Jade frowned when she noticed the sun was setting. That had taken way more time than she’d hoped for, but it was going to be excellent for her growth tonight, so she supposed it was worth it. She’d taken meticulous note of what each of them taught, given that she wanted to take only the best from them.
Instead of going to the library since it was so late, Stephen walked her back to The Green Dragon. She didn’t even try to touch anyone, even though she hadn’t touched anyone on the streets all day. She didn’t need to. Four academy students, the royal family of eight, fourteen shopkeepers, including two knights, the three guards at the school gate, the three knights and a baronet who’d helped them move her things, and seventeen professors. No, she didn’t feel the need to try and touch anyone else today.
“Sleep well, Jade” Stephen gave her a small hug as he pushed her inside.
She glanced back at him as she entered, saying serenely, “Oh, I’ll sleep so well, I’ll feel like a whole new person tomorrow.” Changes were coming. Massive changes.
In anticipation of that, she cheerfully greeted Raphael, Jessica, and Kaylee. Instead of waiting for the hunger pains to hit her in the middle of the night, she just ate another gigantic meal then and there, still taking more to her room so she wouldn’t have to raid the kitchen. She bid them goodnight before going up to her room to get ready for bed.
Finally laying down in excitement, she went through all of her notifications, matching them to her mental notes of who she’d touched that day. She made her decisions, then clicked on them all at once mentally.
It was a pain unlike any other night. She’d believed she would pass out almost immediately, but the sheer agony wouldn’t even let her pass out peacefully. Her jaw was locked shut to stop herself from screaming bloody murder. It felt like she was being burned from the inside out. After around three minutes, her body could no longer take the pain, and she finally welcomed the blackness.
Her last thought was simple.
I think I finally overloaded the system...
Chapter Twenty-Six – Consequences
Day Four
Jade felt like she’d been hit by a truck again, only worse. Like maybe she’d been smashed by two trucks instead. Her whole body was still in pain when she woke up, and she barely had the energy to reach over and pull the bag she’d put next to her bed closer. Reaching in, she slowly began to eat the bread she pulled out. Each movement was excruciating, and she felt tears sliding down her face in protest. The salty water mixed with her bread because she didn’t have the energy to move it away from her face.
All she knew was that she was never going to do that again. Her body was protesting, and she didn’t even dare heal herself because of what Mike had told her. He could heal the pain, but it would probably come at the cost of stunting her growth. Plus, that would probably take more energy, which she wasn’t sure was a great idea right now either. So she slowly curled up around her pillow and cried, trying to muffle the soft sobs she could no longer hold in. Every sob only seemed to amplify the pain, making her body spasm periodically.
She closed her eyes, wondering if she’d broken herself and her body wasn’t going to get better anymore. Completely exhausted, she slowly drifted back off into a fitful sleep.
She woke a few more times, only able to eat a little bread before her energy gave out each time until she could no longer make herself reach for food. She no longer sobbed, having given it up as pointlessly aggravating her condition. Tears still silently streamed down, but she didn’t have the presence of mind to try and keep the water in. For the first time since she’d come to this world, she felt completely helpless, her body so overstressed that she couldn’t move a muscle.
When Kaylee knocked on her door a few hours later like she had yesterday, Jade couldn’t even bring herself to formulate a response. She just stared at the ceiling and mentally clicked on a box that was blinking red instead of the customary blue.
Warning: You have siphoned more than your body can currently accommodate. Time spent adapting has been doubled.
Warning: Your body lacks the energy to complete the siphon changes.
Well, that explained why she was still in pain. It also explained why it was so hard to move her muscles. If she didn’t have the ATP to power her cells, she’d get rigor mortis. It seemed the magic had made it so she wasn’t quite to that point yet, and the little amount of food she’d managed to eat was probably helping...but she was in trouble. If she didn’t get help soon, she figured she was actually close to dying because her body was eating energy faster than she could make it. She heard Kaylee knocking louder, but she couldn’t call out and her door was locked.
Mentally, she screamed at Kaylee, “Help me!” Her body spasmed in pain, seemingly in response to her cry. She felt even weaker than before. She closed her eyes, unable to hold them open any longer.
“Something is wrong! We need to get in there, right now!” She could vaguely hear Kaylee’s frantic yells. She could hear pounding footsteps and then a key was scraping across the lock. Oh good, someone has a spare… Her mind was all that was functioning properly right now, and even that now felt like she was slogging through a mire.
The door burst open and she could hear the footsteps of several people rushing in. She heard Kaylee’s gasp of shock. “She’s so pale! Is she even breathing?”
Raphael yelled at someone at the door, “Go fetch a healer, NOW!”
She didn’t need a healer; she needed food. With as much effort as she could muster, she tried to speak, “Enn…” She couldn’t even finish one stupid word before she started coughing, trying to get more air into her lungs.
“She’s alive! Get her some water!”
What seemed like eons later, but was probably only half a minute, she heard Jessica crooning softly as she supported Jade’s head. “Try and swallow this, please.” She heard the even quieter mutter that came after, “Please, please be okay…” Still, she felt the cold water dripping into her mouth, moistening the bone-dry cavity. Unable to swallow, she just savored the water. It would help, she knew—not much, but at least a little. She continued to slowly take in the water Jessica gave her gratefully. It would stop her from dying for the moment, at least. Hopefully.
She heard someone else come into the room, and she wanted to smile when she heard his voice, but couldn’t make her lips move. “Move aside. Let me see her.” Mike would take care of her, right? She felt his hand on her arm, the brief flash of warmth moving through her as she felt his magic. She could hear his sharp intake of breath because the room had gone silent in anticipation. He quickly ordered the others around, “Go, get some soup, broth, juice, anything she can drink that has substance.”
She heard several people scurrying to obey his orders as Jessica, who was still supporting her head and feeding her water, asked fearfully, “Doctor, what’s wrong with her?”
She could almost hear the frown in Mike’s voice as he spoke, “Her body is starving. Her muscles are undergoing a tremendous change, and her body didn’t have the energy to support it, but it kept trying. It looks like she was trying to eat something, but she didn’t have the energy to do even that because the rest of her body was eating it up so quickly. She’s severely dehydrated and almost in a state of starvation, but otherwise, she’s fine. Keep giving her the water until they bring something more substantial.”