The Healer Who Defies Death

Chapter 8: When Shadows Bare Their Fangs

The sun dipped low, painting the square in amber and rose. Lith sat slumped on a bench, hands trembling, skin pale from hours of healing. He had been healing since midday—burns, wounds, fevered children, weary elders. Each touch of his gift left him weaker; each smile carved exhaustion deeper. Yet despite the sweat and the blood at the corner of his lips, he could not stop smiling.

So this is what it feels like... To actually help people.

Across from him stood Nyx, tall and still, with violet eyes cutting through the fading light. "You should stop," she said, her voice cool and detached. "One more, and your body will collapse."

Lith turned his head toward her, forcing a grin through his weariness. "It's fine. Just look around." He gestured weakly to the square, where children were laughing, women were weeping with relief, and men clapped each other's shoulders. "Everyone's smiling again. I never thought my gift could bring this much joy."

Nyx's reply was as sharp as frost. "You are like an old beast who continues to hunt when its legs can no longer carry it."

Lith groaned, dragging his palm down his face. "Why is it always animals? I was trying to sound poetic, then you ruin it again."

Nyx only tilted her head, her expression unreadable.

"And do not cal me Master either," Lith muttered with a sigh. "My name's Lith... Just...call me that."

"I will not," Nyx said flatly. "Master suits you better."

Lith gave a small, breathless laugh, more helpless than amused. "You're impossible. Fine, call me whatever you want."

Before Nyx could respond, a middle-aged woman stepped forward, hesitant but earnest. Her hands twisted at her apron as she bowed. "We...we cannot thank you enough for what you have done, young priest. If we had anything of value, we would give it. But we are poor, and..."

Lith quickly shook his head, smiling with soft sincerity. "Please, don't worry about that. I did not do this for payment, I'm just glad I could help."

Nyx suddenly moved a step closer, her voice cutting like a blade. "My master requires a place to stay tonight. The sun is gone."

"Nyx!" Lith hissed, face burning. He turned hastily to the woman. "Please—ignore her. Truly, we don't—"

But before he could finish, another villager called out from the crowd, eager and insistent. "Stay with us for the night! At least let us give you food and shelter. It's the least we can do."

"Yes, please—rest here!" Others echoed, their voice rising like a tide.

Lith rubbed the back of his neck, flustered. "...If it's truly no trouble, then...We'd be grateful."

The crowd broke into cheers, relief and gratitude spilling from them in waves. But while Lith soaked in their joy, Nyx remained unchanged. She only watched them with those cold, violet eyes—silent, distant, and quietly disdainful. To her, they were nothing more than a chattering herd circling their shepherd.

——

That night, the inn smelled faintly of stew and wood smoke. Lith sat by the window, moonlight spilling across the floorboards, his shoulders slumped with weariness.

Nyx's voice broke the silence, quiet yet piercing. "Tell me, master...when you give away piece of your life so freely—what is it your fear losing more?"

Lith let out faint breath, eyes lingering on the night sky. He thought of the temple's silence, the lives he try'd to healed. Then softly: "I'm not afraid of dying, Nyx."

The dragon's head shifted slightly at that, her eyes catching the pale glow.

Lith smiled faintly, gaze fixed on the stars. "What I fear is failing... failing to save someone again. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have healed anyone today. It was your strength flowing through me, not mine."

Nyx rose from her corner, footsteps soundless as she approached. "Do you regret using my power?"

Lith shook his head at once. "Never. But...I keep wondering. If you weren't here, if I had only my own strength, would I still be able to help? Or would I just stand there, useless...watching people die again?"

Silence stretched between them. The only sound was the faint crackle of fire from inn's hearth downstairs. Then, Nyx spoke with disarming bluntness: "Did you eat enough at dinner, master?"

Lith blinked, then let out a quiet laugh. "You really have a way with timing, don't you? Yeah, I'm full. What about you?"

"I do not eat human food," Nyx said calmly. "I do not eat at all. I consume mana, breath, and shadow. That is enough."

Lith tilted his head, curious. "Mana and shadow...huh. Guess that explains a lot."

He leaned back against the wall, fatigue settling into his bones. Before sleep could claim him, Nyx's tone dipped lower. "The villagers hide something," she murmured. "Their eyes avoided yours when you ask about what happened on this place."

