Reina opened her eyes and blinked at the ceiling, recalling the time spent being carried in Lily's arms as she ran for hours, the city of Acacia had been in the horizon before she finally succumbed to darkness.
"Am I dead?"
[Surprisingly, no]
Reina sat up, or tried to before hissing in pain as her body screamed in pain at her to stop. Settling back down in the pillows, she sighed softly. Noticing her limbs felt oddly stiff, she glanced over her body and saw that she was wearing a fresh set of clothes, and her arms and legs were completely wrapped in bandages.
"I don't think dead people feel pain"
[.....no they don't] Reina got the vague impression that Shadow wanted to hit her.
[By the way, now that you're finally up I have good news and bad news for you]
Reina closed her eyes, "...good news first please"
Shadow attempted its best impression of being happy for her [Congratulations Reina! Making the stupidest decision on earth and trying to drag both of us to hell has resulted in you in becoming a 5th level Lightning Spiritual Master, all the way up from a 1st level Spiritual Apprentice!]
"Ah, that is good news.." Though she left her water and dark elements in the dust which was a bit troublesome.... In this world one could say that all life strove towards achieving harmony with themselves and everything around them. This goes double for practitioners like herself, in order to fully reap the benefits that being a spiritual master rewarded, her body needed to be in harmony with itself. Seeing as how her lightning element was at the rank of spiritual master while everything else was still at the rank of spiritual apprentice, the power of her lightning would be strong while her body would remain that of a spiritual apprentice until both the dark and water elements were cultivated to match the lightning element.
[As for the bad news, well let's just wait for a minute!]
"Okay?..."
"You know Shadow, your attempt at expressing emotion is really creepy -GYAH" Reina's speech was interrupted as she felt the familiar burning sensation of lightning arcing throughout her body. Her sore body seized up in pain as she tried to endure it, mercifully the pain stopped after a few more seconds. Panting, Reina asked Shadow "That....why?!"
[Well, the avoid any misunderstandings, you did empty out all of your spirit energy at the end of your fight which was the right thing to do. But it seems like capturing the lightning in the first place left quite the impact on both you and the lightning. To put it simply, when attempting to tame the lightning bolt that entered your body, you seem to have fused with a piece of its essence....You're part lightning bolt now]
"I'm.....what?!"
[Don't take it too hard, after all with me here you weren't fully human to begin with]
Reina didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "If I'm part lightning bolt why is it still hurting me?!"
[Hmm, maybe because you're not used to it yet? Take some time to meditate after you recover, if you familiarize yourself with piece of lightning it will be a great boon to you. You won't need to climb up trees and get struck by lightning to enter that previous state after all, though it will still kill you if you try].
Reina sighed once again, returning her gaze to the ceiling as the boredom began to set in. She just woke up after who knows how long, so she refused to go back to sleep. Taking a deep breath she dragged her legs off the bed, every inch crying in pain, and stood up.
The floor rushed to meet her face as she crumpled as soon as she stood up, she let out a miserable cry as she lay in a heap, giving up on the idea of moving any more. Luckily the commotion she caused prompted the doctor to come check on her as she felt the footsteps rushing to her room.
Seconds later the door was thrown open and Lily came into view, rather her feet did. Lily picked her up and gently placed her back on the bed "Silly girl, what were you thinking trying to get out of bed in your state?"
Reina looked up at her, stunned at the gentle tone she was using. Over the past couple days whenever she spoke to Lily it looked like the woman was enduring a headache, and when she wasn't she looked at her like a bothersome pest. Whenever she could get her to speak, the words were always cold and short.
Reina reached out to her face and gently pinched the others face, "Ah, you're real?"
Lily gently squeezed the hands on her face and noticed her wince in pain. "I'll be right back".
Reina scarcely had time to appreciate this new kind version of Lily before she rushed out of the room. Patiently sitting on the edge of the bed, she waited for her to return.
It didn't take much waiting before she heard a rather distressed male voice ringing out that was rapidly getting closer.
"Hey Lily! Calm down I'm going alright?! I have to carry my tools as we- what are you doing?! put me down right now!" The door swung open with a bang as the body of a young man hurtled into the room and skid across the floor before slamming face first into the wall. Lily followed right after, the familiar face of indifference gazed at her handiwork before walking over to drag him up. "Check her."
"I got it, I don't need you manhandling me to do my job" the man retorted, the youthful tone surprising Reina, wasn't he the doctor? He looked the same age as her! Looking at her, the man introduced himself. "My name is William Gingko, and I'm the medical assistant here" smiling at Reina, he continued, "My master is out on business right now, so I'm the one who has been caring for you. I'm glad to see you awake, when your sister brought you to me you were..... well, let's just say you weren't looking good." The last sentence he spoke came out in a rush as Lily's icy glare landed on him. With a slightly pale face he said "Anyways, I'm going to check on your insides, they were burned quite badly when you first got here."
William placed his palm on Reina's head and she felt a wisp of spiritual energy enter her body, exploring every inch before finally dissipating. "Hmm, everything is whole and healthy. Honestly I wasn't sure how you were still breathing before....." Reina could only laugh in response, wincing in pain. Noticing this, William said "Everything hurts right? Don't worry, I have ointment that will sooth the pain and heal your body, just need to stri-" William stopped as he felt the air drop to freezing levels, without looking at the other party, he stuffed the ointment into Lily's hands and briskly walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Lily's face softened once again as she looked at Reina, who felt rather strange at the blatant difference in treatment towards herself.
"You heard him, strip"
Reina coughed in embarrassment as she tugged at her clothes, trying her best not to make eye contact. The first things off were the bandages, revealing her hands that were burnt black, the damage traveling up her arms along her veins. Her legs were in a similar state as Reina stared at them in despair.
"Don't worry, the burns will disappear in time." Lily's soothing voice resounded in her ears as Reina glanced over with a smile. "Now clothes, off".