Findings lost in time
She carried herself with elegance and grace. Her long, pink hair draping down and shining in the sun, the helms of her dress studded with gems, the cool silver fabric swaying in the wind as she walked along the streets. Townsfolk nearby started murmuring about her presence. Rightfully they should, as it’s not everyday you see Great Healer Luka roaming the common streets.
They speak of her great achievements in healing magic. How her studies had benefited the community of medics so much. With a spell of her chanting, a severed limb, which was once previously said impossible to regenerate, was immediately stitched back, with no visible marks left over. Another spell of hers could speed up the healing process of regenerating new cells, while another could eliminate toxins from the body with ease. Alas her spells were yet to be universally used, as her spells require a set amount of mana to perform, along with certain conditions which were even unknown to Luka herself. Nevertheless her achievements in magic were widely sought after and renowned, with Luka promising to work on them even more for ordinary healer mages to use too. This has made her popularity and fame rise, but that didn’t come with even more risks:
Including those of people resorting to illegal means to obtain her spells.
She couldn’t count the number of times she had been ambushed, sometimes by rogue bandits, assassins from corrupted nobles, and even ordinary townsfolk too. Thankfully, the bodyguards assigned to her from the Light Kingdom and some spells she learnt for self-defense came in handy and had managed to drive them away from her.
For now…
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Luka got up from her age-worn desk. She hurried out of her chambers and approached a senior healer mage, eagerly exclaiming, “Martha! I think I’ve made a breakthrough! Come help me test my spells!” With no hesitation, Martha followed her in. After all, Luka had all the healer mage’s respect for her work.
Luka’s chambers were neat, except her desk. Ink bottles spilled over, mountains of papers, some scorch marks on the table from past failed spell attempts. Luka opened her notebook, with a smile as she showed the spell to Martha. It had the same function as her other spells, but with a twist: any mage could use it, not constraint to her anymore. Martha performed the spell, and her jaw almost fell in awe as the spell performed the exact same as Luka’s one previously. Luka’s eyes sparked. After months of research, it worked! Truely a breakthrough in her craft indeed! She immediately sent a letter to the high council of the White Kingdom to meet at the secret council hall to discuss her research. Council meetings in the White Kingdom are sacred and very important, which is why the council halls are held in a separate venue, deep in the woods and riddled with high level security and hundreds of knights. All important documents are held there, which makes it a very important place, thus its hidden location. Soon enough, her letter was returned, and a council session was scheduled the day after…
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Luka pulled her hood up, concealing her bright, pink hair. It was crucial that people do not find out her identity as she proceeded to the council hall. She was dressed in dark clothes, the fabric helping her blend into her surroundings in the darkness of the night. She pushed a brick in her wall, and in an instance, the brick wall that was once there was gone, replaced with a long spiral of stone stairs, revealing a secret exit where she would meet her guards who will take her to the council hall. She used a spell to close the brick wall behind her, before making her way down.
As she reached the last steps, she was greeted with the familiar faces of her escorts. Serie and Faline, her trusted guards from the moment she became Great Healer Luka. She got onto the carriage, the plush velvet bringing comfort to her as the carriage set off, with countless knights following along.
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The journey to the council hall is no smooth journey. The carriage jumped at every bump in the road as they made their way, the route always slightly different than before. As Luka sighed and started to relax, a deafening crack resonated throughout the forest they were in. Luka and the carriage froze as the sharp drawing of a blade resonated through.
“What-” Luka was about to exclaim. “Great Healer Luka! Stay in the carriage! We’ll deal with this!” Serie said as she and Faline brandished their swords, charging at the intruders. There were sharp sounds and stings as metal clashed with each other, neither side willing to give in. Luka held her breath, not moving an inch past the carriage doors.
Just then, the sounds of metal stopped, with the panting of breath only to be heard. Luka shakingly opened the carriage door, wondering of the outcome of the brawl. As she took a step down, something rolled onto her foot. It rolled over, revealing Serie’s face, eyes wide as her mouth made an “O” shape, yet no sound came out as blood stained her cheek and the ground. Not far was her lifeless and headless body, white robes stained with red. Faline had her back pressed against a tree, with the cloaked assailant holding a blade down her throat. One side of Faline’s face was stained with deep, dark blood, with only one eye intact and a grave wound on her torso, each breath she took making the pain cross through her body once more. Luka was paralysed with fear, and Faline, with the eye she had left, reached Luka.
“Run-” Faline said, before getting cut off by the sound of metal against flesh as the assailant’s blade cut through her, and her hand flopped down, never to be raised again. As Luka was coming to her senses, the assailant turned towards her. Luka raised her hand, preparing a spell but nothing came out. She looked up, realising she was trapped in a magic-confinement space, where mana was of no use. With no other option, Luka did what she only knew she could do: run.
She ran past the countless bodies of soldiers.
She ran past the heads of Faline and Serie.
She ran past everything.
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The foe must’ve been exhausted after the fight, as Luka was able to run for a solid 20 minutes before collapsing onto the ground. She looked up, and to her relief, she was out of the magic barrier. She quickly picked herself up and started walking, as the surroundings around her revealed to be a flower field. She looked around, and gave a half-hearted smile.
The flowers truly are beautiful under the moonlight, she thought as the familiar stench of metal and sharp sound alerted her and she quickly duck before the blade could’ve claimed her head, only cutting off the end strands of her hair. Her luck quickly ran out, as the foe rushed forward, blade in hand. Luka raised her hand once more, prepared to cast a spell, before she saw a flash of yellow peeping from a cloak rush past her.
That technique, Ri– Luka thought, but her thoughts were quickly shut down as her hand was severed, her hand flopping down onto the flowerbed, staining the white flowers with crimson. Luka was overcome with shock as she was then stabbed in the back, the blade poking through her body. Her body fell back as the blade was taken out, her long, pink hair spreading out along the flowers. Blood dripped from her mouth and wound as she was overcomed with pain, so painful that she could not move a muscle. As the assailant stood over her, the familiar yellow hair peeped out, along with a black bow, and at that moment Luka was overcomed with memories. Memories that she had convinced herself she had sealed off a long time ago. She stared at the moon as the assailant raised their blade.
The moon really was pretty today… that was Luka’s last thought before the blade reached her body.
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The townsfolk gathered at the square. Some stared at it with fear in their eyes, others awe, some others paralysed from the mere sight of it. On top of a sharp roof, with a sharp metal rod sticking from it, a head laid on it. Her eyes were closed, skin grey with ash, pink hair flowing against the wind, though it had lost its shine long ago. There was the once Great Healer Luka, reduced to a severed head on top of a roof. It was a truly gruesome sight, however at the corner of her ear, there were fresh, white flowers there, reminiscing of a time in the past…
As Great Healer Luka perished in the times of the war, her research had mysteriously vanished, traces of them almost gone. Nobody was to know of her findings, not even her beloved mages, and Martha had mysteriously vanished.