The Two Week Curse

by Michael Chatfield

  Now this man had come along and he was throwing them all in the dirt. Not only was he charging just a few coppers, he was doing it in the market without needing any grand scheme.

  From what Eri had learned, this man wasn’t just come kind of hoax—he was the real deal.

  That was much harder to deal with.

  “Use the Black Blood poison. If he wishes to say he’s a healer, let’s see what happens when he comes up against a truly life-threatening issue,” Eri said.

  “Yes, Grandmaster,” Xui Deng said, the fervor in his eyes only increasing.

  Grandmaster Eri nodded. The boy might not be the brightest but his loyalty was one of the best, making him the most appropriate student who would ignore his shortcomings and look to extolling his virtues to all he met.

  ***

  Xui Deng acted quickly. He found out where Erik and Rugrat had been staying and then sent out some of the guards from the Moon Healing House to watch the location.

  He himself moved into the crowd around the healing stall.

  Not only was there the previous man proclaiming himself as a healer, there was a second, larger man with him.

  Healers? They look more like brutes. Xui Deng sneered to himself as people lined up to get healed. The two moved through them too quickly to be real healers, taking only the smallest donations and making sure that they weren’t bankrupting those who came to see them.

  They even grabbed subpar ”medicines” from the apothecaries. This further affirmed Xui Deng’s beliefs. No healer in their right mind would rely on apothecaries or alchemists. Alchemists and healers were at odds with one another through the realms. One using the aid of the other was practically unheard of.

  Xui Deng looked over their primitive ways and couldn’t contain himself anymore. He quietly called up one of his people. “Go and use this on that shorter one.” Xui Deng held out a needle covered in Black Blood poison.

  “How will I get close to them?” the guard asked.

  “You’ll need an injury. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to heal you,” Xui Deng promised.

  The man had a grim look on his face, hesitating.

  Xui Deng glanced at the other guard.

  He stepped forward and grabbed the other man’s arm.

  “Grit your teeth.” A sickening cracking sounded as the man let out a scream between his clamped lips. His arm bent the other way now.

  He grabbed his now broken arm. Xui Deng waved his hand toward the two healers.

  Chapter: Black Blood Poison

  Erik was tired. He’d made sure to keep at least ten percent of his Mana at all times. He found keeping this buffer meant he had less headaches and didn’t feel as tired.

  The glow around his hands disappeared as the person in the litter looked at Erik with shock. Her family members held tears in their eyes as one stepped forward with twelve coppers.

  Erik smiled awkwardly and could only accept them, knowing that the family wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  “You’ll need some rest, plenty of food and water. You’ll be up and about in two, maybe three days.” Erik smiled.

  “Thank you, healer,” the woman in the litter said, trying to get up and bow to him.

  “Rest. I don’t want to have to heal any other issues,” Erik chided as she let him push her back onto the litter.

  The family gave their thanks and moved out of the way. There were plenty of others waiting to be healed.

  Erik looked at the next person. The pale man’s arm was facing the wrong direction, making Erik grimace at its unnatural angle.

  “Ugh, that looks painful. Four coppers, and I’d suggest getting some numbing agent,” Erik said.

  “I’m fine. I’ll pay five if you heal it right now,” the man said.

  Erik wanted to argue, but seeing the look in the man’s eyes, he wasn’t to be refused. Erik shrugged and leaned forward, holding the man’s arm gingerly.

  The man let out a hiss of cold air as the broken bones rubbed against one another.

  Erik started to use Simple Organic Scan, examining the wound and lining up the bones.

  He didn’t see the vicious look that appeared in the man’s eyes as a needle appeared in his good hand and he jabbed it into Erik’s unprotected neck.

  Erik grabbed his neck and jumped backward. Alarm appeared on his face. He used a healing spell as he looked at the man with the broken arm.

  “West?” Rugrat yelled, sensing something wrong and seeing him hold his neck.

  “Fuck!” Erik yelled. He felt something was wrong. His veins turned black as weakness spreading from his neck to the rest of his body.

  The patient laughed and started to run away.

  Rugrat’s face turned calm, his eyes cold.

  A murderous aura spread over the crowd. It was as if two dragons had been awakened.

  Cold fear covered the area as Erik shot forward, his increased Agility and Stamina being put to use as he felt Rugrat rushing toward him, covering his actions.

  The patient looked back, a look of fear in his eyes as he looked at Erik’s expressionless face.

  Erik’s arm sneaked around the man’s neck as he drove the combat knife up and under the man’s rib cage, turning and ripping it out.

  The man let out a sigh as his lung started to deflate and fill with blood.

  Erik let the man drop as he was already fighting for air.

  His vision started to swim as people looked at the dying man and Erik, who was covered in blood. He staggered back a bit, using his healing spell. It was having some effect but he was fighting a losing battle.

  “We need to move,” Rugrat said. Killing people inside the city was a sure-fire way to be killed yourself.

  The guards might have not come over to find them yet, but they were patrolling the area. It wouldn’t be long until they arrived.

  Erik nodded, putting away the blade in his storage ring.

