Healing Gabella

Very carefully, Dee stands in her soul realm and tries her best to multitask; she has to keep up the spell that lets her move her soul around, and she also has to use her other senses to FEEL each soul she brushes up against.

Her "soul-finding" spell usually only points her in the general direction of the soul she wants, so she has to brush past several random encounters until she finds Gabella.

Once or twice, Dee brushes against a stranger's soul. Other than those poor, random ladies being incredibly surprised, Dee quickly bids them farewell and leaves them behind. Most of these souls she touches in her blind attempt to find Gabella are former prisoners, and she REALLY doesn't want to talk to them.

Fortunately, she was very specific with her scrying spell, so she found the poor girl within a few minutes.

Dee feels her soul bump against another soul, and she hears the signature ringing sound in her mind. Apparently, when two souls smack against each other, it sounds like a soft chime being rung – how peculiar.

Gabella hears the chiming sound, and she feels her soul realm shake for a moment. This causes her to freak out. She's been stuck here in this realm for 30 years, and nothing has ever happened here.

"W-who!?" Dee hears a woman's trembling voice speak into her mind.

"Don't be scared, Gabella," Dee says softly, "I'm not here to hurt you."

The girl hears this and kneels on the ground with her hands over her ears. "Where's that coming from!? I'm hearing voices again!"

"Poor thing," Dee coos (as if talking to a toddler), "Being alone for so long must have made you imagine some things. Don't worry. I understand. I'll help you get out of this place."

"No!" Gabella cries out, "Go away! Don't eat me!"

"Ahaha!" Dee barks out a laugh, "You're hilarious! Listen. Don't you want to see your father again? He was trying to kill himself earlier."

Seeing Gabella is not answering, but probably listening, Dee continues, "That poor man doesn't have his wife anymore, and all his children are gone. Now, there's only you, who've been stricken by the curse and have never woken up."

"N-never woken up?" Gabella finally speaks up. "I'm still alive?"

"Of course you are. Your father has been waiting for you to wake up for years now," Dee consoles her. Dee had been the first prisoner to completely love Frey, since she's always had a soft spot for girls younger than herself; she might have a little sister complex, yet has no little sister to dote on.

"…Who are you?" Gabella asks.

"I'm a… powerful spirit who took pity on your father and decided to help. If you listen to me, I can help you break free from the curse and finally wake up from your prison." Dee knows by now that these natives have no idea what mages are, so she decided to not waste time by explaining herself in a way the girl can understand.

"What do I need to do?"

"You see that glowing circle up in the sky of your soul realm?" Dee asks.

"Yes!" Gabella answers with a bitter tone.

"I know you remember the voice that spoke to you once you came to this place, right? I need you to repeat what it said to you, those years ago," she instructs. "The knowledge it gave should be imprinted on your mind, so you should have no problem remembering after all these years."

"B-but," the girl protests, "That circle is the mark of the curse! That voice is the thing that cursed me, right?"

"Listen, Gabella," Dee tries her best to be patient, "the magic circle is a good thing. It'll help you get powers, just like me. However, the curse kills people when they try to open the gate, since it's afraid of people like me. If you open that gate in the sky, you can become like me."

'Gee,' Dee realizes, 'it's kind of fun making stuff up like this.'

"B-but…"

"Trust me!" Dee assures her, "I'll protect you while you open the gate. Once you've gone through the gate, the curse won't be able to touch you anymore."

Hearing the dead silence in response, Dee adds, "Do you want to be stuck here forever, or do you want to take a chance and live? Make your choice."

Gabella thinks for a bit longer, then closes her eyes in fear while she stutters out the words of her 1st Name. As she does that, the soul gate in the sky starts turning rapidly, and another circle is drawn in the sky – this one with a more complex pattern.

Gabella opens her eyes and sees that the fog around her has receded, showing even more green grass. There's even a copy of her father's house in view now… for whatever reason.

However, before the girl can look at the house, she feels her soul tugged in one direction, and she's absorbed into the slowly rotating gate.

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Gabella opens her bleary eyes, and the first thing she sees is an old man's joyful eyes dripping tears onto her cheeks. "Who…?" she begins to mutter… but she's interrupted by the old man leaning down and kissing her cheek.

Only then does she realize… "FATHER!?" she tries shouting, but with her unused vocal cords, it turns into a painful cough. When did her father get so old?

She tries reaching to hug her dad, but her limbs are too weak with disuse. Still, she's rather shocked when her father lifts her hand up and strokes the soft skin on the back of her hand fondly.

'Wait,' she thinks, 'Why does my hand look so smooth?' She had slowly felt her body age as she lay in her soul realm. She personally saw the wrinkles start to appear… but why are they all gone?

Her question is answered when her father joyfully turns to the side and thanks someone just out of view, "Thank you for waking her up! I don't know how to repay you! I know you didn't have to do it, but thank you for also making her young again!"

Truth be told, one of the things that depressed Tab the most was that even if his daughter woke up, she'd be an old, middle-aged woman with no family or children of her own to take look after her. She would also be too old to marry anyone, so she'd be alone for the rest of her life.

That dreadful worry went away as soon as he saw his baby daughter grow younger with his own eyes. She shrunk all the way down into the body of a 10 or 11-year-old. She got her life back!

Gabella is too weak to turn her head, but she sees a tall, strange woman come into view and respond, "No. Regaining youth is part of what happens when you become a mage. I didn't make her younger."

"But-," her father tries adding before he's cut off again.

"Listen," the woman says while stepping forward, "Do I look like I'm over a thousand years old?! Just trust me. Your daughter is going to live for a VERY long time, so don't worry."

After her head clears up, Gabella finally recognizes the woman's voice. "Miss Spirit!?" she squeaks out. She didn't expect the spirit to look like a normal person.

Dee shrugs, "I'm a mage… but I just introduced myself that way cuz' you don't know what a mage is… anyway… Now that everything is sorted out, I think it's time we take that map back to our Warden."

Dee and the 2 guards turn to leave, and Tab prostrates on the ground without a word. He knows that nothing he can say or give them can adequately express his gratitude for them.

…The most he can do is make sure as many people know about this miracle as soon as possible…