Making Medicine

*Groan* "Did you have to wake me up right at the good part Naaza?"

"Hey, you're the one who said to wake you up after an hour. So how did it go?"

"Well we can say it was quite the success, though we did discover some worrying issues. Now if you could help me get up." Naaza hops over and unties us before helping Lord Miach sit up.

"Thank you Naaza, now, Jack, where were we?" I get up and face him while rubbing my head. For some reason I feel like a truck hit me and left me for dead in the Sahara.

"I had just asked you how to best use those memories I stole from Shendu."

"Ah, yes, the memories."

"Wait you stole memories from that demon?"

"Yes I stole a bunch of memories from that demon inside me. Unfortunately they seem to be tainted even when I went to the trouble of only making copies and taking the copies."

"Yeah, well I'm not surprised. Why would you want memories from some twisted monster anyway?"

"Because he's not a monster but a couple century old magic user who conquered a massive empire. There is knowledge in that head of his that could help me become even stronger or even let me knock him down for good." I massage my head while trying to deal with two headaches at once.

"Still too risky if you ask me. Anyway you said it was a success so how did it go?"

Lord Miach proceeds to inform Naaza about our discoveries while I provide clarification on what I felt.

"So everything worked out then. That's great! Now we just need to see if you can do the same to other people." Naaza's tail starts wagging and I can see her desire start leaking through.

"That's the plan but first I need to talk to Jack about these memories and we need to go ahead and open up. I would hate to let down our regulars." Nazza's tail drops at that. Seeing that I try to help out.

"Yeah that would also help let me see if there's a time limit or if I have to be there permanently for it to work." Naaza perks up and I can see steam start to rise from her head as the prospect of spending the whole night with Lord Miach gets to her. Must be an anime world.

"Ye..yes, that sounds like a great idea let me go open up." Naaza stumbles a bit as she hurridly flees the room.

"Oh dear, I hope she's okay I wouldn't want to cause her problems. We should stick to just what we did earlier, Jack. I don't want to cause Naaza any discomfort after all."

"Don't worry Lord Miach. Naaza will be perfectly fine spending the night with you."

"Well I still want to ask her and make sure. Anyway about those memories you copied. The main problem with them is the emotions were copied as well. If they were mortal emotions it would be fine, but something about their origin makes them much more intrusive. The biggest problem is that it seems like they're connected to something else."

"You're saying that Shendu is using them to get into me?"

"I don't think that's quite accurate. If they were the originals then I would be definitely worried about that. As it is I think he might be trying to use them to corrupt you."

"That would explain why he ran without much of a fight at the end. He probably did something I couldn't notice before he left. Plus I would bet good money he's made protections or traps for me on the rest of his memories." I frown as this has just made things much more complicated.

"Indeed. He is a demon after all, and with how much you praise him I wouldn't expect no less."

"Hey, I wouldn't praise him. I just want to make sure I don't underestimate him."

"That's a good mindset to have. Now back to the main point. The emotions are the main the problem. If you can find some way to remove them from the knowledge then you can be worry free."

"I see. Unfortunately I can't control the memories until I make them mine. Sure I should be able to do exactly that once I've experienced them once, but until them all I can do is seal them away whole."

"Unfortunately that may be a problem. Unless you can permanently remove the affect of these emotions on you they may build up in you until they finally burst and corrupt you. It would be like continuously taking slightly poisonous medicine over a long period. In the short term nothing would happen, but if you wait long enough the poison would eventually kill you."

I frown as I think over his example. There are plenty of things like this in stories. The best correlation I can think of is how wuxia or xianxia characters have to go through marrow cleansing. If the impurities aren't removed they could cripple or kill the main character. I try to think of anything I could do that is similar but works on the mind. Unfortunately nothing comes to mind until I remember when Lord Miach blasted me with his arcanum.

"Lord Miach when you blasted me with your arcanum did you notice anything different afterward?"

"I'm very sorry about that Jack. It was never my intention to do so and I'm just glad that nothing happened to you." He quickly bows his head in apology at nearly hurting his own child and I have to forcefully raise his head.

"No no no, I don't blame you a bit. In fact you may have helped me by doing that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you remember how I described how I felt afterwards?"

"Yes, you said that it felt like all of your old sores and scars got blasted away."

"Right, except I was in my mind. No sores or scars should have been there. I should have been in the best shape I could dream of in there so where did the aches come from."

"I see. You mean that something else was wrong with you and my arcanum somehow fixed that."

"Yes, you see I had already read some of the memories, so some of that poison was already in my system. I think that I didn't notice it, but when your arcanum hit me it wiped out that poison!"