Lith remembered the uneasy silence at dinner, the way no one met his gaze. He let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, I noticed. But maybe they have their reasons. It's not our place to force it out of them. At least...not unless they want to share." At last, he turned, meeting her violet eyes head-on. "Still, thank you. For being here."

Nyx's gaze glowed faintly in the moonlight. Her voice was cold as ever, yet her words carried weight. "Then perhaps you truly are the healer who will defy death. Even your own."

Lith chuckled under his breath, shaking his head. "Where in the world do you even dig up lines like that? But, big words from someone who won't even call me by my name." He pushed himself up, only to stop short. Nyx was already lying on the floor, perfectly still. "Wait, wait—what are you doing? You can't sleep there. Take the bed."

"I am used to the ground."

"Well, I'm not," Lith countered, tugging insistently at her arm. "No more arguing, you are taking the bed."

Nyx's expression didn't change, but in the end, she obeyed. Lith settled onto the floor with his cloak as a blanket, his breathing soon slowing into the rhythm of sleep.

For a long moment, Nyx watched him. Then, wordlessly, she pulled the blanket from the bed and draped it over his small frame. Her voice barely stirred the silence, softer than the night breeze. "Sleep without fear, master. My eyes will not close."

——

The morning came. Lith had just finished tying the last knot of his sash when he spoke, his voice still faint with sleep. "We should at least say our farewells before leaving. It feels wrong to vanish without a word."

Nyx sat on the edge of the bed, her posture flawless, her gaze fixed elsewhere. She didn't bother to meet his eyes. "Pointless courtesy, but...if that is your will, master."

Lith exhaled, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose. That tone again—obedient in sound, yet hollow in meaning. "Come on, then. Let's—" he stopped.

Nyx was already standing, her head turned toward the window, violet eyes narrowing. The air seemed to sharpen around her, cold and cutting.

"...Do you hear it?" She murmured.

"Huh?" Lith blinked, baffled. "Hear what?" And then the screams split the morning.

"THEY'RE HERE AGAIN!"

"Run! Hide—hide, everyone!"

The shouts tore through the village like wildfire, raw and panicked. Lith's pulse spiked. "What—what is happening—?"

The door burst open with a BANG! A young man stumbled inside, face ashen, breath ragged. "Forgive me—don't leave this room! Whatever happens, stay hidden!"

"Wait! What's going on?!" Lith called after him, but the boy was already gone, boots hammering the stairs in retreat.

Then it came. A stench speed into the room, thick and suffocating, like meant left to rot in the sun. Lith gagged into his sleeve, bile rising. Below, the inn roared alive with chaos—doors slamming, children wailing, frantic footsteps pounding the floorboards. Fear itself seemed to face ahead of the noise.

Nyx stepped toward the door. Lith caught her arm, eyes wide. "Stay here." He said. "Don't come out, no matter what happens."

She gave no nod, no protest, just silence.

Lith's legs moved before his thoughts could catch them. He flew down the stairs, out into the street—straight into the storm of panic. Villagers dragged their children inside, shutters slammed shut, no one daring to meet his eyes. Until, he grabbed a woman's arm. "Please! What's happening?!"

Her face twisted with terror. "They... they're come again. The monster—come to feed!"

The word hit him like a blade to the gut. "Monster...?"

Then a child's scream split the air. "Ma—maa!"

Lith spun. A mother stood paralyzed, her son clutched tight as shadows swallowed the street.

THOOM

The earth jolted beneath him.

THOOM.

Again, closer.

The thing emerged. Twice the height of a house, skin sagging in putrid folds, each breath a carrion stench. Its maw yawned wider than a carriage, ropes of saliva sliding free with a wet shlk-drrnpp, each exhale belching the stench of carrion.

Lith's body seized. His stomach heaved. Move, move, please!

He forced his trembling legs forward, voice breaking into a raw cry. "Not here...not again...!" He threw himself in front of the mother and child, arms spread, his frail body the only wall between them and death.

The beast's jaws plunged.

CHIIIIING!

Steel screamed through the air.

The monster's head split in a single cut, severed from crown to spine. A wet SHHRKK-CRNNCH! followed, then the carcass collapsed, the head slamming into the dirt with a thunderous THUUD! Blood spilled over the village road, hot and vile.

Lith staggered back, drenched, his breath ragged. He turned, his heart hammering—

N-Nyx...?

"Master, is reckless again." The voice was calm, cold, and familiar.

Through the mist stood Nyx, violet eyes burning with a cold fire. The air quivered as her blade bled shadow light.