The Chained Maiden: Bound by Fate

by Ian Rodgers

  “How’ve you been?” Ain inquired politely. His swim trunks were a modest yellow, not nearly as eye stabbingly bright as his friend’s. The Grand Elf’s skin was as pale as ever, practically like ivory, and just as smooth looking, and his lean physique drew plenty of attention from the people Enrai failed to hit on.

  “Pretty good. No complaints. This place is amazing, though! Shame about the price. If I could, I’d definitely come here again,” the half-orc sighed wistfully.

  “Really? How expensive is this place?” Enrai wondered.

  “Two hundred thousand gold coins for one day,” Dora said dryly, and watched in amusement as the Monk sputtered in disbelief and the Spellsword’s jaw dropped to the ground.

  “No wonder none of the women here take kindly to my flirting! They’re all rich socialites, and I’m just a poor, humble man raised in a magical monastery!” Enrai moaned after recovering from his shock.

  “I don’t think that’s the real reason,” Ain tried to say, but was cut off as his friend threw an arm around his shoulder.

  “Oh, woe is me! My poverty must truly be repulsive!”

  “You’re not that poor,” the Grand Elf chided, shoving Enrai off of him. “And don’t cling to me! I’m tired of women thinking we’re gay!”

  “So? Not like you’re accepting any of their proposals,” Enrai pointed out. “That’s why they think you’re a sword swallower, my dear friend.”

  As the two began to bicker, Dora snorted in amusement and sat back to watch the show.

  “Are they gonna kiss?” Tilda asked hopefully as she walked over, and Evelyn chuckled at her sister’s question.

  “Nah. Just arguing. Though apparently quite a few women wouldn’t be opposed to it,” Dora whispered to her, discreetly gesturing to a number of women that were staring at the duo with wide eyes and hopeful expressions, including the lady who’d just turned down Enrai’s advances.

  The show ended when one of the sunbathing women’s boyfriends took offense to the fact that Enrai and Ain were drawing so much attention their way.

  Swaggering over towards the two, he barely had time to try and intimidate the pair before a legion of security crabs poured out of the sand and put an end to the show.

  “Come on, let’s go find something else to do,” Dora suggested as she led Tilda and Evelyn away from the kerfuffle.

  “Hmm, alright,” the eldest sister agreed. Tilda followed along with a pout, but perked up when Dora let her pick the next venue.

  “All you can eat buffet!” the blonde vampire declared, pointing valiantly off into the distance towards one of the Resort’s many attractions.

  “…That’s an aquarium, Tilda,” Evelyn said as her gaze followed her little sister’s pointing finger.

  “You say ‘toe-may-toe’ I say ‘toe-mah-toe,’” the vampire shrugged in response. “Or, in this case, ‘buffet.’”

  “I have never heard you say that, ever,” the grey-haired sibling declared with a sigh and a shake of her head.

  She just giggled, and Dora joined in, the mirth infectious.

  ∞.∞.∞

  The day passed by slowly, but filled with fun. Dora and Evelyn ended up ‘napping’ for a few hours and then spent the rest of the sunlight filled portion of the day visiting an aquarium and the nautical museum.

  Tilda, being a vampire, didn’t need to sleep as often as her mortal companions did, so she spent the time Dora and Evelyn were napping tormenting Enrai and Ain. Or as she called it, ‘pranking.’

  The duo put up with it, though, and even got the blonde vampire a few times. As an elf, Ain needed only four hours of sleep a day to be fully rested, and Enrai’s Monk training meant he could stay awake for days at a time without ill effect, so they were able to match Tilda’s Undead stamina and vigor.

  The sun soon set, though, and the long night was upon them. Nothing of note occurred during this time, however. With the moons out, Enrai’s exuberance died down, allowing Ain to finally catch a break. Tilda remained as energetic as ever, her nature as a predator of the night keeping her running full throttle even when the rest of the Resort was shifting into a calmer mode.

  For Dora, the most exciting and nerve-wracking part of the day was trying to wait for morning to come so she could start learning from a master of healing.

  Time trickled by, and the blue moons came and went.

