The Lost Sigil; Dawn of Light

Chapter 9: Visions

Dora led Eda to a room that was at the farthest end of the corridor. It must have been Dora's room as there was one big bed that nearly filled the entire room, a small desk with some unfinished writing and an open wardrobe with some of its contents overflowing. Dora closed the door shut after they entered and invited Eda to sit by the bed.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Dora came and sat next to Eda smiling.

"He said that you were able to heal them from a blight that attacked them. I was hoping you may help me as well," Eda said. She did feel more than over joyed that she had found her father's healer. Her father did mention that Dora had used her skill with elemental magic to clear them off the dirt and poison that ran within their blood. The entire team was hallucinating and coughing up blood after fighting a sorceress that used a restricted form of magic that was shadow magic. Whatever had affected her mother must have been similar and who better to help her than Dora.

"Yes, yes. I did. Those paladins underestimated their foe and got really hurt. Decaying on the inside they were," Dora said and took Eda's hands in hers. Her face formed a frown and she looked up at Eda with despair filled grey eyes.

"There does come a time when a vessel loses its aether and I'm afraid my time has come." Dora lifted her sleeve and showed Eda her arm which was crossed with a number of interconnecting veins from all ends. The skin looked dry and flesh almost non-existent.

"My body is giving way. I don't know if I may last long enough to even make the visit and perform any magic." Dora pulled back her sleeve covering her arm. "What I did to help your father then requires a lot of aether and body strength. Both of which I no longer have. I had to use a lot to spread my aether around."

Going on in her mind was the thought of how she would have to bury her mother. Can a burial even be possible when one is turned to stone? All that she had been through was pointless. The pain she had to endure just because of a hope was all for nothing. She was going to need Rhys and Lester to get to Terra, her last chance at finding a healer for her mother but then she remembered that she had the ability.

"Then I'll pay you. Whatever you want,"

"It is not as simple. No aether, no magic. Not even money can buy that,"

There has to be a way. Eda did stare into Dora's ringed eyes and they looked tired. Her body barely looked alive, perhaps that's why Dora was covered from neck to toe. Dora was in no condition to perform such demanding magic as healing.

"You can teach me. Show me what's needed," Eda said. "In the forest, I healed those two from near death. If you could show me how to heal on command," Eda had a thought that she knew was possible. She could heal her mother.

Dora was in thought; at least she looked like it. She started nodding to herself, which Eda took to be a sign that she was in agreement. If Dora would agree, she wouldn't have to make the long trip to Terra. She wouldn't have to wait as long, giving the ailment time to kill her mother. Her travels would not have been a total blunder.

"I don't sense aether from you but there is something else... No matter, if you could wield that stone and make it work, then you must be more than capable of controlling it."

A win at last. Within the next few days she would have her mother healed. The queen had been ailing for almost a fortnight and if Eda acted fast enough that would mean she had about eight days to learn. More than enough, since all she wanted to learn now was healing but something inside told her that that was just another false hope she had.

Eda stood and started walking towards the door feeling like the conversation was over after a prolonged silence. Dora did still stop her halfway through.