Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

I twisted back from looking at Auri’s rocketing across the sky.

“Wow.” Iona commented.

“You know what.” I told Iona. “I don’t want to know. I’m going to assume a ton of rats died in that.”

I thought about the size of the explosion and sighed.

“I need to head over there and see if anyone got hurt.” Part of the reason I was here, eating dinner and refueling was I was low on mana. I wanted to take a break to recharge, but nooo, Auri had to blow something up.

“I’ll head on over as well.” Iona stood up as I stuffed the last of my dinner into my mouth. “Want me to carry you?”

The sun was down, meaning [Wheel of Sun and Moon] wasn’t working properly anymore. I could go invisible and speed over there, or I could let Iona help me keep hiding how strong I was. There was only one question.

“Princess, shoulder, or piggyback?” I asked Iona.

“Piggyback, let’s go.” She said.

I was still learning the layout of the town, but it quickly became clear that we were entering one of the worst parts of it. It went from a poor area, to slums, to the worst slums, to an area so bad nobody was even squatting there. The whole place smelled like sewage and worse, and it became clear that this was the area where the town dumped its waste into the harbor, which was why nobody lived here.

I kept my head on a metaphorical swivel, [The World Around Me] letting me instantly search houses we went by. Some people looked rattled or scared, while others were bored and uncaring. My heart went out to people who were sick, who were starving, to those who found it necessary to become lost in a haze of drugs just for a quick escape from the world. A number of piercing whistles came from around the town.

“Stop!” I yelled at Iona, and she promptly halted. The cobblestones on the road not getting ripped up by the force of her sudden stop was a miracle of dexterity. I pointed to a house.

“Drop me! That house! Second floor! Go now!” I ordered, and to Iona’s credit, she dropped me without a moment of hesitation and charged through the door.

I hit the ground running, trusting that Iona would solve the issue, letting me continue on to the blast zone undistracted.

There was a bunch of rubble, but not a single flame or ember, nor any water damage from a Classer dumping gallons of water onto the problem. Someone - probably Auri - had perfectly removed all the flames and heat.

I didn’t see anyone trapped in the rubble or slowly getting crushed by a falling building. Little shreds and chunks of meat were scattered here and there, but the tiny bones sticking through them suggested they were rat, not elvenoid. Guards were starting to arrive as I finished my search.

No point in me sticking around, not when nobody was hurt, and when getting stopped and questioned by the guard - was there a curfew? - could only slow me down.

“Nobody there.” I grabbed a guard and pointed to a building. “Nobody there either. I can’t find anyone under any rubble. Skill.” I said, forestalling his question.

“Thanks!” He said. They weren’t taking me at my word, but I didn’t care.

“No worries. I’ll be leaving now.” There was no point to me being here, nobody was hurt. My mana was recharging nicely, and I was ready to get going again. A dark part of my mind whispered that somebody might’ve gotten killed in the initial blast, not injured, and that Auri had carelessly killed someone.

I dismissed the thought. None of the flesh I’d seen had been elvenoid. I’d talk with Auri later, when we met up. Instead, I started walking back into town, trying to figure out how to best approach the next part of the evening.

I wanted to hit people who were inside and sick.

I had two options. The first was to use [Imbue] with [Cosmic Presence] and [Dance with the Heavens] again. Mana regeneration was an issue there. The second was to physically enter the home, and [Imbue][Nova Lance], [Mantle of the Stars], or [Kaleidoscope] to transmit healing.

The issue was getting inside. I could politely knock, wait for someone to answer - in the middle of the night, yeah right - explain what was going on, and heal everyone involved. The alternative was breaking in, throwing a bunch of heals around, then escaping to repeat the process in the next house. Same problem as earlier, no new solutions.

Sentinel Dawn, [Burglar-Healer] extraordinaire.

Although, wait. Fundamentally, I didn’t need to get into the building. My healing needed to get into the building. [Imbue] was good for that, but [Cosmic Presence] was inefficient until [Imbue] leveled up more, [Mantle of the Stars] didn’t have the range, [Nova Lance] was too dangerous - anything powerful enough to burn through a door or wall could harm my patient, and [Kaleidoscope] -

Wait.

That was perfect.

The sheer number of casts would ordinarily be prohibitive, and I couldn’t use it while I had [Greater Invisibility] up - damn Radiance interfering with Mirages - but right here, right now? I had all the tools I needed.

It was flashy, it might reveal my secret, but the greater good demanded it.

I summoned a single perfect butterfly onto the tip of my finger, ensuring that I’d set it to ‘nothing happens’ when it expired. It turned the normally lethal attack into a delicate lightshow. I opened the needed book in [Astral Archives], then [Imbued] the butterfly with everything needed to cure any elvenoid of the Black Plague.

