The Scepter of Marahuyo

Chapter 057

I stand in front of a simple room. I am waiting for my turn. Denise is still beside me while she holds a book about different monsters and their abilities, and I wonder if she’s really allowed to read that in public.

I squeeze my fist and then take a deep breath. It’s my turn next for the Operation.

“You’re next,” a mage refers to me.

I nod. Denise closes her book and then says, “It will be just fine. You can handle the pain.”

“There are worse pain than this,” I whisper.

Denise reaches out to my hand. “Yes, there is worse pain than this.”

I let go of her hand and enter the room. The mage doctor is on my right and I sit in a chair across from her.

“You’re going to register for the Scepter selection?” she asks.

When I nod, she checks something on her paper.

“You’re late for this, aren’t you? You should have done this weeks before your outside the zone mission.”

I nod again. After they rescued us on Wednesday, I was allowed to leave after a day of resting. I can feel Anitun Tabu now, and there are no visible wounds on my body. However, I am still afraid to lose control of my blessing. Axel will not always be beside me to calm it down. I need to give it a week, at least, to recuperate fully.

As for Al, he is also allowed to leave, but he chooses to stay at the hospital while doing some small experiments on his celestial ocean. And Ethan, he’s finally healed with the potion, but it turns out that like me, he’s close to retrogressing. Fighting the old woman alone might have taken a toll on his body.

“Top ten in Marahuyo. Adopted child of Master Orson. Yes, you will get in the Selection.”

That is the least of my problems. I don’t need to just get in. I need to win the Scepter selection. I’ve always escaped it before, but now, I know I needed it not only from Master Orson but because of Aicelle.

I already asked our Quads to help me, but there are a couple of missing people outside the zone that Aicelle will need to wait for. And I can’t. Master Orson is dead, but Aicelle is still alive somewhere. So I need to find her before she becomes a corpse.

“No record of giving birth either.”

I nod. To become a Scepter, I need to make some sacrifices. One is to give up having a child in the future. But, unfortunately, that also means giving up a life with Aaron. Now that I aspire to become a Scepter, I’m not sure if he will allow me to marry another man. But before that, will he be able to accept that the woman he loves is aspiring to become someone he hates?

“Are you ready? There will be pain.”

I nod again. The mage doctor goes to the side of the room where a hanging curtain hides the area where they will do the Operation. She parts the curtain, showing a white reclining bed. There are straps on its side and a desk of tools at the foot of it.

“Wait there.”

I sit back on my chair and watch the mage doctor. While I was at the hospital, Senyor Pablo visited me. I asked him about the older version of Aaron, and he confirmed that it was, in fact, his grandson, Aaron’s older brother, one of Caltra’s warriors. His name is Dylan, and he lost one of his arms while trying to save his mother.

That’s when it became a bit more clear. I met Aaron and his family when I was a little kid. While they were trying to escape Caltra, my parents took them in as one of their guards. But when Dylan dies, Senyor Pablo stops being a guard for the merchants.

“Come. It’s ready,” the doctor calls.

I stand up and lie on the bed. The doctor prepares a syringe. When she notices that I am looking at it, she says, “This is to lessen the pain. We will get your tubes tied and then we are going to make it permanent, which means even if you heal it with your blessing, your ability to procreate will be gone. Is that clear?”

I nod again. Another mage comes into the room and helps with the straps.

“Extra precaution,” the mage doctor says. “We can’t have you mages squirming while we’re doing the procedure. The actual procedure is almost painless, but the magic that will get involved after, will be painful.”

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“Janice. Are you a screamer?” she asks, smiling this time. Then she takes my arm and administers the anesthesia. “This will be for the whole body. Once you start feeling pain. That means we are starting with the magic,” she adds. “That magic will counteract the effect of the anesthesia, okay?”

My body starts to feel numb as if there is another layer of flesh on top of mine. It feels like my body is swollen, and when they start cutting into me, all I feel is a dull pressure. There really is no pain that my mind starts to wonder about Aaron.

It’s been almost a week since the last time I saw him. Unfortunately, this time, I won’t be able to return to the inn for a month, at least. Did Senyor Pablo tell him about what happened to us outside the zone? Will he hate me now that I won’t be able to give him a child? Can I still stay by his side?

Instead of thinking about whether he’ll accept me or not, shouldn’t I think about how I should tell him that we need to break up? That will save us a lot of time and grief on my side. I will need to confide to him about the Selection, about Aicelle. Will he forgive me then? And welcome me back into his life?

I flinch—the first sign of pain. I’m not sure how long I’ve been in this bed. All I’m aware of is that I still have nothing to say to Aaron. Knowing myself, I might just let it pester me until I had no other choice but to leave him.

Ah! My mouth widens at the increasing pain. I look down. Magic is swirling around my stomach. Its hue is crimson, but instead of it being warm, the area where it’s touching is getting more and more painful, as if something is slowly piercing my abdomen. At first, it feels like one needle, but as the pain increases, so is the feeling of the total number of needles on my stomach.

Then the increasing number of made-up needles stops. This time, the pain heightens exponentially. I groan. I want it to stop, to, at least, reach a plateau, but in every passing second, the pain only worsens. Finally, I start to wiggle on my straps, willing to remove them.

I grunt, then I cry. It’s too painful. Tears fall. My blessing should have activated erratically by now, but it didn’t. It might be because of their magic. I feel so helpless at the pain that I start to whine—an eighteen-year-old woman crying like a little child. Thankfully, having a high tolerance in pain is not a requirement to join the Scepter selection. Else, I have already disqualified myself at the state that I am in.

“Close now, patience,” Janice whispers.

My teeth grind. I need something to bite into. I feel like I have multiple layers of pain receptors, and the fabricated needles are getting deeper into those layers of skin, in which each layer is giving me more pain than the previous. My breathing hitches, and my body shivers by itself. How long still? My nails claw on the side of the bed, as the pain continues to wrack my body.

Then, I learn how to live with the pain. My groans become a whimper, and the scratching becomes a simple squeeze. My body’s trembling, but instead of shutting my eyes, I open them to see that despite all the pain, I am still at the same place, with the same people taking care of me.

Just as sudden, the pain disappears. I look down, and the crimson hue magic is gone. My body still rings with the pain it got put under, but the shivering stopped. Another injection is being administered but other than that, the searing pain disappeared.

“We’re done,” the mage doctor says. “You did well.”

I get up from the bed and wipe my tears. The mage doctor points at a sink, and I find myself walking towards it to wash myself.

“You’ll feel throbbing pain in the area for a couple of days. But just take a rest and you’ll be fine,” Janice adds.

She gives me a prescription for the pain and bleeding, and without a word, I drag myself back to where Denise is waiting.

To be continued...