Courage (36 page)

“I was afraid of that. What about local anesthesia?”

“Not well. Our bodies will repair the numbing sensation as fast as it can.”

All four doctors sucked in a breath through their teeth.

“What?” Roxie asked all of them.

Dr. Vernidelli said, “None of us are neurologists, but we all know that nerve regeneration therapy is painful without any form of anesthesia. And since your bodies repair exponentially faster, that means more nerves regrowing at once.”

“I don’t care. I need my arm back.”

Arryk said, “Hun, you’re in for a world of pain.”

Aerigo said, “Rox, you don’t have to.”

She rounded on him and shot him a glare. “My body. My decision. I’m determined to help you.”

“You remember how I formed a replica of myself with power?” he said, miming reaching up for the falling pillar.

“Yeah.”

“You could probably use the power as a replacement arm.” He lowered his arms. “You don’t have to put yourself through that much pain. It’s an option.”

Roxie considered Aerigo’s words. All four doctors had sucked in their breath at the thought of undergoing nerve regeneration therapy without some form of anesthesia. Sure, Aerigo had suggested a pain-free alternative, but it sounded complicated and limited to only when she had that intense power unleashed. “Would it take much concentration?”

“Just a bit. It’d be easier with practice.”

“Do you think I have much time to practice?”

Aerigo clenched his jaws. “No.”

Roxie turned back to Dr. Vernidelli. “I’ll do the therapy. How soon can we start?”

Chapter 25

Nexus watched from his plateau as the last of the armies maneuvered into their desired positions. Part of him was anxious. The rest of him eagerly waited for the conclusion of preparations, wishing Kabiroas would hurry up and return with good news. He couldn’t relax until then. This was such a crucial moment in his prophecy. The sooner the war started, the sooner it would be over, and the sooner no one could do much of anything about the results. And, of course, the sooner he could enjoy the powers of a Creator at long last.

Above them all loomed Nexus’ perpetual storm, like one big, amorphous shark waiting for one creature to make the mistake of breaking from the protection of its reef. Lazy flashes of lighting intermittently lit up the ominous sky. Beyond the towering storm twinkled countless stars. So much space and life to be dominated.

Vancor stood with him, as did the other gods who craved change enough to side with Nexus. Most of his allying deities peppered the rocky ground near the base of the plateau, and on the same side as their armies. They assumed the appearance of the mortals they had donated to the cause.

The deities in opposition were present as well, along with his mother, who stood aloof near his dead tree, and his father, who stood far below with those on the opposing side. They, too, reflected the forms of their mortals, except Leviathan, who had chosen his hulking bipedal form, looking quite worn out. He must have visited the aftermath in Phaedra’s city of Phailon. The thought brought a smirk to Nexus’ mouth. One of the oldest and wisest deities had been pushed to exhaustion via mortals carrying out the bidding of one of the youngest and boldest. The only thing that could be sweeter was gaining dominion of his worlds.

For some reason, Leviathan was bearing the tattoo markings of one in possession of their icon. What had brought on this? Did the old beast have a trump card he was waiting to play, or what? Nexus couldn’t bring himself to be too concerned, though. The dragon radiated fatigue and heartbreak; nothing scheming or bold.

Nexus was most concerned about his mother. She wouldn’t talk, much less look at him or listen. Earlier she had requested to be left alone. Nothing he said or did brought a smile to her lips or softened her distant gaze, not even kissing her hand. As much as it stressed him, he left her to suffer in silence so he could follow through with his prophecy. He couldn’t let her unhappiness interfere.

What felt like snapping the last piece of a puzzle into place filled Nexus as the last army lined into its desired position.

This was it. This was finally it! The only thing keeping him from jumping for joy was that he had to harness the power of the Voice of Prophecy one last time to make things official.

Nexus took a deep breath and exhaled, bringing himself to focus. He brought the palms of his hands within an inch of each other and focused on the gap between them. A deep blue ball of light the size of a walnut sparked to life, then grew and forced his hands apart. Yet again, it felt like someone was inflating a prickly balloon between his hands. Nexus interlaced his fingers and cradled the orb to his throat, and focused. And hoped the wording had changed.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused all his will on the orb, then once again pressed it to his throat. Immeasurable pain seized him. He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. In a sonorous voice that echoed across the entire realm, he said:

At long last, the war begins.