  People were looking at them in horror. Their auras didn’t show any of the calm mercy of before. Erik and Rugrat had been fighting as soldiers since they were old enough to join the military; they’d killed many people in their time and helped others.

  Normally they didn’t even exude any pressure. Now their anger had been revealed; the pressure of a combat veteran weighed down on everyone.

  Rugrat led the way, barging a path through people.

  Erik followed him as they heard yelling from behind.

  “Talk to me,” Rugrat said as Erik’s face continued to pale and his reactions became sluggish.

  “He gave me some kind of poison. It’s in my blood.” Erik didn’t hide anything.

  Rugrat didn’t say anything.

  Erik pulled out his minor Mana recovery potion and downed it in one go. His Mana recovery increased by one point for thirty seconds.

  He constantly cast his Focused Heal spell, but the poison had spread to his heart and was being pumped through his entire body. Black veins stuck up across his body.

  Erik stumbled, almost falling down. Rugrat grabbed him, holding him up as they saw guards behind them.

  Erik wrapped his arm around Rugrat, who took off. Erik had been putting his attribute points into Mana Regeneration; Rugrat had been training his Strength and Agility to the max.

  Rugrat’s steps took them down an alleyway. He used the sides of the alley to get higher until they landed on a rooftop. A lady screamed as she was putting up the house owner’s clothes to dry.

  Rugrat went through the clothesline as Erik tried to focus on the poison. He coughed, tasting the tang of blood in his mouth. His blood was turning darker and darker, black in some places as it started to melt him from the inside.

  Clearly Erik’s attempts to directly heal his blood weren’t working.

  Circulatory system, toxins in the blood, liver and kidneys.

  Erik’s aims changed as he used Simple Organic Scan, looking at his failing liver and kidneys.

  He used Focused Heal
on both organs. They started to change. Erik wasn’t trying to heal his entire circulatory system, so he could pour in more power to the two organs, increasing the rate at which they recovered.

  As the black blood entered, it seemed to weaken, only a small bit, but Erik hoped his Simple Organic Scan wasn’t wrong.

  He continued to heal and looked around. They were nearing the eastern gate that led toward the Beast Mountains.

  He was getting weaker, his body being destroyed from the inside. He was burning all over. It was as if he was liquefying internally.

  Rugrat jumped across rooftops as guards continued to follow them.

  The guards could defeat level eights easily and working together, they could stop a level ten from doing as they pleased. Erik was out of the fight for now and Rugrat had to look after him. Being only level seven, he had to run, or else they’d get trapped. Also within the city there was a formation that increased the power of the guards; if they got close enough, they could use the formation to restrain someone and increase their own power, allowing them to fight more powerful opponents.

  “Shit, there’s no buildings near the wall,” Rugrat said, his pace not slowing in the slightest as he rubbed his storage ring, ready to pull out his service rifle and deal with these people.

  “Don’t kill them if you don’t have to. That guy was sent by someone. If we kill a guard, then the Chonglu guards will come after us.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not that stupid,” Rugrat yelled as he launched himself off a roof. He landed in a cloud of dust. People moved away from him as they inflicted fear into those around them and ran off.

  Erik coughed weakly. The blood was dark and had a foul smell to it.

  ***

  “Sir! That healer killed a man with a broken arm. It looks like he was affected by something. His partner picked him up and is running with him toward the eastern gate!” Liam, the lieutenant in charge of the patrol “assisting” Erik and Rugrat, while secretly keeping an eye on them both, reported.

  “What?” Captain Quinn yelled as he stopped in the middle of the street. The guards around him all paused as those around looked over at the usually calm Captain Quinn. His aura of a level ten made those nearby lower-leveled people shake.

  Quinn decisively turned toward the eastern gate and took off running. The guards around him followed as he pushed his speed to the maximum.

  “Clear a path!” His voice boomed as he rushed through the street. People moved out of his way, paling at the power rolling off him.

  “Sir, they’re only level sevens, but their aura, it feels like they’re gods of death,” Lieutenant Liam Hoste said seriously.

  “Who did the man belong to?” Quinn asked.

  “I don’t know. The main healer killed him immediately before succumbing to whatever is affecting him. It must be some kind of poison.”

  “We can’t let them away. We need their help! Don’t harm them!” Quinn launched himself down an alleyway, jumping over people, his guards following right behind him.

  “Yes, sir!” Liam said, but from his tone Quinn could sense how difficult Liam thought it would be.

  Quinn made good time as he reached the eastern gate. He could see the guards chasing from the marketplace over.

  He had only stopped as a large man carrying his friend appeared.

  It was the two healers, but they didn’t seem like healers anymore. Quinn’s sharp eyesight allowed him to see the other man’s veins that had turned black and the healing magical circles on his body.

  The wave of murderous intent made his knees shake. He had been in many life-and-death situations, but in front of this man carrying his brother out of danger, he felt as if he’d met a death god.

  How many life-and-death situations has this person been in to create such a powerful aura? Quinn felt that he wasn’t able to pull on the full power of his body under this kind of pressure.

  “Move or die.” The large man’s voice was cold, emotionless.

