Chương 43: Chapter 14 - A Life for a Life

The ham squelched as Aaron walked it back onto the centre of the bread and aligned it with the edges of the bread. Silence weighed down over the room like a heavy blanket. He had no idea what Tim was thinking; he just stared blankly. Aaron walked over and remade the sandwich with the slice of bread and lettuce sitting in the parchment and took a casual bite. He stared at the wall and waited to see if Tim was impressed or upset that he was using his powers.

A giggle pierced the silence, which quickly escalated into a full on cackle. Tears were streaming from Tim's eyes. A bit of chewed up bread shot out of Aaron's mouth as he snorted with laughter.

"What are you doing?!" Tim could barely get a word out through the laughter.

"Practising," Aaron said as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. Aaron spent the day relaxing with his brother in the house, eating food and talking. The hours passed quickly in each other's company. For a short time, he felt as if they lived in a bubble away from his problems. But before he knew it, the evening arrived and he settled down early for work the next day. The streets were teeming with life on the way to work.

He walked past a man wearing a bold red jacket with reinforced shoulder pads pointing out at least double his shoulder width to the sides. It matched some equally eccentric trousers, both painted with swirls and flames.

"Praise Artifex-Atmas," he shouted fanatically, "queen of the gods!" As his groggy morning malaise dissipated, he noticed more people wearing equally unusual and extravagant costumes. He'd completely forgotten it was ascension day.

"Why are you not dressed up?" A squeaky high-pitched voice said. Aaron looked down to his side to see a young boy, around ten years old. He was dressed up in a long blue top with blue trousers. The tunic had the healer's crest, a stylised cross melded into a white circle. Aaron went to speak, but paused with his mouth slightly open, thinking of a good response. Why wasn't he dressed up for the most important day in the calendar?

It's not like anything important was being celebrated like the creation of everyone's soul.

"I've got to work today, bud. You can't dress up where I'm going." he said. The boy stared up at Aaron with big, dumb eyes and blinked a couple of times slowly.

"When I grow up, I want to be a healer. I know they're going to see I'm gifted today and have the soul of a healer and then I'm going to train really really hard and then I'm going to heal some people and it's going to be great!" The boy babbled on and walked off in a different direction to Aaron, half talking to him, half talking to himself. The market square was full of people in costume. An old man stood in the middle of a roughly assembled wooden stage, dressed in fancy black and gold ceremonial robes.

"Praise Artifex-Atmas for creating the first souls: Althea, Mnemo and Ouromor." Three children stepped forward onto the stage, one dressed in green, one in gold and one in black. Their costumes had a home-made charm about them. A fifty-strong crowd had gathered in front of the stage.

"He gave Althea power over life and nature," he said, as the child dressed in green threw handfuls of petals into the air.

"He gave Mnemo mastery over magical secrets and pronounced him the keeper of knowledge," he said as the boy dressed in gold stood forwards and held up an open dusty tome towards the crowd.

"He tasked Ouromor with dominion over souls and made him the master of death. He took pity on humans and created the cycle, allowing souls to pass back into the mortal realm in new forms." The child dressed in black stepped forwards and spun a red ribbon around in circles. Aaron stood for a moment to enjoy the show. There was a pleasant backdrop of stringed instruments playing fast paced whimsical music.

"Next, Artifex-Atmas created the soul-well where all mortal souls are born!" The old man pulled a bedsheet to reveal a bucket painted like a well. Looks like they didn't have much of a budget for this.

"Mnemo despised the decision to deprive mortals from the power of the gods. He felt it cruel to not give them every tool available to thrive." The music got louder and turned from whimsical to dramatic.

"One day, he ripped out one of his eyes and cast it into the well." The boy in gold turned to face the crowd, revealing he was wearing an eye patch. The bucket splashed as he cast a large rock painted like an eye into it.

"Mnemo's eye imbued the soul-well with his magical knowledge so that mortals can learn to tap into their souls' potential, unlocking great powers!" The crowd roared, cheering the god of knowledge. They chanted Mnemo, Mnemo, Mnemo…

"Artifex-Atmas was furious! She banished Mnemo to the mortal world and bound him to a library where he was forever cursed to bear the knowledge and power of the gods, but never be able to use it. We built this great city around the sacred library to honour his sacrifice!" The children bowed to the crowd as they cheered.

"Don't forget to come and celebrate at the sacred library tonight where the keepers will select this year's gifted!" Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Aaron walked on past the crowd. He spent the rest of the journey reminiscing about his ascension day. The gifted were supposed to have souls of great potential, aligned with one of the major classes of magic. Was he still aligned with the healers now his class had evolved into Necromancy?

On arriving at work, it was surprisingly quiet. The staff were preparing for the day, dressed in their usual white tunics, but there were few patients waiting to be seen. On big holidays like Ascension day, people put off coming to the hospital so they could enjoy the celebrations. It was nice to have a quiet day, but Aaron knew that they would come back sicker and in greater numbers the day after.

Master Addison walked past, dressed up in extravagant blue silken robes with intricately embroidered patterns and symbols in fine gold thread.

