Laurel shudders in the real world. Mellisa grips her girl with all her might. "Mom?" The girl asks with a raspy voice. "Oh honey, you"re awake!" Mellisa replies rubbing away her tears trying to cover up her fear."Are you hungry?" Mellisa asks with a bright smile patting the girls head. "Yeah," Laurel says weekly. "Alright let"s get you cleaned up then we"ll get some breakfast." The mother says suppressing her tears. She takes a wet cloth and wipes away the blood and sweat from the girls face.
Outside Catherine and Elanor are flying over the Unbroken Region. Elanor had no problem pulling her silly disciple along with her. "It"s not much farther master," Elanor says pointing out the small hill and clearing.
As they grew close to the village, they began to cause a commotion, the village didn"t see someone flying overhead every day. "Daddy, big sis bully!" Donna screeches jumping up and down in excitement while pulling her dad"s arm.
The two flew over the village heading towards the hill. Joe snorts angrily as he eyes the two women. "Snorting at me?" Catherine harrumphs, "You wanted to get back at the bull right." Elanor eyes open wide as she nods, "thanks mas..." Before she can finish Catherine grabs her by the ankle flinging the girl right at the bull.
The demonic bull surprised by the sudden kamikaze attack didn"t have time to dodge. The flashily dressed disciple smashes right into the large gut of Joe, sending both the bull and the woman, flying off the hill and smashing into the forest.
Catherine gracefully lands on top of the hill in front of a bush. The bush was about as tall as her knee. She slowly squats down elegantly and looks curiously at the bush. "So you"re the one telling my idiot disciple to teach someone."
John froze as he took in the previous events. I"m just a bush no one is here he thought. Concealing his presence he thinks, No ones here but us normal plants."Do you think I"m an idiot like that girl? Should I pull you up by the roots so you can join them?" She asks annoyed at the games.
"Alright, you caught me," John says his branches drooping sadly. "So why are you playing tricks on people in the form of a bush?" Catherine asks sternly. "I grew from a seed, so I"ve been like this my whole life," John says shaking his leaves convincingly. "I"ll admit I have memories from my previous life. If you ask me why my samasara didn"t go as usual? How would someone like me know?" He says waving his branches frantically.
Sighing Catherine stands up. "Fine, what"s this about having my disciple teach someone?" John shrugs with his branches. "It"s nothing special. The only way she can survive is to become a cultivator." Catherine looks down at the village and asks "What makes you say that?" John shakes his branches in a head shakey way. "I"m not sure, but she seems to have unleashed a bloodline of some kind? I could be wrong though I"m not an expert on such things."
The graying female cultivator rubs the base of her nose. "Why is everyone... I"ll go take a look." She turns and flies down towards the village.
As she lands an older man, runs over. "I hope we haven"t offended miss in any way." He states nervously while bowing. "Hmm, oh that?" She says looking back at the hill she continues, "Don"t worry those two are fine."
She then looks around a bit. "So where"s the girl?" Gregory confused humbly asks "Girl?" "Yes, the girl, ugh, never mind I"ll find her myself." She then sweeps the small village with her senses quickly picking out Laurel.
"There." She says walking towards Laurel"s house she gently, shoves Gregory out of the way. She ignores the questioning looks of the villagers and soon reaches the hovel. She glances at the Sentinel Bell flower with a slight nod. She flings open the door and looks directly at the pale girl.
"So this is where you were hiding? Alright, let me take a look at you." Catherine states as she strides toward the girl. "Wait who are you?" Mellisa asks trying to block the woman"s way. "The mother? Don"t worry I"m here to help. Didn"t that girl Elanor mention me?" Catherine asks while patting the mother on the shoulder. "You"re Elanor"s master?" Laurel asks weakly.
"That"s right," Catherine says as she removes her pa.s.sive face and puts on a gentle smile. "Now let"s get to it." She says bending down over the girl. Mellisa nervously looks on as Catherine gave a thorough check-up. It seemed all very normal to her. Not magical or supernatural at all.
As Catherine checks, the girl"s bloodshot eyes she clicks her tongue. "That plant knew more then he let on," she mumbles. "What? Is something wrong with her eyes?" Mellisa asks with worry. "Hmm, oh perhaps. I"m not done checking her yet." Catherine says without looking away from her patient.
After an hour she finishes examining the girl. Just as she stands up the door flings open with a disheveled beauty standing in the entrance. "Master! Don"t be so rough with me I"m delicate." Catherine snorts, "You"re a lot of things, but delicate isn"t one of them."
Ignoring her disciple, she pulls out some medicinal herbs and quickly mixes them into a pill. "Here have her take this before bed and in the morning." The old healer says handing a bag full of pills to Mellisa. "Does this mean she can be cured?!" The beleaguered mother asks with excitement.
"No, I"m afraid not. There is no cure for this girl." Catherine says shaking her head. Then she looks at the disappointed Elanor and says, "You have your work cut out for you if you want her to survive. Even your current strength isn"t sufficient to stabilize the situation."
"What"s going on please tell me, doctor!" Mellisa begs Catherine with tears in her eyes. "She"s generated divining eyes." Shaking her head and sighing she continues, "if she was from a great clan they"d, rejoice. Yet, for a normal person, it"s truly a death sentence. Even a great clan might not keep their prize alive. Well, it"s up to you now." She says patting her disciple"s shoulder as she leaves.
"Alright, time to visit the stupid mother who destroyed her arm." She states walking to a garden that a woman with a sling is tending. "May I help you?" Anna asks as the older woman approaches her. Without saying anything, Catherine grabs her arm causing Anna to wince.
"Let go of my mom!" Franklin says running over with his wooden sword. "No, it"s alright Franklin," Anna says holding up her good arm to stop him. "Kid"s have too much energy, reminds me of that good for nothing disciple of mine." Catherine then just looks at the boy who freezes in place before collapsing.
"Franklin!" Anna screams. "Don"t worry he"s just asleep. I wouldn"t come here just to bully some n.o.bodies." Catherine says as she examines the mother"s arm. Anna sucks in her breath with relief, but she couldn"t keep her worry from her eyes.
"This is what you get for using a forbidden technique." The healer says sighing. "I won"t say anything since it was to save your kid." Anna smiles at the woman as she replies, "I knew this would happen. In fact, I thought I would die."
"Ha, you"re lucky you didn"t, with such shoddy healing," Catherine chides Anna. "Now, this might hurt just bear with it," she says as she gathers energy and sends it flowing into Anna.
Anna"s eyes shot open as the pain was excruciating. It felt as if her whole body was being torn apart and reformed. Especially in her arm which felt like the broken bones were digging and slithering through her arm. Soon she couldn"t maintain her consciousness and collapses to the ground.
"Well, my works done," Catherine says with a big smile as she stretches her back. Then she soars into the sky leaving her disciple behind.