"I have to say, Mrs. Anderson, your son's sudden recovery from such a birth defect can be nothing short of a miracle." Nick's doctor said, looking over a couple of pages in his clip board as Nick and his mom sat in chairs in his office. Or rather, his mother sat in a chair and he sat in his wheelchair.
"But how can that be? There has to be some kind of logical medical explanation for this!" His mother, Faith Anderson, replied.
"Honestly, I can not think of one. Nothing short of a deal with the devil or magic could have done something like this. This kind of defect is not something that can just go away with time, but somehow it fixed itself. Obviously he does not have full mobility, but with the defect out of the way I'm confident he will one day be like any other teenager!" The doctor had a huge smile on his face, he seemed to be genuinely happy for Nick.
Faith was dumbstruck. Neither her or her son were religious or believed in magic, so this did not feel real to either of them. Even less so to Nick, who had an explanation even though it was an extremely unrealistic one. Someone used magic on him in a dream, and now he was actually healed? He couldn't believe it no matter how badly he wanted to, this reality felt more like a dream to him than the actual dream. Both he and his mother were too shocked to even cry at this point, though they did plenty of that earlier that day.
"I am aware this is a lot to process, but this is good news. No matter how it happened, your son will now be able to experience a normal life! With a year of treatment and physical therapy, it will be impossible to even tell he was once paralyzed. Once he is able to walk with a cane, you should even be able to send him to a normal school without much worry." From the way the doctor talked, he seemed more excited than both Nick and Faith combined.
Faith let out a deep sigh, leaning back in her chair as she stared off into space. "How long do you think it will take me to reach the state where I can walk with a cane?" Nick asked, the idea of going to a normal school got his heart racing. Normal friends, a normal school life, normal teachers... It excited him to no end.
"With any luck, you should be able to walk with the assistance of a cane within four to five months. At the latest, probably seven or eight. It is too early to really tell the rate of your recovery, so it could even be earlier than some of our most generous estimates. However, it will take a while for you to build up enough muscle in your legs to actually be able to hold yourself up, cane or not." The doctor smiled warmly.
Nick could feel a tear form, but he didn't let it fall. He had cried way too much in the past ten hours. "It shouldn't be more than a week or two before you are able to move your arms around, so you will soon be able to do stuff like brush your teeth and feed yourself. You should also soon be able to get dressed and get in your chair by yourself. Some day, you wont even need a nurse to check up on you."
This was the first time Nick realized, he would not have any need for Alyssa after he gets full or even partial mobility. Alyssa was over a decade older than him, so it's not like they will be able to stay friends. He was not even sure Alyssa saw him as a friend, probably just more as a patient she had to take care of. Just like how she would be paid to look after another patient once Nick was healed enough to be independent. Alyssa...
He would be losing someone he thought of as a friend, but he would gain so much more. The ability to walk, to dress himself, to go to school and make friends, to play video games, to play sports... But, no matter how much he gains it will hurt to lose someone like Alyssa. She was more than a friend, she was kind of like a big sister for him. Someone who has looked out for him for many years and cared for him.
"Your first physical therapy appointment will be in a couple days, Wednesday at five o'clock." The doctor took a piece of paper and began to write on it, walking over to them and handing it to his mother. "I put all the information on that, if you have any questions or need to change the time or date, call that number." He said, pointing at a phone number on the paper. "I will see you both then."
Faith stood up, walking behind Nick and grabbing on to his wheel chair. "Thank you, Dr. Hartford..." Faith's tone made it sound like she was in a trance, something this shocking being dumped on her was a lot for her to process, even though the news was all good. Nick could tell she was out of it, he knew his mom well enough to know that, even though he did not actually see her much given their circumstances. Hell, even Nick was shocked to a point where none of this felt truly real.
"Hey, mom, you think we can get some fast food? I'm starving and we haven't had any for a couple months." Nick addressing her directly seemed to break her out of her trance like state.
"Oh, yeah honey. We can have whatever you want!" Faith smiled, though Nick could tell it was forced. He knew she was happy for him, overjoyed even, but that smile was fake.
"Anything? Does that mean I can have chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast tomorrow?" Nick was trying his best to brighten the mood some, and it seemed to work as his mothers smile turned from fake to real.
"Yeah, okay, but just don't think it will become a regular thing!"
From the elevator, to the fast food restaurant, to the drive home all Nick could think about was being able to do all of what his mother did by himself one day. It was no longer just a fantasy, a normal life was obtainable. And it was all thanks to... What exactly? A healer in a lucid dream? He couldn't quite wrap his head around the circumstances.
