “was your throat, or whatever was inside your throat area.”
“Yeah,” I say, rolling over and scooting slightly away from the mass of blood and guts. “I figured it was my third Chakra opening.”
Bridget continues. “It somehow removed the ‘old’ part, and I had to heal you to create the missing part. That was intense,” she says, wiping sweat from her forehead.
“Is that why my voice is deeper?” I ask her.
“That I am not sure of. I think that is a byproduct of the new part. Your new throat. What is odd about this one, the Chakra I mean, is it’s sending energy out every time you talk.”
“I like the new voice,” Leeha says, bending down and hugging me. She goes to kiss me but then pulls away with disgust. “Though I think you might want to wash up and rinse your mouth.”
I still feel the taste of copper in my mouth, and putting my hand up to my lips, I feel wetness. Looking at my hand, it’s red with blood.
“Shit. Hmm, Bridget?” I say, turning to her.
“Be right back,” she says with a laugh and disappears.
Chapter Ten
It took Bridget multiple trips to get enough water for me to clean up, but it was worth it in the end. I feel much better. I do wish I had a toothbrush or toothpaste. Or even that leaf that Leeha had taught me to use as a breath freshener. But as we are inside a cave, I doubt I am going to find one.
