The first guard through the gate carried a spear.
Mira noticed because its point was aimed directly at her chest.
Two more followed him. One held a short sword, while the third stayed several paces behind with a bow already drawn.
Mira stopped walking.
The stretcher settled onto the road behind her, and Corin made a weak sound as the movement jarred his leg.
The lead guard's attention shifted toward him.
"Corin?"
That changed everything.
The spear lowered slightly.
The guard moved closer, recognition spreading across his face as he took in the torn clothes, dried blood and makeshift stretcher.
"What happened?"
"Goblins," Corin said.
His voice barely carried.
The guard looked past him toward the dark road.
"How many?"
"Four."
Another guard knelt beside the stretcher.
"Where's Tavin?"
Corin closed his eyes.
The question remained unanswered.
Mira tightened her grip on the spear she was using for support.
The movement drew the lead guard's attention back to her.
His expression hardened again.
"Put the weapon down."
Mira looked at the spear.
If she put it down, she would fall.
"I'm using it to stand."
The guard's gaze dropped to where her left leg ended above the road.
Understanding replaced some of the tension in his shoulders.
Mira turned the spear around and laid the metal point flat against the ground before planting the wooden end again.
"I won't use it."
The guard studied her for another moment before looking at Corin.
"She with you?"
Corin opened his eyes.
"She saved me."
The guard stared at him.
Corin swallowed and tried again.
"Killed the goblins. Healed my leg. Brought me here."
One of the other guards looked at Mira's missing foot, then at the stretcher, and finally toward the dark road behind them.
Mira was becoming accustomed to that sequence.
The lead guard finally lowered his spear.
"Get the healer."
The younger guard beside Corin rose and ran through the gate.
"Bring the litter too!"
Mira heard someone answer from inside.
The remaining guards moved toward Corin.
The lead one crouched beside him and began checking his injuries.
Mira stepped away as much as the ropes around her waist allowed.
"Can someone untie this?"
The guard looked up.
"Oh."
He came around behind her.
The harness had tightened during the last part of the journey. Mira had adjusted it so many times that several separate knots now held the ropes against her tunic.
The guard struggled with the first.
"You made this?"
"Yes."
"On the road?"
"Mostly beside it."
He glanced at her.
Mira wasn't sure what that expression meant.
He returned to the knot.
Two people came running from inside Eastmere carrying a proper stretcher between them.
A woman in pale robes followed.
Her clothing caught Mira's attention immediately.
It was not especially elaborate, but it was unmistakably Cleric clothing.
Cream fabric fell beneath a dark blue mantle secured at one shoulder by a brass clasp. Gold thread marked the cuffs and collar in narrow lines. A broad scarf wrapped around her neck and crossed over one shoulder before disappearing beneath the mantle.
Mira looked down at herself.
Her off-white tunic was torn in several places, rope still circled her waist, and the narrow strip that had once passed for a scarf was now wrapped around her broken arm.
The difference was painful.
The Cleric reached Corin first.
She knelt beside him and placed both hands above his injured leg.
Essence gathered.
Mira felt it before the light appeared.
That surprised her enough to pull her attention away from the woman's clothes.
Warm gold spread between the Cleric's hands.
"Stay still."
Corin's jaw tightened.
The light entered the wound.
Mira watched closely.
The spell resembled Minor Heal. The colour was nearly identical.
The response was not.
Damaged flesh tightened more rapidly than it had beneath Mira's casting. The remaining tear in Corin's thigh contracted, and some of the bruising around the wound faded.
The spell ended.
Elaine pressed her fingers near the wound.
"He's lost too much blood. Get him inside."
The guards transferred Corin onto the proper stretcher.
His hand caught Mira's wrist before they lifted him.
"Mira."
She looked down.
"I'll find you."
"You should sleep."
His eyes were already closing.
The guards carried him through the gate.
Mira watched until the stretcher disappeared between the buildings.
Someone finally freed the last knot around her waist.
The rope dropped.
The sudden absence of weight made Mira sway.
She planted the spear before she could fall.
The lead guard noticed.
"You need the healer too."
Mira looked toward Elaine.
"She can't fix this."
Elaine had heard.
Her eyes travelled over Mira's body.
Unlike the guards, she did not recoil.
She approached slowly.
"May I?"
Mira wasn't sure what she meant until Elaine raised one hand toward the broken forearm.
"Yes."
Warm fingers touched bone through the torn sleeve.
Mira felt the contact.
That remained deeply strange.
