“Yes,” he grimaced, “I just hope I did it right. I think the influx of protein might help you.”
Ilyan placed me at one of the chairs at the tiny table. What was surely a full pack of perfectly crisp, browned bacon sat in all its greasy goodness before me. I hadn’t eaten meat in what felt like months and just the smell was making my mouth water.
“Thank you, Ilyan.” I smiled brightly at him, ignoring the swelling and swimming that was going on inside my brain.
His eyes were shining joyfully. But it wasn’t only happiness I saw behind his eyes, there was something there I couldn’t quite place. I was trying to figure out what it might be when the swelling in my head grew into something more painful and I called out, clutching my hands to my head.
I could barely make out Ilyan rushing towards me from the kitchenette; calling to me, yelling for me. The pain continued to grow as my vision blacked out, and the air swirled past me as I fell from the chair.
I never felt the impact, but on my way down I could have sworn I heard someone laughing.
Two
“Sakra, Ovailia! I don’t know how it happened!”
Ilyan’s voice woke me up from a deep sleep, and I immediately regretted it. My body hurt and groaned. My bones creaked and ached as if they were swelling. My chest fought with every breath, a heavy weight restricting my movements.
Ilyan yelled something in Czech and I reluctantly opened my eyes. Even my eye lids hurt.
It was night. The only light in the room came from a small lamp near the balcony that lit up the room eerily with a heavy yellow glow. The bacon still sat on the table, and the chair I had sat in was knocked over. A large dark stain spread over the carpet nearby. I moved to try and get a better look, but a pressurized pain spread over my skull. I closed my eyes tightly against the threatening migraine.
“That’s just it, Ovailia, it’s as if her magic has been drained. Normally it’s a suffocating torrent when I try to heal her, but now there is nothing there. Nothing is fighting me.”
My magic was gone? I reached inside of me and pulled it up as I had been taught to do, but it didn’t respond as usual. It was slow and heavy, like when you move your hand through sludge. Even the attempt to work it up and push it outside of me caused pain.
“You are asking me questions I do not know the answers to,” Ilyan spoke harshly before transitioning into Czech again. I shifted my weight again and my back seized up in the exact places I had broken a few weeks before.
“Ilyan!” I called out to him. My spine curled, arching itself out in a fan before freezing me in place.
“I have to go.” I heard the phone click shut, and a moment later Ilyan’s hands pressed against my skin. His magic filled me instantly. It raced through my skin faster than lightning and with more strength than I had ever experienced.
My eyes opened wide in surprise at his power filling me so aggressively. If the way Ilyan’s magic burned into my body now was any indication as to how powerful he was, I was beginning to understand why he was revered.
Moments after his hands had touched my skin, my back relaxed and straightened. Some of the bone pain had also left, and I was feeling blissfully relaxed.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice strained.
“I think so,” I said. I shifted a bit, but decided against any larger movements as my body protested again.
“What happened, Joclyn?” Ilyan asked, “Do you remember anything?”
“Not really. I remember my head swelling, and then I was falling, and someone was laughing...” I looked to Ilyan, concerned I sounded like a mad man. He moved aside the thick braid he had obviously placed in my hair and pushed his hand against my neck. My nerves jumped a bit in confusion about what had happened.
“Someone was laughing? Do you know who?”
“No,” I whispered.
Ilyan’s hand still rested against my neck, his magic reaching into every part of me. It was warm and comforting. And though it was not the magic I wished for, it still helped.
“Are you going to heal me, Ilyan?”
“I’ve been trying, Siln?. I am not sure I can.” My eyes grew wide and my heart raced. His magic surged again and my nerves calmed.
“Trying?” I repeated, my eyes falling to the dark spot on the carpet. “What happened, Ilyan?”
Ilyan’s line of sight traced mine, and I saw him stiffen at the large dark splotch. “You fell, and then you began to bleed a dark fluid. It wasn’t blood, but it was foul. Your whole body was shaking. I thought...” He lowered his head, hiding his glistening eyes. “I thought I had lost you.”
“I was bleeding?” I asked, confused.