After walking a few steps, Terra lets out a frustrated sigh and,
without looking at me, says, “Sorry for earlier, pal. I hate to
admit it, but Mom’s right. I didn’t give you the respect you
deserve. But...y’know how it is when you’re basically
immortal?”
Can’t say I do, but I keep my mouth shut and let
Terra continue prattling.
“It’s just so...frustrating.
Everything, every day and probably the rest of eternity is going to
be ‘very much the same’. After a while you’ve just ‘seen it
all’, y’know? When my sis bound her life to that human, I
honestly thought she was bonkers, throwing half her lifespan away
just like that. But in the decades that followed her death, I
realized...that I was the fool. Sure, we had a world to rebuild after
that stupid ass war and the emergence of that ancient evil dude who
possessed Seph, but still...everyone I ever held dear either ‘went
ahead’ or...well, ‘never changed’. And each generation of
humans I watched, they did the same song and dance, the same
mistakes, the same old bullshit. When my time finally came, I
felt…‘relieved’, you could say. But boy can you imagine my
surprise when I closed my eyes on the other side and opened them
again here!”
“I can relate,” I admit, though I
cannot recall ever ‘closing my eyes on the other side’.
“Either
way, when I got here, sis had already recreated our hometown along
with these shadows of the people we knew during our time when we were
still alive.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘shadows’?”
“...they
are not real, detective. None of them are. They are formed and kept
alive by our memories of our loved ones. Come tomorrow, they will
have forgotten that you even existed. Never changing and eternal.
Just like everything else in this place. Welcome to my personal
hell.”
I really don’t know what do say to all that. Of course she could be lying through her teeth to get under my skin, but if so, she’s the best damn liar I’ve ever met...though in this surreal place, the same could be said about a lot of people I’ve met.
Just as I want to open my mouth, Terra suddenly shouts, “Watch out!” and tears me to the ground just before a bullet burrows itself into the ground where I had stood just before. Before I even fully process what’s going on, Terra is back on her feet and gives chase after the shadow disappearing into the forest.
That was an attempt at my life. With a gun. And from what I have seen from this room, ‘guns’ are not really a thing in here...meaning that it must have been someone from the outside! And there is only one person who would have a reason to follow me into this room to try to kill me!
I stumble to my feet and run after Terra who had already reached the outskirts of the forest and quickly disappeared into its shade.
When I
finally arrive, Terra already comes back out of the woods, barely
sweating, but a grim expression on her face and says, “Lost
them…probably out of the door and gone without a trace.”
She
then looks at me and asks, “Whom did you piss off so much that
they’d try to off you here? This is a violation of the rules of the
place. Fighting is only allowed in the twilight wing.”
I shake
my head and reply, “It should be obvious...someone doesn’t like
me sniffing around this case. Which is actually kind of
reassuring.”
“Reassuring?! You got shot at with one of those
‘gun’ things!”
I smile and reply, “Yes and do you know
what that means? It means I’m making someone nervous. That’s
progress.”
“...heh...you know, anyone else from this village
would think you barking mad…”
“But not you?”
“No,
not me. In case you missed it, I ran after the guy with the gun. Not
a very healthy thing to do.”
“But you are immortal,” I
remind her, immediately cursing myself for my slight of
tongue.
“...and you are not?” Terra asks, of course picking
up on the insinuation.
I sigh and admit, “In all honesty...I
don’t know. And I’d rather not find out either.”
“Then
you’d better keep your eyes peeled. Cause someone’s got it out
for you,” Terra says, hitting her fist into her palm and adds, “And
they’d better hope that you catch them before I do. I will not
forgive them easily for trying to kill someone in my room!”
“Even
though it is ‘your personal hell’?” I follow up on our earlier
conversation.
“Exactly. My personal hell. Not theirs.
Love it or hate it, this place belongs to myself and my sis. And
anyone who disturbs the peace will answer to me. Now...I believe you
had questions?”
We
return to the plaza talking about the case, but unfortunately Terra
has very little new information to add.
Upon stepping into the
village, an exasperated guards captain comes running and informs us,
that Lady Celestia had been grievously wounded by an unknown
assailant.
We run towards where they took her and, sure enough,
there’s a gunshot wound worryingly close to her heart. A bunch of
those elf people are already around her, some of them working some
sort of light magic...but it doesn’t look like it’s working all
that well.
The lady apparently in charge proclaims, that
‘something’ is stuck in her inhibiting the healing magic.
Probably the bullet, though I really don’t know how it would
‘inhibit magic’.
“Well, what are you waiting for?! Get it
out then!” Terra barks and wants to step up to the table,
triggering every single alarm clock in my mind and I shout, “Don’t
touch it!”