  Something appeared in his hands. Quinn had never seen anything like it before in his life, but the man wasn’t slowing his pace at all.

  “We want to help!” Quinn yelled.

  “Move or die.” The man raised the long object in his hands.

  Quinn’s heart missed a beat. “Clear a path!” he yelled, making sure his hands were away from his weapons. This man might be a level seven but Quinn didn’t have any confidence dealing with him or that weapon.

  The large man continued through the gate. No one looked to stop him.

  “I’ll remember this, Chonglu City!” the man yelled as he cleared the gate. The object in his hands disappeared.

  Quinn felt the pressure on his body decrease as it got farther away. Silence fell as he felt cold sweat running down his back.

  Clearly the two men were close. Quinn couldn’t help but shiver as he thought of what might happen if the healer died.

  He needed to report this to Lord Chonglu. He was the most powerful man in the city; he might know what that thing the man was holding, or have a plan of how to move forward.

  Quinn didn’t want to bother Lord Chonglu as he had his own concerns, but if this man returned, Chonglu City might not exist anymore if that man felt they had led to the death of his brother.

  Chapter: City Lord and His Worries

  Lord Chonglu looked to the two beds with a soft smile on his face, pain hidden deep in his eyes. His frame was thin and the air around him stale as he looked at the two small children resting within the beds. Their pale faces and weak bodies attested to the dire situation they were in.

  Chonglu saw the time. He rose and pulled out a healing potion as he moved to the two children.

  The door opened. Lord Chonglu’s kind smile vanished as power seemed to roll off his body, declaring him as a level fourteen being.

  Captain Quinn stepped inside. He dropped to his knee immediately, his face pale under the pressure of Chonglu’s circulating power.

  “My lord, I have found a healer who was able to heal people who the healing houses denied in minutes.” The captain didn’t hold anything back, knowing that his lord’s anger was easy to ignite these days.

  The lines on Lord Chonglu’s face slackened. “Shut the door and speak, Captain Quinn,” Chonglu said, his voice softer. Captain Quinn had become close to his children, looking after them as if they were his own.

  Chonglu had been trying to track down his wife—his children’s mother—and administering his city. He barely saw his children. It was only when the poison buried within their bodies ignited he pushed it all away, standing guard over their beds night and day to care for them personally.

  Chonglu moved to the two children, one a boy and one a girl, twins.

  Their weak bodies trembled as if cold but sweated constantly.

  Quinn closed the doors as Lord Chonglu administered a Health potion to his two children.

  Quinn quickly sank to his knee again once the doors were sealed. “The unknown man set up a stall in the market. He was attacked by a man and given a poison. His brother carried him out of the city. If he dies, I fear that his brother will slaughter Chonglu City.”

  “Who dared to attack a healer in my city?” Chonglu asked with a deep voice.

  “I believe it was the Moon Healing House. We are looking into the matter,” Quinn said.

  Normally Chonglu would have Quinn look into the matter, punishing those who dared to kill in his territory. Now with his son and daughter badly wounded, this mysterious healer had a higher position in his mind.

  “If they come seeking revenge, we will give them the people who were behind this plot. If they go too far, then I will deal with them,” Lord Chonglu assured Quinn.

  “They don’t even have a backing of a Second Realm sect or person. All they have is the place they’ve carved out of being pious saints.” Chonglu scoffed, shaking his head. They were nothing more than a group that acted as noble hangers-on. If they stopped him from
finding a healer for his children, he’d happily destroy their position in his city.

  “Investigate well. Hopefully that healer recovers,” Chonglu said, with a tired sigh that seemed to come deep within his soul.

  He smiled faintly at the small girl beside him as he moved some hair away from his daughter’s face, before he moved to his son. His mind worked it over. They had called upon healers from all over the First Realm. It was a vast place, but the rewards he had put up were incredible.

  Healers were a rare brand of people. To raise one’s healing ability meant that they would have to focus on the mysteries of the body to fix and repair instead of working on their strength or their magical abilities.

  Clearly, if this information was right and the Moon Healing House went after this healer, then his skills weren’t a fabrication and at a level where it threatened them.

  What other options do I have? Lord Chonglu rubbed his finger against his son’s cheek.

  “Go.” Lord Chonglu’s voice was quiet but it didn’t diminish the might in it. He moved back to his chair between the two beds and sat down, as if a dragon once again returning to his slumber.

  “Yes, my lord.” Captain Quinn quickly left the room and closed the door behind him.

  ***

  Xui Deng’s face was pale as he walked through the Moon Healing House, his actions wooden and his eyes haunted.

  He had been born and raised by the Moon Healing House from a young age. He’d rarely left the city other than to follow his master. Even then they’d been greatly protected.

  Few if any people were willing to anger a healing house and their disciples. Doing so would bring down the wrath of many warriors and people looking to gain their favor, or use their services.

  Now, Xui Deng didn’t feel secure in his position.

  A shiver ran down his back at those auras. They weren’t healers; they were bringers of death and destruction. The shock of their auras, revealing their anger, made Xui Deng’s heart race.