Healing normally scaled on costs depending on what I was doing, but because I was “preloading” the heal into the butterfly, I had to “prepay” for it. Just one of the endless little quirks of the skill. At 100 mana total, it was a steal, even though it was orders of magnitude larger than what it would cost if I had to lay hands on them. That, and I was regenerating almost 400 mana a second. A sustainable cost at the scale I hoped to work at.

I easily identified a patient, sleeping in his bed. [The World Around Me] gave me a perfect view of what was going on inside the sphere, and it was the work of a moment to trace a twisty, turny flight path from where I was standing, to my patient. I etched the directions to my butterfly, and with silent flaps of its wings, it left.

I carefully watched it duck and weave along the proscribed path, before landing on my patient. His breathing immediately slowed, he stopped shaking and shivering, the necrosis vanished, and he settled into a deeper sleep. The butterfly dissolved into motes of light, its task completed.

A grin split my face.

Oh yes. This would do nicely.

[Persistent Casting] wouldn’t help here, each path was unique, each butterfly needing its own directions. [Parallel Thoughts] was a lifesaver as I slowly walked down the road, my mind flitting from place to place, finding people, tracing routes, then summoning butterflies, [Imbuing] them with healing, and sending them on their way. My improved thinking speed was working overtime, and my head felt like it was cooking.

Still, step after step, butterfly after butterfly, I worked my way down the street. I left a dozen butterflies flapping behind me with every step I took, a glittering show of radiant light in the dark.

[*ding!* [Imbue] leveled up! 40 -> 41]

Each butterfly was a life. Each butterfly was succor from pain and disease, and nothing made my heart sing as much as seeing the kaleidoscope I was leaving in my wake.

While it was late and dark, and the streets were mostly empty, they weren’t entirely empty. Reactions were mixed, although most were positive.

“Whoa! It’s shiny! Let’s catch some!” A small gang of kids, their Systems not yet unlocked, were fascinated by the butterflies, and set out following me, jumping and leaping to try and catch a few. Not wanting to have them succeed, then needing to re-do the butterfly in question that they captured, I sent a few harmless ones near them, devoting one thought process to making them ‘dance’ around them, letting a few occasionally get ‘caught’, and refreshing them when they expired.

[*ding!* [Parallel Thoughts] leveled up! 102 -> 103]

More than a few adults realized what was going on.

“Healer.” An old man, over level 400 - a powerful Classer, even in this day and age - respectfully nodded and deliberately stepped out of my way, doffing his cap.

I nodded back.

“Thank you.” I said.

Most were like him. A quiet word of thanks. A small gesture of respect.

I didn’t mind the slightly suspicious looks, or people who looked wary but said or did nothing. I was usually one of them, when someone came through throwing big skills around. It had been my job for most of my life to look into cases like that!

A thousand positive comments or remarks were easily tainted by a few negatives. One could even say a few bad apples spoiled the bunch.

A woman ran out of her home and practically screamed at me.

“I’m not paying for that!!!” She screamed, spittle flying as her face twisted into an ugly rictus.

I ignored her, continuing to walk along. People were obsessed with money here, it was slightly disconcerting. Amber would love it here, although I’d be surprised if she didn’t already know.

A few more people fled in fear, a completely understandable reaction to a large-scale unknown skill. Extra credit to them, it was a highly offensive skill, just repurposed.

All in all, it was no surprise when a high level team of town guards showed up a dozen or two blocks into my healing spree.

Well, high level relative to the general population. The five of them ranged from a level 310 [Mage] to a 389 [Warrior]. I didn’t stop walking as they approached me, bolas already in their hands.

“Halt!” The leader ordered. I respectfully paused.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

“Do you have a permit for your large-scale skill usage?” He asked.

I shook my head.

“Wasn’t aware one was needed. Why do I need one?” I half-complained, half-answered.

He frowned at me, but answered. Like a guard should.

“Because unknown, large-scale visible skills like this are potentially dangerous. We get anyone who’d like to do something like what you’re doing to inform us ahead of time, clear their skills with us, then mark where they’re going to use the skill. It gives us a chance to let people know what’s going to happen ahead of time.” He patiently explained.

“Why are we answering the foreigner? Let’s just arrest her!” The [Mage] griped, starting to wind up her bola.

“Because every time we need to resort to violence when we could’ve talked someone down is a loss in my books.” The [Captain] replied. “Miss?”

