- RASOC -
The half-mortal's body was covered from head to toe with what looked like pale translucent scales, even Sarai admitted that she had yet to see a phenomenon like that in any of her healing practices.
"Look." Sarai pointed at the part of the half-mortal's body where the scales seemed to fall off.
"Do you think she feels pain?" Hielgan asked empathetically.
"Not anymore, the anesthetic that Rocky made for her should be numbing the pain across her body." Sarai assured Hielgan with a calming voice.
Rocky smiled at Hielgan as if reaffirming Sarai's words.
Hielgan was more surprised than relieved as he wondered if Rocky had been able to craft potions since the first time they met, or if it was a skill she had acquired in his absence.
"I didn't know you were capable of alchemy." Hielgan started. "Thank you, Rocky."
Rocky nodded at Hielgan.
It was incredible that regardless of her clumsiness, Rocky was capable of making such an intricate potion. With his incredible sense of smell, it was easy for Hielgan to affirm the potency of the numbing agent.
"She might be far from mastering her Sage-craft, but I'm quite sure she is on the right path." Sarai voiced her pride in Rocky.
Hielgan noticed that the bond between the three had been restored, he was happy to know that his actions had not been in vain.
'Just like Sir Garlial's'
The Holy Knight had left for a meeting with the leaders from the guilds that had been affected by the disaster at the docks, he had not even stopped to explain how he had encountered Sarai and the others.
'Perhaps he felt a kinship with them, just as I do with her.'
Hielgan could not understand why he felt connected to the half-mortal he had saved, Sarai had stated that she may have belonged to a race that was related to Hielgan's.
"Look here..." Rocky murmured.
"A tail?!" Hielgan exclaimed.
"This is unexpected." Sarai raised her hand to her chin as she analyzed the half-mortal further. "She has features similar to the Lizardmen unique to the Tearl region."
Hielgan was stunned.
Like him, this half-mortal was one of the rare races left in Morland, it is known that these half-mortals originated from an island far south of Sarst-Gov.
Centuries ago a huge flood sunk their home and thousands of their people into the depths, survivors from this disaster rode on the waves and landed south of Morland.
Unfortunately, the rocky desert and dry plains of Sarst-Gov were not ideal homes for them so they followed the great river and made their way to Tearl where the atmosphere was more humorous and the temperature cooler than the brimming deserts.
"So she was smuggled from Tearl? I thought they are protected?" Hielgan queried.
"Monitored... is the better term." Shaemus stated.
"Monitored? Why?"
Shaemus stopped and gazed at Hielgan with a perplexed look, even Sarai paused for a moment. It seemed as though Hielgan's question was common knowledge to everyone but him.
"The great war of course!" Shaemus grumbled. "Her kind fought on Lazuriel's side and gave Emperor Gherial and his army one of the most difficult battles of his lifetime."
"The perpetual deluge..." Hielgan seemed to come to a realization. "It was them?"
During the great war, the Lizardmortals proved to be a powerful foe against the great Emperor with their powerful water manipulation.
They continuously flooded the armies of the great Emperor until two-thirds of his army remained, and only because Emperor Gherial intervened himself.
The ancient texts in Moriandia seemed to state that Emperor Gherial's victories were a walk in the park, but the witnesses of the time that passed down the true account had more to say about it.
"Emperor Gherial suffered massive losses during that battle, it took the power of a Divinic artifact to stop the Lizardfolk's onslaught." Shaemus explained.
"The Rimefrost Ark, a cube holding the coldest of winters from the beginning of creation." Sarai added. "With the Rimefrost Ark in place, everything form of water was frozen."
With their source of power paralyzed, the Lizardfolk could no longer hold back the armies of Gherial and before long they were run down and nearly wiped off of the map.
"Regardless of their defeat, the Lizardfolk had done their job and held Emperor Gherial in Tearl long enough for Lazuriel to reach them." Shaemus finished.
"So it was the Lizardfolk that made that final battle possible." Hielgan stated with a new realization.
As the two discussed historical events, and how the Lizardfolk later settled in the Tearl region after the war. Sarai continued to treat the half-mortal by applying a soft purple liquid to her skin.
"This should help stiffen the flesh beneath the scales and allow her to molt freely." Sarai explained.
"Molt?" Hielgan asked even more surprised. "I understand the process, but do half-mortals do that?"
"Your kind indeed does not need the process anymore, but the rest of the Lizardfolk undertake the process." Sarai started. "This not only revitalizes the being, but it also improves their natural ability significantly."
"It's a miracle her body is even undertaking such a process in her current state." Sarai added. "A different condition in her growth may have triggered this."
The molting process was a true marvel of the divine's creative wisdom, for all races and creatures that could perform it they gained a significant improvement to their status that if one molted enough, their growth would rival an Echelon growth.
However, in half-mortals, this process had to be triggered by a particular state of being, some aspect of the creature's nature and environment would make this process possible.