When Nick finally got home it was dark, but it was only eight at night. "Hey, mom, I think I am going to go to bed. I am pretty tired from all that has happened today." It was not entirely a lie, he was pretty exhausted mentally. However, he was curious about what would happen tonight.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, I need some sleep too. Everything that has happened today just feels like a dreamlike blur." Faith was visibly exhausted, Nick couldn't imagine what today was like for her, but he imagined in some way they felt pretty similar. The only difference is his mother had the physical stress on top of the mental exhaustion.
His mother put him in bed, kissing him on the forehead before leaving for her room without a word. It was hard for him to get to sleep, eventually he drifted off after an hour of holding his eyes closed shut. Part of him was afraid, afraid that maybe it was a one time thing, while another part couldn't wait until he could fall asleep. Even if he couldn't make it back to this strange dream world, it had seemingly given him the most amazing gift he could ever ask for... He would just have to wait and see if he could get back.
Nick opened his eyes, looking up at some kind of piece of cloth draped over wooden arches. He was back in the wagon! Judging from the lack of light coming through the cloth, it seemed to be night time. He waited for a few minutes, eventually the flaps of cloth covering the opening of the wagon flipped open as the woman who had treated him before stepped inside. "Oh, what are you doing up? Its only 5:25 a.m. right now. The others wont be up for another hour or so. We planned to set out at 7:00 a.m. at the earliest."
"I could ask you the same." Nick looked over her, it was hard to see in the dark but she was in the same clothes and was holding a blanket. Her hair was also not in a ponytail anymore, which made sense because it wouldn't be comfortable to sleep with a ponytail.
"Oh, it got cold out so i was bringing you another blanket. How are you feeling? Have you regained control of any other limbs?" She asked as she walked over to Nick, unrolling the blanket and draping it over his body.
"No, not yet. But a couple weeks to gain control of the other parts of my body is not much compared to fifteen years of not having control of anything but my head and neck." This was not completely true, all Nick could think about was how it would feel and what he would do once he is able to be a normal teenager.
"A couple of weeks? I did say it would take time but I didn't mean that long." The remark made Nick contort his face is surprise. He looked over to Sylvia to see if she was joking, but her face told him she was completely serious with what she had just said.
"Wait... How long did you mean then?"
"A day or two, with healing magic it should not take that long. It might take a couple more days depending on the extent of the damage caused by your paralysis but with healing magic it should not take that long for you to begin walking." Sylvia smiled warmly, convincing Nick that she was serious and this was not some kind of joke.
But... This is just a dream, right? No matter what happens in this dream it couldn't possibly effect me in real life. Last night was just some weird coincidence caused by having my first lucid dream... Right? Nick didn't quite know what to think at this point, there was so much going on that it was almost too much to properly take in. Especially in such a short period of time.
"Now that you are up, would you like to get a head start? There is no way I will be able to get back to sleep at this point anyway." Sylvia knelt beside Nick, placing her palms on his chest and closing her eyes. Nick could feel energy course through his entire body like an electric shock, though a lot more pleasant than one. Yeah, this has to be a dream.
"I should be able to make it so you can lift your forearms by the time the others wake up. I'm a novice compared to some people at the castle, but I'll be able to do that much at least. I could probably do more if I was just focusing on fixing your paralysis only, but I also have to fix the muscles to some extent to make it so you can actually move the limb once it's fixed." Nick was genuinely impressed, even thought at this point he had once again convinced himself this is just a dream.
"This magic is impressive, where I come from there is no magic. Anything considered magic is either a cheap trick or something that just cant be logically explained yet." Sylvia looked slightly surprised, as if no magic was a completely outlandish claim.
"Where are you from? I have never heard of a land without magic. As far as I know every place on this world should have magic, the same as everyone has the potential to harness magic as long as they are exposed to it and practice it. Such a place would have to be completely and totally closed off from the rest of the magic using world."
"Perhaps some can, but if someone claims to be able to use magic most people just laugh it off and think they are crazy. As for where I am from..." Nick thought for a second, remembering that if he used unusual phrasing to describe his home he might just cause further confusion. "I am from the Kingdom of New Hampshire, which is in the United States of America."
"Oh wow, I have never heard of such a place. It must be incredibly far away and isolated if we have never heard of it and if magic is such a foreign concept. Even the poorest of peasants can harness magic to some extent even though they have never officially studied it." Peasant, that word threw him for a loop until he remembered that this is a land with magic, knights, kings, and castles.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how I got here though. I just kind of woke up in the middle of the forest after going to bed one night."
