Lith’s personal possessions still amounted to little enough to be stored in the trunk his dad made for him, leaving space to spare. Most of his clothes were now too small for him, but Lith kept them anyway, moving the trunk in the pocket dimension before departing.
Returning to Lutia took him just a few minutes. His mastery of dimensional magic coupled with his recent breakthrough allowed him to open Warp Steps with a range of dozens of miles.
Lutia was a balm for Lith’s heart. It was a small, insignificant village in the middle of nowhere, but it was his kingdom. The only place where he could not care for the appearances nor constantly watch his back.
He needed some quiet to decide what to do with Solus. Lith still had conflicting feelings about her, but she was a too important part of his life to keep avoiding the issue for long.
He needed her for his experiments, since Lith was unable to operate the tower or to Forgemaster with true magic without her help. Also, she had always been his best friend, confidant, and his moral compass.
Her absence left a dreadful silence in his mind and a void in his heart that was only getting worse by the day. Even more importantly, when he had fused their minds, Lith had understood how deep was the feeling of isolation haunting her.
The pain that Solus shared with him had turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Lith had never forgotten about it and was worried about her well being.
Lith could have arrived directly at home, but he preferred to appear in the sky above Lutia’s plaza instead. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew of his return.
With all that had happened to him, he had no desire of wasting his time dealing with small fries.
Lith landed softly, drawing the gazes of many. Most of the villagers flinched at his sight. The memory of Lith’s last homecoming was still deeply etched in their minds. Of how he killed Renkin, the richest man of the village, and his son.
After he almost killed many of them for not having helped his sister when Garth harassed her, their despise towards him had turned into blind fear. Money and authority were a paper shield against his wrath.
If before the villagers considered him as someone that didn’t deserve his magical talent, that robbed them of their wealth and hopes for their children, now they saw him like a hungry monster.
His presence defended them from bandits and foreigners, but at their least mistake, he had no qualms turning against them too. The thought that one day he could be the lord of the land scared them to death.
Lith noticed their behavior and couldn’t help but scoff.
’Morons. If we wanted to take revenge on you, we would have done it years ago. As long as you behave, no one gets hurt. Right, Solus?’ The mind link was closed, so only silence ensued.
Lith inwardly cursed at himself before going to Nana’s home office. It was still midmorning, giving him the opportunity to visit his old mentor and pick up Tista before returning home.
Phloria’s words were still echoing in his mind and without Solus, he needed someone to talk to. His mind was a mess, Lith still couldn’t decide if to tell his family about the vision or not.
’Maybe I should warn at least Tista. She is the only other magic user in the family, she could make a difference in case something happens. Scratch that. The shadow made a short work of the Queen’s corps. If they are helpless, I doubt she can do any better.’
Lith shook his head. The more he thought about it, the more confused he felt.
He opened the door of Nana’s home office. The waiting room was filled with people, there was not a single chair or bench free.
Most parents forced their children to sit on their lap. Between the screams of the babies and the loud chatting of the adults, Lith felt like his eardrums were going to pop. When he entered the room, the conversations immediately stopped.
The place was familiar to him, yet it felt alien, like waking up from a long good dream. He had spent the last year in the academy, where everything was clean, everyone was properly dressed and fed.
Compared to the academy’s hospital, Nana’s office was dirty, noisy, and chaotic. Looking at those people, with their cheap clothes and weathered faces, Lith remembered how hard was life in Lutia.
’They are here to get a check up before winter arrives. Once it starts snowing, reaching the village becomes almost impossible. Many farmers die every year because of the flu or because a simple cold turns into pneumonia.’ He thought.
"Young spirit, you are back already!" Nana walked towards him as soon as her latest patient paid her.
"Yes, master. This year the academy ended early. How are you?"
"Good as always." Nana replied hugging him.
Death Vision kept showing him the waiting room as the set of a slasher movie, but unlike the others, Nana had only one possible outcome.
The light in her eyes would go out, her corpse quickly invaded by maggots and larvae.
Lith was upset, he still had no idea what Death Vision was, so he used Invigoration on his old mentor. He discovered that her life force was weaker than the last time he examined her.
Her whole body was filled with impurities that were clogging her bloodstream and weakening her organs. Old age was consuming her. Lith felt a sting in his heart, realizing that Nana had five years left to live at most.
"You don’t look so well. Let me see what I can do for you."
"Bah, I’m just old. Stop wasting my time, there are people waiting!" Nana rebuked. She was aware of her condition. Waking up early was getting more difficult every day and if it wasn’t for Tista, she would be able to work only for half a day.
’Can’t allow myself to show any weakness. As soon as word of my condition gets out, who knows what kind of criminals could get attracted to Lutia. Now the Queen’s corps are defending us, but once Lith gets out of the academy they’ll leave.’
Lith didn’t move, stopping the queue. Yet no one dared to ask him to move aside. Nana was about to scold him, but Tista was looking at her with puppy eyes, making her feel guilty.