Terra turns around to face me and asks, “The heck
is wrong with you?! She’s dying here!”
“Yes well, no.
Listen, a bullet is only dangerous because of its travel speed. But
right now, its stopped and its inside her body, possibly sealing off
a number of arteries and what not, keeping her from bleeding out!
We’d need a bloody surgeon and a sterile surrounding to remove the
bullet. Just...just disinfect and bandage the wound. It should be
fine then.”
Celestia grimaces in pain as everyone in the room stares at me as if I had lost my mind. Of course they wouldn’t know the first thing about bullet wounds and how to treat them in the field. They wouldn’t know that ‘removing the bullet’ would cause more damage than it’d help. And I get it, really. There’s a foreign element inside her body, so of course the first instinct would be to pull it out with whatever means necessary. But the damage already is done. Pulling it out would only make it worse.
I turn
to Terra and say, “Look, I know this is weird, but…”
“But
you don’t know the first thing about elves, do you?!” Terra
barks.
“Can’t say I do, but…”
“And you weren’t
listening! This bullet thing probably is made of iron!”
“...usually
they’re made of lead though...but what difference does it
make?”
Terra groans and says, “You really don’t know the
first thing…‘iron’ is one of the few things capable of killing
an elf, because it disturbs the flow of magic running through our
bodies! Anything else we can recover from, but not iron in our
bodies!”
...of course. Alright, time to do this movie style then and hope their ‘magic’ is up to cleaning up the mess I’m going to make...
“Alright then, I need some strong alcohol and some pincers or a small knife! Also clean cloth, and make it snappy! We’re getting that blasted thing out of her.”
The
people around me thankfully don’t ask questions and scatter to find
what I’ve asked for.
Terra asks, now in a far less foul mood
“Have you done this before?”
Can’t say I remember, but I
can’t tell that to her face. If this is the same guy who offed Sue,
there’s a good chance that Celestia won’t wake if she dies now. I
can’t let that happen.
“At least I know what a gun is. Your
sister got lucky though. A little further to the left and the bullet
would’ve gone through her heart. But we need to get it out.”
Terra
nods and says, “I’ll get the booze you asked for. The strong
stuff, yeah?”
“The strongest you can get,” I agree.
“Be
back in a minute then,” Terra acknowledges and runs out of the hut.
Of course it takes more than a minute, but at least the magic seems to keep her alive and relatively pain free.
While I
am waiting for the utensils, I try my luck and ask, whether she had
seen what happened.
Celestia forces her eyes to open to look at
me, but shakes her head.
“I—,” she starts but her voice
fails her. I really push her like this, but if she indeed does die, I
owe it to her to catch the bastard who did that. Especially since he
clearly was after me.
“Shortly...after parting, I noticed
a...presence. Alien...malevolent...then...loud bang...burning in my
chest...then...nothing…” Celestia presses out of her mouth, her
chest heaving and sinking fast. Where are those damn pincers?!
Eventually, they at least manage to procure some cloth...considering their fear of metallic items, I really shouldn’t have hoped for a scalpel. And Terra still hasn’t come back with a disinfectant. But this is hardly the time to worry about a follow up infection. If I don’t act soon, she’ll be gone!
“Alright lady, this is going to hurt like hell. Hold her arms and legs please,” I ask my ‘assistants’ who comply, once again without asking questions.
I bow
down over the gunshot wound and carefully probe with my fingers to
see where the bullet is.
Damn it! I can basically feel her
heartbeat! If my hand so much as jerks into the wrong direction, I’ll
be the one killing her instead of the darn bullet!
I take a deep breath and steady my nerves. I don’t know how I know, but it feels like I’ve done this before. And know what I have to do. Eventually I find the bullet. Apparently the rib cage managed to stop it...she really did get lucky with that shot.
Another deep breath and I put two fingers into the wound, making Celestia howl out in pain, trying to hit and kick to make me stop, but my assistants hold her tight.
Seriously, this is exactly why she’d need proper medical attention and not some wannabe detective who can’t even remember his own name!
My fingers close around the bullet, fountains of blood pooling around me as I tear through her flesh. When I try to pull, the bullet suddenly heats up like crazy, trying to burn my hand and cauterizing everything around it, but I don’t let go. Instead I pull it out in one fell swoop and throw it to the ground immediately, where it stops glowing red and cools down again.
The
healing lady takes over and by the time Terra finally gets back with
the booze, the wound has already closed up for the biggest part.
I
grab the bottle she must’ve fetched from the bar, say “Thanks, I
really need that right now,” pop the cap and take three big gulps
from the liquid.
An iron bullet that heats up when you try to remove it...just when I thought I had seen it all.
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