Elaine examined the fracture without removing the splint before looking toward the missing ankle.
"What happened to your foot?"
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"A slime took it."
The guard beside them frowned.
"Took it?"
"It pulled it off."
Mira gestured vaguely back toward the river.
"Then it went into the water."
Elaine's mouth tightened.
"How long ago?"
Mira tried to estimate.
"Maybe two hours."
"And you've been walking since then?"
"Mostly."
Elaine looked toward the spear.
Mira had the impression that she wanted to say something and decided against it.
She placed one hand near the fracture.
Light gathered.
Mira watched the spell form.
The sensation was unmistakable now.
Essence moved through Elaine before the visible effect appeared. There was a brief gathering around the chest before the flow passed smoothly through her shoulder and into her arm.
Elaine's control was better than Mira's.
The spell entered Mira's forearm.
Nothing happened.
Elaine frowned.
The light intensified.
Mira felt warmth around the fracture, but the bone did not shift.
Elaine stopped.
"Again."
The second casting lasted longer.
Still nothing.
Elaine touched the end of the broken bone through the splint.
"Can you feel that?"
"Yes."
"Pain?"
"Some."
Elaine's expression became more concerned.
"What are you?"
"Mira."
The answer left her mouth before she thought about it.
Elaine's eyes softened.
"I meant your condition."
"Oh."
Mira looked at her own hand.
"I don't know yet."
Elaine nodded as though that were an acceptable answer.
That made Mira like her immediately.
"You should come inside anyway. I want someone from the temple to examine you."
Mira looked through the gate.
Eastmere extended beyond it in warm layers of lamplight.
Stone and timber buildings crowded around a broad central street. Signs hung above shops. Smoke rose from chimneys. People had stopped to watch the commotion near the gate.
Several were now looking directly at Mira.
A child pointed.
His mother gently lowered his arm.
Mira pulled the damaged sleeve farther over her hand.
Elaine noticed.
"The temple is close."
Mira followed her.
The guards allowed them through.
Eastmere smelled like wood smoke, cooked food, animals and wet stone.
Mira slowed almost immediately.
People moved everywhere.
A man pushed a handcart loaded with vegetables toward a side street. Two women were closing wooden shutters over the front of a shop. Someone above them emptied a bucket into a gutter. A dog slept beneath a bench while people stepped around it.
None of them moved like background characters.
Mira had understood that Aetheria simulated ordinary life. She had seen settlements during the introduction.
Standing inside one felt different.
An old man carrying bread glanced at her, missed a step and nearly dropped the entire basket.
Mira pretended not to notice.
Elaine guided her down the street.
"We don't see many of your kind this close to Eastmere."
Mira looked at her.
"My kind?"
"Undead."
The word landed differently when someone else said it.
"My status says Human."
Elaine stopped walking.
"What?"
The temple stood near the centre of Eastmere.
It was smaller than Mira expected.
White stone formed the lower walls with dark timber above. A circular symbol had been carved above the entrance, showing several rays spreading from an open hand.
Mira stared at the robes of a Cleric standing near the doorway.
Different again.
White inner fabric beneath a dark mantle. Gold trim along the edges. A scarf that actually looked as though someone had intended another person to wear it.
She was beginning to suspect her beginner equipment had been assembled specifically to offend her.
Inside, the temple was warm.
Oil lamps burned in shallow wall fixtures. Several rows of benches occupied the main hall, although most of the activity happened through open doorways farther inside.
Elaine led Mira into a treatment room.
"Sit."
Mira sat on the edge of a narrow bed.
The position felt strange without a foot. Her left leg hung shorter than the right, leaving the ankle joint suspended above the floor.
Elaine disappeared through another door.
Mira looked around.
Bandages filled shelves along one wall. Ceramic jars carried handwritten labels. Metal instruments rested in a tray near a wash basin.
The room looked far less magical than she expected from a fantasy temple.
She liked it more for that.
Mira checked her status.
Mira
Species: Human
Class: Cleric
Level: 2
Strength: 4
Agility: 6
Endurance: 5
Perception: 8
Intelligence: 10
Spirit: 9
Essence: 13 / 45
Her eyes moved back to Agility.
Six.
It had been five that morning.
Endurance had changed as well.
Mira remembered the notifications during the journey.
She focused on the attribute entries, but neither provided any additional explanation.
That was fine.
She already had one useful piece of evidence.
The changes had happened without attribute points.
Whatever the System's numbers represented, at least some of them could improve through what she actually did.
Mira closed the screen before Elaine returned with an older man.
