Exalted Warlock 48 Chapter 9: Magical Disease

"Go get me that concoction," Shui called as he proceeded to make Bulut comfortable in his cot to the best of his effort.

Magnus quickly got into his role as an assistant and got the anesthesia that Shui required before he began the surgery.

He handed over the vial to Shui then got to work laying out the man's tools in an orderly fashion.

"Did you get the basin of water?" Shui asked once he finished administering the anesthesia for Bulut.

"Yep, it is over there," Magnus replied as he pointed his head towards the general direction of the water.

Magnus was quite surprised that this world's medicine was not so backwater. If this was old medieval Earth then Bulut's hand would have already been amputated. There would have not been any of that nonsense of trying to treat it.

"Good," with a nod of his head as he went over to the basin and washed his hands. "Let's start with removing this thing off his arm."

With that affirmation, both physician and his assistant got to the difficult chore of removing the faceless creature's head. It was long and gruesome work as they had to chop up the head into pieces since otherwise proved to be an impossible task.

Once that was done and the creature's head thrown away, they were at long last able to see the damage.

Magnus was thankful that his stomach was empty because seeing the bloody ruin of Bulut's arm made Magnus's stomach do a few backflips. There were plenty of teeth still stuck in his hand which had to be removed. However, what was worse was the torn apart mess those teeth made of Bulut's arm. He did not even know if his arm could be stitched together at all.

Also, there was the infection settling in, thanks to the immediate care that he did not receive as red, swollen lines crisscrossed all across his arm. Plus there were black veins covering his arm, which was something he had never seen. All that made the prospect of amputating his arm all the more favorable.

With all that stacked together; little chance for the large man's arm to be mended, infection setting in, and so forth. It made the possibility of him recovering the use of his arm all the more impossible.

As his mind slipped into a defeatist direction, Shui calm and orderly instructions cut through all the tumult of dismal thoughts. "Stanch the wounds while I remove the creature's teeth stuck in his arm."

"But," Magnus said, in a hesitant tone. As he wanted to voice his bleak opinion, but couldn't find the words to do so, or even the heart, for that matter.

Shui turned to face Magnus, looked down upon him, and asked, "Tell me, what have I taught you?"

"Stay calm, be rational, and make the impossible happen," Magnus replied. Voicing the mantra that Shui always told him to hold on to as a doctor.

"Now, are you following that?" Shui simply asked.

Magnus sighed then shook his head in reply. It is a difficult guideline to keep in this stressful line of work, but he had to admit, it was a good standard to keep. Still, sometimes they had to be practical and now was it. Amputation was the best course of action and it would be the best path to save Bulut's life.

Then doing as he was told, he grabbed some clean cloth and put pressure on the large man's wounds. Still, the wound gushed out rivulets of blood, before he knew it the cloth was already soaked through. Not letting go of the one he already held in his hand, Magnus reached out for another one and placed it on top of the soggy wet cloth.

Time passed as Shui removed one tooth after another from Bulut's mangled arm. Each one that was extracted created an echoing loud clank in the otherwise silent room as they were dropped into the bucket near at hand.

Magnus wanted to raise the concern of all the blood loss, since he was at his third cloth now going into his fourth. Yet, he could see Shui was buried, deep into his work. He would only be distracting him and more importantly, he might derail the whole delicate process going on. Anyways Shui knew what he was doing, he was after all the expert and instructor here, while he was the student and beginner.

"All done," Shui announced as he set aside his clamps. It was good timing as well since Magnus worry was now becoming perilous distress.

"How are his wounds," Shui asked.

"Not good, he is losing a lot of blood, and pretty fast as well," Magnus replied. 'If only they had been blood transfusion in this world,' he thought, 'this would not have been a major problem.'

"Well, all we have left to do is clean the infections and close up the wounds," Shui said, as he was determined to get this done.

Magnus wondered if Shui even heard him, but as his duty was laid out before him, he had to get to it. Gabbing the ointment which was basically an antibiotic, he handed it to Shui who was cleaning the wounds with a wet cloth.

Once the wounds were cleaned up, both doctor and his assistant started to apply the ointment all over the arm. After that, Magnus brought over the needle and bladder which Shui would use to get to work on stitching up Bulut's arm.

In any event, his worry about the blood soon became an actuality as Shui was stitching up the arm, Bulut when into shock. It was so abrupt and sudden the only warning they was Bulut's breath hitching as his body started to jerk and twitch then went into full blown spasm.

Magnus immediately knew what it was; hypovolemic shock and it happens when somebody loses too much fluid and blood. And in Bulut's cause that was blood, and a lot of it at that.

Magnus knew that there was no time to blame anyone, that would get him nowhere at all. He had to come up with something, anything or soon it would be cardiac arrest for Bulut.

As Magnus looked around the medical bay frantically, looking for something to help Bulut recover his blood. He realized there was only one way that could happen, a blood transfusion.

"Try to stabilize him," Magnus shouted to Shui who halted all of his work while he ran off. Magnus started to upturn everything in the medical bay, looking for something that could act as an IV line.

