THE ASHES OF LIGHT ✔

Chapter Fifteen: Red

Red absentmindedly cleaned up one of the hospital beds after the patient had left the Infirmary. Ever since the expedition group left to rescue Ashton, her mind had been unable to focus. Luckily, she only had to heal one patient that day and it was a simple scratch—nothing too demanding.

"Can I head out?" one of the healers—Zayn asked, looking over at his boss. There were a handful of healers flitting about the building with nothing to do.

Red looked out the window and was surprised to notice that the sun was already setting.

"Yeah, you can go," she nodded, watching him leave. She allowed a few other healers to be done for the day as well, since there was no point in staying so long if there were no patients that needed healing. The Infirmary was open twenty-four hours out of the day, with three different shifts of at least five healers each. Depending on how the day went, some healers would be allowed to leave early.

Red sighed, looking up to her office. She knew that she had large piles of paperwork that still needed to be done, papers ranging from patient logs to progress reports on Academy students. Ever since she had been appointed Elder, it seemed like the piles were only growing larger and Red was only getting more behind.

She walked into her office, feeling suffocated. There were papers strewn not only on the desk, but also on the floor. Ashton's belongings clogged up all of the shelf space, leaving virtually no storage for her to organize her belongings. It was time to change that.

Red sat down on the floor, pulling out a row of Ashton's journals and notes from a shelf. She hoped that he would be back eventually so she didn't dare reorganize everything—just enough to give her enough space to clear off her desk.

Healing Viruses, one of the notebooks was titled. Ashton had messily scrawled titles on all of his journals, describing what the contents inside were about. That made it easier to organize, although some of the handwriting was almost indecipherable. Ashton was by no means a neat person, but he certainly knew what he was doing in terms of being the Elder of healing—Red never remembered seeing his desk covered in paperwork.

She continued pulling out journals, her eye finally catching on one of the more recent ones. Red picked it up, blinking in confusion at the sight of the title: Shadow Manipulation.

Why would Ashton have a book on Shadow Manipulation? It was similar to Light Manipulation in that it was a source of energy that one could draw from in order to use their ability, but it was so dangerous and addictive that it was banned in Gallomia. Once someone performed Shadow Manipulation, they would start dying from Shadow Disease, a title given to the symptoms that appeared shortly after they manipulated. There was no known cure, so perhaps that was what Ashton was studying before he was kidnapped.

Red knew that he was studying something top-secret under orders from the Council, but they refused to tell her what it was, even after he was taken. Red flipped open the notebook, a rush of excitement filling her body. Maybe she was finally about to get answers to the questions she had been asking for the past months.

Her eyes skimmed over the pages, only able to make out a few of the words due to the messy handwriting

Shadow Manipulation, it read, is commonly known to be the most dangerous form of magic, albeit the most powerful. Upon first impression, one might believe that it its result—Shadow Disease—is simply a physical ailment that can be cured using typical healing methods. This is incorrect, as shown through previous attempts to heal those who have decided to practice Shadow Manipulation.

Red frowned at the journal. This was nothing she didn't already know—she was hoping that Ashton might have made a new discovery.

Just before closing it, she noticed a small note in the margin of the journal, circled in bold red ink. It read, Genetics, page 58.