14 - Recovery

Posted on Thu May 16th, 2024 @ 5:49am by Dungeon Master Sue Donym

1,776 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Chapter 4 - Apprentice
Location: New New York
Timeline: 2090

It was dark. So dark that she thought that she had died again. Then the pain hit her. Searing pain in her lower abdomen and left hip and thigh, causing her to try to curl up into a ball and wanted to throw up from how much it hurt. At least she knew she was still alive. Now she just needed to figure out where she was. It was hard to get her senses to register anything though. It was like she was floating in the void. She could barely feel anything at all and it was hard to move. For a while she thought she could hear something, but then it faded and soon she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Eventually, she woke up again but this time, she was in her own bed. Becca was in a chair beside her. Light came streaming in through the window. There was a cup of herbal tea on her nightstand. She tried to sit up, but pain coursed through her - not as bad as previously, but it was bad enough to make her think twice about getting up.

“How long...” she croaked out, finally fully awake.

The smile that graced Becca’s android features looked as genuine as could be as she helped her mistress sit up enough to drink her tea. “It has been nine days. I have seen you perform many amazing feats, however your inability to quickly recover from this incident was worrisome to all involved.”

After getting a sip of tea in her, Aurelia was starting to already feel a lot better and was able to start weaving some minor healing spells inside of herself. She wasn’t sure how bad off she was or how much they had healed her, but judging by how much she hurt, she figured that anyone else would likely be dead.

With a weak smile, she tried to reassure her assistant. “I guess I messed up, didn’t I? Thank you for taking care of me. What happened while I was out?”

“It was determined from the debris that it was the corporation that usually handles modifications to the council’s tech that was responsible for the attack. Lucious is grateful beyond measure that you saved the cartel from the embarrassment of the items being stolen out from us. He came out here personally to oversee the transfer of the artifacts to a vault deep under this very building. He has also spared no expense on your recovery and has visited you several times.” Becca paused in her report and looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing. “Would you like me to notify him that you’ve awakened?”

Aurelia chuckled softly at the thought of the Crimson King worrying over her. Was it genuinely for her, or was it because she was a valuable asset? Only one way to find out. “Yeah, let him know and see if he has time to see me. I’d like to talk with him about a few things.” In the end, she just wanted to see him again more than anything.

“I will do so at the earliest opportunity.” Becca seemed a bit relieved and made a few notes on her datapad.

“What about Ryder and Ember? Are they ok?”

“They are. They have been getting along quite well. On top of that, Ember’s appetite seems to have begun to level off. She has also taken to heart your lessons on magic.” Becca actually made a sound like a chuckle as she continued. “Their relationship has progressed to something resembling intimacy and she’s figured out how to heal her bites so I’ve focussed more on your recovery than on their dalliances.”

“Thank goodness. You know, I don’t think I could have asked for a better assistant. Thank you, Becca. In the short time we’ve known each other, you have been indispensable. You’ve literally saved my life now. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, you only have to name it.”

“Thank you, Lady Luna. I am happy to be of service.”

The red headed sorceress stretched a bit, checking to see how far her healing spells had gotten. Far enough it seemed. “Help me up so we can get something a bit more done.” Not taking no for an answer, she tossed her legs out of bed and leaned on Becca as she forced herself to her feet.

“Mistress, I must protest...” the android began, but was quickly cut off.

“Sorry, but nine days? That’s time I can’t afford to have wasted.” Now on her feet, she could feel the stiffness and weakness trying to drag her back down, but she fought it as hard as she could. “Bathroom first. I have something in the medicine cabinet that will help.”

With Becca’s help, she made it to the bathroom sink and got the medicine cabinet open. She even got her emergency mana drink open without too much help. “Remind me not to use hard to open bottles from now on,” she muttered before downing the elixir. It only took a few seconds before she felt fully energized once more. She went from pale and dark bags under her eyes to literally glowing with just that one drink.

“Oh yeah, that’s where it’s at. Let’s cook something.” Quickly, she wove healing circles through herself and fixed everything she could find - even going so far as to erase the scars from the rounds that had ripped through her abdomen, hip, and thigh.

