Twisted Destiny

Part 2 - The Wizard

Lantana stood frozen around the remains of the glass. What the hell had just happened? What did Violet mean by fury of the gods? Was Violet okay? So many questions filled her mind, but none were answered. After a while, Lantana just quit and sat with her head in her knees in the middle of the glass. She could feel the sharp points digging into her skin, but she didn't care.

"For all I know, Violet has to suffer through all of this pain to save me. It's all my fault. It's my fault she's dead. It is all my fault that the gods are mad at the kingdom. Everything is my fault,"

She didn't know how long she sat there until someone found her.

"Princess!" She heard. "Ah, this is where you have been this whole time. Come on. Up, up, we need to get you examined at the apothecary. Even though your friend sacrificed herself for you, there still could be some lasting injury."

The alcohol had worn off now, and Lantana was able to extract one thing. Sacrifice. Violet had sacrificed herself. She was dead.

-------- ≪ ｡❅*⋆⍋⋆*❅｡ ≫ --------

Lantana took the long walk to the apothecary. It was all the way across the castle, and Lantana had many cuts. She had to heavily lean on the handmaiden as support the whole way there.  She felt dread and guilt the whole way. Violet was dead because of her. There was a surprise once the handmaiden pushed open the doors though.

There was a boy who looked a few years older than Lantana leaning over someone on one of the beds. He was waving his around in circles, and was muttering a strange incantation. There were light blue sparks flying around the person on the bed and occasionally going into them. As the handmaiden led Lantana to one of the open beds, she passed the boy. Lantana got a glimpse of his patient though. It was Violet. If she was here in the apothecary, that meant she was still alive. Lantana stopped dead in her tracks, and somehow found her voice to ask him a question.

"Who are you?"

The handmaiden who seemed to be annoyed at the slight disturbance tried to usher Lantana on again, but the boy waved her away, and smiled widely at Lantana.

"A person," he replied

"Very funny. Now tell me who you are and what you're doing with my friend,"

His smile dipped a bit but he gave a suitable answer this time.

"I'm a wizard. Now with your friend, I'm healing her. I don't know if you were aware, but she is very close to death. I have made her better though," he replied simply.

Lantana stares at him with her mouth gaping open.

"Since when do we have a wizard in the castle?"

"Since three years ago,"

Lantana then peeked over the wizard's shoulder to see Violet. She jerked back the second she set her eyes on her. Violet's face was a deathly pale, drained of all color. Her eyes were shut, and the dress that Lantana had lent her was soaked through with blood. Lantana saw a pile of glass beside her and felt sick. The pieces were all coated with blood and varied in size. The wizard seemed to have done his job well though because it looked like all the glass was extracted. There were huge pieces, but also tiny little pieces that were no bigger  than pebbles. Lantana sneaked another peak at a Violet to make sure she was actually alive, and was relieved to see her chest was rising and falling. As small as her breaths were, she was still alive for the time being, and she would probably be okay.

Lantana sat down on one of the vacant beds, and one of the doctors quickly hurried over. They were able to take the pieces out of Lantana without magic, but it hurt. The doctor carefully bandaged the wounds and told Lantana to stay there for the night so they could monitor her. She would much rather have them concentrate all their attention on Violet, but she didn't complain. It had been an eventful night, and she was tired.