"Perhaps someone sent you far away with magic? It is not completely impossible but it would be hard to do. Most brilliant mages still have trouble learning transport magic, unable to send objects more than a couple miles. To send a human as far as this mage has seemingly sent you, he must be a true master of transportation magic."
"Man, this magic stuff must really be something in order to be able to teleport objects that far..." The closest thing Nick could relate that magic to was teleportation, which should be impossible. Or at least impossible without incredibly advanced technology.
"I have tried transportation magic, but all I can do is move small objects a couple feet away. Also, you have to be touching the object in order to transport it and it has to be relatively stationary unless you have a talent for it and study it for a long time. It's not as impressive as some people would have you believe, trust me."
"Well, transportation magic would explain how I got here the best seeing as I seemingly just showed up over night."
The rest of their conversation was just small talk and long periods of silence. Nick did a lot of thinking during this time, about the world his mind had created and about the many types of magic he could perhaps see in practice if he continued to have these lucid dreams. He also thought that perhaps he could even do magic if he continued to have this same lucid dream, but he doubted it. He was so lost in thought that he was completely caught off guard by the sudden rush of some kind of feeling through his lower arms. "There, you should be able to move your forearm now."
Nick's eyes went wide as he began to lift his forearm, though he could barely lift it an inch before gravity brought it back down to the ground. "Now I just need to fix the muscles a little bit so you can move your arms freely. It should only take ten minutes. We will have some mages specializing in healing help you out when we get to the castle, they will be able to help you out a lot more than I am able to, you might even be able to use your entire arm by the end of the day."
Nick was dumbstruck, his eyes wide from shock. Hey, this is a dream, right? Right? This is exactly what happened before, does that mean when I wake up I will have use of my arms? That can't possibly be the case. This is just a dream, it can't possibly effect anything in real life...
Nick was broken out of this train of thought by the mention of the possibility of him using his entire arm by the end of the day. "Hey, if you can do that, would it be possible to heal my legs in the same time frame if you had more people using healing magic on me?" Nick asked, hoping deep down that somehow this wasn't just a dream and that these people could completely fix him without him having to go through many weeks of physical therapy.
"Unfortunately, that is not something we can do. Your condition is not life threatening and using so much healing magic on you for such a thing would be considered a waste of resources. Not to mention you have never really experienced magic up close like this before, so there is only so much your body could take. What I am doing right now would be considered excessive, but it's not like I need to be doing anything else at the moment."
Nick was slightly saddened by the news. Though, he was not really expecting much to begin with seeing as he is a complete stranger to these people, dream or not. "I understand..."
Time passed by slowly, Nick could feel strength slowly building up in his arms as time passed and it slowly became brighter outside and inside the wagon. He could also hear people waking up, chatting, and moving things around. After a bit more time passed Sylvia took her hands off of Nick and stood up. "Alright, that is all I will do for now. It's six thirty now so I need to help out or else we might not leave on time."
Nick nodded, as well as he could while laying on his back anyway. He moved his lower arm up and down, completely fascinated by the feeling. He still could not move his arm at any point higher up than the elbow, but this was enough to completely take his breath away on its own. Even if this was just a dream, and the last time was just some kind of strange coincidence, this was enough to make him happy. He would cry if he had not used up all of his tears while he was awake. "Wild..."
The next half hour passed like a flash, Nick's mind was way too busy trying to take in the feeling of being able to move half of his arms for it to properly keep track of time. It was even harder to try to wrap his head around his current situation, even if it is just a dream. Of all the dreams he had ever had nothing like this has ever happened to him before. Nick was brought out of his daze by Sylvia and three soldiers entering the wagon, he recognized two of them from the day before, the two who were in the wagon with Sylvia... The other one he did not know.
"You are the foreigner?" The rather large and imposing man asked. He was covered in heavy plate armor, he had all but his helmet on. His face was rough and scarred, his right eye was completely white, and his hair was gray and white.
"Uh, yeah..." Nick was noticeably shaken by the man's appearance and demeanor.
"We will soon depart for the castle, normally we would not allow a peasant like yourself in unless you were part of the staff or upon a special summons. You are a bit of a special case, seeing as you were found in the woods completely paralyzed and you claim to be from a place so far away we have never heard of it. We are not so evil as to leave you for dead, so we will allow you to be healed at the castle under the condition that you provide us with intelligence about where you are from. If you do not agree to these conditions, we will leave you at the nearest clinic. Understood?"
Nick thought about it for a second, deciding there was no reason not to agree. In his mind, it was not like they could invade his home world or something if they wanted to. Not to mention the technology gap would put them at a severe disadvantage even if they could use magic. Besides, that was the only condition for him to be healed and stay in a castle? It may just be a dream, but as real as all of this felt to him it would be as much like the real thing as he would ever experience.