He wore dark cream robes beneath a long white outer layer. Age had bent him slightly at the shoulders, although his movements remained steady.
His eyes settled on Mira.
"Hm."
Mira wasn't sure whether that was encouraging.
Elaine spoke quietly.
"Healing doesn't take."
"I heard."
The older Cleric pulled a stool closer and sat in front of her.
"My name is Harven."
"Mira."
"Elaine says you arrived with Corin."
"Is he all right?"
"He'll live."
Mira's shoulders loosened.
Harven noticed.
"He'll need rest, but you brought him here in time."
Mira looked toward the floor.
The effort of getting him to Eastmere felt different now that there was an answer at the end of it.
Worth it.
Harven leaned closer to her damaged arm.
"May I remove this?"
Mira nodded.
He untied the narrow scarf.
The moment the splint loosened, the fracture shifted.
Mira hissed.
Harven stopped immediately.
"That hurts?"
"Yes."
"Interesting."
Mira looked at him.
He smiled faintly.
"Not interesting for you, I suppose."
He removed the splint carefully.
The fracture was worse than Mira remembered.
A pale crack crossed both forearm bones, and one had shifted slightly out of line.
Harven placed his fingers above it.
"Can you move your hand?"
Mira flexed the fingers.
"Slowly."
"Good."
Essence gathered around him.
Mira felt it again.
Harven's movement was subtler than Elaine's. The energy seemed to collect almost everywhere at once before narrowing toward his hand.
Golden light flowed over the fracture.
Nothing changed.
Harven increased the intensity.
The room brightened.
Mira watched the light carefully.
It behaved differently from Elaine's casting on Corin.
Her spell had entered his body and spread through the injured region.
Harven's reached Mira and seemed unable to proceed.
The Essence gathered around the damaged bone as though searching for somewhere to go.
Mira leaned forward.
"Can you do that again?"
Harven looked at her.
"Why?"
"I want to watch."
He glanced toward Elaine.
Elaine shrugged slightly.
Harven cast again.
Mira focused.
The Essence reached her.
Something in the spell searched for a response.
Nothing answered.
That was different from simply failing.
Mira lifted her good hand.
"Can I try?"
Harven moved aside.
Mira activated Minor Heal.
The skill formed in her palm.
She directed it toward the fracture and concentrated on the sensation instead of expecting the bone to repair.
The spell touched her.
Then dispersed.
Exactly as before.
Mira frowned.
Another full casting would only repeat what she already knew.
She kept the next formation in her hand rather than releasing it immediately.
Warmth gathered through her palm.
Six Essence was the normal cost.
Her attention settled on the fracture.
The entire forearm did not need the spell.
Neither did the wrist, elbow or the undamaged sections of bone.
She wanted only the narrow section surrounding the break.
Mira concentrated until everything outside that region became irrelevant.
Simplification responded quietly at the edge of her awareness.
The target narrowed.
So did the golden light.
Mira released the spell.
A thin glow wrapped around the fracture.
The bone remained broken.
Harven watched for several seconds before leaning closer to examine it.
"No response."
Mira nodded.
She already knew that.
What interested her was something else.
She opened her status while Harven and Elaine were discussing the fracture.
Essence: 8 / 45
Mira kept her expression neutral.
She had started with thirteen.
Five.
The normal spell cost six.
It was only one point.
That could have been natural recovery during the examination.
She needed another attempt before deciding anything.
Mira closed the screen.
Harven began explaining something to Elaine about the fracture and the absence of any response to restorative Essence.
Mira listened enough to follow the conversation, but part of her attention remained on the number.
Eight.
She could test it later.
There was no reason to announce a result she did not understand yet.
Harven eventually rose.
"I don't think further healing attempts tonight will accomplish much."
Mira looked at the fracture.
"Can you repair it without healing?"
"Possibly. Undead are not my speciality."
"I'm Human."
"So you've said."
Mira didn't like that answer.
Harven reached toward a shelf and removed two smooth wooden splints.
"For tonight, we're going to keep the bones aligned. Tomorrow I'll speak with someone who knows more about animated remains."
Mira watched him wrap the arm.
His bandaging was significantly better than hers.
She memorized how he placed each layer.
When he finished, Elaine brought her a folded bundle of clothing.
Mira opened it.
A plain dark robe lay on top.
The cloth was better than her tunic.
Still plain.
Then something ivory slipped from between the folds.
Mira caught it.
A scarf.
A real one.