  The exact second that greenish dawn poked out over the horizon, Dora bolted out of bed and began dressing herself. She scampered out of her room and descended to the hotel lobby, restlessly shifting back and forth on the clam shell couch, waiting for her teacher to show up.

  After a few minutes of impatiently kicking her legs, a melodious laugh akin to the gurgle of a brook graced the half-orc’s ears, and she bounced up, a smile on her face.

  “Lady Dramhyda!” Dora exclaimed happily.

  “You must be the most eager student I’ve ever had,” the Water Exarch stated with a giggle as she sashayed over to the half-orc Healer, her hair wobbling about in the form of dreadlocks at the moment.

  “I’m just so excited to be learning more magic!” Dora said eagerly. “Besides Restore, I haven’t had a chance to acquire new spells since I went to the Dreadlands. As brutal as it is, Healers are sadly in short supply down there.”

  “Hmm, yes, something to do with the lingering effects of the Great Calamity that scarred your world,” Dramhyda revealed. “Light and Water mana does not naturally form or gather there, save in a few remote locations. And without either of those Elements in abundance in nature, people cannot be born with the ability to use said Elements, thus making healing magic simply too rare, and something only outsiders like yourself being capable of.”

  “I did not know that. I suspected something was afoot, however,” Dora admitted.

  “Yes, I have not visited Erafore in quite some time. Your world is remarkable and has many wonders and interesting people, but for beings like myself who are of the Aether, it is a hard world to explore, as the Void stains it deeply. Some regions are anathema to my kind, like how wading in poison would be detrimental to yourself,” the Exarch explained.

  “Ah, yes, I suppose that makes sense,” Dora said with a nod. She then clapped her hands together to dispel the gloomy mood. “SO! What’s my first lesson?”

  “Why don’t you come with me first?” Dramhyda suggested when a loud rumble burst out of Dora’s stomach. She led the red-faced half-orc out of the conch shell shaped hotel over to the sand castle building nearby. Inside, Dora found herself sitting down to a nice meal courtesy of the Exarch.

  “You should always be sure to have energy before you try healing, or practicing magic,” Dramhyda admonished the young half-orc. “It’s important for a Healer to be strong and healthy. How else can they take care of their patients if they themselves cannot even care for their own bodies?”

  Blushing, Dora ate the fruits and eggs provided to her. She resisted the urge to scarf it all down as fast as she could so she could get to learning spells fasters, but had an inkling that the motherly entity would scold her for trying to rush and potentially choke.

  And since dying due to food being stuck in her throat was not how she wanted to pass over onto the Afterlife, Dora was methodical and calm in her consumption.

  Dramhyda observed Dora all the while, a twinkle in her eye, as if she knew that her brand-new student was holding back as she ate.

  Eventually, she beckoned a dolphin in a maid’s outfit over to her side that was somehow able to float in the air without any ill effect, and it departed before returning swiftly with a tray covered in fruit balanced atop her nose.

  “Seeing you enjoy your meal has given me an idea,” Dramhyda revealed as she held up a juicy blue apple. She pressed a finger against the skin of the fruit, and before Dora’s wide eyes, extracted every drop of water from within, leaving only a shriveled dark grey husk.

  “Your first lesson is to restore this apple,” Dramhyda stated, placing the withered apple in front of Dora. �
�Use your Healing magic to make it nice and plump and delicious once more.”

  Dora swallowed her current mouthful of food and nodded. She put down her silverware and grabbed the fruit in both hands.

  First, she carefully probed the husk with her magic, examining its internal structure. Nothing was wrong with it besides a lack of fluids, so Dora carefully focused her attention on the flesh of the apple, gently massaging the Element of Light into the dehydrated mass.

  Slowly, her Light mana seeped into the drained apple, and as it did so, the flesh began to swell with life once more. In thirty minutes, Dora held a luscious blue apple, even healthier looking than when Dramhyda had first grabbed it, a grin on her face at her success.

  Dramhyda merely looked at the restored fruit for a moment before shaking her head in disappointment, however.