"Understood." Nick answered, which seemed to please the man.
"When we arrive, you will be brought to the medical ward of the castle and stay there. You may not be able to get up and move right now, but you will be able to soon enough. When you can, you are not to leave unless escorted or face time in the dungeon. Conditions may or may not be subject to change depending on the ruling of the royal family and your actions." The man explained, pausing to see if Nick understood.
After a couple seconds of silent staring at each other, Nick caught on to the social cue. "Oh, uh, I understand..."
"If all goes well, you may even be offered a position as a servant trainee for the valuable intel. I don't think I need to explain what a high honor it is to be offered such a position as a foreigner. However, for the opportunity, your intel would have to be valuable enough to warrant such a reward. If you understand, this is all i have to say on the matter." The man once again paused, staring at Nick.
"Yes, I understand..." It felt to Nick as if the man was staring deep into his very soul.
"Good." Was all the man had to say before leaving, the wagon seemingly rose a few inches as he stepped out.
"Sorry about that, Captain Draper can be a bit intense. But, he has the kingdom's best interests at heart." Nick heard Sylvia say, turning his head to look at her.
"I can see that..."
Sylvia only smiled in reply, though the smile seemed to be a bit forced. He could always tell a fake smile from a real one, having seen a lot of both all of his life. He also knew well that people don't like to be confronted about their fake smiles, so he tried to not pay much attention to it. It did not take long for the wagon to start moving after the man left. The rest of the ride to the castle was very slow and very quiet.
They came to a stop a few times, which is how they knew they were approaching the castle. Sylvia had informed Nick that they were stopping at a series of checkpoints, at one of them a man even poked his head in their wagon. The man was obviously a bit confused as to why there was a man laying flat on the floor of one of the wagons, but did not pay it much mind. Eventually, after a lot of inspection and talking and organizing, they finally stopped the wagons for the last time. "We're here."
"So... How am I supposed to get to the medical ward? I can't exactly walk there on my own." Nick asked, looking towards Sylvia for an answer. Though, all he got was a stifled laugh as she got out of the wagon. Well, that can't be good. Before Nick could even wonder about what the laugh could mean, a familiar man entered the wagon.
Well, this is awkward. Nick was slung over Captain Draper's shoulder, at least it wasn't quite as embarrassing as the princess treatment he got when he first arrived. Thank god this is a dream... I hope. Nick couldn't exactly get a good view of the castle, though he got a great view of the mans armored back.
It didn't take more than ten minutes to reach the medical ward, ten long minutes. Nick has never had a problem with motion sickness, but even he was getting kind of nauseous after ten minutes of steadily bouncing up and down with each step. Nick's limp body was dropped onto a rather firm bed, giving him his first glimpse of the room. It was about what he had expected, a large stone room filled with many beds, some surrounded by a draped white cloth that could be pulled back or closed at the doctor's convenience. "The next time we meet i will be escorting you to where you will give us your payment for the treatment."
Without waiting for a reply, the walking mountain left the room. I bet he would have some amazing stories if he was real. "Hello, Sir." Nick heard a voice say, it was one of the softest and kindest sounding voices he had ever heard. As Nick turned to look at the person speaking to him his eyes almost popped out of his skull.
Yeah, there is no doubt. This has to be a dream, if it wasn't there would be no reason this would actually exist. Though, this is a lot less weird when it is drawn... Nick was staring at something many men would kill to see in real life; a cat woman. Or to be more exact, a woman with no other feline traits other than a tail and ears.
The woman was dressed in a nurse outfit, though not like the one most would think of. It was just white clothing with nothing much that really stood out about it. The woman had purple irises and snow white hair, though she couldn't be any older than him. "Sir?" Her voice broke Nick out of his trance, making him realize he had been staring at her like a complete creep.
"Oh, sorry... I just have never seen anyone like you besides in stories or drawings. Even then it was all fiction, but i guess not completely..." Nick explained, trying his hardest not to blush in embarrassment. Luckily, embarrassment was like a brother to him so it was not hard to suppress the feeling.
"Oh, it is quite alright. Demi-humans are pretty uncommon around here. I'm used to getting looked at, but its usually curiosity or disgust, not shock. I did hear you come from a far away unknown place, untouched by magic even, though I didn't realize that our kind wouldn't exist there."
"Yeah, your kind are a complete fiction to our people. Though, many people love the idea of meeting a girl like you in person."
