The Beginning: New Notes on an Empty Staff (2)

I took in a deep breath as I really processed all the information.

'This... is me? That's what I look like!?'

I was upset because I looked absolutely terrible. How did Lydia, Kenny, and Lynx not squirm at the sight of me? All covered in scars and bruises... it was like I was falling apart!

Was it out of pity?

Or a sense of duty?

Feeling distraught after looking at myself, I promptly rushed away and went back to bed, trying to forget what I saw.

But the image wouldn't stop echoing in my head…

~~~

Not too long after, Lynx walked in with a man I didn't recognize dressed in a long white coat, then was followed in by Lydia with a cart holding many things on it. Lynx came up to me and pointed to the man in white.

"This is Dr. Talis, he will help to find out what's wrong with your head."

I looked at him. He had light blue hair that reminded me of the sky and looked soft to the touch. There was such a mess of hair on his head that it almost hid his pointed ears. His eyes were a very bright neon cyan color.

Under his long white cloak, he wore a green shirt and black pants. He also had a thing made of metal and glass on his face in front of his eyes and a weird thing around his neck. He smiled at me as I looked at him.

"Hello, little miss, can you tell me the last thing you remember?" He stared into my eyes, and I stared back.

"I woke up in that cold, dark, wet place and tried walking to that light thing, then I think I heard a voice before falling asleep."

"Hmm… okay then. Close your eyes and hold still."

I saw his hand glow with green light as he proceeded to approach me. He placed his hand gently upon my head. I closed my eyes and felt something looking through my head. I followed it before it disappeared to a place I could not reach.

I waited for a bit before it came back then left my head. I opened my eyes but felt dizzy and confused, my mind was swimming in fog. I tried shaking my head to clear it, but it didn't help. I looked at Dr. Talis.

"What was that?" I asked still in a daze.

"Oh, just a little bit of magic. I find it's faster to do this than to use the machines, thought it might be less accurate." He smiled at me.

"Magic?"

I didn't understand.

I looked at Lynx, who looked back at me with a face that displayed pity.

"I will tell you later, child." She showed me a smile that I thought looked slightly sad as she patted my head softly, which caused my ears to twitch.

She then looked at the doctor with a serious expression.

"Okay, tell me what happened to her Talis. Don't sugarcoat anything."

"Hmm… how do I put this? She shows signs of... Retrograde Amnesia, but it could be Dissociative Amnesia. Her ability to access certain parts of her memory has been altered. The main causes for a condition like this would usually be the changing or blocking of memories using a spell, excessive head trauma, or a self-imposed restriction because of subconscious psychological reasoning, meaning the memories were too much for her mind to process."

"The real issue... is that when I looked into her head just now, it was so messy that I don't how to treat her without causing more harm. I can feel a lot of mana residue within her head, so it is most likely a spell, but the magic looks rushed, unpracticed, and as if it didn't work completely. So, it was most likely a cast spell to which she had resistance, effecting the outcome, or a misfire cast."

"Honestly, there are a few possible reasons. The first is that this was a result of her instinctive reaction to protect herself from a psychological trauma that took place along with whatever caused her current physical state."

"She was just unable to accept the violence and abuse her body underwent or even witnessed that became a psychological trauma, leading her to create an instinctive cast. When she tried to protect herself, she subconsciously used magic but because she was inexperienced with it, the spell used was the incorrect one. Instead of blocking a section of her memories, it blocked all of them."

"The second possible reason is that someone sealed her mind. But that could mean two things, that the person who cast the spell was trying to protect her from mental insanity, or they were trying to hide a certain memory within her that would have led to their demise."

"The aggressors most likely were not practiced in this type of magic, so it affected her in a different way than expected. Though, once the castor realized they messed up, they ended up resorting to violence which led to physical damage."

"Luckily, we didn't see any signs of blunt head injuries. Sometimes these things can be created from a combination of magic and physical damage, making it hard to diagnose... and even harder to cure."

"From what I can tell, her memories are just sealed and not destroyed or tampered with, and it doesn't seem permanent, so there is a chance they can be recovered with time."

Lynx looked relieved and happy while Dr. Talis just held his chin in his hand and thought about it some more.

"So, what should be done for now?" Lynx looked at me with concern while she asked the doctor.

"We'll start by healing up her physical wounds, which will help her to get discharged from the hospital faster. As for her mind... that will take time, treatment, and especially patience. While she is here, we will continue to watch her mental health until we can determine the best course of action."

"This isn't our first case of magically induced memory loss. But even if we diagnose patients properly, most of the time the magic is too delicate. And although we may have the right tools, one wrong step could bring more harm to the patient if we try to unseal their memories without enough information as to how they lost them in the first place. We will try to do what is best for her for now and give her counseling that we offer to all our amnesiac patients."

"I had sent Lydia to see if she could find any medical records that matched the child so that we could bring them here and update her records and maybe even find some information of her past."

Dr. Talis turned to look at Lydia with a rather expectant gaze.