“You realize I’m healing people, right? Healer-tagged? Each butterfly is someone cured of the plague that’s ripping through the city. It’s one body less. If I’m stuck doing paperwork, or getting you to clear me, or obtain permission, that’s another minute I’m not healing someone. It’s another person dying. Isn’t there a time and a place for enforcement? For turning a blind eye?”

My arguments felt a little weak, even to myself. I’d taken extensive classes on laws and enforcement, and for the most part, the answer was no.

In the classroom. I’d seen Julius turn a half-blind eye to the forger in Perinthus who’d been carefully minting coins to help keep the economy afloat. I’d turned a blind eye myself now and then when more important things were occupying my attention.

“You’re right, there is a time and a place. This is neither. I’m going to have to ask you to come with us now.”

I sighed as he started to wind up his own bola, the guards starting to close in on me.

I had a startling moment of clarity where I understood and empathized with adventurers, of all people. Being outside the normal power structures, being outside the culture, needing to struggle to come up with the right words in my fifth-best language, came with its own set of challenges, and I was running headfirst into one of them. I couldn’t just flash my badge and be accepted.

Now I had a choice. Let the guards arrest me, or go rogue.

Honestly, it was no choice at all. I let the guards arrest me, people died. I could hem and haw and avoid some constraints on my [Oath], but this?

No.

Enough people were dying already. I couldn’t save them all, in spite of putting my best foot forward.

Heck, I arguably wasn’t putting my best foot forward, valuing a measure of peace and convenience over being as hyper-efficient as possible. There was a good argument that remaining lowkey and unmolested was better for my healing in the long run, but I was already running afoul of the guard.

“In for a coin, in for a rod. Sorry sir, I can’t do that.” I apologetically told the [Captain].

“Fire!” He yelled as he threw his bola, but I was already moving. I ran backwards at close to my full speed, [The World Around Me] acting as my eyes, my dexterity giving me perfect footing on the treacherous cobblestone.

I wasn’t holding back anymore. I wasn’t the meek mild-mannered 256 healer.

I was Sentinel Dawn, modified to the peak of elvenoid condition, and with over 25,000 points in speed.

I threw up [Mantle of the Stars] to foul the two bolas that had enough strength and skills behind them to pose a threat to me, then I was gone. I deftly turned and snapped my brightly colored wings open, soaring up and above the rooftops. I ignored a barrage of sharpened stones thrown at me by the [Mage], a few cutting skin but none of them piercing through my rainbow serpent scales.

Then I was two streets over, and I was healing once again. Each home, every sleeping person, every sick babe, I made another [Kaleidoscope] butterfly, [Imbued] it with my healing, and sent it on its way. My speed turned this into a dramatically different situation though - I was simply too fast to see everyone, measure how sick they were, find a path, make a butterfly, and send it on its way. Instead, I only took the sickest cases, the worst hit people. The ones who’d I’d call triage red if they walked through my door.

The guard’s whistles were like a chorus, marking where I was, pointing me out to others. The first team was briefly left in the dust, but they gamely chased me over the roofs, blowing their whistles as they came.

There was only so much city before I hit a wall and needed to turn back, dodging through another set of futile attacks. More futile bolas, a wild grab at my ankle, but most dangerous of all - a solid brick manacle conjured around my wrist. It barely slowed me down, but enough of them summoned onto me would stop me.

Until I [Channeled Blinked] out of it. That would be mana spent on a useless exercise, when it could be spent healing instead.

I crossed the central square, and it was like Iona and I worked on an invisible wavelength. She was there, fully armored, wielding a quarterstaff instead of her usual glaive or axe.

I swooped down at full speed, and she wordlessly tossed me another wrapped gyro.

“Love you!” I shouted, high-fiving her as I passed.

“Love you too!” She yelled over her shoulder as I frantically waved my hand. Fuck fuck FUCK that had hurt, [Center of the Universe] be damned! Do NOT hit a solid 250-lbs of unmoving metal when moving half the speed of sound! I was lucky I hadn’t broken anything.

I craned my head over my shoulder, getting to see Iona ‘tug’ the five guards down with [Telekinesis]. She couldn’t force any of them to come to her, but it was like yanking on the tail of a cat, a direct assault on the guards. No way would they ignore that.

True to form, they landed around her. I wanted, oh so badly, to listen to what they were saying, and with my super hearing, I probably could.

Except I was traveling way too fast - half the speed of sound was a pain when I was getting far away, and wanting to listen, and I had too much occupying my attention. Thinking about and parsing what was being said was brainpower not devoted to sending out more butterflies.

I zoomed towards the tavern we’d settled in. I had noted a bunch of people as we’d gone through the town, and I wanted to tag them next before carrying on.

I’d made a promise to myself, one that I intended to keep.

I would not rest until they were healed.

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