"I can't say I've ever experienced someone who reacted that way to demi-humans, though I know they exist. Everyone has their 'thing' I suppose." After a brief pause the woman picked up a clip board and a pencil. "Can I get your name?"
"Oh, uh, Nick." The woman began to scribble on the paper, presumably writing down his name.
"Normally I would ask for stuff like date of birth and blood type, but seeing as you come from an isolated society they would likely have different ways of keeping track of dates and labels for types of blood so I will skip over that for now. Can you tell me your age? Assuming you use the same 365 day year we do."
"Oh, yeah, it's the same. I am fifteen years old. You look about the same age, it surprised me."
"Hm? Oh, yeah, I guess you wouldn't know. We develop half as fast as humans. Though, we reach mental maturity at about the same point. So, while my body is that of a seventeen year old human, I have been alive for thirty four years and have the mind of a thirty four year old woman."
"Seventeen?"
"Hey, everyone's body is different." The woman said, obviously annoyed by the remark.
"Sorry. By the way, can I get your name?"
"Katrina." She continued to jot stuff down, eventually putting the clipboard and pencil down. "As I understand from what Sylvia briefly told me, you were born with a deformity in your spine that caused almost complete paralysis and she has recovered you to the point where you can now use your arms from the elbow down. Correct?"
"Yeah, this medical magic is amazing. Where I am from it could fix so many problems..."
"Well, when we figure out exactly where you are from maybe one day you could introduce medical magic to the people there. It is a shame you had never been introduced to magic, though it could also be a blessing you have been before complete maturity."
"Why is that?" Nick asked, his face contorting in mild confusion.
"Oh, well you aren't the first people who have been untouched by magic previously. What was learned is that magic shocks the system of those untouched by magic, however it does not have quite as much of an effect on those under the age of eighteen. If someone under that age is introduced to magic in a high enough amount, it triggers the dormant ability inside of them. However, it is only possible because they are still in development." Katrina explained, which interested Nick.
"Does.. that mean I could learn magic?"
"Sure, though it will take a while for that ability to completely awaken. Even if completely cut off from magic once again, you have been exposed to magic enough that at this point it would just take time for your magic ability to become what it would be for you if you had been born with it. Although, that would be assuming you never actually practiced with it. Anyone can train to increase magic ability even just by using it in daily activity. However, talent does play a large role in what someone will be capable of as far as magic goes."
"This world is amazing." Nick said. Katrina's ear twitched, it was her turn to look confused.
"You say that like we are from different worlds. Maybe in a way we are, but it would be impossible for you to actually be from an entirely different world."
"Yeah, you are right. That would be ridiculous."
"Well, I'll begin the treatment. Being young it shouldn't be too much of a shock to your system to use a bit more magic to accelerate the process. In order to allow you to use your arms completely, we will have to heal more than just your arms. We will have to heal a sizable portion of your torso, and if everything goes well you will be able to use both arms."
"What about my legs? Wouldn't it be better to work on those first so I could walk?"
"Not exactly, the most efficient way to get results is just to work from the chest down at this point. Being able to use your arms should open up your world quite a bit anyway. Besides, it's not like you have anywhere you need to be."
Nick couldn't argue with that logic. The woman put her hands on his chest, he felt what he could only assume was the magic flow into his body. "Please refrain from talking too much during the procedure, it makes it harder to concentrate and slows down the process." Nick took the advice, deciding to not even reply. Though, he realized this was a bit rude to do, but every second counted to him.
Minutes turned into hours, and before he knew it, the sun was going down outside. "Man, this took longer than I thought it would. You should be able to move your arms, though I couldn't do much for the muscles. Or at least as much as I wanted to do. But, you should be able to do pretty much anything with them a normal person could do, I suppose. I should let you rest up for the night, we will continue tomorrow morning."
It almost didn't feel real, being able to use his arms. Though, it also felt completely natural... It was like he had been using them for years. He used them to do minor things without even thinking about it, even though it has barely been an hour since he gained the ability to move his arms. "Thank you for this, I really appreciate the help." Nick said, looking over to her.
"Just get some rest, tomorrow is going to be a long day for both of us if we want to give you use of your entire upper body." With that, Katrina left. A couple days ago Nick couldn't even imagine being able to move a finger, and now he would soon be able to move his entire upper body. Even if it was just a dream, even his reality was promising. I wonder what time it is. They seem to have some way to tell, but it's not like they have clocks... Do they?
Nick sighed and closed his eyes, trying to sleep. How do you wake up from a lucid dream? Do you force your eyes open somehow? Do you try to fall asleep inside the dream to wake up in real life? Do you just have to wait? I have been in this dream for what feels like a really long time...