"Age, enlightenment, and sickness in this case." Sarai remarked. "For some, it takes three to five years, while the sickness happens when the owner's body is forced to dispel an ailment that threatens their life."
"What of enlightenment?" Shaemus asked curious about the topic.
"Growth of the mind so rare that it would trigger a change in an entire race, but it is something so rare that it would take a lifetime for a half-mortal to achieve." Sarai stated.
"Like an evolution?" Hielgan added.
"Indeed."
Hielgan looked at his mortal-like appearance and compared it to that of the half-mortal lying on his bed, she had a short stubby snout unlike other Lizardfolk with long snouts, her body was shaped like an ordinary mortal and was not hunched over like her reptilian brethren.
Only the distinctness of the scales that covered her flawlessly and the tail lying on the bed beside her betrayed her form.
"Your race is famed for the most evolutions since the dawn of creation Hielgan, it is a marvel you still linger among mortals." Sarai stated.
"Father used to tell me tales about the first divine mortals that came into being during ancient times."
"The Dragon, the Giant, and the Serpent." Sarai replied keenly to the topic." The first fallen children."
Those words reminded Hielgan of tales told of old, stories that had been passed down from around the embers of the night. Legends that were never recorded in ancient texts, but kept in ancient minds.
Blotted out from history are the divine mortals that came before the mortals, and are the true children of the divines whose existence survived through their children and the generations that came after them.
"The wise dragon who descended from his throne in the heavens to live among mortals." Sarai started. "The prideful Serpent who preferred a kingdom in the depths over a place among the mortals."
"What of the giant?" Rocky asked with a low tone from the background.
Rocky's petite stature made it difficult to recognize her presence when she stood among a group of mortals with a more overwhelming demeanor.
"Sadly there was no place for the towering divine mortal among the small things that lay beneath it." Sarai concluded.
Legends claim that the giant fused with the great Mount Oris and became one with Morland.
"Isn't that just a story?" Hielgan asked.
Hielgan recalled the few times that his father had told him about stories of old concerning the great titans, and at the end of each story, his father would whisper in his ear.
'These are but stories.'
Sarai turned to Hielgan.
"Sadly I do not have the answer to that question."
Sarai then proceeded to examine the half-mortal once more, the purple substance she had rubbed across her body had now turned solid. When Sarai touched the solid substance, it cracked and fell off the half-mortal's body together with the infected scales.
"It's begun..." Sarai muttered.
Sarai then beckoned to Rocky who brought another bowl of the purple substance and the two began rubbing the half-mortal with it again.
This process was repeated several times throughout the day until most of the floor was littered with the solid crusts of the substance and the half-mortal's scales.
That evening Sarai and Rocky rested on one of the chairs, Shaemus was sweeping the floor and clearing the solid scales, and Hielgan sat in one of the empty corners facing the bed when they all heard a faint whimper.
"Wa...te."
"What was that?" Shaemus raised his head suddenly.
"It's the half-mortal. She spoke!" Hielgan exclaimed.
Sarai and Rocky jumped from the chair and rushed to the bedside where the half-mortal lay.
"Water..." The half-mortal repeated faintly.
"Water! Quickly Rocky get her some water!"
Rocky rushed to her satchel and unwrapped a waterskin plump with the required liquid, she immediately returned to the bedside and handed the oddly shaped bottle to Sarai.
The half-mortal had been wrapped in bandages in the area where the molting had been completed successfully to prevent the rest of the bad scales from affecting the clean scales.
Sarai received the water from Rocky and proceeded to place the opening to the half-mortal's lips.
A pink slender tongue peeped from the half-mortal's lips and examined the opening before jutting in and scooping some water and slipping it into the half-mortal's mouth.
"More..."
The half-mortal seemed to raise her hand toward the waterskin, but Sarai responded in kind by drooping the bottle further to let the water slowly flow into the half-mortal's mouth.
She drank deeply.
Hielgan and Shaemus stood just behind Sarai as they watched the half-mortal's body slowly get resuscitated by the flow of water.
With a deep sigh, the half-mortal gently pushed the waterskin from her mouth, then her hand suddenly made for her bandaged face.
"Wait!" Sarai's warning came too late as the half-mortal had already pulled the bandages from her face. Brave sniffles followed low whimpers as Sarai acknowledged her mistake. "I forgot to give her more anesthetic."
"It... hurts."
Sarai raised her hand and a green glow filled it, she was using a mild healing spell to suppress the pain with its soothing capabilities.
"There there, you will be alright." Sarai comforted the half-mortal and placed the palm of her hand on her forehead.
When Rocky reached for the bandages, she suddenly paused and beckoned to Sarai.
"What is it, Rocky?"
Rocky pointed at the bandages and when Sarai examined them she noticed a strange pattern on the bandage, then Sarai immediately reached toward the half-mortal's face and gently examined her teary eye face.
"Your face... it's falling off?"