  “Close, but not what I was looking for.” Noting Dora’s incredulous expression, the Exarch smirked. “Take a bite if you don’t believe me.”

  Frowning, Dora did so, chomping into the apple. Her look of defiance melted into disgust as she removed her mouth from the fruit’s skin, spitting slightly to rid her mouth of the lingering taste.

  “I don’t get it,” Dora complained, staring at the blue fruit as if it had personally offended her. “I used my Healing magic to completely reinvigorate the flesh, as well as repairing the damage the sudden dehydration did to its internal structure. As I healed it, the apple began filling itself with juice once again, my mana transmuting into water in order to properly replenish what was lost. So why did it taste all waxy and gritty?”

  “You’re the one who healed the apple. Why not tell me what you think the reason is?” Dramhyda suggested, her smirk having turned smug.

  Dora scratched the back of her head and stared at the fruit that now taunted her. She poked it with a finger, trying to see if anything had changed about it physically, and when nothing seemed out of place on the outside she sent her magic in to explore the interior of the object.

  All she saw, however, was the effects of her healing. The flesh of the apple was fresh and plump, and the moisture was keeping it healthy. However, after examining it more closely she tilted her head to the side in thought. After a few more seconds of contemplation, Dora withdrew and turned her attention to her new teacher.

  “I think I might have an idea, but I’d need to see another apple before I make a statement,” the half-orc told Dramhyda, who simply grinned and passed her another untouched and unchanged blue fruit.

  Dora alternated her Analysis spell between the two, and an expression of dawning realization crossed her face. The Exarch grinned wider.

  “Well? What did you find out?”

  “When I healed the apple, I was only focused on restoring it to its original shape. But that wasn’t what you wanted from me, not entirely. You wanted its taste to be restored as well. But the method I used for fixing the dehydration didn’t do that. The juice of an apple is more than water, it contains other elements, which I ended up not restoring,” Dora claimed, and Dramhyda nodded, pleased by the answer.

  “Precisely. For a human, or even an animal you’re familiar with, the method of healing you initially used would have been perfectly fine. Dealing with fruits and vegetables, however, or more exotic lifeforms you’ve never encountered before, requires a different approach,” the Exarch explained.

  She held up her right hand, and a globe of water appeared at her fingertips, drained from the second apple she’d given Dora to study. And in her left hand, an orb of bluish light popped into existence.

  “Light magic takes a lot of the guesswork and uncertainty out of healing. It is pure Creation made manifest, and Life just so happens to be a major aspect of it. Hence why it is opposed to Dark magic, a form of power that embodies Destruction,” Dramhyda stated. “Light Element spells use the caster’s knowledge to heal a target, but the Element also uses the ingrained, unconscious knowledge of the target’s body to heal itself. After all, the body knows itself far more intimately than an outsider would.”

  As she spoke, the orb of light drifted over towards the desiccated apple and slipped inside. The apple soon looked completely normal, but Dora had a feeling it’d taste as bad as the one she’d healed using a similar method.

  “However, Light magic has a dangerous side to it when used willy-nilly for healing. It can keep growing and healing if left untamed. If you don’t know how the body you are casting spells on works, the Element can only rely on the target for information on how to proceed with healing. And more often than not, that method is unreliable as it only knows what to heal, not how much to do so. As such…” Dramhyda waved her left hand over the plump apple, agitating the Light mana still lingering inside of it.

  The apple bulged and distorted, lumpy growths popping up all over the skin as the flesh below became swollen. With a watery ‘Plop!’ sound akin to the tearing of wet paper, the blue apple ruptured, spilling its twisted and deformed innards everywhere.

  Dora blanched, recoiling from the sudden destruction of the fruit, but was drawn to the carnage all the same. Like watching a collision between a runaway wagon and a rampaging Armored Rhino. You couldn’t look away!

  “Hang on, are those seeds…” Dora muttered, leaning closer towards the pulp for a better look. The apple’s tiny black seeds had become deformed as well, tiny roots and branches growing from them. They lay in the mush, twitching slightly before stilling. Her face paled as she realized that for a brief moment, the seeds had been alive thanks to the Light mana, and had tried to start growing into trees while still inside the apple! Only to die as the magic sustaining them faded. She looked up at her teacher, who nodded solemnly at her.

