Power Quest: The Rebellion of Terrakia by Andrew Koenig (best books to read fiction .TXT) 📖

            “She was sick for maybe 5 months, but she got better about a month ago.”  She sighed and shook her head before clutching a streak of hair between her fingers.  “The healers couldn’t tell what was wrong with her.  They didn’t even think she’d live…”

            “Gods, I’m so sorry, Amanda.”  Floyde looked at the street and shook his head.  “Is that what made you decide to be a healer?”

            Chuckling, Amanda shook her head.  “Nobody decides to be a healer.  Healing magic is different from other magics that anyone can learn.  You have to be blessed by the goddess Merinas at birth.”  Floyde gave an impressed grunt and rubbed his chin.  “But seeing my mom get sick did make me more serious about it, yes.  It’s why I began working at the temple.”

            “How did you father handle your mother’s sickness?”

            “He took it in stride, I suppose,” Amanda shrugged, looking down at the dusty, grey cobblestone streets.  “My baby brother, Mani, wasn’t even a toddler by the time she got sick, though.  It’s hard to be a baby when your own mother is closer to dying every day.  He hasn’t even tried to speak since the sickness…”

            Floyde kicked a rock down the street and nodded.  “By the gods, that’s terrible.  But what about you?”  Amanda glanced at Floyde with her eyebrow raised.  “How are you handling it?”

            “Me?”  She chuckled, flashing him a gentle grin.  “Things may be a little different, but it’s like I said: they’re my family and I love them.  That’s unconditional.”

            They walked up to the College of the Art’s cedar door, engraved with book and blades, and, with a grunt, Floyde glanced down the roads, then at Amanda.  “I know that you’re hesitant to join the faction.”  He whispered, continuing to peer down the roads.

            “The faction?  What are you talking about?”  Amanda asked, leaning in closer to Floyde.

            “The rebellion,” he hissed, the words slipping from behind clenched teeth.  “I know you’re hesitant to truly join.”

            Amanda chuckled and began twirling her hair in her fingers.  “What would ever give you that impression?”  She asked, her cheeks flushing a soft pink.

            “Trust me,” Floyde began, putting his hands in the pockets of his black, wool pants.  “I’m good at reading people, and right now you’re blushing, sweating a little bit, and you’re twirling your hair.  You and I both know that you’re apprehensive about the faction.”

            With a heavy sigh Amanda crossed her arms in front of her chest.  “What do you expect?  The ‘faction’ seems to have no plans to lead it and it only serves to hurt more people than it would help.  Families would be ruined.  My family would be ruined.”

            “I know.”  Floyde muttered, offering her a tentative half smile.  “Nothing great comes without sacrifice.  But the people are suffering, Amanda.  Together we can help them.”

            Glancing around the streets, Amanda spotted several guards approaching the College, their maroon armor clanking with a metallic slam.  “Listen, I have to go to the temple.  It was nice speaking with you, Floyde.”  She turned with a huff, but Floyde quickly grabbed her by the hand.  Amanda almost yelped as she spun around quickly, her face blushing a deep red.

            Floyde’s ashen, almond eyes locked on hers and he let out a deep breath.  “Just promise me you’ll reconsider, okay?”  Amanda nodded softly before turning from him and continuing down the road to the Temple of Divinity.

            The Temple of Divinity rested itself upon the crumbling city walls of Kaneele, beside the southwestern city gate.  Dark green ivy crept up the darkened marble walls of the temple, which led up to two great spires at the front-most corners of the structure.  The enormous oak doors were painted a deep mahogany with brass knockers in the shape of gargoyle heads.  Amanda pushed open the great doors and entered the dimly lit temple.

            A grand chandelier hung from the ceiling, suspended by a thick rope.  The wispy, brass arms curled upwards towards the sky, each tipped with a flattened disc upon which a lone, cream candle rested.  The temple’s main room had five columns of pews, each with ten rows.  Each column faced a grand display of miniature statues and monuments, each dedicated to a specific god or goddess, which curved around a grand altar upon which was placed seven lit candles, a wide array of colorful flowers, some copper and silver coins, and a small stack of religious texts.  Amanda approached the altar, kneeled on one knee, and, whispering under her breath, thanked Merinas for the opportunity to approach the temple and perform works under her name.  After a brief moment of reflection, she stood and approached a small silver statue directly behind the altar.  The statue depicted a woman with angel wings folding her hands in a prayerful manner.  She took a candle from the altar and lit one of the few unlit candles beside the statue.  Amanda smiled and put her candle back on the altar, before giving a small bow to the statue and, yet again, thanking Merinas.

            Leaving the main room and heading to the right of the temple’s entrance, Amanda entered the Room of Healing.  Twenty cots with small straw mattresses sat on either side of the wall with a small curtain separating cot from cot.  A tall elvish woman with fair, olive skin tended to one of the sickly patients, her hands radiating a green glow as she passed them over the man.  Amanda cleared her throat softly, holding her hands behind her back.  The elvish woman looked up at her and nodded.  She patted the patient’s head for a moment, then, smirking to herself, walked over to Amanda.