Yet, despite two-hundred thousand lives,

the fate of the universe shall reside

only on the shoulders of two warriors unrealized.

Hope is never lost, keep up the fight.

And prophet: beware the sword of light.

Nexus almost screamed his frustration at the content of his prophecy as the word “light” echoed. Several cloud-to-cloud bolts of lightning arced across the sky. Vehement thunder followed.

It hadn’t changed one iota since he’s sent Kabiroas off to kill Aerigo and the girl. That meant either they were both alive, or Nexus’ latest assumption that the prophecy pertained to Aerigo and the girl was wrong. He maintained vocal control as he removed his hands from his throat. The power of the Voice of Prophecy left him with one final jab of pain. Nexus clamped his hands to his throat and dropped to his knees, gasping for breath, and mentally cursing himself for showing weakness in front of hundreds of deities.

Still gasping for breath, Nexus pushed to his feet and stared down at his loathsome father. “Where are your Aigis now? Not dead, I hope!” he added with heavy sarcasm.

Baku glared back with hate. “They are very much alive. Don’t get complacent.”

“Advice from you? How touching.” Nexus sensed no bluff in his father’s declaration. This made his blood boil all the more. What was taking that damned Elf so long? All he wanted was two little deaths, but they just wouldn’t come!

“We need to talk. Right now.”

“
Now
?” Nexus stared at his father, who looked quite serious. “With the culmination of my efforts well underway, you think I’m going to ignore it to have a chat with you? You’re insane!”

Most of the fire left his father’s glare. His bare chest deflated and he looked away. Many deities allied with his father vanished. Baku looked at the empty space, then at the sea of mortals. He dropped to the ground and bowed his head.

The two armies began rolling towards each other like two waves clawing at a strip of rocky shoreline. War cries, spells, aircrafts, flying creatures and projectiles filled the air, and the gap between the armies closed. Blood began to spill.

* * *

Roxie lay on a gurney with Donai, Skitt, Jenna, Arryk, and a neurologist making preparations for nerve regeneration therapy. Once she’d brushed her teeth, they’d given her a fistful of pills that helped promote nerve growth. They’d given her twenty times the initial dose, since her innate healing powers would put every last milligram to use in a hurry.

Aerigo stood behind the head of the gurney, awaiting the moment the doctors would need him to make Roxie’s arm susceptible to needle penetration. He’d also brushed his teeth and put on a fresh coating of deodorant as well, since Arryk had kindly informed them both of their pungent state. Now that Roxie’s heart wasn’t all aflutter, her nose had confirmed the Elf’s observation. She felt embarrassed for a few seconds, however it wasn’t like she’d gone through so much without showering on purpose. She now had the scent of baby powder emanating from her underarms.

The neurologist was an average-height man with curly black hair hugging his head. He had glasses, a sharp nose, and spoke with a heavy accent in the local language. Roxie learned from Dr. Vernidelli that it was called Kintish, and that Dr. Ustengar didn’t speak English. Roxie was in inquisitor mode since she was beginning to feel nervous. The more questions she asked, the more she understood. The more she understood, the more she was
supposed
to be able to relax, but that had never seemed to work much under a medical setting.

Her eyes had been glowing yellow ever since Dr. Ustengar had laid four large needles on a stainless steel tray by her dead shoulder. She did her best not to look at them, but her gaze kept darting back to gawk at the capped points. It looked like she could thread angel hair pasta up them.

Blue latex gloves snapped on, the neurologist picked up the first needle and uncapped it, then said something to Aerigo, who pressed a finger to Roxie’s dead shoulder. The neurologist looked Roxie in the eye and gave her a pitiable shake of his head.

“Good thing you can’t feel this, Rox.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Just a little. The last thing I want is to cause you discomfort.”

“Oh, don’t worry. The needles are doing that for you.”

Dr. Vernidelli and the others chuckled.

Dr. Ustengar plunged the first needle in Roxie’s shoulder and for once she was grateful she couldn’t feel anything. A needle that size had to hurt worse than the largest IV needle. After pouring a gel over the puncture site, the neurologist tapped a spot two inches above Roxie’s elbow. Aerigo pressed there and the neurologist followed with the second dose and more gel. A third followed in the middle of her forearm, and the fourth and final in the palm of her hand. By the time the fourth needle was pulled out, Roxie began to feel something. “Hey, my shoulder’s tingling.”

