Chapter 26.

It felt like an eternity had passed, filled with incoherent events and nightmarish dreams. Enora opened her eyes, very confused, lost. "What happened ?", thought she. But, not a second after, a great pain took possession of her mind, coming from one of her limbs. Not only from it though, as there was definitely more to it. Reality quickly became clear, letting her take a look at the origin of her distress : her left forearm.

Buried in several layers of cloth that she hurriedly removed, her member looked horrible, with burnt areas and uncovered flesh. There were even a few yellowish stinky spots. "It's festering.". No panic in this statement, only a calm observation. She felt very detached. Then the pain came back even worse, from body and mind, making her grunt. She perceived movement near her, and two people appeared, probably after hearing her growl.

- How do you feel Enora ?, asked a serious but sweet voice.

The woman answered to Rose as well as a dry throat can, meaning with incomprehensible sounds and wasted breath. Water was brought to her lips, and she drank enough of it before choking.

- It hurts., said she. A lot.

- That's understandable., noted a male voice on her other side. Look, we may have a way to make it better for you, but we need as many details as possible.

- About what ?, she asked, not really following.

- About how this happened., Rose continued. To us, you suddenly screamed, and your arm caught fire. The only explanation we had was magic, but I can't help with guesses. Tell me.

Enora hesitated. Maybe it looked petty from her, but she felt uncomfortable about sharing her discoveries of magic, even with these two people. She had worked and put a lot of efforts into getting where she was, and it did feel unfair to have to give them everything. 'Unfair'. Even in her feverish state, Enora knew she was doing exactly the same thing as before : using her weird understanding of fairness as an excuse to act selfishly. "It was only 'fair' for me to use the girl as a tool, it was only 'fair' for me to get all the power thanks to all my efforts. Fair, fair, fair. Why am I so stupid ?". Would she be ready to die for the tyranny of fairness ? Did she really follow fairness, or did she just use it as she did everyone until then ? "I don't wanna die …".

- I … I finally managed to absorb some energy for the Blaze School., confessed the tall fighter with difficulty, as if her words spilt acid on her tongue. It felt so great that I began controlling it, and then I took it out of the storage and played with it inside my body, but it quickly got out of hand. When I realised that and tried to flush it out, it was already too late …

- No shit ?!, reacted Nick. Didn't the book tell you ? Most purified energies are very dangerous in the body, and should be used immediately when taken from the appendix !

- No, the book did not say !, angrily responded Enora.

- Did you read all of it, you moron ?, replied the man.

- You … !

- Let's calm down now !, interrupted Rose. You're being stupid. Good news is I know how to make it better for you Enora, at least a bit, but I will need you to do something first.

Enora felt quite lost. How could the girl help her ? What could she change about a grilled limb ? Was she a surgeon ?

- Enora !, Rose exclaimed, raising her tone. Here's what you're going to do : use your senses to detect any trace of magic inside your forearm, then get rid of it. Don't leave a single element, understood ?

The totally-not-a-suggestion startled Enora quite a bit, making her obey out of instinct. After some time to focus, she attained the right state of mind for Detection. Truthfully, it took way longer than usual, the beating pain washing over her like waves making it difficult. Yet, she managed it.

It did not take long to find the problem though, as it was like a clown's red nose : hard to miss and annoying. "Maybe just hard to miss … clowns are annoying though.", she thought in a daze. Concentrating was not easy, and not getting easier either. Anyway, a multitude of magical elements appeared to be stuck inside her arm, from the fingers to her elbow. They did not move that much, but pulsed painfully in a weird rhythm, charring the flesh as fast as it healed. No wonder the injury had trouble getting better ! With great effort, Enora willed for these remnants of fire energy to get out, to go back to the Magical Flow. After a few minutes and quite a bit a sweat, the job was done. In fact, a large part of the pain just vanished after that, making Enora conscious of how exhausted she was.

With a nod, she showed she was done with the assignment to her companions who began busying themselves. Nick was preparing clean medical supplies, while Rose approached her hands with a serious face. For a second, a bright light appeared from the girl's hands before she directly laid them on the injured arm. Enora gradually fell into some trance, half there and half not, only seeing what was happening around in erratic and jerky pictures. She did not know how long it took before Rose finally removed her hands, but she smiled at her. An exhausted, happy smile.

- It's over Enora., said she. You can rest.

- Thank you., whispered the patient. Say, do you guys hate clowns too ?

The last thing the tall woman heard before falling asleep was a laugh and a 'dafuk ?!'.