Chapter 25. A splash

A splash of water to the face woke the doctor right up. “Huh? What? Where am I?” The doctor muttered before looking at Pebble “YOU!” The doctor was seething with rage, the guy in front of him asked him if he was a doctor. The moment he said yes, he was instantly knocked out and got carried away.

“I know what I did was wrong, but please can you check my mother?” Pebble pleaded. He left his village immediately the moment his mother fell ill to find a doctor, when he returned his mother’s condition worsened to the point that he couldn’t do anything but beg.

Even though he was still angry the duty of a doctor came first, he from the ground and he bent over to check the pulse of the woman lying on the bed. Moments later his face formed a frown.

“The situation is not good. The doctor shook his head and continued “her pulse is erratic; it is strong at some points and extremely weak at others. She could suffer cardiac arrest at any moment.” The doctor stared at the woman lying in bed. The struggle was clearly visible on her face as she fought for her life.

“In all of my professional years as a doctor, I don’t know what is going on, it seems like her internal energy is fighting against itself.” The doctor became lost in thought as he muttered to himself “Is this something that perhaps only applies to Exotics?”

“I-is there anything you can do?” Pebble looked on nervously at the doctor.

The doctor sighed and shook his head “The only thing I can do is alleviate some of the pain for her with some medicine of mine.” He continued “However, everything I have is back in Asmar.”

Asmar is closest neighboring town east of Boulderville that is built alongside the ocean separating the two continents. Asmar harbor is where ships will frequently dock to transport goods from the Tillowisk empire and their neighboring kingdoms.

As the trading point between the two continent Asmar is the most abundant in people of all skill trade. This was the main reason Pebble ran from Boulderville to Asmar as it is guaranteed to have a doctor whereas Rouge was both further away west, and is only known for its figure, the Governor and the Pope.

It is also the place where ships for Cheshire’s institute of Naturelle will dock to pick up and drop off enrolling or currently enrolled students between the two countries.

“I’ll go there right away and get it!” Pebble stated. He was already exhausted running there and then back carrying the doctor but there was no time to care about that.

“First, let’s see if you have any of the ingredients here for me to make it, it’ll be quicker that way.” The doctor began to jot down what he needed to make an effective painkiller. Pebble looked at the content on the list and then showed it to Cobble standing beside him.

“We have them” Pebble and Cobble replied with a sigh of relief. They just had to run around the village and collect it. Pebble then circled the ingredients on the list “You’ll gather these, I’ll get the rest.” Cobble nodded his head to Pebble’s statement.

Pebble ran down the stairs and out of the house, a gust of wind formed as a sonic boom could be heard before he disappeared leaving only cloud of dust trailing him. Cobble followed immediately after racing out of the house.

The group who was completely forgotten the moment Pebble and the doctor arrived could only look at each other, unsure of what to do. “Are you their relatives?” The doctor asked.

“No, we were supposed to train with them today.” Shelly replied. “Will she be okay?” Arthur asked. The doctor shook his head again “I’m afraid only time will tell, the only thing I can do is monitor her.” The doctor patted Arthur’s shoulder and continued to say. “However, she’s a fighter, so let’s be hopeful, shall we?”

“Mm” Everyone in the group nodded their head and kept quiet standing off to the side at a corner.

The door erupted open again as Gran darted into the room. He was immediately informed about the condition of Roselyn prompting him to run back home. “Who are you?” Gran asked the strange doctor.

The doctor replied, “I’m Galen Galil, a doctor from Asmar.” He continued “A blue hair young man brought me here.” The doctor let out any mention of getting knocked unconscious and being kidnapped.

Gran let out a sigh of relief knowing that it was Pebble’s doing. He then pulled out a bag variety of plants he collected since the morning. “Dr. Galil, my son told me he was getting a doctor, so I ran around the village collecting these, are they any helpful?” he handed the bag over to Galen.

The doctor poured out the bag containing an assortment of plant life that were plucked hurriedly from the ground. He separated the plants into two piles and nodded his head “I can make a painkiller with these.” He took the pile on his right.

Galen Galil was quick and efficient after having the ingredients in his hands. After getting some supplies from a servant he pounded and mixed the plants into a bowl of hot water.

Pieces of each plant was plucked and tossed into the bowl at precise timing as the clear water in the bowl began to bubble. After all the ingredients were systematically tossed into the bowl a dark brown liquid was all that remained.

He held the bowl in his hand as he motioned over to Roselyn, he lifted her upright as he slowly poured the liquid into her mouth. Roselyn while unconscious and struggling with her internal energy managed to swallow some of the liquid.

The doctor sighed in relief as he slowly put her head back down onto the pillow. Sweat was visible on his forehead as he got back up.

“How is she?” Gran asked. “The painkiller will take affect momentarily, I’m not sure if it’ll help relieve her of the pain caused by the conflict of her internal energy.” Galen honestly replied.

Moments later the once painful expression on Roselyn’s pale face relaxed. Everyone sighed in relief as that meant the medicine had an affect at softening the pain she felt.

