Chương 171: Act 3, Chapter 25: I am broken… again

Day in the story: 7th January (Wednesday) I opened my eye to the blue sky of my Domain, seeing it look back at me through the translucent roof of the Art Palace. It was perfect maya blue, without a single cloud, and yet I felt like staying in my big bed and not moving an inch. I turned to the side, cuddling myself with my duvet, when my body protested at every single opportunity it had been given.

"Oh hell," I whispered, despite needing to shout. My jaw wasn't opening wide enough for that for some reason. I wanted to reach for my face with my left hand, but my shoulder expressed a definite"no way, Alexa." So I turned onto my back again and reached with my right hand, gently touching every part of my face. It had been grossly swollen. One of my eyes was just half open. My breasts hurt so much I felt like they would fall off as soon as I made a sudden move.

I didn't want to leave my bed at all, but if I wanted to get better soon, I had to. I uncovered myself slowly, forcing myself into a seated position, but my legs bombarded me with pain each time I moved them. I sent away the robe, the Usagear and all of my clothes besides panties and bra to take a look at my body. Bad fucking mistake. I almost fainted. My skin was purple near damn everywhere I looked, besides the legs, which were pretty damn near perfectly black all throughout.

I almost fainted out of sheer terror of what had happened to me. I needed Peter or Lebens's soup, and I needed them quickly. Fortunately my Authority was back to full, so resummoning the belt wasn't a big deal. I did that, just to scream in pain as it settled itself around my waist. Everywhere it touched the skin wished that it was dead instead. I took a deep breath and focused on my room, wishing to go there instead.

The world went ahead and the walls changed quickly from those of perfect replicas of some modernized ancient temple to those of my old four. My bed squeaked as my butt landed on it. My ass didn't like it very much either. I quickly found my phone within my aura and focused on the painting on its case, summoning it into my hand. Black screen, so I pressed the power button. Nothing. Please, good reality, please don't be dead. No such luck for me. The battery was as dead as I was going to be if this continued.

"Sophie." My attempt at shouting died short, as my voice was raspy and barely leaving my throat. I needed help even with that. [On it.] Anansi answered me and conveyed my needs to Liora as it materialized in front of me, summoned through the tattoo on my back. He flared green and, without any issues, went through the wall that divided my room from Peter's, where he probably did the same to get to Sophie's. I heard a quick shout then, something dropping to the ground, and her rushing to put something onto herself.

Only then did I realize that in that discordant attack of Robbie's I lost connection to all of my additional senses, including the eyes on his scales. Fuck. All of my emergency cards were dead. But my additional brains were present during the fight. [Yes. I kept all my focus on keeping them connected just in case. They were the only thing I managed to salvage.] Thank you, Ani. I appreciate it. [I wish I could have done more for you.] You might still get your chance. We aren't done with that guy yet.

I hope he is worse off than me, though. I thought back to her, right as Liora darted right through my front door, and they opened behind him.

"No!" Sophie gasped when she noticed me. She covered her face with both hands as tears immediately ran over her cheeks.

"Not… as bad as…" I tried to say, but my body hurt with every damn word, "it seems." She came slowly to me, dropping to her knees in front of my bed and looking at me. Her face grimaced, repulsed by what she saw. Or maybe it was pity.

"I need… healing," I mumbled.

"I will call Peter right away. You can reach his ring, right? So it might be the fastest way," she voiced her inner thinking, trying to keep herself and me calm in the process. It worked for me. She reached for the phone and dialed. He didn't pick up. She repeated a second and a third time. She sent him a text instead. Emergency. Quick contact necessary. Alexa's life in danger.

"Maybe he left his phone somewhere for training or something? Can't you teleport to him anyway?"

"I can, but… need to know…"

"Where he is. Got it." She reached for my belt and went through the container, searching for an eye card. A tear ran down my cheek.

"Send this toward him. You can, right?"

"Yes." She placed the card gently next to my hand, barely touching it, but it was enough. I infused it with Authority to be my eye, my ear, and my mouth, and focusing on the painting of Peter's signet within my spellbook, I sent it right to him.

"I am… fucked," I told her, as all I could see through the card was blackness. There was nothing to hear in there either, so I didn't even try to speak, in fear of it doing some harm to Peter. He wouldn't take this ring off if he didn't have to. Sophie swallowed audibly and reached for another card in my holder, placing it in the same spot.

"He will reach out as soon as he can. I am sure of that," she said.

"Get the card to talk for you. Should be easier than your own muscles right now, right?" I did as she asked. My clever friend.

"I love you, Soph," I told her through the card. Tears started running down my cheeks.