"Aaron, you are covering the follow-up clinic today. You'll need to stay late and make sure everyone is seen, I need to be at the Sacred Library for the ceremony today." It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for the masters to leave the apprentices to run the show whilst they disappear off for events and ceremonies. Aaron supposed it was one of the perks of training for so long.

"Yes sir," Aaron said. Master Addison walked off, barely looking him in the eye. Aaron walked off to the opposite wing from the ward. There was a waiting area filled with wooden benches. A small circular side table sat in the middle of the room, piled up with outdated news-parchments. The outpatient wing smelled a lot better than the ward, yet his eyes still stung from the pungent cleaning fluids. They regularly sanitised every part of the infirmary.

Just off to the side of the waiting room was a short corridor with several doors to the sides. Aaron went into the one that said Apprentice room. The room with a chair and desk facing the door. It was basic, probably much more basic than the master's rooms, but it had everything he needed; Parchment, quills, candles and a pile of patient notes. He hung up his coat on the back of the door and opened up the first document in front of him which talked about a man with a broken arm from a fishing boat accident.

He called the man in and checked to see if there were any problems with the arm, such as pain or weakness and he performed a few tests. Once all was done, he sent him on his way and wrote his findings down in the notes. This was routine work for Aaron, he had done it thousands of times. The hardest part was resisting the temptation to dip into his new powers. This continued back to back all day until the daylight faded and he had to call someone in to light the candles.

Leg injury from penetrating wound, healed by ritual soul repair. He was exhausted and relieved to finally be on the last patient of the day. He hadn't managed to stop to eat at all, but this wasn't uncommon. He went out of his room to call in the last patient of the day. A nauseating feeling welled up in his stomach. It was Thomas. Aaron rapidly scanned around the room in case anyone had seen Thomas, then quickly ushered him to come into the room.

Luckily, no one else was around and the masters were all at the ceremony.

"I thought I was clear, you are putting me at a lot of risk by showing up here!" Aaron said. He wanted to shout, but forced himself to keep his voice quiet so as to not draw any attention.

"I'm sorry healer Barrows," he pleaded, "I had no choice. I tried! They made me!" Aaron felt a wave of guilt. Maybe he shouldn't have let himself get angry before figuring out what was going on.

"Hold on, what happened?"

"They took him!" Thomas was hysterical and barely able to string a sentence together?

"Who?" Aaron said.

"My son!" Aaron frowned.

"Why? And why are you coming to me? You should be talking to the peacekeepers."

"They saw my foot and asked me what happened. I told them about you and how great you are without thinking of the consequences. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking right!" If the mafia knew about his powers, this wasn't good news.

"What do you mean? You told the mafia about me? How could you be so stupid?" Thomas' knuckles went white where he was gripping the arms of his chair so tightly.

"I'm such an idiot. They told me to go back to the hospital and bring you to them. The boss' daughter is sick and the Spirit Healers haven't been able to help. I should never have told them about you, I'm sorry!" Thomas' face was red and his eyes welled up. If they knew about him already, he didn't have much of a choice but to help.

"I refused at first, and told them I gave you my word not to come back" Thomas continued, "I thought they respected it, but they took my son."

"What? That's barbaric!" Aaron said.

"You don't know these people, there is no line they will not cross! They will hurt my son if I don't do what they want. If I go to the peacekeepers, they will kill him!" Aaron felt sick. What sort of person would hurt a child to extort someone? He couldn't walk away from this with a clear conscience.

"If I help them, then what happens? Will they let your son go, will they let me go?" Aaron asked. Thomas' hands loosened up on the chair." I…I don't know. I don't have any other choice left, I have nowhere else to go." Aaron paused to weigh up his options. If I walk away, there's no telling what these people will do to this man's son. And they will probably send someone else for me, but with force next time.

"I'll do it," Aaron said reluctantly. Thomas sniffed and rubbed the water out of his eyes.

"Thank you. I have money, I'll pay you""No!" Aaron snapped.

"I'm doing this for the boy and my own safety. You better hope I get out of this. You've put me in so much danger." Thomas looked chagrined, "I'm sorry, Aaron, I made a mistake. I was just so grateful and happy for what you did for me. I wasn't thinking. Just do what the boss wants and get out of there as fast as you can." Aaron rolled his eyes, "Well it's already too late for warnings. You've already thrown me to the sharks. What do they know about me already? Do they know where I live?"

"They might do, but I'm not certain. These people are cunning, so it's likely." Aaron grumbled. As much as he was upset with Thomas, he knew it was a risk and it sounded like he didn't mean any harm.

"Thank you." He repeated.

"I will make this right, I promise! I'll figure something out."

"What is your boss like? Is there anything I could trade for my safety," Aaron asked.

"He loves his family more than anything else. Business is business, but blood debts matter to him more than anything. You cannot trust his word when it comes to money. But if you can make his daughter better, he will owe you."

"So you really think I can get him to promise to leave me alone if I help his daughter, even if he thinks my powers are still useful to him," Aaron asked.

"Yes" Thomas said, "He will ALWAYS honour a blood debt. A life for a life."

"A life for a life.." Aaron echoed.