Have you ever felt pain so potent that you would rather die than try to keep up with it?
Kanrel felt it pulsing from his stomach, as if getting repeatedly punched in the stomach with enough strength to make you gasp for air. Every second, this stab of pain came from somewhere around his stomach and pulsed through, making him scream in agony.
"Oh, shut up! I'm trying to focus here!" Yviev hissed and got to work. She tried to find any external cause for the pain; at first, she didn't seem to find anything, but slowly, around Kanrel's stomach, there was an area much darker in color. Without hesitation, she lifted his robe enough so that she could peek under it.
"It would seem that there is a wound of sorts in your stomach; I'll need to cut off a part of the patient's robes to be able to access the cause of his pain more easily," she began narrating her process.
"I'll be using a code that has the sole purpose of cutting his robes." She then quickly formed her code, and the others could soon see Kanrel's naked stomach. Uanna, at this point, shut her eyes, and even Yirn staggered a step back. The view was brutal.
"In the middle of the patient's stomach, there is a gaping wound that is oozing blood."
"I will begin with stopping the bleeding and then reconstructing the organs, the flesh, the muscles, and then the skin of the victim; for this, I'll be using multiple codes, but I will go one step at a time to avoid making mistakes."
She then began. Soon, blood wasn't oozing out anymore, and she removed the blood that was blocking her view to see in, all while Kanrel was shaking in agony, trying not to scream.
"There doesn't seem to be that much damage to his organs," she narrated and then began healing the organs that had taken damage. All those around could see Kanrel's stomach rapidly start regenerating, and soon enough, skin formed and sealed any sight of there ever being a wound.
Kanrel gritted his teeth. He was still in pain, but this was just the aftereffect of what he had just gone through. Above him, the lamp-less lamp-like contraption suddenly shone a bright white light onto him, lighting the whole bed. In a moment, it turned yellow, until it shifted to a green hue, signaling that the simulation was over and successful.
Kanrel finally felt that he was allowed move. He got off the bed while holding his stomach in pain; he fell to the floor and crawled to a chair to sit down.
"You're indecent," Yviev said, and brought him the rest of his robes. She suddenly leaned closer and whispered, "I'm sorry."
Kanrel shook his head. He didn't blame her. He just preferred that it was over. He began forming codes to fix his robes for himself. It would take a while before the pain would completely subside.
Uanna and Wen eyed him with something like worry on their faces, though it was difficult to say if they truly worried about him at all.
Yirn patted Yviev on the back to congratulate her and then got into bed himself. "We haven't got all day, so let's keep this up for as long as we can; after everyone has had a go, we should take a break," he suggested. On the bed, he took his shirt and pants off. He lay down and didn't let his own nudity bother him.
Wen stepped forth, though with slight apprehension, not because of the man's lack of clothes, but because of the uncertainty of what might happen to him the moment the simulation was activated. The rest stepped closer as well and prepared the code. Now Kanrel could feel as well what it felt like, just how complicated the code itself was, just how much effort it took from each one of them. He wasn't sure which he preferred, the feeling of disgust caused by the use of magic, or the stabbing pain he had felt on the bed.
Wen touched Yirn's forehead, and the moment she did, Yirn's eyes bulged out of his sockets. He refused to make any sounds and tried to mask it as well as he could, but it was still plain to see.
He trembled as his right hand disintegrated almost completely, leaving a roughly cut limb that Wen had to fix. She calmly started reciting her thought process and then began spewing out codes she would use to fix his arm. Only once she complained, "Stop pretending that it doesn't hurt; if it had been something other than a lost arm, it might have taken me a long time to find out what I needed to heal."
The contraption flashed the same colors as earlier, and Yirn got up. He stared at his hand for a while and tried to see if it worked normally. His expression was dark as he said, "I know it isn't real, but even then my hand feels weird…"
Soon after, it was Yviev's turn on the bed, and Yirn's turn to heal. She gasped in pain as her femur fractured, parts of it stuck out of her leg, and Yirn did his best while trying to fix it. Tears flowed down her cheek as she screamed when Yirn forced her femur in place and connected them back together. Between narration of what he was doing and actually doing, he kept profusely apologizing to her.
When it was done. Yirn witnessed with an ashen face how the contraption shone white, yellow, but no green; instead, it remained yellow.
"According to the booklet, if it stays yellow, then it means that after such an operation the patient will have some ailments related to his or her wound, such as pain, difficulties moving, and so on," Wen quoted; she met her gaze with Yviev.
"So something went wrong?" Yviev asked through gritted teeth, the pain and the tears still visible on her face. Wen nodded in reply.
"I'm so sorry," Yirn apologized again, and offered to help Yviev walk to the chair, or even carry if necessary. Yviev scoffed and pushed him aside and said, "It is just a simulation, I'll be fine." Though she did limp to the chair, not trusting the leg that had just been operated on.
