Limits

I had to have my Aura activated at all times, when wandering around the infected area. If I allowed my condition to get worse too, we could be doomed. Back at the severely infected zone, I tried using my Aura to affect the Voltar with purple skin. As soon as my Aura entered his body, he began vomiting purple blood. I stopped, letting him rest a bit. "I know this doesn't feel good, but we need to do this. If this is a viable method to stop the poison for even a bit, it will be worth it".

He laughed, "Do it Human! I already abandoned any hope". I tried once more, while the Voltar vomited more and more purple blood. Even though he lost so much blood, he looked a bit better. I gave him some medicine, and awaited the results. The Voltar fell asleep for a while. When he finally woke up, he exclaimed "I feel a bit better! It seems whatever you did, worked!".

'Yea... It worked, but the degree of this "work" is rubbish. Let's test the antidote next' I thought, and passed him some. He drank it, and we waited a while. "I don't feel any different" he said. The antidote I gave him was rather strong, I was a bit surprised it had no effects. 'Alright then, let's try freezing him a bit' I thought and extended my right arm. "I will cool your body down, this might be a bit uncomfortable, but bear with it". He nodded, and I released the Power of Ice.

His temperature dropped, while some cold air escaped his mouth. I stopped at that point, and check his body over. The blood slowed down, and wasn't as active as before. He nodded slowly, and said "The feeling of something eating me from inside lessened. I feel like going to sleep though". I tried my Aura once more. With the blood slowed down, I hoped for better effects.

This time, he didn't vomit straight away, instead my Aura circulated his system for a while. When he vomited blood, it was a bit less purple. He also told me he felt better. 'This is very slow, and I would need a lot of medicine to cure one Voltar. Although his symptoms lessened, they will return after awhile' I thought. This was not a solution, but a temporary prevention. I said, "Rest for now, I will visit others, and do the same. Hopefully you guys can last until the herbs arrive".

He closed his eyes, and fell asleep. I repeated this process on the severely infected Voltars, but my medicine was running dry. There were exactly forty-six Voltars with severe infection. I tried helping them all, but my stack of medicine was almost gone. I only had around a dozen bottles left. I also had about two dozen of stronger medicine, but no Greater Medical Extract. The herbs required for that medicine were planted recently, they wouldn't sprout for a while.

I then did the same to mildly infected Voltars, but didn't use my medicine anymore. They had much more strength compared to the severely infected Voltars, and could hold on without my medicine. The healthiest Voltars were almost fully cured. Although I told them not to leave. They still had poison inside their bodies, and could infect others given enough time. Using my Auras for such a long time, tired me out a lot. I needed to rest, and rest somewhere where the poison wouldn't affect me.

I notified the Voltars that I was leaving for a while, and would return soon. When I left the infected area, a lot more guards were stationed there. A few Inner Limits Voltars were there too. When they saw me exit, one of them said "We need you to stay where you are. We can't allow for this plague to infect others". I replied, "I'm not infected thanks to my Aura. You can monitor me if you want, but I will go back there as soon as I got some sleep. Which place can I use to rest?".

They didn't expect me to just cooperate, but I had nothing to hide really. They pointed me to a building at the side, and told me I could stay there. They also made it clear that I couldn't leave without being observed first. I didn't mind. Besides, I already told them I would go back to the infected area again. The time slowly passed, while I tried to sustain the lives of the Voltars inside the infected area. I was mostly focused on the severely infected, because they needed most attention.

Every once in awhile, I would leave that area and check for news. Lerion was gone for quite some time already, and I was getting worried. Fortunately, that was unnecessary. Lerion did return with all the herbs, and even a bit more than I specified on the note he got. "Alright, this should be enough. Stay inside or somewhere outside if you want. I might need some help still". He nodded, and stayed inside the city. I on the other hand, returned to the Infected area and made my way to one of the houses. I had loads to do, and Extracts were a must at this stage. Normal medicine, antidotes or poison was simply useless here.

I wasn't after the usual Extracts either. I had to come up with something new, something that was stronger than the poison in their bodies. My experimentations started. I had access to five different herbs, with poisonous effects. Those were the Ghost Flax, which usually wasn't poisonous, but could be. Then there were the four herbs I got from Endrosian Empire. The Loom Flowers, Ill Sprouts, Erasing Shroom and Pooling Shots. Each of those herbs were not that poisonous, but I knew certain combinations might produce some weird effects. At least, that was what I hoped for.

I tried mixing those herbs in different proportions, at different temperatures and cooking times. Of course I used very small quantities of the herbs, as I couldn't really waste them too much. This process alone, took me some time. Not only did I work on the new poison, antidote and even medicine, I also had to monitor the whole infected population of Voltars.

The days slowly passed again. The results were not that great though. I tried all the herbs I had, but the poison I could create, was nowhere near what I required. 'This is a problem. Not only do I not have a solution, I'm staying in this place for too long' I thought. Although Eterians shouldn't be aware of my whereabouts, I couldn't be entirely sure on that either.

I needed something new, something that didn't require rare herbs to accomplish this. 'Pressure points don't work. My Aura works, but in a limited way. The herbs I have, are not enough to cure this... Freezing those Voltars, is not going to be the solution either' I thought. There was nothing I could come up with. There was nothing at my disposal to completely cure those severely infected.

This bugged my mind for some time. I was only able to preserve their conditions, not cure them. 'Would Nick be able to cure this?' I asked myself. Nick didn't teach me everything he knew, there was simply no time for that. From all the knowledge he possessed, he passed the bare minimum to me. I left the house, and looked at the Voltars suffering everywhere. There was no point for me to deceive them, I had no cure, and I wouldn't get it in a long time. Perhaps if I had access to those rarer herbs, I would be able to cure it.

I shouted for everyone to hear, "I'm sorry, I can't cure it. Not with what I have available to me here. I don't have access to better herbs, I don't have a method to cure you guys. I can help those slightly affected, but anyone else… I can't do anything".

Most Voltars dropped their head down. They lost hope, but I had no way of helping them. Even if I went to Apium and returned with better herbs, I'd still need to figure out the poison and antidote. My trip alone would take time, and time was something a lot of Voltars didn't have. Half if not more of them would die before I returned. More could die, before I even had the cure. The least I could do was save those with light infection.

A few Voltars approached me, while one of them spoke for the group. "You did what you could. You wanted to help us, we know that fully well. We can only ask you to save as many of us here, as it is possible. We Voltars gathered here, we are still very grateful for what you did". Some other Voltars said stuff like "It's a shame I can't give this plague to those damned Eterians", "He did what he can, that counts" and "A Human with more compassion than our own kind. We should be ashamed".

It wasn't compassion. I had selfish desires to help them as well. I sighed. 'These Voltars placed their hopes and trust onto me. I still feel like shit, to fail them like that' I thought. I decided to stay a bit longer, cure those who could be cured, and work on new ideas. Anything new that could help them, this was as much as I could do.