Chapter 8: Chrysalis and Rebirth

Anika and Ellis were woken, a few hours later, by Janet’s moving about in her sleep. Ellis, feeling her forehead and finding it rather hot, grew worried. “She was always in a bit of a hurry to get things done!” he muttered, as he sat up against the headboards, pulled her into his lap, and held her tightly against his chest, so that in her fevered thrashing she would not harm herself.

“You mean she’s already into the last stages of Chrysalis?” Anika asked, somewhat frightened for her soul-sister’s sake.

Ellis managed a stiff nod. “She’ll be forming the cocoon in the next couple of days, I’d guess.”

Janet’s eyes suddenly opened with a groan of pain. “Ellis? I don’t feel too good.” she whispered. “What’s wrong with me, Ellis? I feel so hot ... and c-c-cold too. Burning inside, freezing outside. Please, he-help m-me.”

“Hush, love ... Everything will be alright. You’ve reached the last few days of Chrysalis, that’s all.” he replied, rocking her gently back and forth.

“He’s right, little sister,” Anika said, putting her arms around Ellis and Janet both. “Soon, you’ll fall into a deep sleep, and when you wake up, you’ll be the loveliest Dragon there ever was.”

“Anika? I’m scared, Anika! Please, don’t leave me?” Janet was shaking uncontrollably.

“Don’t worry little sister, we won’t go anywhere. We’ll be right here when you wake up. Okay?” Janet nodded weakly in response, as she drifted off to sleep once more. Anika lightly pressed a hand against her forehead, and then checked her pulse. “Ellis, I’ll stay with her while you go get a healer. She’ll need one in constant attendance until she comes out of this. Chrysalis should not be hitting her this hard.”

He looked at her a moment, then, holding back the protests bubbling up inside, he gently transferred Janet to her lap, making sure Anika had a firm hold on her, then left the room, letting Guardian in as he went.

In the common room, he created a magic portal to the Healers’ Guildhall. He stepped through, finding himself in the front foyer, where the novice on duty was staring at him. Looking down he realized his state of undress and called upon his bracers for his normal clothing, and somehow ended up wearing his combat kit instead. Shaking his head, he turned to the novice, asking for the head healer.

When told that Healer Rilla was meeting with someone, Ellis called on his magic once more for the location of this meeting, then altered the coordinates of the portal to that location.

As he stepped through again, he found himself in the chambers of the High Council, where he found the healer in conference with Killian, discussing how to remove the spells from the egg she was guarding. “Forgive me, My Lady. I had not realized you were the one Healer Rilla was with,” he said, catching himself against the wall as he nearly staggered in embarrassment.

“What is it, Ellis, my son? Your distress is obvious, seeing as you are wearing your combat gear!” Killian said, with an encouraging smile.

“I came searching for the head healer, Lady Killian.” he replied.

“Are you ill, Ritemaster Ellisanavriel?” the healer asked.

“It’s not for me. It’s for Janet,” he said hurriedly.

Killian’s head shot toward him, a worried light shining in her eyes. “Has she come to harm, Ellis?” she demanded.

“No. But she’s already entering the last stages of Chrysalis. She’s nearly shaking herself apart, she’s burning up, and she said she felt like she was freezing outside, and burning inside. Anika is with her now. Damn it! It’s too soon!” he cried out, his control over his emotions slipping for a moment. “She went through Awakening barely four days ago. She shouldn’t be this far along for another week or so.”

“That is worrying. Healer Rilla, please, go with this young man. The young woman in question will be very important to all on this world. And forgive his manners,” Killian said, looking Ellis straight in the eyes, “he cares very deeply for her, and is worried for her sake.”

“Of course, Great One,” the healer said with a curtsy. As she slowly turned and unerringly placed her hand on his shoulder, Ellis saw that she was blind. “If you will lead the way, kind sir? I will gladly see to your friend.”

“My betrothed,” he unthinkingly corrected.

Killian let out a startled rumble of laughter. “Well! It seems congratulations are in order. But that will wait. Go on,” she waved him on.

Guiding the blind healer through the portal back to Janet’s quarters as quickly as he could, Ellis wondered how he would explain to Killian about the ... arrangement ... he, Janet, and Anika had reached.

When they stepped into the bedroom, Anika was dressed in a nightgown, but was still in the bed, holding tightly to Janet. She’d pulled up the blankets to cover Janet, and wrapped her in a few more which she had conjured.

As they came nearer, he heard Janet mumbling in her sleep, calling out for her mother. “She seems to be getting worse, doesn’t she?” he asked Anika, who nodded and looked up at him. He saw the pain, fear, and rage, just barely held in check behind her tear-blinded eyes.

The blind healer, oblivious to or ignoring the heavy emotional undercurrents in the room, walked straight to the bedside, reached out and laid her hand on Janet’s chest, then felt her forehead. The moment she touched Janet’s skin, however, she pulled her hand back with a jerk, as if she had touched an open flame. “Does she have a Focus Stone?” she asked, turning to Ellis. He went to the pile of his and Janet’s clothes, retrieved it, and handed it to the Rilla. Rilla turned back to the bed, where she pulled Janet’s hand from under the blankets. She removed the Focus Stone from its setting in the amulet. Taking a knife from her belt, Rilla made a small incision in Janet’s palm, letting the blood pool, and then she placed the Stone on the cut, closing Janet’s hand so as to hold the Stone in place, ignoring his and Anika’s protests. It immediately began emitting a blinding bright light. The light changed color rapidly, going from a blood red, through the entire spectrum, over and over again, then eventually settling on a dim, cloudy white. “You,” she said, pointing unerringly at Ellis over her shoulder, “will now weave a Remove Curse spell on this Stone. It is drawing out the taint from the young woman’s body, but the taint is strong, and even Arissa’s Stone would be insufficient to totally annul the curse without her conscious will and concentration. The taint is slowly trying to turn her to the Dark and accelerating the process of Chrysalis. Now weave your spell ... and pray!” The healer went to the foot of the bed, where she sat down, resting against the bedpost.

Ellis came forward, starting his preparations to weave the magical energies required for the spell. He first stood at the side of the bed and tried to weave the spell, but it soon failed in the weaving, as he was too emotionally distraught. Sitting in a meditative position on the bed, he started placing himself in a light trance, to emotionally detach himself from the situation. He drew the magical energies from the air, wove the pattern required by the spell. As he wove it, the pattern became visible, a tapestry forming in the air in front of him, made of threads of light of various colors, bright blue, green, and red. Then he drew it around Janet’s hand and Focus Stone, where it contracted right through her hand, covering every facet of the Stone. The fabric of the spell turned bright white, and then slowly turned black.

Once it was a total flat black in its entirety, the spell dissipated in a bright flash, and Janet’s Focus Stone started emitting its bright white light again, the Stone itself resuming its mother-of-pearl sheen. The end of the spell also snapped Ellis out of his trance.

Janet herself suddenly relaxed into a deeper, more restful sleep, her hand loosening its grip on the Focus Stone and letting it drop to the bed. There was no sign of any blood, either on the stone, or Janet’s hand, nor of the cut it had resulted from.

Rilla got up from the foot of the bed, and turned once more to Ellis. “There is nothing more that I can do for her now. The Chrysalis process has started, and it will run its course through. Now, if you would please return me to my previous meeting?” she asked him with an arched eyebrow, to which Ellis blushed.