Granny Cordelia

It has been two days since the twins were found and rescued by the village elder, Granny Cordelia. After a long and difficult night of recovery, both they taking it slow and making small trip to the village. Vane had healed from all his wounds except for his werewolf bite. He walks a little feebly next to Lest who is playing with the two wolf-children, Laria and Tura.

The village is on a plateau overlooking a beautiful valley where the wolf clan have farmed for generations. The four selected a ledge with a stunning area to set their picnic. Lest and the kids gather flowers nearby as Vane rested on the blanket.

He closed his eyes. Secretly, he has been in a lot of pain since he was bitten. It seems that every day the pain only worsens. Every now and again, a sharp ache would run through him. The last one almost toppled him over if he wasn't already lying down. After a minute or so, he opens his eyes. His vision is still blurry from the pain but the warm sun on his face was a welcomed sensation. He tries to stand up but the throbbing returns again. His vision loses focus as he doubles over hitting the ground with so much force it created a loud thud.

Laria saw him fall and screams. Lest was the first to reach him. Without being told, Tura runs towards Granny Cordelia's hut. Lest has never felt so helpless in her life.

Two hours later, Granny Cordelia comes out of the hut. Lest was sitting outside being comforted by Laria who hasn't left her side. Laria leaves after being gently nudged by the elder to play with Tura.

After a second of silence, Lest looks at the elder and asks how bad Vane's condition is. The granny responds that she and the village healers have tried all the venom antidote they know of but he hasn't responded to any of them.

Granny Cordelia sits right in front of Lest.

"The venom in him is quite potent and has had time to infiltrate the different systems in his body. It is forcing his changes in his body in preparation for the physical conversion into a werewolf. I can only guess that this is happening fast due to the full moon being only a week from now. The real problem is his that his body is resisting the changes to the point of cellular death."

Tears started pouring from her eyes and dripping into her shirt. Before she could respond, Granny Cordelia continues.

"There is another way, a more dangerous way. I wouldn't recommend it normally, but I think there is a small chance that this could work."

Lest looks up hopeful.

"There is a ritual I know that binds two separate life forces together. Being twins, your energies would already have high affinity towards each other, which should mitigate some of the risk. The joint life essences could be just enough to subdue the venom, which will then stop the cell death. However, the unification ritual is a painful process and there are side effects that even I could not anticipate..."

"I'll do it." Lest cuts the elder off without hesitation.

"We can do the ritual tonight, if you are sure. But I need to warn you, there is no going back if you go through with this. We will be using most of your energy since his life essence has been weakened by fighting the poison this whole time. If we heal him and end up transferring enough venom to you, we could save him but lose you in the process."

"Let's get the ready. It's almost moon time." Lest speaks with conviction greater than her age.

Two hours later, Granny along with three other village healers are outside the elder's hut. Lest and Vane were wrapped in leaves and drawn with glyphs using the ash from the Wolf tribe's sacred tree. In a distance, two wolf cubs have stayed past their bed time trying to sneak a peak.

After a moment of lighting candles and drawing a magic circle around the twins, the elder begins chanting in a foreign tongue unknown to Lest. Meanwhile, Vane was still unconscious, drugged to keep the intense pain at bay. When the three other healers joined in on the chant, the magic circle begins to glow. Each chanter takes a position of the cardinal point just outside the circle. More lines light up snaking their way to the center and slowly creeping until they reach Vane and the glyphs written on him shine. A second later, the same thing happens to Lest.

With closed eyes, Lest could feel herself being lifted until she is floating. She peaks a look and sees that Vane is on his back but hovering 3 feet from the ground just like her. Then, an odd sensation of something intrusive coursed through her body. She wasn't sure what it was until the pain hit her like a thousand stabbing knives. She gritted her teeth. She could also hear Vane screaming in pain but it was too late now. They had to go through the ritual. It felt as if her very skin was being ripped apart, and her insides being gutted. The sensation came in waves of increasing torture. She tried to focus on channeling her mana but that only made the agony worsen.

Roots and bundles of light entwine between them. The venom did not dissipate but instead is being shared by the two. It took hours of meticulous energy manipulation to try and control the venom. Granny Cordelia did all she could to suppress its power but all she managed was splitting it equally between the two glowing bodies. Shared, it shouldn't be enough to kill them.

Once this was completed, two essences were extracted. A whirling mass of orange energy emerged from Lest while a green shiny square surfaced from Vane. The two essences merged in a flash of blinding light until a spiked ball of throbbing energy takes their place. It splits into two identical halves, like daughter cells after mitosis. The entangled brambles of light begin to unwind and retract back carrying its new and binded essence to its body.

The ritual had gone as best as could be hoped. It was almost sun time when the Granny Cordelia and the healers completed the ritual but it was well worth trying to save both lives. Only time will tell if the ritual will take. For now, the healers and the patients need much rest.