The Nextworld Invasion and the Death of Magic - 30. Chapter 30 - Stronger Magic

Nuji awoke on her back. She was strapped down to a metal table, and blinding lights were blazing above her. Her head was throbbing, and even if she had not been bound in place, she did not think she could move. People were talking, but Nuji was unable to focus on their words. She tried to raise her head, but she was too weak, and she was powerless to stop a grabbing hand that came to her forehead. Nuji tried to pull her face away, but fingers came to her eyes and peeled up her lids.

The face of a Human in a surgical mask appeared over her, and a muffled voice stated, “She’s awake.”

“Up the sedative,” someone else ordered.

Nuji heard a door open and close again, and another voice stated, “Ma’am, here are the elf’s scans and x-rays.”

“Bring them up on the main display.”

Unconsciousness began to claw Nuji back toward the brink, and before she blacked out again, she heard one of the voices say, “The elf has too many bones.”

When Nuji awoke again, things were worse. She could barely breathe, and she was gagging. Some sort of tube had been snaked down her throat. Her eyes were unfocused; her ears felt muffled, and she could taste something coppery, like blood.

Hands were on her, holding her down by the shoulders.

“She’s awake again,” someone shouted, “and she’s fighting back!”

“Increase the sedative!”

Something hit the floor and shattered.

“Damn this disgusting elf! Get her back under, now!”

Nuji was again swallowed by darkness.

She was in the void, and she was nothing.

Nuji was alone.

Then she was not.

“Nuji… Nuji… Nuji… Nuji!”

A voice was calling to her.

She opened her eyes.

Nuji was in a seated position, but there was no ground beneath her. There was nothing, nothing except Nuji and the other person. Someone she recognized was seated in front of her, and Nuji could not believe who it was.

“Hello, little Nuji.”

“Teacher!”

It was the person who had died by her spell twenty years ago. Nuji’s teacher was a fellow Rothian, and the individual looked exactly how Nuji remembered.

“Are you a ghost?”

Nuji’s old teacher chuckled. “Of course not, you know there’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“But then how is this possible?” Nuji asked.

Her teacher smiled. “I live in you, Nuji. I’m only here because you are.”

“But what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to say something to you that you need to say to yourself.”

Nuji did not understand. “What are you talking about? What do I need to tell myself?”

Her teacher let out a joyful laugh. “This will be my last lesson to you, little Nuji. Do you have any guesses what it might be?”

“Is it a new spell or a new means of casting?”

“No, Nuji,” her teacher replied in a gentle voice.

“Are you going to show me a potion I’ve never heard of?”

“Sorry, Nuji, that’s not it either.”

Nuji scrunched up her exaggerated features. “Alright, so what are you going to teach me?”

Her teacher laughed again. “I’d like you to cast the level-one Life Mineral spell.”

Nuji was suddenly full of terror. She was shocked. “But teacher, that’s the spell that I killed you with.”

“Go ahead, child.”

Nuji had not been a child in two decades, not since she was sent into exile. “I can’t,” she whispered, but her teacher began speaking in the Rothian casting language. “Please,” Nuji pleaded, “casting this spell is how you died.” She realized her teacher was not going to stop, and despite her fear, Nuji joined in with the mystical words.

There were no plants in the void. There was no steel or stone, nothing for the spell to fuse together. There was only Nuji and her teacher.

…and then it was done.

The two of them stopped speaking.

Nothing happened.

Nuji began to cry, and her emotional release intensified to body-wracking sobs.

Her teacher spoke over her bawling. “You must not blame yourself any longer, child. Our people’s leaders should not have banished you. They should have done more to try and figure out what happened to me. It was wrong and horrible that they exiled you, and the fact that you thrived in the wilderness for all these years is a testament to your mettle, your resilience, your fortitude.”

The words of her teacher made Nuji cry all the more, and she dropped her head, bringing her face to her palms.

“You are the reason those two Urcai men were able to survive in the wilderness, despite the terrible injury one of them had sustained, and you have become a role model to the younger Urcai woman who joined your trio in the wilds, whose life you recently saved as well. You’ve made friends with a fellow Rothian, and her special ship is quite fond of you. Even the newest arrival to your little troop, the Noktar man with his animal companion, has solidified himself as one of your group. You have more family now, than you’ve ever had before.”

Nuji wanted to believe everything her teacher was telling her, but she had years and years of built-up doubt.

