A New Problem

The doctor released the Empress as gently as he could, but the fear of contaminating the water caused him to let go at too great a height. He realized too late what he had done as the woman's body plunged beneath the surface. Although her cheek would have needed to be submerged at some point, the treatment probably could have been done in stages. Instead, the large metal tub enveloped the Empress all at once.

Water splashed onto the ground, soaking Phileas's soft-soled shoes. "I am sorry, Your Majesty!" he cried. He reached out to help the woman sit up, but stopped short. Something was off, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

In a daze, he watched as the woman's hair floated around her. She seemed so serene. If she were having trouble, surely she would be flailing around, yet she was completely still, possibly even relaxed.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?!" he called, hoping his voice would at least get her attention through the water. However, she seemed to be oblivious to his words.

"Doctor!" Bukuri whispered frantically.

The doctor looked over at the elf, who indicated the old woman in the tub. Although she sat upright in the tub, her eyes were droopy and not focused on any fixed point. "Nanny? Can you hear me?" Phileas did not like that he had lost the ability to communicate with two of his patients. His mind immediately went to the third.

"Fate Hanna! Can you tell me what is happening?" Phileas turned his head and beheld Hanna's face. Her normally blue skin was chalk white, and her lids had the same heaviness at the councilwoman.

Yet, Hanna was still able to talk. Her voice came out as thin as air. "Whatever it is, it won't leave without a fight."

The water began to roil and bubble around her. Then the Fate began to shake. All three ladies convulsed uncontrollably. And their wounds, even though they were covered mostly by clothing, began to glow so brightly that the room was bathed in light. Phileas turned back to the Empress. He called to her again, but still she did not answer.

He had not timed how long she had been under the water, but his instincts told him that it had been long enough. Just then screaming filled the air as the light grew too bright to even see. Blinded, the doctor yelled for help. "The Empress will drown!" he screamed as he groped for the tub.

Over the screams and the others, he swore he could hear the door to the chamber open. He hoped that the new arrival would be able to assist him in rescuing the woman.

"Over here! Help me with Her Majesty."

But before he heard a response, he was forced to the ground by an unseen force. When the oppressive light surrounding Hanna was at its peak, a percussive wave more powerful than any of Renat's burst balls emanated from her and tore the tub asunder. Water poured out in ever direction, still bubbling.

Immediately afterward, Nanny's tub was split by an internal blast. Shards of metal scraped the walls and gouged the floor.

Not to be outdone, the Empress went out with a more impressive bang than either of her predecessors. Her blast went every conceivable direction, energy flowing out of her like a tsunami.

With each blast, the ground shook violently, though whether it was because of or in response to the explosive treatment, it was too hard to tell. If that were not enough, the entire foundation of the palace faltered, threatening to shear off of its foundation completely. Were it not for the structure being so expertly built, the flickering castle would have easily been rent in two.

With everything shaking, the world felt for a moment like it might fold in on itself. Phileas lay soaked on the floor, ears ringing and eyes blinded, waiting for death to take him for his misjudgment.

But as soon as the Empress's blast had worn itself out, the world became still again. "Doctor Phileas?" Bukuri's voice was the first to break through the bells that plagued his ears.

The physician opened his eyes and screamed, only to realize his voice was already hoarse. What he saw horrified him. How did this even happen?

-----------------

In the darkness, Aurora felt like she was drifting in the currents of an underground river. There was no sound or sight, only the sensation of being nudged and pulled along by tiny wavelets. It wasn't pleasant or unpleasant, but Aurora felt like she was not where she was supposed to be. She tried to remember where she had been before this nothingness, but her thoughts were only of this void.

Surely there was something more than this hopeless place. If only she could grasp it.

Then in the darkness, her hands began to glow a ghostly green. It was soft at first, growing in intensity at every moment. Frightened by the unnatural luminescence, Aurora forced her hands away from her as hard as she could. The light shot outwards, giving a sudden burst of brilliance before returning to the darkness.

Her body jerked violently to one side. The gentle caress of the current stopped all together as she skidded and felt like she hit a stone wall. How was there a wall in the void? It made no sense. Unless...

The darkness tried once more to lull her into its embrace, pulling her back into the invisible water and rocking her gently. But the wall had been too jarring and real. Unlike the darkness, it had substance. With all her strength, she reached out again and took a hold of the first thing she felt.

It was soft and fleshy, just like... Aurora's eyes popped open. She was face to face with Brinn, who was looking down on her with great relief.

"I thought I had seen everything," the elf said quietly, "but a human who explodes and lives is a new one for me."

"Exploding human? What?" The Empress realized she was up against a wall, just like the one she had felt in the darkness. The last thing she remembered was drowning in the large metallic tub. So how did she get here?

"You burst from your bathtub like a ball of fire and flung yourself into the wall. You seem alright, but I am afraid the basin you were in was only good for one use." Brinn held up a shard of the tub. It was warped and twisted like a mangled napkin.

However, this is not what drew Aurora's attention. Dripping from the rose-colored metal was a black sludge. With the elf's help, the Empress surveyed the rest of the room. Her eyes widened in shock. "The healing water!"

"It all turned black and slimey," Brinn confirmed. "The Doctor was wise not to mix it with the rest of our supply. Who knows what would have happened?"

Around the room, tenebrous water, thick and teeming with noxious tiny bubbles, dripped from every crevice of the room.

"What caused it to turn so foul?" Aurora tried to comprehend what had happened.

"You did, or at least whatever was inside all of you. Even when Alaron lit up the night sky, he didn't rupture like that."

The elf had seen the explosions with her own squinting eyes, though what she had seen were more like shadows of what happened due to the overwhelming light. It was similar and yet extremely different from what she had witnessed with the prince's healing.

Both had involved excruciating pain. But the prince's transformation seemed to be repairing what was broken. Aurora's change appeared to be expulsive in nature. While with Alaron, there was no doubt the water would win, here the battle was almost too close to call.

In the end, when the water had finally gotten out the foreign substance, the magical essence obliterated the scourge so that it could not return.

The Empress watched as towels were passed into the room for the three elven healers to begin mopping up the mess. They were careful not to add new water to the old in case another reaction might be triggered.

"Stay out until we know it is safe!" Phileas yelled as Nurlan tried to peek in. "No one comes in or out until I say so!"

Brinn rolled her eyes. "He is worried for nothing. I feel fine. How are you?"

Aurora reached up and touched her face. It no longer bore the mark of the wolf's viscous teeth. Pulling up her blackened sleeve and skirt, she found similarly smooth skin.

"I said, how are you feeling?" The elven princess repeated.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. Her body was whole, but her mind felt muddled. She realized it was probably due to the near drowning that had occurred moments before.

"I feel better than I have in thirty years," Nanny stood from the ground and ran in place. She had seen far more disgusting things than the black goo, so her lack of pain was far more notable.

On the other side of the chamber, Hanna's skin began to glow with her usual ethereal light. She was already floating from the ground with a mix of relief and concern written on her face.

"It seems to have worked, Doctor," the Fate said, her power coursing through her body. "Good work…" she paused, looking around.

"I know what you are thinking," Phileas rubbed his head. "We may have created a new problem."