Shades of the New World

Chapter 134: The struggles of the weak

Arelyn Borna sat silently on her bed, as a female pink-horned mage named Nona silently worked on her face. She would feel slight itches as what she presumed was mana jolting through her face. Though she did knew that with every itch, her face would change form oh so very slightly.

At first, she didn't have the courage to look in the mirror after the first time, but after a month of treatment, she finally saw her deformed face recover its old features. Another two weeks and it would be like the beating never happened. Truly the spells of the mages were wondrous and unfathomable. Arelyn couldn't even imagine the costs of such treatments.

'All of this at my youngest sister's expenditure, as they would unceasingly remind me,' Arelyn thought, and beads of cold sweat started drenching her back. Even the slightest thought of her sister caused her body to shudder with fear. But compared to her reactions a month ago, this small amount of sweat was nothing.

Back when Arelyn was first regaining consciousness and she saw Bella looking at her with a sorry face, she begged her to leave her be and started blabbering and apologizing for all the times she bullied her. Obviously, the little girl was shooed away from the room by Nona, who was treating Arelyn, but it still took the crippled girl half a day of shaking and crying until she finally calmed down. 

She never saw Bella again since then, but after every session the female pink-horned mage in front of her made sure to remind Arelyn that Bella was remorseful of her actions and that whatever happened was an unfortunate accident. Even when Arelyn would cry and beg the mage to stop saying the name, Nona would patiently calm her down with a smile, but repeat the process the next time she came.

At first, Arelyn didn't understand why this woman would torment her like this, but gradually, her fear towards her sister lessened over time. Even though the thought of Bella caused her to panic and sweat, she didn't break down like she used to. But she was still sure of one thing:

'If I see her figure again, I'm sure I'll go crazy' 

Trying her best to forget about her sister, she thought about herself. When she first saw her face in the mirror, only one thought filled her mind. Suicide. Arelyn despaired at the prospect of living with such a broken face. Most of her teeth were destroyed and both her eyes were black and deformed due to swelling. Her jaw was dislocated, leaving behind a grueling sight. And not only her face, her arms and ribs were all cracked and/or fragmented.

'How did I manage to survive after all of that?' 

Arelyn had this thought a thousand times at this point. She was beaten like a ragdoll for three whole minutes before two guards came and knocked out Bella. According to Olevyn, at least. But to Arelyn, it felt like eternity. But thankfully, after the three minutes of hell passed, Arelyn never felt a single sting of pain; first thanks to passing out, and then thanks to the mage's spell.

Nona explained that she cut off her pain receptors, since the constant shocks of pain to her brains could kill her off. She also explained that this act of cutting of her pain senses were permanent and could not be reversed and that she was extremely sorry about it.

'What's there to be sorry about?' Arelyn first scoffed when she heard it, but when she had drank something hot and didn't realize that she had burnt her tongue until Nona mentioned it, she started to see the inconveniences that this might bring about. 

As she was thinking about such random thoughts, an indescribable itch came from her face. Her two hands unconsciously reached towards her face, but both of them were firmly grasped by Nona.

"Please resist. We're at a very important part of the treatment," Nona said.

Arelyn struggled to resist the urge, but thinking that it was her face, she mustered out the willpower to stay still.

After five minutes, the itch died out and Nona finally breathed out a sigh. But soon after, her right eye started twitching unceasingly. The mage didn't seem to quite notice it, so Arelyn realized that it wasn't her eyelid that was twitching, it wwas probably the eye itself.

"We're done for today. Do you feel weird or uncomfortable in any way?" the mage asked in an inquiring tone. Arelyn personally knew the consequences of lying to this mage, so she truthfully told that her eyes were twitching. 

"Ah, that It's just that the exhaustion from the treatment is affecting you. It should die out by the next morning after a good night's rest," Nona explained and settling herself down, she continued to ask: "What do you think about your sister?"

Arelyn hated this part of the day.

"I don't know... Fearful, most likely."

"That's natural. Do you think that you would panic and break down if you see her again?" Nona continued.

"I believe so," Arelyn said with a shudder.

"Hmm Well, the good news is, that treatment of your face is almost complete. We will have one more treatment session and you should look like your old self. Look at yourself in the mirror. You might find that you've gotten even prettier than before," Nona said with a chuckle, while holding a small mirror in her hands.

Arelyn warily glanced at the mirror, and found that the mage's words were correct. Aside from her jaw which looked only slightly off, the rest of her face seemed to be more beautiful than before.

"Thank you, mage Nona," Arelyn said, before realizing her mistake.

"Don't thank me, thank your sister. The treatment I give isn't something so cheap. Only thanks to your sister spending all the gold in her possessions, she managed to afford my services," Nona reminded.

"Nona, why do you do this to me?" Arelyn forgot how many times she asked this, but she couldn't not ask. Nona would usually just dodge the question and continue regardless, which made Arelyn think that Bella was paying the mage to say such things, but something in the back of her head would tell her that it was not so.

Nona sighed slightly and relented.

"I suppose you are ready to accept this view of mine"

Arelyn was shocked and a bit expectant, but mostly she was still scared. But Nona didn't wait for Arelyn's thumping heart to slow down and began talking.