Her teacher then asked, “What if it wasn’t you, child? What if the reason I died had nothing to do with you? You’ve held onto this guilt for decades, but maybe it’s time to start letting it go. You are a good person, little Nuji.”

She looked up through her tears, but Nuji found herself alone.

“Thank you, teacher,” she whispered.

Her teacher was gone.

Then there was nothing.

There was not even Nuji.

Nuji suddenly awoke in pain and fear. She was still strapped to the table with the harsh lights above her, and a voice spoke that filled her with dread.

“Begin the procedure to remove the subject’s thaumal muscle and the seven thaumal bones shown in the x-ray.”

Nuji tried to say no, but she was still choking on the tube in her throat.

“Up the anesthesia, she’s coming to again.”

An alarm started blaring out in the hallway, and its muffled racket caused everyone in the room to pause and turn in the direction of the door.

Nuji was too delirious to comprehend what happened next, but the room was plunged into chaos. To her drugged and bleary mind, it looked like the Humans were having their souls ripped from their physical bodies. Red clouds of mist were pulled from each of the scientists, who dropped dead to the exam room floor.

A pair of what looked like green Humans appeared, and Nuji cringed away from them even though she could not move. Their hands came to her body, and one of them began messing with the tube in her throat, causing her to wince in pain. She had the sensation of vomiting, and her eyes filled with tears, but she could suddenly breathe easily and the tube was gone.

One of her hands was loose!

Nuji swung at her assailants, who were talking, but she was not listening to their words. Strong fingers wrapped around her wrist.

“Nuji!” shouted a voice she recognized, and she realized what was happening.

“Othri,” she whispered in a raspy voice, and she went limp. She was not unconscious, and she just instantly felt safer. He released the binding on her other arm, and she realized it was Tigath who had removed the tube, but he did not look good. She tried to ask if he was okay, but she only managed to get out his name. “Tigath.”

“You’re alright,” he said weakly.

As Othri helped Nuji sit upright, she saw Lestralin at the door to the exam room, keeping watch. She attempted his name as well. “Lestralin.”

“Time to go,” he said.

Nuji’s head was spinning, and she let Othri help her to her feet and out into the hall. Lestralin and Tigath led the way, and when a pair of guards came rushing out at them, Nuji witnessed the same thing she had seen a moment earlier, even though she could not understand what she saw.

The two Humans froze in their tracks, and what looked like red clouds were pulled out of them both. They crumpled to the floor, and the quartet of Earthians continued.

Nuji was delirious, but with the drugs no longer being pumped into her, she was getting more clearheaded.

Lestralin and Tigath turned down a hall and were again confronted by several soldiers. This time, Nuji was aware that Tigath did something, and in her muddled mind, it looked like his body was glowing. He raised an arm toward the guards, and they went rigid. Tigath made a fist, and again, clouds of red mist appeared, and the Humans dropped.

“What’s… happening?” Nuji managed.

“We don’t know,” Othri replied quickly. “Something’s going on with Tigath.” He then added, “But he’s injured. We need to get out of here so you can help him.”

Nuji could still barely help herself.

“There’s the exit!” Lestralin shouted, and he barreled into it, swinging the door open and rushing out into the trees.

Tigath followed, and Othri supporting Nuji were right behind him. Tigath paused and turned back, but Othri and Nuji continued past him. She looked over her shoulder, and she did not understand what she was seeing.

Tigath raised his hand toward the building, and he made another fist. The ground of Nextworld beneath the structure opened like a terrible mouth, and the lab’s exterior walls began to buckle, crack, and crumble as the entire building sank until only its roof remained aboveground.

Othri got Nuji into the trees. They wove between the trunks, and the devastated building was no longer visible behind them.

The quartet did not stop for over an hour, not until they arrived at the ruins of the pyramid that had been their rendezvous.

Othri was very concerned with Tigath’s injury, and he focused on Nuji. “How are you feeling?” He glanced from her to Tigath’s twisted hand.

“I’m still dizzy,” she replied, “but I’m starting to feel more normal.” She frowned at him. “What happened to those Humans back there?”

“It’s Tigath,” Othri replied quietly. “I don’t know how, but it is. Somehow, he’s channeling nature, and he’s doing… magic.”

Nuji looked over at Tigath, and she saw his bloody hand. “Your fingers,” she said, pulling away from Othri. “Oh no, these two are broken and dislocated. It’s going to hurt you for me to fix them. Let me bind the laceration first on your other finger. I wish I still had my bag and supplies.” The residual effects of the sedatives were wearing off, and she shook her head hard. “Let’s use the fabric from one of our shirts to protect the cut, and we’ll use twigs as splints for your other fingers.”