"Fine, hot shot. Show me what a real professional can do." Nana pulled the curtain behind her, sitting in the patient seat. Lith pretended to cast a diagnostic spell first and a healing one after that.
What he was actually doing was using darkness magic to destroy most of the impurities in her bloodstream, cleansing Nana’s arteries while enhancing her kidneys and liver metabolism with light magic.
With his current level of mana perception and control, Lith didn’t need anymore to force impurities out of a body, he was able to destroy them while they were still inside.
The treatment lasted a few minutes, during which Nana felt hot, sweating bullets despite the weather was already quite cold. When Lith finished, she felt at least five years younger.
"By the gods, whatever you did, you just put me in a pinch, young spirit. I suddenly feel the need to take a bath, eat the biggest lunch I ever had, and take a massive dump at the same time!" A loud and stinky fart emphasized the last part of the sentence.
"I’ll start with the dump." Nana nodded as she had just made a life or death decision. Tista cleared the smell with a touch of darkness magic while addressing a disgusted expression at her mentor.
"Don’t look at me like that. I’m old!" She rebuked like it explained everything.
"Young spirit, cover for me until I get back. Since this is all your fault, whatever you earn is mine for compensation. Got it?"
Lith nodded, barely holding a chuckle at her words. Nana’s health had slightly improved and making her rest had been his plan all along. Originally Lith meant to ask her letting Tista leave work early and go home together, but Death Vision changed his mind.
He watched Nana walking away. This time she was stabbed in the heart and then had her throat slit before leaving the room. Death Vision was usually disturbing, but this time he found it reassuring.
Using the cover of the curtain, Tista hugged Lith.
"Welcome back, lil brother. It’s good to see you again."
"It’s good to see you too. Now it really feels like home." He returned the embrace checking her condition, just to be safe.
"Was that a tier four spell?" Tista’s professional curiosity was piqued.
"Yeah. There is no cure to old age, but at least it will relieve her symptoms for a while." Lith’s treatment was just a band aid. Only Awakening Nana could prolong her life.
"It’s still better than nothing." Tista nodded.
"I’m so envious of you. I hate being forced to watch her get weaker by the day, to see so many people suffer and not being able to do anything for helping them." She sniffed, laying her head on his shoulder.
"Better if we get to work, or people will get angry." She said letting him go.
Lith and Tista worked together, talking between patients.
Identifying a villager from a farmer was painfully easy. Villagers were well dressed, clean, and looked around the waiting room like they owned the place. Farmers instead wore layers of thin clothes to protect themselves from the cold and looked like they could use a warm meal.
If the patient was a farmer, Lith would listen to their request and then heal every ailment they had, making them pay only for one spell. Thanks to the curtain, the other patients couldn’t see the deep bows they would give him before leaving.
Before winter money was always short, so farmers resorted to Nana’s help only in case of an emergency.
If it was a villager instead, Lith would examine them and list all the conditions he found before asking them what they wanted for him to heal.
"You have a slight cold, a strained back, and a thrombus." His patient was Ilna, the jeweler. She was a nice looking woman in her forties, with chestnut hair and a dress that was probably more expensive than Nana’s house.
"What does that mean?" She had a quiet voice. Usually she preferred being served by Tista, since she was easy to push around. Lith had the same caring gaze of a wolf mulling if to rip your throat first or go straight for the gutting.
"A blood clot in the brain." Lith explained. "If it moves, you die. Simple as that."
"What are you waiting for? Heal it immediately!"
"You came for the backache and paid only for that." Lith pointed at the sign stating "Payment in advance".
Ilna was about to rebuke that she didn’t trust him, but there was something in Lith’s eyes that stopped her. Years in the business had taught her how to read people. She could see from his smirk that he hoped she would walk away.
Ilna quickly paid and after receiving the treatment, she rushed home to bring her whole family back for a check up.
’I hate that b*stard, but even I know that Nana is not a professional healer. Who knows when or if I’ll get someone from the White Griffon to visit my family? I have no time to lose!’
Tista was amazed by how fast her brother was working. Not only did his spells seem to be more effective than hers, but also he didn’t need to take any break. Lith had a stronger core than Tista and wasn’t as old as Nana.
That, coupled with all his training, gave him a mana capacity a few times bigger than theirs. Not to mention that compared to the academy’s daily exercises, casting one spell at the time was almost relaxing for him.
Lith had just finished with his latest patient when Tista pulled his arm. He turned around, noticing that she was holding a petite girl about her age by the arm. The girl was well dressed and had a healthy incarnate.
Despite the sunny day, she was already wearing a long sleeved sweater with heavy gloves on both hands.
"Lith, do you remember Brina?" She asked him.
"No." Lith sighed. That was one of those moments when Solus would chime in and remind him about who’s who. The silence in his mind was deafening. Despite Tista’s presence, Lith felt alone and sad again.
"She is the baker’s daughter and like me is part of the shut-in club." Tista was referring to a group of youths that for some reason had spent most of their life in isolation, just like her.
"I was wondering if you could do something for her." Brina became pale and tried to sneak away, but Tista was on guard stopping her in her tracks.