"I am afraid to die." She stopped herself from hugging me.

"And I want to pee so fucking badly." I started sobbing and she mirrored me.

"I will get you out of this. I will call for Zoe to come watch over you while I go to Nick's to look for the soup, okay?"

"I can send us there. Can go with the bed into the training hall," I told her.

"Good idea. Will be faster. Do it."

"Get dressed first, Soph. You will freeze without any clothes in there."

"Right. Good call. Give me a second. I will put something on and will cover you as well," she replied, looking toward Liora waiting patiently at the side of the bed.

"You will come with us. Help me search, little one, okay?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. He flared green for her.

"Sophie." I stopped her at the door.

"Thank you. You are the best, you know it?"

"I love you too, girl. Be right back." She went away and I laid myself onto the bed slowly, covering myself over and adjusting my position without any sudden movements. It felt like it took forever, and it might as well have, judging by the fact that she was back, dressed for outdoors, before I finished the process. She came closer and adjusted my cover until I was comfortable. She took my phone and plugged it in for charging.

I infused the eye above the desk with my sight just in case, and as she sat down on the bed, saying that she was ready, I reached out and teleported all three of us into Lebens's training hall. It was dark for a second before Liora intensified the glow on his horns. Lebens had turned off the power in here.

"It's so cold in here," Sophie said, as I reached for the eyes on Liora's body and made them mine. A mist of cold air left her mouth as she spoke.

"I feel fine about the temperature," my card spoke to them. Sophie reached for it and placed it sticking out behind her belt.

"Okay, we will be quick then," she answered, and then moved out like a small lantern of light drifting into the darkness of night. I really had to pee though, and it was driving me crazy, so I uncovered myself when they were already going up the stairs. Lio waited patiently by the safe doors while Sophie opened them with a code. They hissed once, and she pushed them aside, right as I was moving the first of my legs with both of my hands so it would hang loosely from the bed.

I could have covered myself with shadowlight to illuminate the scene, but decided against it. I didn't want to see this black skin again. Soph went to the kitchen immediately upon going upstairs. She briefly checked the cabinets and the counters, but besides the usual stuff that was there each time we visited—like wooden spoons, cutting boards, hanging knives, bottles of olive oil, and spice condiments—nothing was out of the ordinary, so she moved to the fridge.

I began putting my other leg across the edge of the bed. This one—the left—hurt even more than the right. Each inch jolted pain throughout the shattered bones and up to my spine, making me shiver. The fridge was a bust. Lebens must have emptied it and turned off the power before leaving. Liora, however, in a flash of brilliance, found and illuminated a note they had left pinned under a paperweight on the kitchen island.

Sophie reached for it right as I finally threw both of my legs out and braced to lower myself to the floor.

"It's in the pantry!" she shouted after grabbing the paper.

"Ali, they left some just in case."

"I knew they would. I should have asked them, but… they left in such a hurry I didn't want to sound needy," a card spoke to her with my voice, as she ran through the hallway to the stairs leading downstairs again—just to a different set of rooms. I cried in the meantime, as I didn't make it in time. Warm fluid escaped me while I was still on the bed, soiling my panties, the sheet, and my sense of self-worth.

And despite the physical relief of finally being free of that pressure, I felt like the world caught me in the prison of my own body. It was a horror. Sophie was skipping over the steps as I sent the wet underwear and bedsheet away into my Domain to deal with later and crawled back into a fetal position under the cover. She reached the Lebens' cellar and opened the door, which for my tastes was way too casual for all the treasures they kept in there.

No lock whatsoever, while this stupid training room was divided from the home by top-grade, military, big-ass metallic doors with an electronic lock. I remembered asking Dam about it once. He brushed his shoulders and replied that all the people invited into his house who knew about them fully, he trusted with all of his secrets. And that the training hall was closed off because of all the weapons he kept in there. He didn't want a potential burglar to get access to them.

I wished he was here, with his big smiley face and good humor. It was difficult to admit to myself, but both him and Ariana—but him especially—had become a kind of family for me. The one I would choose for myself if I ever could. I knew he'd take care of me. Say that everything would be fine and make a joke to lighten the mood. I… needed that.

"Got it!" Sophie shouted when she found the miraculous soup in a neatly prepared jar, with a thin red rope covering it entirely and a plaque that said: "special use only." She grabbed it and gave it to Liora hovering next to her, placing her hand on his mane.

"Beam us up, Ali." There it was—a joke to lighten the mood. There was no other person that fit that family as well as she did. I was glad that it was her who was with Nick and not anyone else. I reached out for Liora and blinked them close to me again.

"Done," my card spoke as they appeared.

