(GRAPHIC WARNING)

This chapter has scenes depicting the healing of an individual who becomes mutilated—blood, gore, and trauma warning.

(GRAPHIC WARNING)

Lee ran after the departing Annalise. When she moved, she took giant leaping strides that carried her several paces—almost floating and skimming the ground. They were headed toward the village hall, and all noticed their quick travel. Heads turned, and other adventurers followed after, sensing the emergency.

Annalise barreled through the growing crowd and cleared a path for Lee to get through. Lee wasn’t quick on his feet, but his title, Miracle Worker, was showing its effects—increasing his speed of movement toward those in need.

Once inside, Lee frantically looked around the room for Annalise, spotting her by a nearby doorway. He ran up to the door to go in but was stopped by an immovable grip. Lee swung his head to meet Annalise’s eyes, and hers were hard, with a glint of worry. “Wait. Before you go inside, know that it is gruesome. Do what you can.”

She released her grip as Lee heard a piercing, frantic, ungodly wail behind the closed door. Lee steeled his will, opened the door, and walked in.

Inside, a host of people were crowding around a single area. Lee barked out. “Move! I’m a healer!”

Several adventurers moved aside and opened up a path as Lee kept talking---pushing himself forward as he spoke. “Clear some space!”

Once Lee got to the center of the crowded room, his heart dropped. On a rickety wooden table lay a rugged man in his thirties. His armor and shirt were torn off and thrown to the side of the room. The entirety of the man’s left arm, from his fingers to his shoulder, was stone. In the few seconds in which Lee had gotten a good look, he could see the stone encroaching past the shoulder and onto the man’s chest. The man was flailing on the table, held down by who Lee assumed was his party. With wild eyes, the man screamed incoherent bloody murder.

Then, when he thought he had evaluated everything, in the corner of his eye, lying up against a nearby wall, he spotted a young woman. She was slumped over, unconscious, with her hair covering her face, but Lee saw what he needed. Both of her legs and arms were stone, immovable. Nobody was crowding her, as she was all but forgotten by her lonesome at the side.

First things first, Lee needed to know what happened. He snapped his fingers toward a woman in her mid-twenties wearing leather armor, holding down the man on the table’s legs. “What happened? I need information!”

The woman began to stutter, unable to find words. Another man, similar in appearance to the man on the table, spoke hurriedly in her stead. “A new monster—Some dog thing. Large and bulky. We didn’t even fight it. The damn thing ran away almost immediately. We don’t know what happened!” The man finished, slamming his hand onto the table.

Lee touched the man on the table’s chest and waited for his Healer’s Touch to work its magic.

After a few seconds of waiting, nothing happened.

Lee immediately used Medical Attention and, for the first time, saw something he wasn’t equipped to deal with.

He spared a look toward the slumped woman, and to his surprise, she was still alive.

Lee read through the diagnosis, then yelled out for everyone to hear. “Petrification. It’s like a magical curse.”

Lee only had one way to cure this petrification, and it had a one-day cooldown. His Miraculous Return could return anyone to their peak condition, which Lee assumed would mean curing them. He quickly glanced at the woman left to turn to stone and made a decisive call. From what he could guess, she was deemed 'unsavable' with the context clues he had gathered.

Not on his watch.

He used Miraculous Return on her, teleporting her directly in front of him. She started to freefall, as she was unconscious, but Lee caught her quickly and set her back down in her original spot.

“I can only do that once per day! So, we need someone who can break curses for the other!” Lee twisted and turned, scanning the room. All the others looked at one another, and after a few seconds, Lee assumed the worst.

If he couldn’t cure the petrification, this man would die. He’d only been in the room a scant few seconds, but the curse was now spreading onto the man’s chest. Actions needed to be taken now.

Lee closed his eyes as a solution came to his mind. It was barbaric, but perhaps it would work. Lee scanned the man’s party and locked eyes with the man who had spoken before. He had a large two-sided battle axe, which hopefully meant he was strong. He had slammed the table hard, but he would need to really show his strength for what Lee had planned. He would also need to be skilled and have the will to do what would be asked of him.

Lee glanced down at the growing petrification and estimated he had about two minutes before it reached the heart. By that time, it would be over.

“Everyone but this man’s party clear the room…” Lee said, voice raised.

Everyone stilled, and nobody moved. Lee turned and screamed. “NOW!”

People shuffled out of the room, leaving Lee alone with the frantic screaming patient, the man with the battle axe, the woman holding down the legs, and an older gentleman, who sat down with his head buried in the cured woman’s form, tears of relief flowing freely.

Lee spoke swiftly and tried his best to get the direness of the situation drilled into their heads. “I cannot cure the petrification again, but I can heal flesh and bone. We have less than two minutes before the petrification spreads to his heart, at which point he will more than likely die.”