After a few minutes of rest, it was Wen's turn on the bed. Together, the rest used the code, and after a moment's worth of hesitation, Uanna touched her forehead, beginning the simulation.
Instantly, a breathless cry of overwhelming pain departed her lips; there was no sound, only air as her face turned into a mask of torment. Half of her face began scalding until burn marks covered it. The marks went on until they disappeared under her robes. Uanna panicked at first; she began babbling about what she saw.
"Calm down," Kanrel reminded her, and she visibly did. She slowed her speech, cut open Wen's robes, revealing that the upper part of her chest had been burned as well. Uanna formed cool, clean water to cover her wounds, and after a few minutes of applying water, changing it, then applying more of it, Wen seemed to feel much better. At least she didn't scream anymore. Only then did Uanna remove the water altogether and begin the excruciating process of removing the scalded skin and regenerating a new, healthy layer of it as replacement, though to some grunts as a protest from Wen.
When it was all done, the contraption flashed white, yellow, then finally green. Uanna swiped her face out of habit more than out of real relief. Wen got up and felt her face; she even found a hand mirror in one of the table's drawers. She carefully looked at herself from all angles, but there was no sign of any burn marks. Uanna went to her and caressed Wen's long, black hair and said, "Don't worry, you're as beautiful as ever."
And then, at last, it was Kanrel's turn to operate. Uanna lay on the bed; she was visibly scared. "Be gentle with me," she begged the simulation as if it were a being with consciousness and a sense of mercy.
They again used the code, and then Kanrel placed his hand on Uanna's forehead. Soon it began. She trembled for a while, but she didn't scream out of agony. Though she did let out a slight moan of pain.
Kanrel began looking for external injuries: "The patient doesn't seem to be in much pain, and there doesn't seem to be any external injury as far as I can tell; I will have to remove the patient's robes to be able to observe more closely."
He formed a code that would cut Uanna's robes from the side so that he could just lift them out of the way and put them back later on. On her body, there didn't seem to be any injuries, not even bruises; he then covered her body again with the robes.
"There are no externally visible injuries, which means that there is the possibility of a hair fracture, but the lack of pain suggests that this is not the case."
"Firstly, I will lift the patient's arms and legs while slightly pressing down on them to find the source of the slight pain."
He did so, but there was no reaction to him doing that other than the intense gaze with which Uanna observed what he was doing.
"Secondly, I will open the patient's mouth and see if the source of pain is there." He gently put his arm under her neck, and with the other hand, he slowly opened her mouth. There, he found what he figured to be the cause of her pain: a tooth that had started rotting; the gums around it were red in color, which seemed to be caused by inflammation.
He then described what he had found and began explaining the codes that he would use to first remove the rotting tooth, heal the inflammation, and then form a new tooth.
He slowly began doing so; at first, Uanna let out slight, muffled moans of pain, but then began to giggle while he treated her inflammation, mostly out of nervousness; this, too, ended as he began to form her new tooth. And soon enough, he was done with it.
The bed shone in white, then yellow, and lastly in green; while this was going on, he had already formed a code to fix the cut he had made to Uanna's robes. She, on the other hand, got up and thanked the Angels for not making her suffer through any greater pain.
While standing up from the bed, she leaned closer to Kanrel. "Thank you, Kanrel," she shyly whispered in his ear before they separated. He stood still for a moment and slightly touched the ear that she had whispered into. A year ago, he would've gone red and had many fantasies about Uanna and her beauty; now, he wasn't sure how he felt. Had he simply lost the ability to feel embarrassed, or did he no longer care?
No, it couldn't be the former. He was afraid that it was the latter.
He cleared his throat, masking his own bitterness, and asked, "So now a break, as Yirn had suggested?" The whole thing had taken them a little more than three hours, because in between each simulation, they took shorter breaks while the previous patient recovered, and shared notes and their thoughts behind the choices that they had made.
"Great idea; we can further discuss our observations, codes, and more while having something to eat," Uanna added, while slightly gazing at Kanrel. She had a glitter in her eyes, which wouldn't be difficult for most to decipher the meaning of, though Kanrel would need a little more time.
When they left the simulation chamber, they could finally recognize just how warm the room had become after so many hours of pain. They decided to leave the door open to ventilate the chambers' stale air.
The main hall of the simulation complex was eerily silent. At least they couldn't hear the screams of other novices during their own sets of torture.
In the hospital, there was a cafeteria, as it was inconvenient for patients and their families to travel far away to get something to eat; it would be the same for the doctors and the nurses who worked at the hospital.
