Donis's eyes opened, a wooden ceiling greeting his bleary vision. Everything hurt. His eyes, his legs, and everything in between was in agony. Even his mind felt a little slow, disoriented as if he has been sleeping for far too long.
After adjusting his eyes somewhat, Donis forced his head to move around so he could look and try to understand where he is. This wasn't the desert dunes just outside Baoruin. To his right he could see an empty chair, and a wooden bedside table.
He was in a wide room, with light furnishing around him, a window to his left. It was somewhat empty, furnished by a table and a chair near the door which was on the opposite side of the room. Looking out the window, he noticed it was still day time. Seeing the sun, he figured he wasn't out for very long.
Donis tried to sit up, but he felt something was off. Trying to prop himself up, his right arm wouldn't respond. He brought his attention to the now bandaged stub that had taken over the spot where his arm normally resided. Donis's mind went blank, a sense of absurdity overtook his thoughts.
'System, am I hallucinating right now? Is my arm gone?' he thought.
-You're not hallucinating, and your arms is gone. The Sandracon ended up tearing your arm at the shoulder. You felt nothing because you were under the effects of adrenaline and Striga knocked you out.-
Donis took a very deep breath in, held it for a second longer, and exhaled. This wasn't the time to lose his mind over the fact that he fucked up again. Another mistake that got covered by someone stronger than him.
He had finally sat up properly, but his head still hung low.
'Why am I always being protected by them. Why am I not strong enough to protect them? I've spent my whole life learning magic and how to fucking use it. What's stopping me?'
Donis was trying to achieve some sort of revelation, hoping that the answer might just come to him. No such luck arrived though. He still held onto the hope that the answer will just plop into his lap any day now, but he wouldn't bet his life on it.
He sat there mulling over his entire life. The decisions he made, the choices in skills, the view he's had on the world he's living in. Tears fell down his cheeks. His arm was gone, he nearly died, and he was still that weak little boy that got kidnapped.
He didn't know how to react right now. He wants to be calm, but the sensation of missing an arm threw him off. He kept replaying the battle in his head, finding all the things he could have done better, or made different decisions. The tears fell harder and harder, but he was no closer to any sort of answer.
Giving up on the thought after a while, Donis tried his luck at standing, and what did he know. It hurt. A lot. He had ran for his literal life, probably lost a lot of blood, and cast spells nonstop. He was exhausted and excusing his own excuses, felt like he deserved a break.
He walked slowly across the carpeted room. There was a table and a chair that he used to counterbalance himself as he made his way across. Still weary, he made it to the door, pushed it open, and saw that Striga and some unknown looking man was sitting with her talking leisurely about something that he couldn't make out.
Noticing the door opening, the blonde young man immediately stood up. He was a little shorter than Striga, and he was definitely outclassed by Strigas build and ferocious appearance. The man was thin, and weak looking to Donis, but he was covered in light pastel coloured garbs that ranged from cyan to off-white gold.
'A healer, definitely,' thought Donis.
The mans face was square but rounded out, with deep blue eyes and a weaker looking nose. He was a handsome man, definitely, but something threw Donis off about his look. He didn't get what, but it was definitely something.
"Ah sir, you shouldn't be awake nor should you be moving around, I say! But I must ask you, though. Are you feeling alright?" asked the blonde man with a far too much worry in his voice.
[Name: Hock Youblo]
[Age: 35]
[Level 33][22% EXP]
[Mana State: Essence]
[Health: 1,185]
[Mana: 2,110]
[Occupation: Healer of Baoruin]
[Strength: 22]
[Perception: 33]
[Agility: 15]
[Intelligence: 34]
[Title: Greedy, Healing Touch]
"H..hey," was all that Donis was able to squeak out. His voice was strained and he found it surprisingly difficult to actually speak. His chest felt like it was caving in with every breath.
"Oh my god Donis you're awake! C'mere to me lad!" said Striga as she slapped the chair she was sitting on to the side of the room.
A tight, but gentle hug enveloped Donis. Her arms felt powerful, and her warmth closed in around him. His mind was surprisingly blank right now.
He didn't even notice, but his tears began falling again. His cheeks were far too warm, and the tears felt cool streaking across his cheeks. He started laughing lightly in her embrace, noticing that the tears themselves tickled him.