"Did you have any luck with your search?"

Lydia let out a frustrated sigh.

"No Dr. Talis. We searched in the records of other regions too. This girl currently has no medical records... anywhere. Her history is blank."

Dr. Talis's face changed so abruptly, that it was like it had deflated before my eyes before sporting a frown of disappointment. But it was not long that his smile returned, the frown leaving as quickly as it had arrived.

"Well, that is rather unfortunate. The good news is that we can check her age and race with some blood work, lab tests, and mana crystals, which we will then use to create a new medical history for her. I sent Kenny to go find them just in case something like this happened. He should be here soon."

Dr. Talis Looked at everyone in the room and displayed an astoundingly radiant smile, easing the atmosphere from the tension that had been subtlety lurking and stifling the hearts of all who were in the room.

Not even 2 minutes later, Kenny came in with a clear white stone almost as big as my fist and a tray with a strange syringe and a few tubes.

As he approached, I began to feel unsettled because of what had occurred earlier.

This didn't go unnoticed by Kenny. He immediately understood the reason for my discomfort, and he apologized saying that it was the only way to stop me from hurting myself further. But that did nothing for how I felt about it, so he said he will keep his distance until I felt more comfortable.

I now know that the people here are working to help others feel better and recover, but that still didn't stop me from feeling weary towards him.

I mean, the guy practically tackled me to the ground, and he had this menacing look on his face all the time. I didn't feel a shred of guilt when I looked at all the scratches and bite marks that marred his arms and face.

Understanding the mood of the room, Dr. Talis walked over to Kenny and picked up the white stone, after which he walked back towards me and sat on the bed.

"Alright, Little miss! The first thing we're going to do is draw another round of blood from you and send it to the labs again, just to recheck seeing as there was a new development of the information pertaining to your condition. We will run other tests that we didn't initially run the first time."

"We should already have some bone samples from when we had put your wing back together. We will be finding your age along with any information regarding your condition as well as personal data so that we can start a history for you at the hospital."

"After collecting some blood, we will put some onto the Soul stone Kenny brought, which I will then activate and set up to show us the animal that resides in your soul. Are you ready?"

I didn't understand anything of what he said. But seeing how he waited in anticipation, I firmly nodded and looked into his bright cyan eyes.

He grabbed my hand and held it firm while Lydia grabbed the tray from the cart. She came to me with a syringe exactly like the ones she had put in my arm before. Pricking it into the fold of my arm, she filled up 7 small tubes with the dark, thick liquid that ran warm in my body.

Lydia wrote something down, put some type of tape or other on the tubes, helped remove the needle, and handed the tray with the blood tubes to Kenny, who walked out of the room to take them to another place.

Noticing how she had kept one of the tubes, I watched as she handed it to Dr. Talis along with the clear white stone. Lydia then walked to where Lynx was standing and started talking about something I couldn't make out. Dr. Talis decided to comment on the conversation.

"So, while we don't have the results yet, based on how she looks, I can say she's around 9 to 11 years old, but that guess could vary a couple of years, given how malnourished she looks at the moment. Plus, we don't know what kind of Lycan she is, which as you know could affect how she looks in age."

*Sigh* "Poor thing… Just who would ever want to harm a child to this extent?" I see his eyes flash with worry for a second. "Well, anyway... let's continue."

Dr. Talis looks at me and smiles gently.

Dr. Talis then slowly poured the tube of blood onto the stone, but the blood didn't drip off.

Miraculously, the blood pooled up and formed an organic shape, floating just above the white stone but never quite managing to touch it. The liquid was constantly moving as if it was alive and sentient.

Then Dr. Talis did the magic thing again, only this time, his hand gave off a softer glow in a bright cyan, not unlike that of his eyes. I watched in awe as the cyan light left his hand and started to embrace the stone instead.

With his free hand, he then grabbed both of mine and placed the glowing stone within my grasp, holding my hands along with the stone firmly in his. All in the room stood frozen as we watched this supernatural event unfold.

Feeling his magic running through my hands, I felt it was calling out to something that was buried deep and engraved into my very being.

The blood began to dance beautifully on top of the stone, causing me to forget that it was even blood. As it danced, it started taking a more identifiable form. It started to look like an animal.

After a few seconds, it stopped dancing and for some reason, I could kind of tell what it was, like I knew it from the heart.

It was a tiny wolf, no bigger than the size of the stone, but this little pup had wings. Merely standing there, wagging its tail happily, looking around at the other people in the room.

It leaped from where it floated over the stone and began to play, running around my head and between my ears, and never straying far from my reach.

I was in awe.

"What is it?" I asked curiously as I finally looked away from the playful blood wolf, only to find that Dr. Talis' face was frozen in shock while Lynx had a wide smirk as she looked at Dr. Talis.

I tilted my head in confusion.

"That, my dear, is a Chimera, a name for a type of creature that is a combination of various different species. The combinations and features are somewhat random, but usually related to the percentage of each animal in its blood."

