"…Can you come with me for a moment…"
Azren looked at her. Her expression had changed completely, her smile vanished, replaced by a cold seriousness.
Azren blinked, unsure.
"Don't tell me…" Dezork muttered under his breath, his face tightening.
Fateli didn't answer him. She simply turned away and spoke again in a firm tone.
"Hurry up."
Azren swallowed, turning around slowly.
He followed behind her, the uneasy silence weighing on him.
'What is happening…? She's acting just like Mr Moltur…'
He climbed the stairs after her, listening to Fateli's slow but steady footsteps.
The higher they went, the darker it became. The light from the first floor faded behind them.
When they reached the second floor.
The air was cold.
All the windows were shut tightly.
There were two rooms in the floor, the rooms were side by side to each other.
The right room's door was open, it looked normal and dim.
The left room's door was closed, however… a soft, uneasy glow slipped out from under it.
A strange smell drifted from there, something bitter and too sharp to identify.
Fateli headed straight toward that door.
She tapped it open with her fingers, and the faint light spilled into the place, washing over them.
Azren stepped in behind her and froze.
The room was little bright, shelves covered the walls, filled with bottles of liquid with colors, blue, green, yellow, some glowing faintly.
Dried herbs were tied with thin threads, hanging upside down.
Metal tools lay neatly arranged on a wooden table, polished until they reflected the light.
Jars filled with strange roots, powders, and crushed leaves lined the far corner.
Soft cloth mats covered the floor, some stained from past use.
At the center, a small fire pit warmed a wide stone bowl filled with bubbling liquid.
Everything was organized, clean, precise but eerie.
Azren swallowed.
"What is this all…?" he whispered.
Dezork stepped beside him.
"This is where Lady Fateli makes her medicine… and treats her patients," he said gently.
Fateli didn't waste time.
She walked to the corner, grabbed a wooden chair, and dragged it to the center of the room.
"Azren. Sit here."
Her voice was firm, no room for questions.
Azren nodded weakly and sat, looking around with uncertain eyes.
Fateli moved to one of the metal tables and picked up something.
When she turned around, Azren's eyes widened.
A knife.
Clean. Sharp.
So well made that the light ran across its blade like water.
'Woah… that looks expensive…'
Fateli grabbed a small plate as well and tossed it toward Dezork.
He caught it easily.
"Dez. Hold it under his hand." Fateli commanded.
Azren's heart jumped.
"H-Huh? What are you doing?!" He asked weakly.
But Fateli didn't answer.
She stepped forward, gently taking Azren's wrist and lifting his arm.
Her fingers were cold.
Azren's breath hitched.
Fateli raised the knife.
"Sorry. This will hurt a bit." She said in a small voice.
Before he could react—
SHK—
She made a clean, shallow cut along his thin forearm.
"A—! O-ouch!!"
Azren gasped, feeling a burning pain flash through his skin.
Blood leaked out immediately, dripping neatly into the plate Dezork held.
Fateli acted fast.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny bottle filled with dark green liquid.
Uncorked it.
Dabbed a bit onto her fingertip.
Then she wiped it across the fresh wound.
Azren's eyes widened.
Steam rose instantly from the cut, white, curling softly upward like smoke.
Then something even stranger happened.
The blood that had spilled out of him…
Some of it began pulling back into his skin like water sinking into dry soil.
And a moment later the cut sealed, smooth completely healed.
Azren stared at his hand in shock.
"Huh!! What just happened?!"
Fateli lifted the plate filled with Azren's blood and placed it gently on the long wooden table.
The room was quiet except for the faint bubbling of liquids in glass containers. She turned toward the shelves lined with jars, bottles, powders, and small vials filled with colors Azren had never seen before. Some glowed faintly, others looked like crushed gemstones melted into liquid.
She picked up a tall bottle with a deep blue liquid, its surface swirling on its own, and set it down. Then she grabbed a thin vial of something bright white that shimmered whenever it touched the air. After that, she took a tiny glass stick from a cloth wrapped box and dipped it into each bottle, letting only a drop cling to the tip before she tapped it against an empty dish.
Each drop touched the dish with a soft glow. When they mixed, the light pulsed slow at first, then brighter until the entire dish released small floating particles that rose up like dust. Azren watched them drift slowly dancing in the air.
'What… is all this…?' he wondered as his eyes followed one particle floating close to his face.
Fateli held her breath for a moment, then used the glass stick to swirl the glowing mixture. The colors folded into each other, blue into white, white into a soft gold until a single small drop formed at the tip, glowing faintly like a tiny ember. She carried it carefully back to the plate holding Azren's blood.
Dezork leaned closer, eyes fixed.
Fateli lowered the glowing drop and let it fall.
The moment it touched the surface, the blood reacted. A dim light spread across the plate, moving slowly like ripples in water. The red color started changing… softening… then glowing gently. And as they watched, a thin, almost transparent layer of yellow formed on top of the blood, spreading like a veil.
Dezork's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"No way…" he said under his breath, but the shock in his voice made it louder than he intended.
Fateli didn't speak at first. Her stare was locked on the plate, her hands frozen. Slowly, she turned toward Azren, her expression tightening.
"Azren… can you tell me how long it has been since you started feeling sick?"
Azren sat up straighter, his confusion growing.
"Almost two days, I think…"
The moment he answered, Fateli closed her eyes. Her shoulders tensed. Her voice, when she spoke again, was calm but carried a cold heaviness.
"Looks like we don't have much time."
Azren blinked, completely lost.
"What do you mean…?"
Fateli opened her eyes slowly. There was no hesitation only a serious focused gaze.
"Listen carefully, Azren…"
She took a small breath.
"Because…"
"…you are gonna die."