Chereads / The Rise of the Witches / Chapter 3 - Visions and Healers

Chapter 3 - Visions and Healers

I was back in the meadow. The boy, once again, was stood before me, only the sun was still glaring down. I could feel its heat making me sticky with sweat. The boy had the same strange clothes on and still clung to his sword.

Just like before, the sky turned black. Lightening cracked and struck the ground just a few feet away from where we stood. The boy dropped to his knees, same as before. He then looked straight at me before letting out the same loud cry. It felt like my eardrums were shattering. I wanted to cover them. I wanted to run away and hide. I tried to run towards him, to comfort him. I could feel his pain but my legs were stuck. It was like sleep paralysis, unable to move but conscious. He screamed once more...

"And she'll wake up shortly. The wound is completely healed, no permanent physical damage, although she may experience some memory loss. The brain can be a challenging thing to work with, we won't know if there's a problem till she wakes." For the second time today I groggily opened my eyes. They must have moved me at some point as I was now staring at a ceiling in a different room. The voice must have come from beyond the door positioned to the right of my bed.

My long, curly raven hair was sprawled out around my head. I lifted a hand, turning slightly, to feel the back of my head. There was no bump or pain, only dried blood remained. The only proof that I'd actually sustained an injury.

My door opened and in walked the healer Taavi.

"Good, you're awake. That's always a good sign." He let out a nervous chuckle that unsettled me slightly. "Your wound healed easily enough but I want to do a few tests just to make sure there are no lingering symptoms of a concussion and no brain damage." He beamed at me and produced a clipboard from his healer's robes.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions." He stated. For the next ten minutes or so he asked me question after question, everything from my birth date to basic sigils. He then checked to see how my pupils responded to light and a few other tests to see if I had a concussion.

Once he was satisfied that I hadn't withstood any permanent brain damage, he agreed to discharge me and left the room to start the paperwork. I climbed off the bed and pulled my black dress back into position just past my knees. I grabbed my own red robes from the hanger by the door. Each person's robes had a symbol on it depending on what your job or status was. However, you could have any colour your heart desired. In fact it was rather popular amongst the current youths to spell your robes so that they changed colours depending on your mood. It was extremely effective if you were in a bad mood as if someone had black robes, you just knew to stay away. They are prettiest when black though, the enchantment shimmered like tiny stars in the night sky. The Healers had a symbol of two cupped hands holding a flame. I had a book symbol to show my student status, and a tiara, symbolic of my status as the daughter of the high priestess. We are sort of witch royalty around here.

As I grabbed the door handle, nausea and dizziness fled through me like a wave crashing against the shore. My hand found the bed and I steadied myself. Images of the vision flickered through my brain. As quickly as it came, the spell of nausea and dizziness disappeared.

I shook the sense of dread that the memory of the visions had buried deep in my stomach, putting it down to my recent head injury, and pulled open my door. I walked down the tiny corridor back to reception where Kaden and Haniyya were waiting for me.

Taavi had my discharge papers on the desk ready for me to sign. He beamed at me once again and handed me a pen.

"I sent someone to tell your parents you were here." He continued grinning, his smile like warm sunshine, it made you feel at ease." Unfortunately she was busy and couldn't come down but she'd like you to go straight to her at the temple." I finished signing the papers and smiled back at him. Placing my hand on his arm, I thanked Taavi for all his help. I handed back his pen and spun around to look at my friends, worry still present on their faces although you could tell they were trying to hide it.

"Come on you two!" I said cheerily." We need to talk."