"This heat..."
Even with the pump on Wide Street encased in a shimmer of magical frost the water was still warm with that annoying taste that always followed warm water. Sund's grimace worsened as he quenched his thirst, with a following hark to try and loosen the warm taste from his throat. "Eergh." It helped slightly, but was still not enough to have him look forward to his next drink from his filled water pouch. The bread accompanying his meal did help to absorb the taste, but not vanish it completely from his tongue and throat.
He drank more, smacking his lips as he did.
"Used to castle water, Monster Mage?" quirked Ziki friendly behind a wheelbarrow filled with various supplies on the way to the carriage the driver was using at the barricade. With Bonny Sallus having returned the letter Cter sent up to him the mood was surprisingly perky despite the plague being just as prominent and all-encompassing as it was the week before when Cter and Sund arrived at Clinic Village. "The heat digs deep into the ground during the summers here in Xoff so cold water is really only found at the river ways away at the wheat fields. The reserve from that pump hasn't failed us yet though, so folks here have gotten used to the taste."
Sund wasn't gonna take being used to the cold and refreshing Jarasevo water as an insult, as there really wouldn't be anyone who wouldn't get used to it and prefer it over warm, pumped water from a Xoff village. Still, it quenched his thirst that had been building the entire day out in the sun working to refurbish some of the most affected houses in Clinic Village. Using Ziki's records of who had been infected firstly as a map of sorts, Sund and Ziki had gone from house to house assessing both how long it had been since someone had lived there as well as going in to find any source of miasma that might have caused the illness.
Ziki went in first, of course, with Sund behind surrounded by his barrier magic to protect from sources that Ziki might have missed.
While it did not exactly help Sund's feeling of being uncomfortable around human architecture by seeking out the most run-down houses to explore, it at least had him facing it rather than letting it fester.
The first, and longest abandoned house, Ziki and Sund explored was that of the carpenter that Ziki had shot out of his chair thinking he had gone down a logical path that resulted in the carpenter being alive, so it was no wonder that he froze up at the door as soon as his hand touched the handle. His aura sank like a rock in water, but with some urging from Sund he managed to open it and begin to search the house.
The scowl the Royal Guard wore was as bitter and afraid as his smile was happy and relaxed pushing the wheelbarrow towards the curious children playing with more strength in the grass with magic. They had gotten more magic from Cter before she had left to tend more to the wheat fields that she had started on. She came back to the village for her lunches and to share some ideas about magical irrigation that would be simple enough that even the children could do it with the magic they had should Ziki also help. A bucket-chain of sorts, but magic sprinkled along the chain to make it smoother.
Sund had agreed to the idea and also suggested some ways Cter could make it even simpler by also using magic to fetch the water instead of having the tallest children doing it via manual labor.
Needless to say also she declined Sund's offer of filling her water pouch from the pump as he was planning to. She filled hers at the river, of course. Sund didn't blame her for that, but he was just a bit envious of it. He wasn't envious of her endeavor though since she was taking on trying to keep alive fields of wheat all by herself via magical means. Comparatively, Sund searching houses laden with dust wasn't as big an undertaking. Cter deserved her cold water.
Didn't stop Sund from asking her to bring some back to him though.
With one last sip from his water pouch to wash away the bread and cheese that served as his meal, Sund again filled his water pouch from the pump to have at the ready when he became thirsty again. His next house was nearby, a family home of four with a seamstress and a metalworker along with two children that luckily still were alive. No information about their parents though from the slight line of communication Sund and Cter had set up with Dr. Sallus via Manny traveling up and down Clinic Hill to bring messages back and forth.
His face wasn't as sunken as the other kids in Clinic Village due to malnutrition, but his eyes were still just as hollow and distant as the village children were the first time Cter and Sund met them. Manny had seen things that the village children could only imagine, and his aura was darker than black because of that.
The way he gripped those metal bars as he saw Cter again…
"You're here to change Dr. Sallus magic!"
And his voice…
"You're here for that, aren't you, Cter!"
Not that of a child's in the slightest…
"You're here..."
His tears though.
"You're finally here!"
Those were that of a child's.
Never had Sund seen someone lose their strength so quickly as when Manny's hands loosened from the metal bars of the barricade up to Clinic Hill. Never had he seen someone go from so weary to so relieved as when the child fell on his back into the grassy slope with a sigh that seemed to breathe out every worry he'd ever felt out and away from him. His hastily done sleeve laid bent across his eyes with his other arm clutching hard at the grass.
"You're finally here..."
Thinking back on those words had Sund shivering throughout his aura. He had felt a human's hope restore itself from absolute nothingness into a blinding flash in Manny's weak aura, which was both fascinating and frightening at the same time. For it to have happened Manny must've had been at the furthest edge of despair a human could ever be for Cter and Sund…
Well, mostly Cter, if Sund was to be completely honest.
For Cter to have brought Manny back from the edge he must have been there to begin with, and that was indeed a frightening thought which reverberated throughout Sund again like an anvil hit with a hammer.
A cold shiver shot up his spine.
And not the cold that he wanted.
