Ascension of the Cursed Healer

CHAPTER 4 – The Price of Light

The streets of Valoria’s upper wards glowed like veins of molten glass, streets pulsing with mana lamps, banners fluttering in the wind, and towers scraping the mist-choked sky.

Terry pulled his hood low as he followed Corvin through the crowd. The smell of rain mixed with steam from mana engines above. Everything felt too bright, too clean, too alive.

“Why here?” Terry whispered. “You said the Circle’s watching.”

“They watch everywhere,” Corvin replied, his voice calm but sharp. “That’s why we hide in plain sight.”

They ducked into an alley between two tall spires. Corvin tapped a sigil on the wall, an invisible rune flared and dissolved, revealing a hidden door.

Inside, the air was heavy with incense and dust. Racks of old scrolls lined the walls, alongside jars filled with glowing herbs.

“Welcome to the Apothecarion,” Corvin said. “A neutral zone for rogue healers and alchemists. Even the Circle hesitates to shed blood here.”

Terry glanced around. “Looks abandoned.”

“It isn’t.”

A woman’s voice drifted from the shadows. She stepped forward, tall, graceful, with silver hair braided tight and eyes like sharpened moonlight. “Corvin,” she said coolly. “You still breathe.”

“Barely,” Corvin muttered. “You still playing god with dead plants, Mira?”

 She smiled faintly. “And you still collecting strays.” Her gaze shifted to Terry. “What’s this one? Apprentice? Experiment?”

Terry stiffened. “Neither.”

“Hmm.” Mira stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as faint energy shimmered around her hands. “You reek of blood catalyst.”

Corvin interjected. “He’s learning the Doctrine. He survived the first trial.”

That caught her attention. “Impossible. The last student who tried it”

“Didn’t survive,” Corvin finished. “He’s different.”

Mira studied Terry for a long moment, then sighed. “Different or doomed. Either way, you’ve brought trouble.”

“Trouble follows him,” Corvin said. “We need information. The Circle’s alive again. I saw their marks.”

Mira’s expression hardened. “Then the rumors were true.”

“What rumors?” Terry asked.

She hesitated, then led them deeper into the apothecary. Behind a curtain lay a sealed chamber—walls covered in sigils that pulsed faintly like a heartbeat. In the center, on a steel table, lay a covered form.

Mira peeled back the sheet.

Terry’s breath caught. The body beneath wasn’t human, at least, not anymore. Its skin shimmered with crystal-like veins. Its eyes, half-open, glowed faintly with blue and red energy.

“What… what is that?” he whispered.

“An experiment,” Mira said quietly. “They call it a Resurrected Vessel. The Circle’s trying to bring healers back from the dead, binding life and mana into one body.”

Corvin frowned. “So they’re continuing Project Rebirth.”

Terry’s stomach turned. “You knew about this?”

“I started it,” Corvin said, voice heavy with guilt. “Back when I believed death was a disease that could be cured.”

“And this was your cure?” Terry snapped. “A corpse filled with magic?”

“It was supposed to save lives,” Corvin said quietly. “But the Circle twisted it. They learned how to trap souls instead.”

Mira nodded grimly. “The Vessel’s heart still beats, but not on its own. They’ve found a way to bind a healer’s essence to mana crystals. It’s resurrection without consent.”

Terry stared at the body. “You mean… they’re enslaving the dead?”

“Yes,” she said. “And if they find you, they’ll do worse. You have the same energy signature as their prototypes. You’re proof the process works on the living.”

Corvin turned sharply. “You said they’re moving bodies through the wards. Where?”

Mira hesitated. “Rumor says the shipments go through the Cathedral District. But you didn’t hear it from me.”

Corvin nodded once. “We’ll check it.”

Mira grabbed his arm. “If you go there, you’ll never walk out. The Circle controls half that district through proxies. Even the High Council won’t interfere.”

Corvin’s tone was steel. “Let them try to stop us.”

Before Terry could respond, a faint crack echoed from the entrance. Mira’s eyes widened. “You were followed.”

The lights dimmed. Shadows twisted. Three figures stepped from the corridor, masked assassins, their blades dripping with faint black vapor.

Corvin’s hand went to his sword. “Terry, barrier!”

Terry slammed his palms together. Energy flared around them, blue light forming a curved shield. One assassin struck, his blade shattering against the aura.

Mira hurled a flask; it burst into smoke, the scent of burning herbs filling the room. “They’re Soul Collectors!”

Corvin lunged forward, cutting one down in a blur. “Go for the sigils on their chests!”

Terry focused, channeling his healing power through the pain still burning in his veins. His pulse quickened.

The memory of every wound surged back, but he turned it outward, releasing a burst of red-blue energy. The shockwave threw the assassins back. One crashed into a pillar; another vanished into flame.

Corvin caught the last one by the throat. “Who sent you?”

The masked man laughed, blood spilling from his lips. “You think you can stop resurrection?”

Corvin’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“The Circle doesn’t need the living anymore,” the man rasped. “They already have enough bodies.”

Then his body convulsed, his skin turned to crystal, then cracked apart in a burst of mana light.

The silence afterward was suffocating.

Mira’s voice trembled. “They’re self-destructing now. That means the project’s almost complete.”

Corvin dropped what was left of the assassin’s cloak. “Then we’re running out of time.”

Terry glanced at the corpse again—the faint flicker of life still trapped behind its glassy eyes.

“Corvin,” he said softly, “if they’re bringing people back… what happens to their souls?”

Corvin looked away. “They don’t come back as themselves.”

Terry’s throat tightened. “Then what are they?”

He met Terry’s gaze, and for a heartbeat, his expression was that of a man who had seen hell and remembered every face in it.

“Echoes,” he said. “Empty light pretending to be alive.”

Outside, thunder rolled through the city, shaking the glass towers of Valoria.

The Circle was no longer hiding.

And the price of light was about to be paid in blood.