chin over her shoulder, reaching around her watermelon waist and easing myself closer for maximum skin contact. We both wore nothing, only our undergarments. I closed my eyes and found myself on the stair, my hands empty for the moment.
I walked downward, alone, darkness undiluted on either side of the marble steps. Upon reaching the last step, I grabbed at the air, and Sri appeared in my arms as I lifted into my laboratory.
The elderly woman disappeared from my grasp just as quickly and materialized on the indented stone of the black operations table. Even though I no longer wore my gowns in the real world, they swirled about me here in their full copper-and-silver-threaded majesty.
“Hiresha?” Sri blinked awake, her eyes following the yellow topazes flitting past her nose. “By the gods, where are we?”
“Your consciousness is not required.” I reached toward a shelf and Attracted a silver pillow. The magic bauble sped through ten feet, to my fingertips, and I brushed it over Sri’s cheeks.
She closed her eyes again with a sigh. The spell would hold her in a deeper sleep and prevent her from remembering anything.
My first order of business was to search her hair. In one second, I had found thirty-four lice; one had even crawled onto my arm. A spell of Attraction crushed the nuisances against a quartz crystal I held between two fingers.
A sapphire honey jar leaped from a shelf to float above the operation table, followed closely by a series of vials holding powdered gemstone. Together they contained spells that would clear her blood of bodily contaminates as well as any residual wormwood. Flecks of light leaked down from the glowing trinkets to sift over her while I prepared to repair her liver.
I Attracted a cluster of blue diamonds from a shelf and positioned them in a sparkling pile atop the right side of her belly. The diamonds spread outward, circumscribing her abdomen in a revolving circle. The skin they passed over became invisible. Yellow globules of fat nestled against a reddish plaiting of abdominal muscles, all of which faded from sight below the descending diamonds.
The liver appeared, a bulging, slimy thing the color of sulfur. I pinched my nose although I could not in truth smell it through the transparent flesh. The organ bore no tumors, and was crowded by a bright pink womb, which I would investigate shortly. I lifted my hand, and a scepter with a purple jewel spun, end over end, into my grasp.
The scepter embodied my most coveted enchantment: regeneration. The spell involved hundreds of Attractions and Repulsions over infinitesimal distances, targeting bits of matter I did not fully understand in units of flesh I could not see, the process multiplied a vast number of times per inch of intended re-growth.
Once I had set a few parameters in the spell, I lifted Sri’s hand with the diamond ring. It was the only real gemstone here, the one thing capable of maintaining the enchantments once I woke. I touched it to the scepter then to a rack of vials, and the diamond began to glow pink.
Her health now assured, I gathered my courage to view the state of her child. I was less than hopeful and felt a buzzing twinge in my stomach. Focusing my mind, I willed the blue diamonds to reveal another section of her abdomen.
The smooth muscles of her womb entered my view, followed by a layer of spongy crimson. I held my breath, preparing myself for my first glimpse of a godsent child.
I blinked, realizing I had pushed the jewels too far. The spell had removed from the visible spectrum not only the anterior of the womb but also the child’s skin, revealing a tiny bone hand, its finger joints glistening with cartilage. Often, babies in the womb would clench their fists, yet these fingers lay flat, its wrist resembling a collection of white pebbles. I pulled back and noticed that the skin between the fingers was a translucent yellow, a surprisingly similar shade to cartilage.
To obtain a better visual of
I walked downward, alone, darkness undiluted on either side of the marble steps. Upon reaching the last step, I grabbed at the air, and Sri appeared in my arms as I lifted into my laboratory.
The elderly woman disappeared from my grasp just as quickly and materialized on the indented stone of the black operations table. Even though I no longer wore my gowns in the real world, they swirled about me here in their full copper-and-silver-threaded majesty.
“Hiresha?” Sri blinked awake, her eyes following the yellow topazes flitting past her nose. “By the gods, where are we?”
“Your consciousness is not required.” I reached toward a shelf and Attracted a silver pillow. The magic bauble sped through ten feet, to my fingertips, and I brushed it over Sri’s cheeks.
She closed her eyes again with a sigh. The spell would hold her in a deeper sleep and prevent her from remembering anything.
My first order of business was to search her hair. In one second, I had found thirty-four lice; one had even crawled onto my arm. A spell of Attraction crushed the nuisances against a quartz crystal I held between two fingers.
A sapphire honey jar leaped from a shelf to float above the operation table, followed closely by a series of vials holding powdered gemstone. Together they contained spells that would clear her blood of bodily contaminates as well as any residual wormwood. Flecks of light leaked down from the glowing trinkets to sift over her while I prepared to repair her liver.
I Attracted a cluster of blue diamonds from a shelf and positioned them in a sparkling pile atop the right side of her belly. The diamonds spread outward, circumscribing her abdomen in a revolving circle. The skin they passed over became invisible. Yellow globules of fat nestled against a reddish plaiting of abdominal muscles, all of which faded from sight below the descending diamonds.
The liver appeared, a bulging, slimy thing the color of sulfur. I pinched my nose although I could not in truth smell it through the transparent flesh. The organ bore no tumors, and was crowded by a bright pink womb, which I would investigate shortly. I lifted my hand, and a scepter with a purple jewel spun, end over end, into my grasp.
The scepter embodied my most coveted enchantment: regeneration. The spell involved hundreds of Attractions and Repulsions over infinitesimal distances, targeting bits of matter I did not fully understand in units of flesh I could not see, the process multiplied a vast number of times per inch of intended re-growth.
Once I had set a few parameters in the spell, I lifted Sri’s hand with the diamond ring. It was the only real gemstone here, the one thing capable of maintaining the enchantments once I woke. I touched it to the scepter then to a rack of vials, and the diamond began to glow pink.
Her health now assured, I gathered my courage to view the state of her child. I was less than hopeful and felt a buzzing twinge in my stomach. Focusing my mind, I willed the blue diamonds to reveal another section of her abdomen.
The smooth muscles of her womb entered my view, followed by a layer of spongy crimson. I held my breath, preparing myself for my first glimpse of a godsent child.
I blinked, realizing I had pushed the jewels too far. The spell had removed from the visible spectrum not only the anterior of the womb but also the child’s skin, revealing a tiny bone hand, its finger joints glistening with cartilage. Often, babies in the womb would clench their fists, yet these fingers lay flat, its wrist resembling a collection of white pebbles. I pulled back and noticed that the skin between the fingers was a translucent yellow, a surprisingly similar shade to cartilage.
To obtain a better visual of
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