"Why are you laughing lad? Is everything okay with the noggin up there?" said Striga with a pained smile on her face.
"I.. I'm so sorry I fucked up," Donis spoke softly.
"It's okay, it's okay. You're safe," whispered back Striga.
Hock stood on the sidelines, being entirely ignored by the duo. Uncertain as to what to do, he sat down loudly on the chairs. Striga noticing his existence once again, decided to introduce them, hopefully to distract Donis for even a moment.
"Donis, meet Hock. He's a local healer, and he says he has some good news for us," she said as she broke the hug.
"Hello there chap. I may or may not have the resources to procure your lost arm, friend. How does that sound?" he said with a jovial expression.
"That sounds amazing, what do we need to do?" Donis beamed back, life returning to his eyes for a second.
"Haha, you sound better already. It's simple. You either pay for a [Greater Limb Restoration Potion] or you get a High Priest to heal you. The closest High Priest is, sadly, 2 months travel away. Unless of course you know anyone who has one of those teleportation spells. What I can help you with though, is the potion," said Hock, as he pulled out a purple-black potion from his ring storage.
[Greater Limb Restoration Potion]
Requires: Corpse Flower Root, Erazose Petals, Krauul Blood, Etheric Water Dilute, Rosewater.
Effect: Restores lost limbs. Consumes all of the targets stamina for the required duration. 1 Day/limb.
Donis cast [True Inspection] the moment the bottle came out, and true to it's name, it wasn't a fake. Even with his [Alchemy] and [Botany] knowledge he wasn't any closer to knowing what any of these ingredients cost, let alone what they even looked like. The insane amounts of knowledge required for it outshined what anyone could explain when talking about [Alchemy].
"Alright alright, how much time do we have before the injury isn't heal-able anymore?" chimed in Striga.
"You have about 6 to 8 weeks before the body creates scar tissue that will be permanent. Even with healing magic, or potions, we'd be able to restore the stump to it's peak condition. Though it will stay as a stump I might remind you," said Hock, with hints of a smile peaking through that facade.
"Donis, what do you think? Do you wanna chance going to a High Priest? I hear they'll do healings for free, but it might be quite close. We could leave right now," said Striga as she knelt down to look up at Donis.
"I also may add that the fact you fed him the Greater Healing potion, and threw some onto his stub, which was actually a genius way to stop the bleeding. He, at best, has 3 weeks to get seen by one, though," said Hock, the smile disappearing.
"Ho.. how much is it?" said Donis with a laboured breath.
"5,500 Erzi," said Hock with eyes that knew it had it's prey locked in.
"Oh sure, that's fine," said Donis, clearly at ease. He expected a far more insane sum, but this was somewhat understandable. A potion made to regrow body parts was incredible, the ingredients must be rare as hell.
"If you don't have the funds, I actually have a contract on m-" said Hock, suddenly stopping when his brain caught up with what the kid in his eyes just said.
"WHAT? That's not fine Donis? Where are we going to get that sort of money?" quickly interjected Striga.
"Uh, I'm an [Alchemist] in my town. I have Erzi in my storage. Here, the 5,500 Erzi, sir Hock," said Donis as he handed the healer a pouch of golden coins.
"Uh.. here.. you.. go?" said Hock as he slowly handed Donis the potion. He quickly spilled the coins on the table and began counting them. Donis wasted no such time and decided to quickly grab all the food that was on the table in front of him. It looked like Striga and Hock were in the middle of a meal to try and assess his situation.
He didn't care. He knew he'd be out for a day, and he'd be hungry when he woke up. Might as well eat now and be able to function when he'd be awake. At least that's what he assumed "uses up all the stamina" means.
Hock left the two after triple counting the Erzi, still confused though. Striga sat by Donis, who was now laying back in the bed.
"When I'm awake, explain to me what happened, I want to hear everything, but I also want my arm back," laughed Donis, as he uncorked the bottle.
"Sure, sure, I'll tell you everything, but first, go get your arm back you idiot," she said as Donis drank the entire bottle in one go.
As soon as the contents of the bottle entered his body, Donis was out cold. Though his body was asleep, his mind was taken somewhere else.
-Donis, a corrupt memory is trying to resurface. Will I force it, and show it to you?-