The Local Healer

The Local Healer

In Europe during the medieval era, there lived a woman named Isabella Aarden who lived in a forest with the animals for company. The forest was vast with many different kinds of trees populating the area. Isabella often walked around the region, and gathered local herbs for both food and seasoning. She was able to brew different kinds of stew and drinks with the plants she collected. Isabella even said that she could lived completely on the forest alone, never needing to venture to the local town.

Isabella had a difficult relationship with the town as even though they relied on herbs from the forest, they treated Isabella with a great dela of hostility, often times for no reason. Despite that, Isabella remained determined and made frequent trips to the town looking for anything that she could use, including anything that she can use to write with to record her discoveries and formulas.

During one trip to village, a local villager accused her of trying to steal from her bag. The accusation was completely false as the villager despised Isabella and was trying to have her removed from the village, but Isabella managed to escape from the village before the local guard arrived, whom she knew would treat her harshly. From then on, Isabella would enter the village with different identities, usually as a foreign merchant, so the locals wouldn’t be able to recognize her as the one they called, “the witch of Bogriver.”

One day, a bird came by to talk to Isabella. “Hello, madame,” said the bird, “I bring news.” The bird was usually a cheerful creature, and the solemn tone of his voice left a worried feeling in Isabella.

“What do I need to do,” asked Isabella, “I have been to the village before, but I don’t think I am welcome there.” During the last trip, Isabella had used the identity of a nun from a different city, but the locals unfortunately were able to find out that it was Isabella, and she had to leave before they had her jailed. “I have been nothing but friendly to them, but the last time I went there, they tried to detain me for no reason.”

“I am afraid that you will need to visit them regardless,” said the bird, “I have heard of a prophecy saying that they entire country will be engulfed in flames if you do nothing.” The bird tried his best to not sound like he was in despair, but the impending doom caused him to sound sullen. Isabella was stunned by what she heard, because she believed that the prophecy was just a myth.

“That can’t be true,” said Isabella, “I have gone over this prophecy so many times, and every time I studied it, I have come to the same conclusion, which is that it is just a myth.” Isabella sounded determined to believe that the impending doom wasn’t going to arrive but hearing it from a close friend didn’t give her much hope. Isabella then changed the subject. “What do I need to do.”

“I am afraid that you will need to visit the village again,” said the bird, “you will need to find something that will help you locate the source of the fire.” “I think I saw a library in the village, which could help you find it. Also, if you need a new identity to travel to the village as, I think a saw a baker’s wife from the capital travel there. You look a lot like her.” The bird then continued to explain a few more things to Isabella before he was out of ideas. “I don’t want to sound rude, but I think for these next few days, I will fly to a different country.”

Isabelle then thanked her friend for the information, and then travelled to the local town, which was named Threemoon. Using the identity of the baker’s wife, Isabelle was able to reach the town without any trouble. There was an incident where a guard walked up to her and questioned her. The guard was briefly suspicious of her as he had seen the woman a few days earlier and was wondering why she had returned as she had previously told him that she only visited Threemoon once every few years. Fortunately, Isabella was able to convince him that she was only there to quickly buy a book, and he then left her alone. “I thought he was never going to leave,” said Isabella, “I would rather not use it, but I have a poisoned needle in my basket.”

When Isabella reached the library, she quickly began to look around for tomes about prophecies and fire magic. She searched for hours for no avail until the local librarian approached her. Isabella became worried that he would see past her disguise. Fortunately for her, he had not seen the baker’s wife before and simply asked her what she was looking for. “How can I help you today madam,” asked the librarian with the most polite voice from another human Isabella ever heard.”

“I am looking for a book about prophecies,” said Isabella who quickly realized she needed a reason to look for those incredibly unique and strange books “I find them interesting even if they are also very strange.” Isabella hoped that he could help her find them as she was running out of time, and didn’t know how to navigate through the library as she had only been there three times in the past.

“I can definitely help you with that madam,” said the librarian, “I actually keep them in a separate place in the library as people tend to take those books.” “As for why, I do not know.” The librarian then led Isabella to where he had hidden the books and presented them to her. “You can read them here, and I would ask that you don’t take them. As a library, I must keep all my books here, so people can read them.”

Isabella was relieved when she saw the books, and to her great fortune, they were with tomes about fire magic. “Thank you, good sir,” she said, “can I ask why the books on fire magic are with them.”

“The two subjects have been linked together before,” said the librarian, “I have read about multiple cataclysm that have been caused by fire magic.” “It really is unfortunate. All of the calamities that I have read about, only about a hundred out of thousands of people have ever survived them. Their cities and civilizations then disappear from the records, and no one knows how they started.”

Hearing what the librarian said made Isabella more nervous, and she almost dropped one of the books. “Please don’t drop that,” said the librarian, “I apologize for being so strict, but those books are fragile and rare.”

“I am sorry professor,” said Isabella, “I promise that I will be more careful.” The librarian then thanked her and went back to his office while Isabella began to read the tomes. Most of the books didn’t contain any useful information and instead had uncomfortable details about what happened during the calamities. However, there was a piece of information that interested her. It was a sentence that contained the materials needed for an enchantment that could change if not prevent the prophecy, but the results ranged from uncertain to unpredictable. “I have read these books for hours now and the library is going to close in about an hour,” said Isabella to herself, “I can try this, because at worst, nothing happens because there is a way to reverse this if someone goes wrong.”

Isabella then quickly put the books back to where they previously were and then proceeded to leave the library. As she began to leave, she was greeted again by the librarian. “How were the books,” asked the librarian, “I read them before and found them to be interestingly, but poorly organized.”

“I thin they were interesting,” said Isabella, “morbid subject matter, but interesting in their own way.” The librarian then said good-bye, and Isabella went back to her house to prepare the enchantment. The ingredients were not hard to find in the forest as the enchantment called for unique and magical rocks, which the forest had plenty of. After organizing the materials in the manner described in the books, Isabelle then began to chant the dialogue from the books, which she had written in a journal. “If this goes wrong,” Isabella said to herself, “I can use another enchantment to reverse the spell, which was also in the book.” Suddenly, she was transported to a different dimension.

“This I strange,” said Isabella as she did not read about this I the tomes, “what do I do here.” Suddenly, lines of words began to appear in front of her and organized themselves into dialogue asking her wanted she wanted. Isabella was still awestruck by what she was seeing but managed to quickly regain her footing. “I have heard about different dimensions before, and I know a few spells that will allow me to return to my own.”

Isabella then responded to the dialogue in front of her. “I want to prevent the apocalypse that is going to happen to my city in the future,” said Isabella. The dialogue then rearranged itself into a question, asking her why she would help a town that despised her. Isabella then quickly responded to the dialogue. “Because even if they don’t like me, they are still people, and I can’t let them die.” The words then rearranged themselves into a different question, asking her if she was willing to take a risk for a chance to change the prophecy even if a calamity would still happen, but it wouldn’t be as severe.

It didn’t take long for Isabella to respond to the questions. “Yes, I would take that chance,” she said. The dialogue then asked her if she would go on a different and dangerous adventure to make that happen. “Yes, I will do so.” A portal then quickly appeared, and the dialogue then told her if she wanted to begin the journey, she would need to enter the portal.

“Well, I never asked for anything to be easy,” said Isabella to herself, “here I go to a new adventure.” As for the prophecy, it has not yet come to past, and for Isabella’s fate, it remains unknown.