It was wider than the strip she had been given, made from soft cream-coloured fabric with a narrow golden line stitched near either edge. It was not large enough to create the elaborate head wrap from the character preview, but it could cover her neck and shoulders properly.
Mira ran her fingers over it.
"Is this mine?"
Elaine nodded.
"Temple spare. The robe too."
Mira lifted the scarf.
"Can I keep it?"
"That's generally what 'yours' means."
Mira looked at her.
Elaine seemed entirely serious.
Mira turned back to the scarf and followed the gold stitching with one finger.
The day had been horrible.
She had been stabbed, hit with an axe, lost her foot to a slime, dragged an injured stranger through a forest, discovered that healing magic apparently refused to recognize her body, and arrived in a town where several people had already called her undead.
Now she owned a better scarf.
Mira carefully wrapped it around her neck.
She adjusted the first layer, then brought another section over her shoulder.
There was enough fabric to raise part of it around the back of her skull.
Mira stopped.
She took it off and tried again.
This time she crossed a section above her forehead before bringing it around the side of her head and down toward the shoulder.
The shape was crude.
The scarf was too short.
But it was closer.
Much closer.
Elaine watched from the doorway.
Mira rearranged it one more time.
"Do you have larger ones?"
Elaine smiled.
"Eastmere has three tailors."
Mira looked up.
That was the best thing anyone had told her since she arrived.
Later, after Elaine had left her alone long enough to change, Mira sat on the edge of the bed with the new scarf draped loosely around her shoulders.
Her Essence had recovered.
She checked.
Essence: 12 / 45
Mira looked toward the closed door.
Then at her splinted arm.
Healing herself still seemed pointless.
That was not what she wanted to test.
She focused on Minor Heal without casting it.
Six Essence.
The System still showed the same cost.
Mira formed the spell in her palm and narrowed her intended target as tightly as she could around one small section of the fracture.
Simplification made the boundary easier to hold this time.
She released it.
Golden light touched the bone.
Nothing healed.
Mira immediately checked her status.
Essence: 7 / 45
Five again.
Her attention sharpened.
So the first result had probably not been recovery.
Mira waited until another point of Essence returned.
Eight.
She formed Minor Heal once more.
This time she reduced the target farther, concentrating on an area barely wider than the fracture line itself.
The light became thinner.
More controlled.
Mira released it.
Still no healing.
She checked again.
Essence: 4 / 45
Four.
Mira stared at the number.
A small smile formed before she could stop it.
The spell itself had not changed.
Minor Heal still refused to repair her.
But its cost was not as fixed as the description suggested.
Or perhaps the displayed six represented what the System expected the skill to consume when used normally.
Either way, narrowing the area reduced the amount of Essence being spent.
Mira looked at her hand.
There were several obvious questions.
Could she reduce the cost further?
Would narrowing the area reduce the amount of healing available as well?
Could the same principle work with Radiant Spark or Blessing of Shelter?
Did Simplification merely help her hold a smaller target, or was it doing something directly to the skill?
She wanted to test all of them.
Her Essence was nearly empty.
Mira reluctantly closed the status screen.
Tomorrow would be better.
Preferably after finding out whether Eastmere's tailors sold proper Cleric clothing.
That remained important.
Status
Mira
Species: Human
Class: Cleric
Level: 2
Experience: 34 / 140
Strength: 4
Agility: 6
Endurance: 5
Perception: 8
Intelligence: 10
Spirit: 9
Essence: 4 / 45
Unassigned Attribute Points: 0
Individual Abilities
Simplification — Common
Improves the ability to reduce complex problems into their most relevant components using available information.
Skills
Minor Heal — Common
Radiant Spark — Common
Blessing of Shelter — Common
Equipment
Temple Spare Robe — Common
Temple Cleric Scarf — Common
Beginner Boot — Common — Right Foot Only
Goblin Knife — Common — 9 / 21 Durability
Goblin Knife — Common — 8 / 19 Durability
Goblin Spear — Common — 16 / 28 Durability
Novice Cleric Token — Common
Inventory
Copper Coins ×26
Dried Fruit Strip ×1
Folded Cloth ×1
Low-Grade Flint ×1
Cord ×2
Bent Iron Buckle ×1
Broken Iron Awl — Common — Bent
Tree Resin ×1
Leather Strap ×1
Crude Whetstone ×1
Condition
Left Foot — Missing
Left Radius — Fractured, Properly Splinted
Left Ulna — Cracked
Rib Damage — Moderate
Back and Shoulder — Impact Damage
Right Leg — Strained
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