            Amanda smiled up at the elf and greeted her with a small bow.  “Good morning, sister Alanis.  What shall be my training today?”  Alanis looked down at Amanda, her round, shamrock eyes glancing up and down.

            “I suppose I told you we would begin your alchemy lessons today, hm?” Alanis asked, her nasal voice resonating from her angular cheeks.  She ran her thumb and spidery finger up and down her chin, before her eyes lit up.  With a smirk, she beckoned Amanda to follow her and made her way through a linen curtain.  Amanda followed into a small, rectangular room.  Bookshelves were placed along the walls, each littered with books of varying sizes, their covers in varying conditions.  Some shelves had potions of varying colors which bathed the room in a low, colorful aura.  Candles resting upon iron, torch-like sconces lined the walls and lit up the small, square table on the furthest side of the room.  Pots full of foreign liquids were perched above a miniature stove and tubes ran from pot to pot, connecting them in a tapestry of winding glass.  Beside the pots was a mortar and pestle with some crushed powder still coating its base.

            “This is incredible!”  Amanda gasped, her golden brown eyes surveying the alchemy lab.

            “Yes, I suppose it is nice…”  Alanis muttered, rubbing her chin.  “Anyway, why don’t you take a book from one of the bookshelves and begin studying.”

            “You want me to spend the day reading?”  Amanda groaned, grabbing a book with a tattered, light blue cover from the shelf nearest her.  In faded gold lettering, the title read Alchemical Basics. 

            Alanis scolded her with a puff.  “You can’t very well begin your alchemy without any ideas of how to do it.”  She shook her head and ran her spidery fingers over the spines of each book on the shelf.  “Most of these have been published by priests and priestesses that either worked in this temple or visited it for a period of time.  This one,” she smiled as she pulled a light brown, leather bound journal from its place in the shelf, “was written by my own mentor.”

            As the fond half-smile faded from Alanis’ face, she placed the book back on the shelf and turned to face Amanda.  “Always remember this, Amanda.  Our aim in alchemy is to heal others of their ailments.  This is always our goal.”  With a nod, Alanis exited the alchemy room and returned to the Room of Healing.

            The spine of Alchemical Basics creaked as Amanda opened the dusty book.  Her eyes glazed over the words with growing distance as her mind wandered.  By the time she had reached the second chapter on the function of the tubes and basins used in typical alchemy tables, she was entirely engrossed in the thoughts of the rebellion that swam through her mind.  She shook her head and returned to the book.  She couldn’t hear the slamming of the great oak doors, nor could she hear Alanis’ shouts for her help as blood was spilt on the marble floors of the Temple of Divinity.

The great oak doors of the Temple of Divinity smashed against the marble walls with a thundering crash.  Alanis stepped through the curtains dividing the Room of Healing from main room of the temple and, in an instant, began screaming for Amanda.  At first, Amanda heard nothing, as her mind wandered while she attempted to read the third chapter of Alchemical Basics, but as Alanis entered the Room of Healing and began screeching, Amanda was roused from her meditations.  She dropped the book on the table and threw open the curtains to the Room of Healing.

            Blood.  The marble floors of the Temple of Divinity were painted in its crimson.  Alanis was standing over a cot with her hands on the stomach of a young man.  Sweat poured down his dark, carob brown face and, despite clenching his teeth tightly, a scream escaped his mouth.  Beneath Alanis’ glowing hands, blood was pouring from the man’s stomach.  His yellow tunic and the light, linen jacket he wore were both stained crimson red.

            Alanis glared up at Amanda and shouted to her.  “What are you waiting for?  Get over here and help me close this wound!”  Amanda nodded and promptly dashed to the man’s side.  She placed her hands above the man, closed her eyes for a moment, and concentrated.  Her hands began to glow a faint green as a single bead of sweat crept down Amanda’s temple.  Suddenly, with a gasp, the glow burst into a fruitful emerald aura.  Alanis removed her own hands from the man’s wounds, the glow around her hands subsiding, and ran into the alchemy room.

            Amanda could feel sweat coursing down the back of her neck.  She let out a wince and strained her neck to see behind her.  A small congregation had gathered, their eyes wide and mouths agape as they watched Amanda work.  Gasping, she returned her attention to her healing spell.  She knew if she allowed her mind to wander too much, she would be unable to direct her energy into the spell.  The man beneath her squirmed and cried, his hands balling into tight fists.

            “Keep your spell up, Amanda.”  Alanis commanded as she returned with a phial of glowing, red liquid in hand.  “I’m going to try and get him to drink this healing potion.”

            “Of course, sister.  What’s wrong with him?”  Amanda asked, panting for breath.