  “Light magic can be just as deadly as Dark magic if you’re not careful,” Dramhyda admonished the young Healer. “When you healed Mrs. Gold-Squall, you’re lucky the spell you cast mainly used Time Element mana to facilitate the healing. If there’d been much more Light magic, the same thing that happened to this apple might very well have happened to her, even with Analysis magic and her own accounts of how her anatomy functioned. There’s a reason why Healers, and even mundane doctors, have to spend many years learning and practicing their craft: it’s because healing magic is not a ‘One spell fix all’ sort of deal. It requires understanding and nuance to properly pull off.”

  “So, this is what happens when a person just shoves Light magic into someone else without a care,” Dora muttered in disgust.

  “It is a cruel and painful action. While it can be useful as a last line of defense for a Healer, it should never be intended to be used as such unless no other choice presents itself,” Dramhyda warned. “You wield a crossbow in battle, yes? A decent weapon, but you should try and find another kind of tool to learn how to use, for your own protection.”

  “I think I might have an idea about that,” Dora said slowly, a crazy plan popping into her head.

  “For now, though, I’m here to teach you magic,” Dramhyda reminded Dora, cutting off the half-orc’s thoughts. “Allow me to show you what I want to teach you to do.”

  The orb of water still hovering in her right hand floated over to the ruined mess of the apple. Dozens of hair thin strands of fluid descended from the mass, and began to attach themselves to the pulp and tumorous flesh.

  Before her eyes, Dora watched in awe as the Exarch of Healing Water used the liquids she’d extracted from the fruit earlier to repair the damages she’d done to it. Piece by tiny piece, the apple was repaired. The distorted tumors faded or were expelled, and the seeds shrunk, the branches and roots retreating or shorn off.

  Within a minute, the globe of water was completely gone, and the bright blue apple was completely restored.

  “Good as new!” Dramhyda beamed. “Go on, try it!”

  Dora hesitated but obeyed in the end, picking up the apple her teacher had exploded and subsequently fixed.

  Dora bit into the apple, and succulent juices ran down her chin. Dramhyda smiled at Dora’s expression.
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  “Tastier than the one you healed, right? The Element of Water is the original Healing magic. Before the Element of Light was discovered to be just as good at healing, and easier to use as well, or in realms where Light mana is rarer or barely existent, it is Water that is revered as the Healing Element. Water is life, as the majority of all living things have, in some way, a connection to it. I shall teach you to command this Element as easily as you call upon the Light. When I am done teaching, you will be able to blend both Elements together while healing, and make you capable of regenerating whole limbs without the need for the Restore spell. I shall make you into one of the best Healers Erafore has ever seen.”

  “When do we start?” Dora asked, looking up at Dramhyda with excitement and eagerness burning in her eyes.

  The Water Exarch’s serious expression turned playful. “Now.”

  Chapter 5: All good things come to an end

  “Ha… ha… haaaa… i-is that good enough for now?” Dora asked between gasps for air as she lay on her back. She was floating on the shimmering waters of the lagoon that was attached to the Resort.

  It was dark out, the moons hovering above Dora and shedding their blue glow down upon the world. The Healer simply stared up, bobbing gently in the waves. She recalled the lesson she’d just finished, which was standing on the water while performing surgery with her Light magic. It wasn’t easy, as she had to concentrate on two different spells at once: one to keep her from sinking like a stone into the depths of the water, and the other to heal the fish in her hands.

  ‘At least it wasn’t as bad as the other lesson where I had to catch a fish with my bare hands, then gut it and heal it back up over and over. Gods, that was taxing and nightmarish!’ Dora thought to herself, shivering at the memories of her practical lessons the Exarch had put her through.

  “Yes. You’ve done wonderfully so far,” Dramhyda praised from where she stood atop the water, looking down at the half-orc with a fond smile. “You’re one of the best students I’ve had in awhile. You managed to learn quite a few tricks in only a single day! Well, three days in your reckoning.”