Salvator Morborum

We travelled through the streets as Romero awkwardly gazed back every now and then. Sweat pooled on his brow as he he hunched forwards a little, his right hand grasping his stomach. Looking like he was stressing himself into a panic and sickened state I took one of my old mental spells and updated it. Adding the concepts of calmness, reason and stability were easy to do as the spell structure was already there. Exhaling my breath a soft silver glimmer fluttered out and landed on him, his emotions and worries soothing within mere seconds of impact.

Blinking a few times as he continued to walk forwards he slowly became more confident in his gait and increasing his pace. Smiling at the outcome I followed the man at his pace, choosing to slow down in this moment to enjoy normalcy. We had gradually moved through to the more poor section of the city where new arrivals and those that had not been vetted yet were staying. Here there was an oppressive cloud of sulphurous and charcoal remnants. Fires and forges working at full blast to provide utensils and tools for working, eating and living. Stepping through I could see many people aimlessly wandering through with smiled on their faces as old grannies and grandpas shouted out their wears. 

Clothes hung from cords hung between building, the house wives and children pulling some down before putting out freshly scrubbed garments. Colours were prominent in this section of the city, a pass time for bored children and even teens to express themselves. A culture of art would soon surface no doubt and that would make the city thrive even more. More ideas came to me about the lessons that could be taught on the Island above. The poor in this area would have the opportunity to go there and learn as well, the right not reserved for just the wealthy. 

Chimneys from heated stone houses radiated smoke out of their stacks as many carts travelled through this section of the city at a slow pace. Men stood outside with signs around their necks, adverts for their toil. Some expressed skills in manual labour whilst some even said that they had experience with more advanced trades... It seemed that they were unemployed due to the lack of jobs currently in the city. Many positions were already filled and most industries had reached their current capacity. 

'Looks like I'll have to expand the amount of work we have. They won't starve for now but this isn't good if we want to min-max our population's production value and artistic value.'

Romero ducked into a side alleyway as he gestured for us to follow via the flapping of his right arm from inside said road. Following him in I saw that the alleyway was rather clean, various tools and bins stacked up to the side of the alley. At the end of the alley I saw a garbage worker slowly collecting the rubbish and scraps, a magical leather bag sucking all of the rancid or rotten material. I had set this up for use in farming. We used the food waste for fertilizer and compost whilst the metal scraps were handed to the Artisan guilds for repurposing. Many horse shoes and tools were made from scrap metal that had been refined by Magicules.

"I apologise for the small size of our house..."

He rubbed his head and looked embarrassed, as if his masculinity would be questioned by the lack of a large house. The attitude was silly but I knew that it was probably a weak point of his emotions, he most likely wished to have a larger house with more stability.

"Don't be stupid. Why would I care? I am not a fragile piece of glass, so long as there is a roof over the your head and food in your belly, that is what matters."

I delicately pushed past him, a nervous chuckle coming unbidden from his throat as he stood to the side of the entry way. The house was small, but it felt overly cosy. A small fireplace warmed a singular room that housed a small kitchen, a squished in double bed and a singular chair close to the fireplace. No windows were present in the room but it was still well lit, the flame and various candles burning to provide light in sufficient amounts for vision. Looking over the space I felt a concern build up in my mind. 

'No windows, no sunlight... Such a tight room... There was a slip up in construction standards. I'll get Geld to investigate and see if he can fix the mess. Perhaps we can move some of the families into better houses closer to the centre of the city and offer some houses up on the Island? Could work, but first let's check this woman.'

A thoroughly blanketed woman sat in the chair close to the fireplace, a bump in the blankets indicating to me that she was Romero's wife. A small hum blithered into the space as coughs interspaced the small nursery rhyme melody. Sniffles followed the coughs as the woman hunched over to the side and grasped at some fabric cloths. Looming closer behind her I witnessed bright crimson speckle the cloth she held in her pale-looking hands. They shook as her fingers scrunched the material, her head turning to the side to look for the noise she had heard just before.

Not moving away or evading, my eyes met with hers. Slowly blinking at me the woman simply looked behind me, finding a man that closely resembled what her husband had looked like but with a completely different body.

"Ander...? Is that you? What happened?"

The shaking in her hands increased as her chest heaved in her attempt to resist the coughs that plagued her just before. Romero, or Ander, quickly ran up to her and dropped to his knees, grabbing the cloth from her hands and desperately checking the condition of her body and the blood. Alexandria seemed to have enough common sense not to step in and simply remained outside, her head peaking around the corner of the door. Her eyes were particularly glued to me, no doubt she wished to see what i did next.

"It is me, love, I brought some help... She said that she could heal you."

The woman slowly blinked at her husband before sleepily adjusting her head to face me head on. Getting a head on view of her condition I immediately got the sense that she was close to dying, her breathing was shallow and the two heartbeats within her were slowly fading. If i did nothing, she would most certainly die. 

"Is it true... you can heal me?"

Romero turned to me with a distinct fervour in his eyes, blood slowly slipping from his mouth. Closing my eyes I exhaled, feeling the weight of leadership and power all too greatly. I had a duty of care for all citizens and people, but many times the decisions I made effected these people in unexpected ways. Disease was still present and poor living conditions were still prevalent within my own city. Opening my eyes with a weight on my soul I slowly reached my hand out.

Healing... It was a manifestation of White Essence. It included the concepts of health, restoration, mortality, regression of wounds and curing. Many rules applied to these. Conservation of energy, physiological limitations of the body and the constitution of said person. A ray of golden light slipped from my fingers and shone down through the stagnant air. Warmth unrelated to the fire entered into the space, sunlight cascading through the entire room as in the background said light reflected into Alexandria's eyes and furthermore, into the very vapours in the air converting them into droplets of water that glowed in bright blues. As was mentioned, Blue was the machine that conveyed the powers of reality and magic. White may have been the main contributor but Blue created the link between my intention and my patient. 

Light filled the room for nano-seconds before it faded and embedded into the water within the woman's body. Pallid complexion faded from her as the rosy-red vibrancy of health, restoration, and other concepts slithered through the blue veins throughout the organs. Every place water touched within, there was the light of healing. Light slipped from her veins and organs, eventually coalescing into her eyes where it then escaped. A tide of White Essence ran through the air before turning into a single stream of energy that gathered above her stomach. A dagger of energy formed before dropping with the weight of gravity, the energy being absorbed by her womb where it soon wove its way through her child also.

"You are healed. When you give birth to your child, come see me, I will give him a name and also your wife a name."

I spoke to Romero and not the woman as she had fallen to sleep. Water dripped from his face as hope had been granted and health was inflicted. All his worried cast away by a simple spell of mine. 

"Master! I accept whatever plans you have for me! I can never repay what you have granted me..."

"Now, now, don't get all soppy on me." I smiled.

"Just take your time to enjoy being with you wife ands your child. When you are ready, visit my house. You can ask Alexandria there where it is, she no doubt already knows."

"HEY!? I am a fan not a creep..."

"And?"

"Ok, fine, her house is near the Government District, she lives with her wives there."

I rolled my eyes whilst laughing, Romero frowning in contemplation before turning to look at his wife, a charming and disarming smile forming on his stoic face. 

"I will definitely go there!"

I pet his shoulder before walking out the door and, furthermore, out of the alley. The sun seemed a little brighter and lighter now... My deeds had helped a family and now I could go back to mine. 'Milim, Shuna... I am coming home.'

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