Faluel filled the empty space with white tendrils from her spell, without even letting the child’s body notice what was going on. Then, she scanned the bodies of the other children before examining the mother and, if necessary, even of all the nearby relatives to look for the closest match.
It was the other Healers’ duty to prevent Rena and the children in her womb from feeling any discomfort. Raaz and the others were as fit as a fiddle, so they only experienced a small sting when Faluel operated on them from a distance, borrowing healthy pieces of their life force to use them as reference.
Lith and the others looked in awe as Faluel was able to turn the corrupted blocks into scaled-down versions of their healthy counterparts the moment she found the best match.
Her approach was akin to recycle the baby’s own flesh, limiting the stress that the procedure exerted upon both mother and son. Lith provided Rena with a slow and constant flow of life force while the potion she had ingested earlier provided her with the nutrients she needed.
Neither Quylla nor Nalrond could understand how Faluel managed to perform Body Sculpting on Lith’s relatives despite the wall separating the Hydra from her targets. Only Solus could see via mana sense that the Hydra was using tendrils of Spirit Magic as conduits for her spell.
‘By my maker! Spirit magic can be mixed with other elements to make up for their innate shortcomings, in this case healing magic’s short range.’ Solus thought.
“Drink the next potion, Rena.” Faluel had cleansed half of the kid’s left lung.
‘In this kind of procedure, it’s vital to provide the patient with a constant supply of nutrients and enough time to metabolize them. It’s the only way to prevent the rapid cellular regeneration from feeding off the patient’s body and avoid complications during or after the treatment.’ Faluel explained to her students.
Quylla was so focused on creating a sack of light magic around her subject, to protect him from the ripples of the Hydra’s spell, that only the increasing number of empty flasks did allow her to perceive the passing of time.
Even though Nalrond and Quylla would have loved to admire Faluel’s handiwork, they didn’t have enough time nor focus to spare. The four life forces were linked to each other through Rena.
Every alteration on the ill baby’s life force reverberated through the mother and until Lith didn’t manage to restore Rena’s body to its original condition, it was up to the other two Healers to shield the babies from the ripples of Faluel’s spell.
One slip up and the number of patients would multiply in an endless loop.
Once she was done repairing the lungs, Faluel took a short break to allow everyone to catch their breath.
‘Step two. Remove the accumulated mass that prevents the now healthy tissues from inflating and deflating properly. The amount of darkness magic needed to destroy it would inevitably affect the lungs as well.
‘What I’m going to do is use just enough darkness magic to mobilize the mass and have it expelled through the umbilical cord. The problem is that once the liquid mass reaches the bloodstream, it can go anywhere.
‘We can’t let it reach the brain and the heart of the mother nor get into the other babies’ system. You can’t use darkness magic to stop the black mass, otherwise it will break down into toxins that might poison the mother along with the babies.
‘Best case scenario, the toxin will trigger the labor, but none of our patients is in the shape to survive the experience, they need to rest. Yet we can’t afford to delay the treatment because the pregnancy is almost over.
‘If the natural labor happens before we complete the procedure or before the baby recovers, he will die and everything we’ve done would be pointless. We’ve to act now or it will be too late.
‘Once I start the second phase of the treatment, the only tool at your disposal will be the Scalpel spell. Use it to lock any stray fragment of black mass into a safe place until Lith or I can safely draw them out of Rena’s body.’
Faluel used small pulses of darkness magic to turn the solid mass into a liquid without damaging the baby, the mother, or the placenta. Contrary to what Lith had done years before for Tista, she was working on a much smaller and weaker subject.
She had been forced to treat the infected tissues in one go to prevent them from spreading into the still healthy parts of the lungs and to remove the mass as well so that whenever the labor would take place, the kid would survive.
Faluel moved the impurities away from the child and into Rena’s blood system. She guided them to her foot, away from any organ that could be clotted or poisoned by the impurities. Then she proceeded to expel and destroy them.
All that Rena felt was as if someone was constantly dirtying and cleaning her heel. Lith helped the Hydra at the best of his abilities, keeping the mass compact and leading stray fragments back to the flock as fast as he could.
In normal circumstances, taking control of someone’s metabolism with Invigoration was a piece of cake, but in Rena’s case, it meant also to disrupt the children’s metabolism with unpredictable consequences.
“It’s done.” Faluel said after triple checking that there was nothing left that could endanger the patients’ life.
“What about the babies?” Despite the potions and Lith providing her with life force, Rena was drenched in sweat and deathly pale from exhaustion.
The repeated cycles of damage and repair her body had undergone would cripple Rena’s physical strength until her life force was stable again.
“They are all fine, but we can’t relax. I couldn’t completely eradicate the Strangler, so not only it could manifest later again, but the disease will also be transmitted to your grandchildren.” Faluel said.
“What do I have to do now?”
“Rest and recover. Lith can check up daily on the baby and keep the situation under control so that no further procedure will be necessary. Once the baby is born and a few month’s old, it will be a piece of cake to get cleanse the Strangler from his body once and for all.” Faluel wiped the sweat from Rena’s face before leaving.
Yet Rena stopped the Hydra by grabbing her wrist.
“I know even though you don’t know me I’m asking a lot, but when the time comes, can you please help me delivering the babies?”
“It will be my pleasure. Just remember to heat the house properly for me.” Faluel said.
“I’ll make it hot like a summer day if necessary.” Rena let go of the Hydra, falling asleep the moment she managed to relax.
“Now that’s everything is over, let’s talk about my payment.” Faluel said.
“What payment?” Lith hated surprises, especially those with a price tag attached.
“I’m in hot waters with Selia, so I expect you to put in a good word for me. Also, I like the warming-thing you did to your house. It doesn’t need arrays nor mana crystals, which is nice and convenient.”
“It’s called air-conditioning. It keeps the house warm during winter and cool during summer.” Lith said.
“Can you do it for my cave?” She asked.
“You cave is damn huge and it’s not insulated.” Lith shook his head.
“Luckily, it’s your problem, not mine. You’re a smart man, I’m sure you’ll come up with a solution.” Faluel winked and opened a Gate back to her home.