They got their tray of food and found an empty table in the crowded cafeteria. For what was their breakfast, they had a simple stew and dark bread. Fulfilling sustenance that the five novices could not otherwise enjoy. Kanrel observed both Uanna and Wen, and wondered whether they had gotten used to the taste of ash, or if it was as impossible for them as it was for him.
While eating, they discussed Kanrel's simulation and his thought process while diagnosing and treating Uanna.
"You know, I would accuse you of being a pervert if you weren't wearing the same robes as I am," Yviev said. "Just removing the robes of a beautiful woman, then squeezing her body all around, all this without asking for consent."
Kanrel blinked. "Yes, obviously. It is something that I'm willing to admit. I also found it rather uncomfortable when you ripped apart my clothing and exposed me to innocent eyes."
Yviev grinned her well-practiced grin. "If it had been Uanna, you wouldn't accuse her of such things," she accused.
Kanrel was silent for a moment, then said with a pondering tone, "Perhaps."
Yviev rolled her eyes. "Another one of your 'perhapses'." She then leaned closer to him and whispered to him, "Such words might get you more than you bargained for." She then eyed Uanna, who was writing something in her notes.
Kanrel couldn't help but swallow and then instantly began questioning himself. Why would he swallow? What was the reason behind that seemingly harmless action? Maybe it was just a suitable reaction that he should have, or the way he would've reacted before the ritual? He wasn't sure.
Yirn suddenly cleared his throat, garnering the attention of the rest. His expression was complicated, but worry was what shone through the brightest. "I fear that this will be a lot more painful than I could've ever guessed." Despite the worry on his face, he kept his tone even.
"Yes, I don't think that I can take it—not the pain, but the fact that I will be causing it to someone else," Uanna joined, and glanced at Wen.
Yviev shook her head. "Even still, we have to go through with it."
"More like it isn't that we can stop," Wen corrected. There was some desperation in her voice.
Kanrel stayed silent for a moment. He didn't have anything to add. But he knew how things could get better.
He finally spoke up, "I have some ideas on how to improve the process, at least in regard to the codes that we've been using."
They then spent another hour or so discussing the different codes that they had used. Kanrel shared some ideas for improvement that he had figured out; he even wrote some of them down so that the others could copy them for their own purposes later. They even discussed how to handle clothing, and ended up deciding that it would be better to simulate a real situation; they were kept on, and removed or moved only if it was needed for a proper diagnosis and treatment.
Two hours had passed before they returned to their now cold and less stale-aired simulation chamber. In total, five hours had passed since they had begun, and they still had another thirteen hours ahead of them. They had decided to mix things up so that they would have someone else operate on them and someone else they operated on. This way, they figured there'd be more variety and no instances where someone would torture another twice in a row.
For this, Kanrel was most pleased; he really didn't want to experience another round quite yet under the talented and torturous hands of a certain Miss Yviev.
Hours went by as they went through multiple simulations. They had grown slightly more experienced, and with improved codes, fewer mistakes happened. Uanna had improved perhaps the most; she was less panicky and less nervous while she operated on her next simulation partner, who happened to be Yirn.
The only other breaks they had were during lunch and dinner time, when they again reviewed the cases of the past few hours and improved their methods, as well as coding.
And when the day came to an end. Professor Forsvarn graced them with her presence. On her clothes, there was some blood, but she didn't seem to care, and the novices didn't dare to comment or show that they minded it.
"So far, I've not heard any complaints from the observers, though most of you aren't very good, but that was to be expected," she let her gaze study the tired novices, most of whom sat on their chairs barely staying up. It had been only the first day, and already many of them showed signs of the horrifying torture that they had gone through, yet there were no wounds, just memories of them.
She smacked her lips. "For the sake of you all, we won't be having a lecture right now; though it means that I'll be only available to have one in a week or so. Up until then, tomorrow will be the same as today, and so will be the day after tomorrow... It will all be spent here, in our simulation rooms, constantly performing more and more simulations."
"But for now, you may leave. Go to bed," she dismissed them and hurried off herself.
Kanrel was spent, and so were the other students. All of them had gone through considerable pain and agony throughout the day, not to mention the stress caused by the quick actions they had to take to 'save' their patients.
After the first rounds of simulations, no one wanted their fellow novices to feel the same way that they had felt, so everyone tried their best to ease their pain during the simulation and quickly resolve the cause of it.
The simulations began to form a sense of camaraderie among the novices, as they all had to go through the same pain themselves.
It had been dark when they first arrived that day at the Academic Hospital, and it was dark when they left.
The sun had long ago set when the regular students in the park could see as waves of tired novices walked past them without giving them much regard; their way made toward the southernmost building, where they would disappear out of sight.
Kanrel walked among them, his body aching as did his head. He had just one thought in mind: a bed that would not bring him agony.