"Your chimera is a combination of a Canidae animal and some type of flying creature, which is likely to be a type of avian, seeing the feathers you have. While we can't be sure of exactly which ones, the highest possibility for your canid identity would be the wolf because it is the most commonly found among the canine Lycan species."

"There might be something else in the mix, but we can't tell based solely on this. Hence, the reason for the blood work."

Dr. Talis coughed and cleared his throat.

"Ms. Swift is correct, although I would say the mix seems to be that of a chamrosh, being more dog than a bird. Otherwise, it would look more like a griffin, with the head of a bird instead."

Dr. Talis notes as he watches the dog return to the rock.

Confusion floods my brain, as I didn't know what he meant by a griffin or a chamrosh nor could I make sense of what Lynx had said either. He smiles at me a simply pats my head as he turns to turn and face Lynx.

'Why does everyone keep touching my head?'

I pout while rubbing the area on my head Dr. Talis just touched and hear a couple of laughs around the room before I sense the air turn serious.

"My only real concern is how her Soul Bond came to be a chamrosh chimera. While I know it can happen naturally, it doesn't happen often because the Soul Bond of the lycan child will end up taking after one of the species of the parents' Soul Bond. I don't exactly know what factors come into play when it concerns the chances of a hybrid naturally appearing, because it isn't my exact field of study, but I have some knowledge."

The only other way for a chimera lycan can come into existence is forced mutation, which is genetic modification through a live experiment. The genes are modified with technology, magic, or both. The subject would have been torn apart and pieced back together over and over to form a new thing altogether. It is a sick practice. Whenever we meet someone like this, we find signs of prior stitches or scarring at the base of the wings, tail, ears, and any other place that might have another animal feature attached."

Everyone is silent and the mood feels suffocating.

Lydia covers her mouth in horror and Kenny shoots me a look of pity. The tension only continues to rise.

"There are even cases where children and adults of mixed lycan families are kidnapped simply because they were created from the union of 2 different lycans, which just so happens to increase the chances of successful mutation in their bodies."

Lynx's face is grave. Her body is tense with anger, and she slams her tail loudly into the ground in absolute fury.

Suddenly the pressure in the room feels too heavy and it overtakes and envelopes the entire area. Under its influence, fear spreads across my body, shaking me to my core. I subconsciously begin to shrink into the corner of the bed, curling into myself and covering my head.

I let out a soft whine.

The room freezes in reaction and soon everyone is looking at me.

Lynx becomes still, her eyes widening in realization.

After noticing her actions have caused me discomfort, she immediately suppresses her aura and anger, removing the ferocity that had commanded the room.

Even after the stifling pressure disappeared, I didn't move in fear of it reappearing. The feeling hadn't quite left my mind or my body.

I sense Lynx approach me, causing me to curl further into myself and close my eyes.

"I'm sorry little one... I lost control and frightened you..."

I feel a tender touch on my back, rubbing me as if to console and soothe my frightened soul.

Slowly my breathing became more natural and eventually I uncurled myself completely. I looked around to see faces of worry, pity, and Lynx's face full of guilt.

As much as I hated the feeling of being overwhelmed and pressured, I began to feel guilty as well because now it felt like my reaction was a bit much, even if I did it instinctively.

"I am sorry for causing you distress. I promise this won't happen again."

I could hear the guilt and worry in Lynx's voice. Feeling shy, I grabbed my pillow and hugged it to my body for a sense of comfort and protection, then nodded ever so slightly as if to say I was okay, and that I forgave her.

Dr. Talis continues with his notes.

"Ahem! Fortunately, her chimera looked stable when the blood took its form and doesn't look like it's glitching or trying to split into its separate animal forms. That means this can be said to be a natural manifestation of a chimera Soul Bond."

Lynx is still stroking my back, just trying to get me to completely relax so that I wouldn't feel uncomfortable with the people in the room anymore.

It really helped to soothe my mind and I visibly looked more at ease, which allowed everyone else to feel relief as well.

"The last issue of her diagnosis has to be where the rest of her injures came from, the reason behind it, and what tools were used to inflict them. The wound on her side is the largest, most likely caused by a dull blade, but most of the other wounds are contusions and lacerations, and then the open and compound fractures on her wing. I don't have enough experience with this as I specialize in the mind and soul, so I would need to get another specialist to look at her wounds."

As Dr. Talis finishes his explanation, he gets up and walks to Lynx.

"We will keep her here for a couple of extra months under observation until we know she is fully healed and has no issues with her movement after she goes through physical therapy. Once she is ready to head out, we will continue to provide support through amnesia therapy and consultations so we can help and monitor how her condition progresses."

"However, because she has no currently known family or close friends, we won't have any other choice but to send her to the foster care system, which could make it difficult for us to check on her. Other than that, there is not much we can do for her."

"Ms. Swift, seeing as you are the one who found her, I would like to discuss what you will do next."

Lynx steps out with Dr. Talis and is soon followed by Lydia and Kenny, leaving me alone with my thoughts.