Recovery

“Hmpph…”

I slowly sit up to get out of bed. The first thing I notice is that I’m completely naked underneath the blankets. The sunlight is pouring out from the window, and Brother is sleeping sitting on a chair next to my bed.

I slowly stand up as all the things that happened last night slowly come back to me. My vision’s a bit blurry, I’m actually able to stand, and I’m not in any pain without my- I look back down onto my bed. On my pillow beside where my head was is a small metal object that could fit in my hand. Inside that object is a circle of glass that's a deep, navy blue. Inside the dark blue is a black symbol, which looks like a bar with four “L” letters around it.

The symbol representing the Gift of Knowledge.

I slowly pick it up, it’s most definitely my own. It weighs about the same as a rock that fits in the palm of my hand. This is my Gift. These are something that pretty much everyone spends their entire lives to get and I got mine at age 8. Most people will spend their lives without even seeing one of these, but I actually have one.

No matter what, this will always be mine. These things are completely indestructible, and I can use its power no matter where in the world it is. With just a little bit of focus I’ll be able to tell exactly where it is, no matter where it ends up or whatever magic tries to block that.

That’s normally what you’re supposed to start learning when you get one, but I- I start putting on some clothes while I think about last night. Nothing fancy, nothing that I’d show up in public with, but something. I have a bit of trouble grabbing clothes from the closet for some reason. I guess I’m still just a bit out of it.

There’s a lot to think about, but those visions right at the end of last night take precedence over all of that. I’m grateful that I’m alive, but until I figure out why I was having those visions, I can’t stay calm. I have to suppress my excitement, unless I want to end up with a sword in my lung.

This need to cast my emotions to the side and figure out the problem at hand is definitely more of Rain at work. If Lilith was in full control I’d be crying tears of joy right now, but Rain has too much to think about to do that.

“Lilith?”

It appears that Brother woke up. He’s staring at me, with wonder in his eyes. I still refer to him as “Brother,” but to Rain, he’s just a stranger. So that’s Lilith taking precedent.

“Lilith! You’re OK! Thank the Gods!” he yells, as he runs up and yells at me.

I definitely feel some sort of familial love towards Brother. Yes, he is my brother, both physically and psychologically. I’m using Lilith’s brain, and Lilith has infinitely many more experiences with him than Rain does, so this makes sense. That means Sister, Father and Mother, are all my family members as well, regardless of the state I’m in.

I return the hug, feeling legitimately happy. Lilith’s happiness overcomes Rain’s urgency. Yes, I still love my brother. There’s no way my relationship with him or any of my other family members will remain the same after this, but I still love them. Lilith’s love for them, even for Mother, can't be overwhelmed.

I stand in Mother’s office next to Brother and the first doctor that was called in to heal me. Father and Sister hugged me like Brother did, but Mother resisted with the doctor in the room. Even Lilith would have noticed that she was extremely elated that I made a full recovery.

“So please, make sure she doesn’t undergo very much physical activity and make sure she gets plenty of rest. It also may be beneficial to spend as much time with her so that her mental state does not deteriorate.” Says the doctor.

“Y- yes… I will call on you again if anything happens, but… what happened to her left eye?” Mother asks.

What? There’s something wrong with my eye? No one appeared to notice that before though? Why is Brother gripping my hand tighter?! What’s wrong?!

“Uh, well, abra is a very dangerous substance, and since we weren’t able to catch it early, it’s entirely possible that Lilith were to experience some permanent side effects. We did a full check up on her after her condition got better, and her left eye was the only thing we noticed that was wrong.”

Permanent damage? Just what’s wrong with it? This nervousness… It's both Rain and Lilith. Neither of them seem to be fans of lifelong side effects, especially in one of the most important sensory organs…

“What’s wrong with her eye?” Mother asks.

“The retina was damaged due to all the bleeding. We aren’t sure just how much her vision’s been impaired. Her other eye is completely fine though, so even if her left is blind, she should be able to live with it.”

The doctor kneels down to me. He holds his hand out in front of me, and puts his other hand over my right eye. Instantly my entire vision goes way too blurry to make out anything. I can make out basic colors, but other than that I can’t make out anything. I can’t even tell my own family members apart.

“Lilith, how many fingers am I holding up?”

How am I supposed to know that when I can’t even see his hand?

“I can’t see.” I say, there’s no point in delaying this.

Everybody’s dead silent, clearly having no idea how to proceed with that. Rain’s personality will probably be better for this. Accept the fact that I don’t have depth perception and start thinking about how to get around that. I have the Gift of Knowledge now, there must be a work around for that.

“I… I see…” Mother covers up her emotions really well. “And you noticed no other issues with her?”

“No, but it’s entirely possible there are many symptoms that we missed. Please don’t be afraid to call us again if you have any concerns at all.”

“Yes, I will. Now leave. This is a family discussion only.”

“Yes, duchess.”

The doctor leaves. Everybody’s expressions turn noticeably more grim when he closes the door behind him. Even Mother.

“Lilith, as my daughter I must say… you are strong, and I am endlessly proud of you.” Mother says.

Huh?! That’s… that's the nicest thing that Mother’s ever said to me! What changed?! No, nothing changed. Like Rain’s mother, she’s a very strict woman who rarely shows her emotions. Her daughter nearly died, and she isn’t truly emotionless. Of course she’d react like this.

“Yes, you’re amazing Lilith, and we’ll help you through any hardships from now on. For getting through that by yourself, you deserve the world.” Father says.

“Yeah, you can come to me for anything now. No matter what.” Sister says.