“I only managed to relive her of her pain for now, but the energy within her is still extremely volatile” Galen replied after checking her pulse again. He continued “I’ll stay here to monitor her condition.”

“Thank you Dr. Galil” Gran replied as he sat beside his wife. His hands interlocked with hers unwilling to let go. The doctor sighed and shook his head, he knew he didn’t do much.

The doctor picked up the remaining plants and tossed them back into the bag. He walked everyone out of the room into the hall and sat down on the wall with his head looking back into the room containing only the husband and wife.

Sweat was still visible on his forehead as he didn’t even bother wiping it away. Julie pulled out a handkerchief and handed to the doctor. “Thank you, girl.” Dr. Galil returned the handkerchief after finishing.

“May I know your names?” He asked the group. They returned with their answer with the doctor nodding his head. He sighed as he continued to look through the door at the couple “I’m not sure if I should say this or not.”

“Gran should already sense it.” He shook his head. “If the worst come to the worst, I’ll need his approval.”

“What happened?” Arthur asked. “It’s the baby.” The doctor replied his face showed it all as he didn’t know if he should continue to speak.

“What happened to the baby?” Arthur asked again. The doctor sunk his head “It’s not just the mother who is suffering. The baby is also being bombarded by remnants of the collision of internal energy within her.”

“If” The doctor paused while controlling his breathing, he wasn’t expecting to feel so emotional today it was unlike him. “If the worst comes to the worst, and the mother looks like she can’t make it…”

“… I’ll need his approval for an emergency surgery for the baby so that, that way at least one might survive.”

The situation Roselyn was in was dire than what everyone had expected. Their face revealing their true emotions as their eyes became cloudy and their vision impaired by tears it was releasing.

No one spoke as they continued to sit in silence waiting outside the room, the husband and wife remained in the same position as their fingers remained interlocked.

Boss got up and left the group, the depressing silence and waterfall on their faces isn’t what he wanted to sit around and stare at. He walked down the steps and headed straight for the pond in the back of the house.

The once rippling pond that he saw yesterday was always consistently releasing weak ripples. After he messed with it yesterday it began releasing a strong ripple within.

However, today as he sat there and stared at it, the rippling of the pond wasn’t consistently doing either of that. It was slowly draining as the ripples shifted between a small weak one to a stronger more forceful one.

The water splashed outwards flowing into the grasses nearby, the grasses surrounding the pond were twice the height of the ones further away.

Boss continued to stare at the pond that was consistently shifting between the ripples, contemplating on whether or not he should mess with it again.

An hour passed by before Pebble could be seen running into the house and up to their room.

“Doctor I got it! He pulled out the ingredients for the medicine and handed to Dr. Galil. Quickly!” Pebble grabbed Dr. Galil and pulled him straight into the room.

Pebble was exhausted the moment he entered the room his chest was heaving as he tried to catch his breath. Gran remained in the same position all this time the only difference was that his once concern look was becoming more tearful as his head rested on their interlocked hands.

“Father, it’ll be okay, I brought the medicine.” Pebble whispered hoping it’ll get his father’s attention. His father shook his head. Pebble hushed as he looked over to observe his mother.

She had a peaceful look to her face almost as if she was sleeping. However, the moment he checked her pulse his arm instinctively pulled back as he gasped for air.

The struggle within her bod was going out of control. A numbing sensation flowed into his arm as it became limp momentarily.

“Father, you have to let go!” Pebble’s shout alerted everyone outside, they didn’t notice the change that occurred within the past hour.

“Father please!” Pebble ran to remove Gran’s hands away from Roselyn’s, the intense energy he felt earlier coursed through him too. His body was becoming numb at an alarming pace.

Gran remained seated, the disparity in strength between them made it extremely difficult for Pebble to separate their hands.

“PLEASE FATHER!” Everyone was in the room wondering what happened. The doctor quickly rushed over to the mother and tried to feel her pulse.

“NO! DON’T!” Pebble shout was too late. The doctor was blown back to the wall.

Michael ran over to help the doctor up and see if he was still alive. However, the moment his hands reached the doctor he felt a shock immediately to his heart as he passed out.

Julie ran straight to Michael the moment something felt wrong. Once her hand touched him, she instinctively reeled back. However, she wasn’t fast enough, the energy coursed through her body causing her to follow suit.

“DON’T TOUCH THEM!” Pebble’s shout stopped the remaining two in their tracks.

“PLEASE FATHER, LET GO!” Pebble cried as he shouted, his father was immensely stronger than him, he couldn’t pull him away.

Cobble finally made it into the room. “What happened?” he asked as he looked at the people lying on the floor.

“COBBLE, HELP ME PULL FATHER AWAY!” Pebble shouted prompting Cobble hug his brother and pull. The alarming energy that coursed into his body too as he struggled to breath.

“PULL COBBLE”

It was no use; their father wouldn’t budge at all. Pebble and Cobble came loose as they kneeled on the floor gasping for air.

“Please… I can’t lose you…”