Lee pointed a slightly shaky finger at the man with the battle axe but spoke with conviction. “What I’m going to ask you to do is barbaric, but it is the only way I can think of to save your friend’s life. I need you to chop off the stone.”

The battle axe man slowly closed his eyes and shook minutely. He was collecting himself after hearing what must be done. “But… Edgar…”

Lee left him to collect himself. It was up to him if his friend lived or died. Lee tried to speak to the man who was either about to die or have one hell of a tale ahead of him. “Edgar. EDGAR! Can you hear me!?”

Edgar, or who Lee had assumed to be Edgar, simply screamed incoherently. Lee gave up on communication and spoke to the woman holding the kicking legs. “I need consent! As his party member, I ask you for permission to do this. We need to chop off his arm and part of his chest. I can heal it back, I... I promise you that.”

The woman stared at him, mouth fruitlessly opening and closing in shock and panic. The older gentlemen spoke up with a voice full of grief, relief, and an undercurrent of being resolute. “Do it. Do what you must.”

Lee nodded and stared meaningfully at the man with the battle axe. “I don’t have the strength to do what must be done. You’re the one who needs to do the dirty work. Time is of the essence.”

Lee did his best to show the man where and at what angle he should cut to avoid Edgar’s heart. He gave an inch gap between the petrified parts and the rest of his healthy body, hoping it wouldn’t continue to spread once the parts were gone.

The man drew his battle axe over his back with a single arm and looked down at his friend with an emotion that Lee couldn’t describe. It was part sad, sorrowful, grief-stricken, resolute, caring, and loving---A whole host of bubbling and broiling emotions. Lee gave the man a nod and readied himself to cast Mend Wounds as soon as the blow was struck.

The man held the battle axe aloft but spoke over Edgar's screaming before sending forth his massive swing. “Edgar is a full constitution build. It will take multiple blows…”

Lee only had a second to imagine what would occur but nodded his understanding. This would be the worst thing he’s ever seen in his life. Deep down, he knew this was the only way for Edgar to live, but this would scar him and Edgar for the rest of their lives.

The man held his battle axe overhead and cried out as he heaved his massive weapon down onto his friend. “AAARRRGGHHH”

Lee watched as the battle axe sank a few inches into his indicated line. A sickening squelching was the result. Edgar's body was forced into the table from the powerful blow, and a wailing cry of pain erupted from Edgar, but he was soon quieted when the man ripped his axe out of his dear friend---falling unconscious.

He swung again.

This time, he severed bones. Lee heard it clear as day in the semi-silent room. Another sickening squelch of flesh, bone, and blood was heard as the battle axe was lifted for its third swing. Blood trailing in its wake.

Thankfully, the third swing did its job. A chunk of Edgar’s shoulder and everything connected to it fell to the floor and thumped loudly against the floorboards. Lee got to see, up close and personal, the inside of a man’s chest.

So much blood… It just… doesn’t stop…

A river of blood poured out of the gaping wound as Lee got a brief glance at a beating heart. He let loose his spell, over and over again. It only cost him seven mana to heal a hundred health, thanks to his class perks and title, but with his earlier experiments, he only had enough mana to cast the spell seven times. He didn’t stop to check if all seven were needed; he just spamcast his spell until he was dry.

When he was finished, the room was silent. On the table, Edgar lay limp, looking hale and whole. Lee used Medical Attention again to check his condition, just to be sure.

Lee let loose a shuddering breath as he walked to a nearby wall to steady himself. With his back against the wall, he slowly slid down to the floor. He crossed his arms over his knees and rested his head on them. “It’s done. He’s alive and cured.”

The man unceremoniously dropped his battle axe to the floor, letting loose a painfully loud clang, and shakily left the room. The older gentleman sobbed into the first woman he cured, and the woman who held down Edgar’s legs collapsed and started vomiting onto the blood-soaked floor.

I can’t stay here.

That was the first thought that came into Lee’s mind. Lee got up and slowly left the room without another word. Outside, a horde of adventurers and village folk waited with bated breath to hear the news, but Lee ignored them. Completely numb and in shock, he pushed through the crowd until he was outside the building.

Em saw him exit and scuttled over to him, pushing aside others who crowded Lee or got in her way. Her face was full of concern, but she didn’t say anything as she inspected him head to toe. She spoke a single sentence. “Are you okay?”

Lee shook his head and stumbled past her, aiming toward their camp. She followed behind him, silent but watchful, as he made his way through the village.

Once at camp, Lee collapsed into a numb heap on the ground and started vomiting bile. His mind replayed the gaping wound. All of the muscle, bones, organs, and gushing blood---over and over again, unable to let him forget it.

You caused that.

You weren’t good enough.

He might have been better off dead.

Lee crawled across the ground till he got on top of his furs, then lay there. The scene replayed over and over again in his head until he sobbed himself asleep