“We’ll all try to be as supportive towards you as possible Lilith, so please don’t hesitate to ask any of us for help whenever you need it.” Brother says, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you.” I begin. This is going to be difficult to put into words, but Lilith has to say this. “Again, thank you all. I just want to say that… I love you guys. Thank you, you’re the best family I could ask for…”

I genuinely mean it too. Rain doesn’t know anyone here, but for Lilith she loves everyone in this room from the bottom of her heart. I couldn’t possibly get by without letting them all know that.

“Oh Lilith! There’s no need to thank us! We all love you so much too!” Father runs to hug me again while crying.

“A- alright, that’s enough of that! Please let us move on!” Whether that was Rain’s or Lilith’s reaction, I don’t know. Maybe it was both.

“Yes, I’m sorry, but we have to talk about what we’re going to be doing moving forward.” Brother says.

“Compose yourself, dear.” Mother says.

That gets Father to back off, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Now Lilith,” Brother begins. “We know you can’t see through your left eye, but just how bad is it?”

“Um… I can technically see through it but… It’s like looking through faded glass. I can make out colors but anything else is impossible. I doubt I’d be able to tell the difference between any of you.” I say, to get all the information I know out there.

“Have you noticed any issues that that has caused yet?”

“Um… I had a bit of a hard time grabbing my clothes but other than that, no.”

“I see. You’ve lost depth perception then. We might have to train you a bit to be able to roughly judge how far away things are so you don’t embarrass yourself, but other than that it hopefully shouldn’t be anything super harmful.”

Yeah, I would have to do rehab. There are definitely going to be things that I’m no longer going to be able to do because of this injury, but it could be worse. My other eye is completely intact, if I had lost that too… I don’t even want to think about that.

“Have you noticed anything else that seemed off about your body? Are you hurt anywhere, are you having trouble doing anything?”

“Not yet, no. It has been less than an hour since I’ve awoken though. I’ll tell you if anything feels off.”

“Good, please do. Now, let’s move on to the… one good thing that came out of this.”

Brother reaches into his coat and pulls out my Gift. He was holding onto that? I didn’t grab it… Well, it is indestructible, and I can use it no matter what happens to it, so I guess it’s excusable that I wasn’t too concerned about its safety.

“Everybody, this is the Gift that Lilith received during that living hell last night. A Gift of Knowledge.”

Everyone looks at it with great interest. Even Mother. Sister also looks genuinely proud.

“Now, I am as proud of her as all of you are, however the fact remains that she’s gained a Gift at an extremely young age. Not unheard of, but still rare. We have to keep in mind all the attention that this will surely gain.”

Everybody grows much quieter after Brother says that. Yes, Gifts are extremely rare… rare and useful. They exist outside of the normal magic system, and there are little to no physical laws restricting what one could do with them. I’ll surely be taken up by the Cralian army because of that.

I’m a noble? Doesn’t matter, too useful for the eternal war against the demon race. I’m blind in one eye? Doesn’t matter, you have a Gift, figure a way around it. I have PTSD? What’s a PTSD?

“There aren’t any concrete rules to who gets them, but the most common way to obtain one is to go through a huge life change, and near death experiences count as such. When Cralian officials hear of this, they’ll undoubtedly come asking whether or not Lilith has obtained one. Given so many doctors saw it happen, we can’t exactly lie about it.”

“Do you have any plans for this, Annei?” Mother asks sternly.

“Yes. Since I’m the only one with a Gift currently in the family, I’d like to teach her how to use it, even if I do have a different type from Lilith. If we do this well enough, she’ll most certainly have a headstart compared to her peers. I don’t think any of you have any objections to that?”

“No, of course not. Please, teach Lilith everything you know.” Mother says.

“Right, we’ll start immediately. Lilith, the doctors called me in to do a mana transplant, and you weren’t using normal magic. You definitely have some amount of spells already in mind with your Gift. What have you done?”

Brother hands my Gift back to me. Right, he would obviously want to know how much I’ve already figured out and then go from there. How much should I tell him though? There was my ability to stop feeling pain, and I was able to feel what was going on in my own body, but then there were those visions.

I don’t know anything about those yet, so I should skip them. Everything else should be fine to explain though.

“Yes, I poured its power all over my body and I… did something with it. It’s difficult to explain. I don’t know how I did it or if I’ll be able to replicate it, but all pain and feeling from the neck down just vanished. Did you notice how calm I was?”

“Yes, yes I did. Now what else?”

“I wanted to figure out a way to survive so I started pouring its power into my body. I don’t know if this is replicable or not either, but I was able to tell what was happening in my body. I sensed veins bursting and being healed even if I couldn’t feel it. It’s how I was able to warn you about my heart.”

“And I am endlessly thankful for that. Now, did you do anything else while I was gone?”

“No, I couldn’t think of anything else that I could do with the Gift. I spent too much time complaining to myself that I didn’t have the Gift of Strength.” Include truth in a lie, it makes it much more believable.

“OK, so I think I know where we’ll be starting with your education. I have a rough idea of the direction I want to take you, so if you think differently please say so.”

“Of course. Now, what’s your plan?”

“First thing’s first is replicating those spells of yours, since they seem incredibly useful. After that, I want you to try and keep them running full time, no matter what, even when you’re sleeping. I want to hone in on your Gift’s strength by monitoring every last detail of your body and making plans around that.”

“Alright, I don’t see any problems with that. Will we be starting soon?”

“We will be starting immediately, unless there is something that you want to do first.”

“Well, actually…”

Everyone looks at me a bit confused. Except for Mother, her face is expressionless. I know she’s confused too though.

“There are still a lot of people I need to thank. It won’t take long.”