Becca’s eyes widened as she scanned the now literally glowing red haired sorceress before her. The quantum energies rolling off of her mistress were almost off the measurable charts. “Fascinating...” she mumbled as she continued scanning.

After a minute, Aurelia was finished and was completely healed. “I’m going to need something to eat. That burned a lot more calories than I’d like to admit.”

“Mistress, I have a question. My scans indicate a mismatch in your age compared to expected.”

“An interesting observation,” Aurelia began as she headed out of the restroom towards the kitchen. “Part of the healing spell I used involves speeding up the metabolism and recovery rate of the body itself to a rather extreme rate. I’ve probably aged about seven years in the past few minutes.”

The android assistant paused momentarily, trying to make sense of what she’d just been told. Her quantum resonance scanners were certainly confirming it - they were saying she was about 3 months shy of 7 years older in total. “Lady Luna... Is that not dangerous? Is there no way to prevent that?”

“It’s a bit of a last resort. Normally I have spells in place to pause my aging so as long as I only use it rarely, I’m ok.” The red headed sorceress paused at the doorway to the kitchen as she saw the look of consternation on Becca’s face to try and smooth things over a bit. “I’ll be ok. I doubt I’ll need to do that again any time soon. And if I do, there’s always forbidden magic for regaining my youth. I just need someone willing to sacrifice a few years and I’ll be good.”

Ever practical, Becca looked down at her datapad and began plotting. “I will immediately begin the registration process so that you can perform end of life rites for those seeking to end theirs.”

“Wait... What?” Now it was Aurelia’s turn to look taken aback.

“There are many whose lives are considered unlivable due to terminal illnesses or various other reasons and they are granted permission to perform end of life rites. I will register you as a religious leader capable of performing such rites. Because of the exodus from Mother Earth many see this as a sacrifice for the greater good. However, many see it in a negative light.”

“That seems... surprisingly humane. I actually figured a world like this would use every last person in some nefarious way even against their will.” Aurelia looked contemplative about this. She had mixed feelings about ending one’s life prematurely, but if they’re viewing it as a sacrifice for a greater good, who was she to judge? After all, she had seen so many others do the same thing on the field of battle time after time, hadn’t she?

“There is quite enough that is nefarious while you live. The council decreed upon the founding of the first Mars colony that upon death all debts are canceled and non-transferrable to anyone living.”

“That’s pretty awesome,” Aurelia commented, pulling a premade sandwich out of the fridge and popping the seal on it. As she bit into it and chewed thoughtfully, she carefully reassessed what she knew about this world. “I think I’ve been judging this world through the glasses of my old one and that hasn’t been entirely fair. I’ll need you to start giving me some dedicated lessons on how this world works compared to... Well... Compared to my old one, which I know is impossible.”

“I will endeavor to do so, nonetheless,” Becca replied, a thoughtful expression on her face. “By the way, You have two appointments tomorrow. The Crimson King is scheduled to stop by in the morning to check on you and the meeting with the electronics and physics expert is in the afternoon. Should I reschedule either of them?”

“No, I think I’ve been out of it long enough. However,” Aurelia looked thoughtful for a moment as she finished off the first half of the sandwich. “Perhaps I should meet with Lucious in the vault. That way we can go over the council’s accessories in person.”

“I’ll leave a message for him,” Becca replied as she made a note.

“Now then, I kind of expected Ember to be somewhere in the house. Where’s she gone off to?”

“Now that she’s better able to control herself she’s currently running errands with Lady Elena researching some possibly occult sightings. She should be returning in a few hours.”

“That’s good to hear. Hopefully she gets a good sense of accomplishment from that.” With a few more bites, Aurelia finished off the sandwich. “So what’s on our agenda then?”

“Rest,” Becca replied without hesitation.

Aurelia couldn’t help but chuckle at how quickly she replied. “Alright, but I’m going to do a bit of writing while I do it. I want to get a few things on paper just in case.”

 

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