“Use this,” Othri insisted, tearing off a strip from his shirt and handing it to Nuji.

Tigath hissed air through his teeth as she gingerly wrapped the fabric around the open wound.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, tying it tight. She then looked up into his purple eyes and cradled one of the fingers that was bent backward. “This is not going to feel…” Nuji did not finish her sentence before surprising Tigath by forcing the first of his dislocated fingers back into its joint. “Sorry!” she repeated as he let out a cry of pain.

He sucked air through his teeth. “It’s okay, Nu… argh!”

Nuji repeated her action while Tigath was speaking, re-setting his second finger and causing him to let out another cry, but having his dangling fingers back in place immediately somewhat calmed his discomfort.

He let out a harsh breath. “Thank you, Nuji.”

Othri handed Nuji a pair of small, sturdy sticks, and she wrapped Tigath’s fingers to prevent them from moving while he healed. “Wanna tell me what happened to those Humans back there?” she asked.

“It’s me.” Tigath looked at Othri, who nodded.

“What do you mean; what’s you?”

Tigath stared into Nuji’s eyes. “I don’t know, but it’s me. Nature is… listening to me.”

“What are you talking about?”

Othri nodded again as Tigath continued. “I can feel it. Its like the Earth has become part of me.”

“But we’re not on Earth,” Nuji countered.

Tigath smiled. “I can feel our home, not this world. What I feel is coming from outside of this realm. I think I’ve been able to feel nature this whole time, ever since the trees slaughtered those soldiers who stabbed Othri.” Tigath looked over at his beloved. “I think it was too subtle for me to recognize before, but it’s gotten stronger. I think I told the trees to fight back; I think I told the ocean to protect us from that Human sky-ship when we were on the Mermonster, and I told nature to freeze the machine Dorjin sent us to destroy.”

Othri added, “I watched it happen. There was light coming from Tigath’s chest, and it froze the entire living machine.”

“With the soldiers,” Tigath explained, “I told nature to take their blood out of them, and it did. And I’m not blacking out anymore either.”

Nuji was dumbfounded. Even though her brain was feeling clearer by the moment, what the two green-skinned men were telling her made no sense. “But you’re an Urcai, Tigath. How on Earth have you learned to do magic?”

“That,” Othri replied, “we do not have an answer for yet. It seems like nature from Earth is funneling energy through him.”

Nuji looked from Tigath to Othri to Lestralin. She did not know how to respond to all this. “Okay, so what about now? What are we supposed to do while we wait for Dorjin to open another doorway to get us home?”

“There are still more than eight hours until she’s going to open the barrier,” Lestralin stated. “So why don’t we just lay low until then?”

Othri perked up and took Tigath’s uninjured hand. “Can you do it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Can you tell nature to open a doorway into Earth?”

Tigath furrowed his brow in concentration. There was a tingling up his spine, and he closed his eyes. He took back his hand from Othri and extended it forward. The other three watched him reaching for nothing, and an opening appeared in front of him. Through it, the sky was bright blue, and the yellow sun was shining.

He turned to the other three and opened his eyes. “I don’t want this. I don’t want all this power.”

Nuji stepped up to Tigath and took his good hand. “Then you’re exactly the right one to have it.”

“Nuji,” Othri said quietly, “do you have any idea why he’s able to do these things?”

She shook her head. “I do not.” She looked Tigath up and down. “I don’t understand it, but I’m grateful that nature chose you. There’s no one better to wield such great power, than someone as gentle and caring as you, Tigath. We’re lucky you can suddenly do what you can do. I know I’m lucky you were able to do what you did to save me.”

Lestralin put his hand on the outside of her arm. “Nuji, do you have any idea what those Human scientists were planning on doing with you?”

Incoherent words and muddled images flashed in Nuji’s mind, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Charts and x-rays, scans and readings… thaumal muscle… thaumal bones…

“The-they wanted my… my thaumal muscle,” she stuttered, and she added, “too many bones.” Nuji opened her eyes again. “They were going to vivisect and then dissect me,” she stated flatly, and the others were alarmed by the revelation.

“Humans are such monsters,” Othri growled.

Lestralin stepped up to the portal Tigath had opened, and he looked at the other three. “Let’s go home.”