"Let me help you sit," she said, gently uncovering the top of my body while sniffing the air.

"I am sorry. I was so stressed that I just ignored the peeing comment, Ali. I am so sorry."

"Just keep it between you and me," I told her, as her careful arms still hurt my back while she was bringing me up. She tried her best, but my body wasn't counting on the best. It hoped for no movement at all. The pain was so great that my biological brain lost consciousness again. It just faded, turning the conscious processes off, while my second one took over, opening the eyes and gasping for air again.

"Sorry. I am kind of a wreck. I drifted for a second."

"It's okay." She let me rest against her as she sat next to me, shook the jar a bit, and unscrewed it. I expected to be hit with the scent of wonders, fairytales, and magic, but instead I couldn't smell it at all. My nose must have been broken too in that fight. She grabbed my head gently and started pouring the perfectly warm liquid down my throat, while I tried to help hold the jar with my right hand.

My soul accepted the healing that came with the fluid, and the moment it slid down my throat, it felt less like being rewritten on both spiritual and biological levels. Warmth gathered in my stomach like a small sun and then unfolded through the lattice of my soul. I could almost feel it with my aura sense: golden threads racing outward along invisible pathways, lighting them up as they went, like lanterns being lit one by one across a dark city. My face changed first.

A cool, clear brightness washed through my eyes, sharpening every outline. Colors deepened. Edges stopped blurring. My throat, raw and burning moments ago finally softened. Breath moved freely. Scent returned too—the faint sweetness of the soup, spice and herbs and that magic I expected before, but could never name properly. Then my chest opened. Pressure I was carrying dissolved. Each rib relaxed back into its proper place, no longer complaining with every breath. My lungs filled deeper without effort.

It felt like someone had quietly loosened tight laces wrapped around my torso. The warmth flowed lower. My stomach settled, muscles unclenching in gentle waves. My spine straightened on its own with a soft series of internal clicks, posture restored; my body being reminded how it was meant to stand. My left shoulder came next. There, the magic slowed, concentrated. I felt fibers knit and slide, cords of strength rethreading themselves.

Connections rewove with tiny sparks under the skin, luminous stitches pulling everything into proper alignment. The lingering tremor in my nerves faded. The tingling stopped.

"You are looking much better already, Ali," Sophie said, and the jar left my hands, though the magic did not stop. It continued its pilgrimage downward. My hips and lower back filled with steady heat, the deep ache dissolving into a distant echo and then nothing. Even the way I sat changed—the surface beneath me no longer an enemy. When the current reached my legs, it branched into dozens of finer streams. There was one sharp wave of pain, when the nerves lit up and then relief followed behind it.

Bone, muscle, and skin aligned and renewed in layered sequence. It felt like being restored by an artist who knew my blueprint by heart. I smiled, almost giddy, certain the process would carry me all the way back to perfect— And then, abruptly, it stopped.

"Something is wrong," I said to Sophie.

"What?"

"I don't know. Do you have some more of that in that jar?"

"No," she said, turning it around to show me that not a single drop would fall out.

"Fuck. My legs still hurt," I said, and Liora intensified his glow, getting closer to them, illuminating the damage. They were no longer entirely black, but bruised—purple or red in most places—but natural skin color was showing too. The left leg still had black coloring below the knee and hurt like a motherfucker. I moved them, and while the right was mostly fine, minus the small but bearable pain, the other one protested all the way through.

"I think I was way too broken to be fully healed by the amount they left."

"Looks like it," Sophie replied.

"Let's get you to a hospital, Ali."

"It's not the best idea."

"Why? You have money, we can get more. Let the doctors at least look at it. You no longer look like you were bludgeoned to death but forgot to die, so just say that you broke it or something."

"I could paint over it. Make it believe it's healthy I did that before."

"Believe? Will it get healed through that spell?"

"No. Only for as long as the paint and Authority is there."

"Are you sure, that whatever is wrong inside the leg, would not silently kill you?"

"No." I answered truthfully.

"Then, let's get you to real doctors until the healers return Ali."

"You think?"

"Yes. Wait here for a second. I have some spare clothes in Nick's room. We will dress you up and call an ambulance to come here." I didn't like the idea, but since all the miracles were used already, this seemed like it might be the best way—until Peter calls back, that is.

"I don't want to go there alone." Panic had risen within me, when I finally realized I'd be getting into a hospital.

"Please, Soph—please come with me. I can't face it by myself, okay? Promise me." My voice broke as I spoke.

"Don't worry. Is there something I should know?" she asked, lowering herself to look directly into my eyes.

"You seem more afraid of this than seems reasonable." Yeah. She had no idea.