After a minute of calming himself down to be able to get back from thinking back to Manny and to what he was supposed to do, Sund surrounded himself with a shell of shimmering barricade magic that would give him enough time to enter and sweep the first and closest room with a window to open up safely so that he can get a draft going to air out any lingering miasma.
The locked door to the next house to be inspected Sund easily unlocked by filling it with his barricade magic and turning it open. The inside hallway greeted him just as all the other hallways had by sweeping over him a wave of dust that had gathered in peace until he opened the door after god knows how many weeks if not months. Just like the houses before the dust collected and rolled off Sund's barricade shell like dry drops of water hitting a moving carriage window as he stepped inside. Quiet sizzling from the thicker dust bunnies hitting his shell were the only sounds present in the empty house.
And just like all the other, empty houses before it looked like the family was just out for the day by the way the clothes and furniture were arranged, with the thick layer of dust being the only telltale sign of the house having been empty for longer than just the day. "Sorry for burgling," Sund apologized as he did to all the other houses which he had been entering into without permission.
With the first house Sund entered being the carpenter's house he could have used the excuse that he was entering to talk about some woodwork he wanted done, but with the ones that followed it was better to apologize for invading the privacy that he was working to bring back. "Thank you for understanding."
With the help of a slight conjured gust of wind Sund blew away the initial layer of dust stuck to his barrier magic. It wasn't as thick as the layer of both normal dust mixed with the sawdust in the carpenter's house that completely blinded Sund as he entered, but it was still a good idea to see as best as he could since he was walking into potential miasma territory.
After taking a step inside Sund let his eyes acclimate to the closed-in dark. It was the same as all the other houses with how it almost hissed and spat in anger at being cast aside by the bright Xoff sun hanging lazily in the agitated dust like through a thick fog. The glow from Sund's barricade magic illuminated the tucked-away corners underneath and behind the shoes and hung clothes in the hallway, which was the first places he had reasoned to look for sources of miasma. It was both closest to the entrance as well as something the humans would be in contact with for long periods of time, so should there be a source then infection was the most likely with those.
There never were though, even with the numerous clothes in the less-numerous hallways that Sund had gone through. He only needed to find one though, which was why he kept looking even after not finding any. The thick, leathery apron hung the closest on the wooden hooks had some scraps of fruit in its front pocket, but nothing had developed from it.
Once Sund's eyes had acclimated enough he turned the corner into the kitchen where the closest window was. As he inhaled to pass between the pulled-out chairs and a wooden cabinet he made a note of the dirty wooden plates on the table. There, some of the utensils were close to their respective bowls, however others looked like they were hastily thrown.
As the warmth of the Xoff sun was allowed through the long-closed kitchen window by Sund lifting the hatch with a flick of stasis magic and then opening it wide, the Monster Mage let another warmth ride the sun-grazed feeling of calm throughout his soul. The warmth of familiarity and magical closeness that he'd come to rely on during the day spent going through houses. Bending down and lifting up heavy furniture had his muscles hurting quickly into the day, so he figured that there had to be a better way for him to explore the houses without exhausting him and his muscles in the heat.
Since he had let Sir Gerson's influence advise him with Ziki he decided to let Priestess Frioke assist him during his exploration of the Clinic Village houses. By recalling how Cter had described the way she had conjured up the almost independent images of the Royal Mage of Ice and the Fenkeep Castle Royal Butler, Sund let Priestess Frioke's influence from his sleeve expand with his aura to alert him of any potential sources of miasma.
His own barricade magic he kept busy as his protective shell, but the magic and memories from his Cooperative Connection he could let flow in his aura to explore with him. Since his barricade magic was his own he only needed his Cooperative Connection as a catalyst to keep his protective shell up, which left the memories given to him by Sir Gerson and Priestess Frioke to be used as primers for magic unused by his barrier magic. By letting those memories ride the catalyst like a ship on a river he could keep his focus on his human senses to look for miasma while Priestess Frioke's memories and soul could look for miasma through his magical senses.
"I'll begin at the stove," Sund said to his aura not out of necessity, but again out of politeness. "Let me know what you find." In a way it was like a magical tap on his shoulder to get his attention when Frioke's influence found something that could have been a potential source of magic, like a nest of dead rats or a puddle of dried vomit. Then he could investigate properly while only lifting aside a few pieces of furniture and not all of them.
"One of the family member must have felt sick during the meal," he also narrated to air his thoughts as he went around the dining table towards the dust-ridden stove. His voice echoed hollow inside his protective shell as if it was glass. "Threw aside their wooden spoon and rushed...somewhere to spew and to–" Sund put his closed fist up to his mouth to quell an upset hiccup from the depths of his stomach.
He'd already come close to potentially add a source of miasma a couple of times as he reasoned the events which led up to the houses being abandoned. The more he learned and observed with each house the more and more vivid he could paint the picture with the help of Sir Gerson and Priestess Frioke's influences. However it also made his quells more and more vivid as a result.
Sund was only seeing the result of it though. Only seeing the shadows and dusts of the plague's grip on Clinic Village. Ziki had lived it, as had the children. Because of that Sund needed to keep quelling and keep investigating.
First some more water though.
"Eergh."
