Jane was seeing his brother less and less these days. Half of time, he wouldn't even see him at breakfast before being whisked off to some magic lesson. He knew that his brother was worried about him, especially since Jane was coming home beaten and battered lately. Perhaps unconsciously, he ate his dinner a bit louder, closed the door harder when he left, and thumped the ground with his feet as he walked. As if to let his brother know that he was still living in the same house.
"Teacher."
"Hmm?"
"Can you heal people with magic?"
His teacher frowned at him.
"I told you magic could do anything, so why would healing be an exception?"
"Then, can you teach me it?"
Jane looked down at his body, covered in bruises of varying ages. The pain wasn't much to him anymore, but it was definitely annoying to be constantly injured.
"Listen, my disciple. The risks I put you through are all calculated ones, so why do you think I'm foregoing giving you proper treatment?"
"Because you like seeing me suffer?"
"What kind of person do you think I am? No, the reason is that you have absolutely zero sense of caution."
"What?"
"There's only so many times you can do something that 'probably' won't kill you before it actually happens. Right now, you're being stopped by your dislike of injuries— but what if you could heal those right away? You would start injuring yourself even faster, and even more intensely."
"Alright, alright. Can you use it on me, then?"
"You... Well..."
His teacher looked a little conflicted.
"Why exactly do you have so little caution?"
"Because I can get myself out of bad situations, of course. I'm just as scared of death as anyone else would be."
Calex made an irritated expression. To him, his disciple's attitude must have been insulting to his experience.
"Really, no matter what I teach you, you'll end up dying in an accident, so... Here."
Calex quickly manifested a symbol in the air. Although it didn't look like syntax, it also didn't have any effect.
"It's just one rune? That's all that healing magic is?"
"Of course not. However, you should only need this much for now. This rune accelerates healing and growth within the body."
His teacher dispelled the rune, and recreated it on the grass. The blades shivered a little, and began expanding outwards. Their roots grew, too, pushing the soil around them upwards.
"Oh, and you'd probably end up killing yourself if I gave you a more advanced rune."
Jane glared at his teacher, feeling slighted.
---
On his elbow, there was an especially large bruise, staining the area below his skin black. He could not set that arm down on a table for a while now, and was completely fed up with it. Jane took off his shirt, and threw it in one corner of his room. Then, he began recreating the rune his teacher had showed him. He decided to call it 'Grow'.
Just like before, there was no immediate effect. This was because the rune only worked on living creatures. Jane moved his elbow closer to the midair symbol. As he watched the surface of his skin, he saw the dried blood reduce in density. He moved his arm a little closer, feeling impatient. The rate at which the wound was healing increased further, prompting him to move his elbow even more into the rune.
'Hmm? That looks a little—'
Jane immediately dispelled the magic, and brang his arm close to his eyes. While the bruise had healed, a large portion of the surrounding tissue had ballooned up in size, including the bones underneath. The skin was covered in little scars from how much it had to stretch to accommodate the increased amount of flesh.
'Oh, shit.'
Jane panicked, searching within his mind for a spell that would reverse the change he made. No matter what he thought of, however, he couldn't find a way to fix it. He steeled his nerves and ran out of his room.
Within the kitchen, there were a couple of decently sharp knives used for cooking. Jane grabbed the one with the best edge, and aimed it at the excess flesh on his arm. He took a deep breath, then sliced off the majority of the mass.
Immediately, a searing pain shot through the just-healed flesh of his arm. In his addled state of mind, he had cut through the bone of his elbow a little, as well, which greatly exacerbated what he was feeling. Ignoring the gruesome mass of flesh that he had sliced off, he gritted his teeth. His fingers grabbed the two edges of the wound he had made, and fought against the slippery coating of blood. As he pinched them together, tears began welling up in his eyes. Despite that, he focused completely on the task at hand.
Jane already knew what he needed to do now. He constructed another 'Grow' rune, and put it inside of a 'Condense'. Then, making sure to avoid his fingers, he brought the seam of his wound to the most concentrated area of effect. As one section of the seam would quickly form new skin, he ran his wound along the spell. After a few touch-ups on spots he had missed, the pain in his arm was more or less gone, and he dispelled the magic.
Panting, Jane reached for a towel and dabbed his tears away with it. He looked back at his elbow, too. The flesh formed an odd hump in a line around the wound, and there was a tumor where the bones had started to grow in size. Without shaving away the excess, his arm would stay misshapen forever. Jane flexed his joint a couple of times.
'At least it still works fine. Huh?'
A large portion of the counter was covered in blood, and there was a mass of human meat lying in it. Jane grabbed the slippery mass, which had one part covered in skin and a piece of bone embedded in the other. Applying pressure on it, he thought he could feel a slight pain in his elbow for a moment.
'What am I supposed to do with this? Eat it? Throw it away?'
Jane took a serious look at the flesh. It was a healthy red color, and the side with skin had a juicy layer of fat. The blood was already draining out of it, soon making it ready to eat. Jane made up his mind.
---
For the first time in a while, Jane was the one cooking breakfast. His skills weren't too great, but today's dish was rare enough that he could still make something passable. The smell of caramelized meat wafted through the house, soon attracting his brother downstairs. A look of surprise flashed across his face.
'It'll still take a while, huh?'
Meat was rare in this household, and so any chance of eating it could not be wasted— especially if it was free. Jane's sleeves hid the abnormality on his arm, betraying no signs of last night's accident. Soon, the dish was ready to serve.
Equal portions of the meat were served to both Jane and his brother, and the latter soon began eating. The meat was lean overall, but the strip of rendered fat lining one edge of it made it nice and flavorful when cooked. However, it was still human meat. Jane looked at his plate hesitantly, before mustering up the courage to take a bite.
'Huh. It's pretty good. Also, why do I feel like this isn't the first time I've eaten my own flesh?'
Jane didn't think about it too hard. As long as it tasted good, who cared what animal it was from?