Author's note.
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All Characters in the story are 18 years of age and above...
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Chapter Five: Soul Stabilization Complete.
After a week of being bedridden with nothing to look forward to other than the healer's visits, Greg had developed an almost Pavlovian reaction to the sound of the door to his room opening. No matter how deeply he was sleeping a moment before, hearing the door open would wake him right up. There were no clocks or timekeeping devices in the room. As such, out of habit, Greg immediately glanced toward the window on the far side of the room. It was usually left open during the daytime. His brows furrowed in confusion when he noted that it was late afternoon. The healer had never come around at this time. Furthermore, the healer always opened the door in one clean motion. She never opened it as slowly as the one behind the door seemed to be doing. It was almost as if the one behind the door was afraid of being discovered. When the door was fully open Greg immediately recognized the one behind the door.
The confusion had been evident on Greg's face. What was Shalia doing here? Part of the reason Greg could easily recognize her was because, unlike the healer, this girl had made a strong impression on the previous owner of this body. Being one of the most beautiful girls his age, it was only natural that the previous owner of his body had developed a crush on the girl. Given that Shalia was the Town head's daughter, however, the previous owner of his body had never worked up the nerve to approach her or even thought there was a chance for something to be there between them. Given how clearly he could remember the girl, Greg already knew that she was the healer's apprentice. Greg's confusion stemmed from the fact that she hadn't visited him before. Why now? And why did it seem like she was sneaking in? What was she up to?
DING.
A tone sounded in Greg's head and without even having to look, he knew that new missions were available, this time, however, they were probably targeted toward this girl, Shalia. Greg, however, didn't open the missions to see them. The former him couldn't see it as the crush he had on Shalia made him see the girl through rose-colored glasses. Looking back through his memories of the girl, however, to Greg she just came off as a snobbish, spoiled brat. If Greg tried to accomplish the system's missions with her, she'd at best ignore him and at worst, she could land him in trouble with the town head. Greg was still new to this world, he didn't need that kind of trouble right now, so he didn't even plan to try. Perhaps later when he had a more stable grasp of this world and how to navigate it, he might try. At the moment, however, caution was his mantra.
Had Shalia first looked inside the room when the door swung open, then she would have met gazes with Greg. She, however, had been looking to her left, down the corridor, almost like she was afraid of someone appearing from that direction. In a split-second decision, Greg closed his eyes. To avoid having to deal with her, he'd just pretend to be sleeping...
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When Shalia had confirmed that there was no one else close by, she turned and walked into the room where the boy was convalescing. Shalia had never wanted to be the healer's apprentice. Part of it was because she had very little interest in the field. Another part that she would never openly admit to, was because she was jealous of the healer's looks. Unwilling as she was, even Shalia had to admit that the healer had her beat in the looks department. For a young lady who'd always been the center of attention because of her looks, it didn't feel nice to have to cede the title of most pretty to someone else.
And as if being forced to work for the woman wasn't bad enough, for the last nine months that she'd been working for Alena, the woman hadn't allowed her to see even one patient. According to the woman, until she was proficient in preparing medicine, then she had no business in seeing any patients. Shalia, however, suspected that the healer's prohibition had nothing to do with her ability to prepare medicine. She was convinced that the woman was only interested in having her do all the menial tasks for her. What was even worse was the fact that the kind of work the healer forced her to do could easily be done using her magic! Even if she'd never really had any interest in becoming a healer, Shalia wouldn't allow herself to be used by the healer. And so, out of a rebellious fire that had been slowly smoldering within her for the past few months, she had chosen to see a patient while Alena was out.
As is often the case with rebellious teens, however, Shalia quickly realized that she hadn't really thought this through. Firstly, she had winced when she noted the deep scars running all across the face of the boy on the bed. He might have gotten to keep his life, his looks, however, would be a whole different matter. Part of Shalia wanted to retreat after seeing his face. She, however, stomped out the urge as she realized that she would be proving the healer right, that she wasn't ready to see any patients. Careful not to wake the boy, Shalia quietly moved to his bedside. The second thing that made Shalia realize that she hadn't really thought this through was that, now that she was here, she didn't know what to do. I mean, had she come all this way just to look at the boy's face? She could have easily done that the day he checked out! No! To prove that Alena wasn't right about her and that she was ready to see patients, she'd have to do more! Shalia decided. She couldn't just look at his face and then run away like a scared little girl.
Shalia took a deep breath and slowly let it out before reaching down for the coverings. As a healer, she should at the very least be bold enough to assess the patient's injuries. And if the patient woke up, she would just play it off as a routine check. This was Shalia's thought process as she pulled the coverings off the boy. Owing to her nervousness, Shalia had closed her eyes. It was only when the covers were completely off that she opened them. Taking a step back, the covers that she'd been holding fell to the floor as a chill crawled down her spine. After a week of healing, most of the wounds on the boy's body were closed. Still, while they were closed, they weren't as yet healed. The boy's body was crisscrossed with both healing wounds and scars left behind by the few wounds that had managed to heal.
It took every bit of Shalia's will to keep herself from turning and running out of the room. She couldn't help but thank her lucky stars that the boy didn't seem to register the disturbance and continued to sleep soundly. How someone could survive these injuries, Shalia didn't even want to know. Taking another deep breath, Shalia forced herself to calm down and look the boy over. If she was going to be a healer, she would probably come across the same in the future, if not worse. Shalia had intended to calmly assess the patient's wounds and try to see what she would do if she was his healer. That plan, however, flew out the window when her gaze dropped below the boy's waist.