Even if it was even warmer than when he pumped it, it still helped a bit.
Once at the stove and with the warm water pouch fastened on the side of Sund's robe not facing the blazing Xoff sun, the Monster Mage pushed cold air down onto the soot-blackened stove to gently brush away just the dust and not anything else. The metal kettle had its lid slightly ajar with very ominous lashes of moldy-green holding together the rim of the lid and the rim of the pot. With the back of a long ladle Sund touched gently at the lid.
The slowed straining the mold tugged back at the lid with was strangely mesmerizing, but not enough to completely offset the sheer disgust it had Sund feeling. His stomach churned, but he still put the ladle gently back where he had taken it. It wasn't hard to find the exact spot as it left an outline in the more-ingrained dust.
While the pot needed to be cleaned to prevent any future sickness, it couldn't have been a source when the family was present. The pot clued Sund more into that something drastic must have happened during the last meal to have the entire family just up and abandon the cooking pot with food still in.
Neutralizing before the moldy pot would become a source of miasma wasn't a problem. Since it was a cooking pot Sund could just engulf it in fire and burn it all away. All that resulted was that it ended up with more soot in it. Even less too, as the Monster Mage made sure to burn it as deeply as possible, stopping just before the pot would begin to glow from the heat.
The tension from his arm as he had his magical fire dance around and within the pot didn't fade immediately afterwards as it should have. It lingered in his muscles, stiff and uncomfortable. So much so that Sund had to roll his shoulder to get some blood going to it.
Damn the Xoff heat.
A magical finger was tapped on his rolled shoulder, and Sund turned to where he felt that Priestess Frioke's presence was guiding him towards. Not in the kitchen, but in the master bedroom of the house. As Sund walked through the hallway to where the potential source was located he again refreshed himself as best as he could with his water. It felt a bit colder, but that he expected from having cast such heated flames on the moldy cooking pot.
Still though.
"Eergh."
He opened the closed window in the smaller bedroom with stasis as he passed it by, letting in another large and wide ray of light that made the perturbed dust turbid to boot. The draft swept a wave of dust behind him, cursing as it whistled through the gaps in the walls that it had just missed him.
The window in the master bedroom Sund opened as well, and the draft that followed hit his protective shell with a loud sizzle, caking his magic with a layer of restless dust that clumped together as he stood frozen in the creaking door frame.
Another layer of protective barricade magic was layered on top of the clumped dust, locking it between two sizzling shells that sang loudly as the clumps rolled down and collected at the bottom of the shimmering shell. The Monster Mage didn't hear it though, as his ears rang with his own voice. His own screams, at the horror that had prompted him to summon another layer of his barricade magic.
There was yet another sound though.
The snap of his finger that engulfed the master bedroom in a blazing orange more ferocious than the fire he'd used to cleanse the cooking pot.
Embers chased him as he hurried towards the door outside. Embers that flicker alight the specks of glittering dust around him and his desperate run. The fire, fueled by the many drafts he had created, lapped at his protective shell, staining it black where its growing flames whipped at it. He stumbled on the doorstep with the flames crashing over him like waves.
"Monster Mage!"
Ziki hastily abandoned his wheelbarrow to run over to the soot-spat protective shell on the verge of failing. With a powerful tug he managed to drag Sund away from the burning house, and then set to make sure he wasn't hurt.
"What happened, Monster Mage?" Ziki asked desperately to the Monster Mage clutching at his arms inside his protective shell. "The house? Were you–"
"The humans..." Sund's echoing voice spoke distantly. "They were all..." His throat refused to speak, clamping down shut. "They were all there!"
Ziki's white fur was colored the same fiery orange that was gorging itself on the dry wood of the Clinic Village house. "It...It wasn't abandoned?" choked the Royal Guard as he stood up with his tail limp behind him. On shaky knees he could do nothing but stare at the house roaring in pain as large flames burst out the roof like thunder from below.
"Together...until..."
Sund knew that he had to stand up too. His work wasn't over. He'd found a source of miasma, one that without doubt did turn the humans sick. He'd found one, and he had neutralized it. However, he had to make sure that the fire didn't spread further. With the dry climate the neighboring houses were at risk of catching fire too!
So he summoned Sir Gerson's influence from his sleeve and let it take him over as much as it could. Like before it had his thoughts hazy and not being felt as his own.
It was what he needed though.
The unwavering stoicism from Sir Gerson was at odds with his own dread and weary, but it was what Sund had to be. He had to be the Monster Mage he needed to be.
"Hurry to Cter," said Sund with Sir Gerson's words. "Have her hurry even more back here to help me contain this." His protective shell shattered into shards of black and white that dissipated before they reached the ground. "I might not need her." Icy howls surrounded his sleeve. "But I don't want to risk anything more." And he began painting the dry grass around the burning house with ice magic.
As he did he realized it would be the last magic he would spend that day. Even with Sir Gerson's influence in him he knew that the burning house was the last house for the day. He had succeeded, but he wasn't feeling good about it.
He wasn't feeling good at all.
"I'm so sorry..."
And wouldn't get any sleep that night.
"I'm so very, very sorry..."
