Mir and Murray simultaneously came to the decision to not reveal the matter to the rest of the family. Check-ups and following medical services would cost an arm and a leg, and their parents weren't doing well financially these days.
If Murray's method worked out for Mir's sickness, it would be better to not make them worry so much in the first place.
Mir's bedroom was on the second floor, adjacent to his siblings' rooms. It was the smallest one, but he preferred it that way.
He weighed the small package Murray had handed him a minute ago in his hands.
"A book?"
It was pretty light. Much lighter than his textbooks.
Mir tore the wrapping and found himself holding a thin, red diary, bound by luxurious leather covers. On its front, the sigil of the Church of Sunbreaker had been carved on the leather. This was the same sigil on Murray's new uniform- a palm crushing a ball of light.
Lord Sunbreaker. This was the cosmic Architect this church worshipped; or more accurately, one of his forms. Before the advent of the sun's curse, this church existed in obscurity. But now, Sunbreaker's worshippers outstripped many of the ancient, orthodox religions on the planet both in terms of number and zeal.
Mir opened the diary. No introductions, no printed pages praising the lord. It seemed like an unofficial creation, something that a bored but not overly religious official would make.
The diary contained fifty pages, a rough count told him. On the back, a number had been stamped on the leather.
1-99
"A date? Or A serial number?" Mir couldn't tell. It could be the 99th day of the year this diary was created, or maybe someone had made 98 other diaries, at least.
"It's an identification serial," Murray said from behind. Mir turned to look at him, unimpressed.
"You know, I'm not sure how this is of any benefit to me. I don't have a habit of keeping diaries, and I'm not gonna start at the age of seventeen."
Murray seemed to have been expecting it. He nodded and said, "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but the identification serial in Church is used to keep track of objects with supernatural characteristics that the church has managed to collect so far from the surface, especially from the taboo zones."
Mir froze. He had to fight the instinctive urge to throw the diary away from himself at the fastest speed. Supernatural objects collected from the surface? Any law enforcer had the authority to kill when pursuing someone holding those artifacts!
Even if the law enforcer didn't kill you, the artifact in your possession might!
And death wasn't even the worst outcome when it came to the myths surrounding sacred artifacts. Mir had seen too many news of young, ambitious kids stumbling upon such artifacts in one of their expeditions outside the city, and such developments never ended well for them. Censored images, brutal descriptions, all kinds of horrors jumped to the forefront of his thoughts.
"This artifact is indeed for you," Murray said, obviously able to read his face. "I rented it from the church. If it's of any use to you, I'll just file an application to use it as a permanent personal tool. No laws were broken, relax."
Despite his misgivings, Mir kept the diary in his hands. If Murray thought this artifact could be useful, it probably wasn't anything particularly dangerous. The Church wouldn't be stupid enough to rent out something too destructive to a trainee Deacon either.
"What does this do? What's the gimmick?" he asked cautiously.
"Gimmick? How dare you, ignorant sheep!" Murray shouted dramatically, eyes wide in mock fury.
"This artifact has been graced with the touch of the lord, forming a divine connection beyond mortal perception! Fool, it is a sacred treasure. Where is your respect?"
"You wrapped that sacred treasure with dirty newspaper. The article on it was about male genitalia hygiene."
"...Does the lord not love cleanliness? What are you trying to imply, simpleton?"
"Quit trying to cheer me up. What does this do? Are you so confident that it'll work?" Mir was amused, but not enough to forget his looming death.
Murray sighed and threw the diary back at him casually.
"If you write something in it, the diary makes it real."
"Wow, the church is renting out the power of god to its new recruits?"
Mir's frustration got the better of him. His voice rose an octave as grabbed a pen from nearby and opened the diary, prepared to write.
"Shall I write...five Billion units in our bank account?"
"That won't do anything," Murray snorted, scratching his head. "That was my first thought too when I read its description. The diary indeed makes the words written on it come true, but there are some conditions."
"Would it have cost you something to say all of them in one go?"
"Firstly, the diary cannot directly manifest material objects in the real world. So you can't write that you have tons of money, or another mythical artifact, or good results in your exams."
"Useless!"
"Secondly, the diary only works on the writer. So if you write something in it, it will only affect you, not anyone else. You could write that nobody in the world can play that shitty online game you've been hiding in your data terminal, since that's not technically a materialistic wish. But this wouldn't work on anyone except you. So as a result, you'd become the only one who cannot play that game."
"Now wait a damn second-"
"Thirdly, the effect of the diary is not permanent, nor omnipotent. Regardless of whatever changes you implement using this artifact, everything will return to normal within a while. The extent of time the effects stay on you depends on the scale of changes. For example, you can write that you'll study 15 hours tomorrow. If you originally don't want to study at all and your heart feels averse to studying tomorrow, the diary cannot make you study fifteen full hours. But it'll still force you to study, the number of hours depending on how hard you resist the change.
"Again, let's say you oversleep tomorrow. You won't get the opportunity to study 15 hours in that case. So the diary can only make you study the remaining hours and its effects will be lost as soon as the day ends."
"But how are any of these things going to help me?!" Mir asked. Murray answered quickly, sensing his rising tension.
"All actions need fuel, a driving force. For the diary to work on you, it will need to feed on the virus infecting your cells. This artifact is practically a purification tool, pretty common in Sunbreaker's Church, but rarely so low-grade in terms of power. Every wish you make in the diary will slightly reduce the extent of infection in your cells by neutralizing the virus. Even if we resort to a more scientific medical treatment, the effect won't be any better than this."
Seeing Mir's shocked face, Murray clapped his palms together, smiling smugly.
"I had to go through a lot of trouble to bring this out of the Church. Originally I wanted to keep it to myself for future expeditions to unexplored taboo zones. But you need this more than me. Use it as frequently as you can. And don't blindly try to experiment. I'll design the wishes you make in the diary to make sure you don't screw up. Now, for the first wish, write that you're going to study the entire night with utmost sincerity and focus!"