“Already?” Dr. Vernidelli said, eyes bugling. “Skitt, how long did that take?”

Skitt was looking at what had to be a cell phone. “Twenty seconds.”

“Wow. We’ve got our first official measurement of the speed of their healing powers.”

The doctors continued chatting, but Roxie tuned them out. The tingling, which felt like blood returning to a limb that had been slept on funny, was spreading to the rest of her arm. It hurt, but nowhere near as bad as the doctors feared. She tried to move her arm, but didn’t respond. She kept trying.

The intensity of the tingling gradually strengthened until it felt like it was throbbing with her racing heart. Roxie squirmed a bit. It felt more uncomfortable than painful, but her brain was yelling at her that it didn’t like the throbbing one bit. Aerigo placed an arm on her right shoulder and she let out a cry of pain that made him recoil. “Please don’t touch my arm!” His touch had felt like someone had struck the ulnar nerve nicknamed the “funny bone” in ten different places in her shoulder.

Aerigo whispered an apology.

Roxie squirmed more and rolled onto her left side, and began breathing heavily. The pain Aerigo’s touch had caused wouldn’t go away. In fact, it was getting worse.

Dr. Vernidelli said, “Aerigo, you might want to hold her down.”

Aerigo appeared in front of Roxie and placed a hand on her sternum, pushed her onto her back, and wore a pained expression, mixed with determination to help.

The sensation of her arm touching the gurney sent more jolts pain up and down her entire arm, as if she suddenly had hundreds of ulnar nerves that had been thwacked. She cried out again and pushed against Aerigo’s hand. She started to win until he bore his weight down on her, so she tried rolling the other way, despite the acute pins-and-needles layer of pain that added to the screaming pain shooting up and down her arm. Dr. Ustengar backed away. Aerigo pulled her back and pressed her down.

Roxie turned back to Aerigo as she held her right arm off the gurney. Using her muscles made the pain even worse. Every time anyone had ever struck their ulnar nerve, they cupped their elbow and let the stricken arm dangle, or at least relaxed every muscle surrounding it. Using her superhuman strength, she shoved Aerigo off. He went reeling backwards, pinwheeling his arms.

Roxie slipped off the gurney and protectively held her left hand over her right arm, gasping for breath and sweating all over. She paced to the windows, then back to the gurney. The five doctors watched in mute helplessness as she marched back towards the windows, caught a glimpse of the city, and marched towards her gurney again. She gripped the mattress with her left hand as nerve pain shot across her collar bone, into her chest, and down her right side. A whimper escaped her lips. She pressed her forehead to the mattress, but it brought no relief. She pinned her right arm to her abdomen and tried to will the pain to go away to no avail. She dropped to her knees, hoping that not standing would help alleviate the pain.

It didn’t.

She flopped onto her left side and curled up in fetal position. Maybe the tighter she compacted her body, the less it would hurt.

No change.

Roxie spread her limbs and writhed on her back. There had to be a way to hold her body that would diminish the pain. There just had to be. The writhing didn’t work. She rolled on her hands and knees and held that posture. It didn’t help either. Mindful of where the gurney was, she pushed back to her feet and hugged her right arm to her body as she began pacing again.

Dr. Vernidelli said, “Rox, I’d really rather have you back on the gurney.”

Roxie swore at him and continued pacing with tears streaming down her cheeks and her teeth gritted. The pain just wouldn’t
stop
.

“Aerigo, would you mind?”

Jenna said, “I can help her a bit if she holds still.”

Roxie stopped pacing. She and Aerigo exchanged a wordless glance before he closed in on her. He looked like he wanted to do anything but force her back onto the gurney. She backed away, towards the windows, and he followed, holding out a hand, palm up. She recoiled and tripped over a chair, twirled and caught her balance, then veered towards the ICU’s doorway. Aerigo followed once again and this time reached out to grab her. She ducked and slipped back towards the windows. He spun in place and seized her by the meat of her shoulder. Roxie wrenched free and backed towards the wall opposite the door. “No. Please don’t!”

Aerigo’s eyes began glowing blue and his forehead crinkled. He lunged at her with superhuman speed and caught her by one arm. She tried to twist or wrench free as she tried to hold back his other arm by the wrist, but he was so much stronger than her. He twisted his arm free, seized her upper arm and pulled her close. Roxie hip-checked him in the side and they both fell, her landing on top, facing him. She recommenced struggling to break free.