"Codex, is my blood type, still B+ or is it something else now?" Magnus asked. He knew of his previews body's blood types, but for this new body he had no clue what it was. He even started to wonder if these people had the same 8 blood types found back on Earth. This was a whole nother world so who knows.

"No! You have a different blood type," Codex answered.

"Shit," Magnus swore out loud, that would make everything that much more complicated. Though thankful he found something that could act as an IV line.

"What is my new blood? Or is it something that we do not know of?" Magnus asked with a sigh, wanting to get this over with.

"Thankfully it is one of the blood types back on Earth, AB+"

Well, that was good news. However, that now meant he could only give his blood to those who are AB+ like him. Well, here is to him hoping, as Magnus asked his question, "What is Bulut's blood type then?"

"I do not know," Codex replied. Then before Magnus could ask why, Codex got to it first, "Unlike you, who I am literally part of. For others, I can only do a surface level scan."

'Dang it,' Magnus thought. Now he has to figure out Bulut's blood type as well. Grabbing a few more other stuff, Magnus hurried over to Bulut's side. He knew how to find out a person's blood type. There were two tests needed; the first was an ABO typing then there was the RH typing as well.

Magnus was grateful for the personal education he gave himself. The public education system was never the best and was always lacking for him, so he took things into hands and taught himself all sorts of stuff from the web.

"What are you up to?" Shui asked as Magnus started to lay out everything he needed.

"I am trying to figure out his blood type," Magnus replied as he took a bit of Bulut's blood, which there was plenty of. "Also, I am going to do a blood transfusion," Magnus continued with as he easily figured out Bulut's blood type in a matter of a few minutes.

Shui looked at him like he was speaking nonsense, however before he could say anything Bulut went into cardiac arrest as he stopped breathing.

"Give him CPR," Magnus cried out to Shui as he poked vein in the elbow area. Fortunately, this was a medical knowledge that was known in this world as Shui started to pump Bulut's chest.

And was more Magnus realized how advanced this world was compared to its counterpart, medieval Earth. People in that time period would have been shitting themselves thinking that the person in shock is being possessed by some demon.

Poking Bulut veins in his elbow region with the other end of the makeshift IV line, blood started to slowly drain out of Magnus's body then into Bulut. Then suddenly, Bulut took in a deep intake of breath like he came out of the deep end of the pool.

Magnus sighed in relief as the ax-wielding man started to get his breathing back under control and eased his body. He was extremely lucky that he and the big man had the same blood types or it would have been the end of the line for him.

Shui simply looked at him with an appreciative look and a nod of his head. Then the physician once more grabbed the needle and got to stitching up the wounds. "What is it that you did?" Shui asked while he continued with his task.

Magnus didn't know how to explain it to him, he did not even know that the man would understand him. It would obviously be best to keep it simple and to the point. "I am transferring some of my lifeblood into him, so that he could keep his strength and vitality up."

"Mhh," Shui said as he mulled it over while Magnus hoped that he would accept it, for what it was worth. "Why haven't I never thought about that? It is quite the brilliant idea when I think about all the uses it could bring."

Magnus was quite amazed, the man was already thinking about all the useful good that this procedure could bring. If Shui had the know-how of modern medicine back on Earth, Magnus knew he would have been a medical genius.

Then Shui turned to face Magnus and asked him, "Did you come up with this idea?"

Magnus shook promptly shook his head, he did not like taking other people's credit even if they were millions of kilometers away and long dead. It just wasn't how he rolled.

"Then who did?" Shui asked.

Magnus paused, he just realized that he created a problem for himself, what was he going to saw. He could say some British man back on Earth in the early 19th century came up with this process.

Damn his integrity and honor, it has never did him any good or got him anywhere in life.

Sucking it all right up as he was to blame for his cumbersome situation, Magnus replied with a lie. "I meant a wise man a long time ago and saw him perform this exact procedure to save a man's life."

"So what were you doing before he started to give him some of your lifeblood?" Shui asked as Magnus say the scholarly interest in his eyes.

Well, he was already halfway through the door, so why not step in. Thus Magnus explained blood types to Shui in terms that he could understand.

"Well, you will have to explain this to me, all later. It is quite some interesting stuff, I only hoped that I met that wise man."

"He was only passing through," Magnus hastily stated, trying to draw this all to a close.

"Well, I can't wait to pick your mind, and you must have quite the good memory, remembering all that."

"Yes," Magnus said as he gave a strained smile while thinking-- what the hell have I gotten myself into.

It was slow and steady work after that, as Shui closed up the numerous small wounds that dotted Bulut's arm and Magnus transfused new blood into his system. Though as luck would have it Bulut remained stable after his single misfit.

Once Shui finished stitching up Bulut, Magnus also saw no reason to continue donating any more blood. He already gave up more than a liter and was starting to feel light-headed. Unlatching the line from his vein, he tried to get up from the chair he sat himself on to give himself some elevation. He wanted to go get the bandages but nearly fell over when he took just one step.

"Whoa, take it easy," Shui said as he rushed over to Magnus's side to help.

"I am alright," Magnus declared as he grabbed his head to slow all the spinning. "Just needed to find my footing."

"No, no, no," Shui said as the physician forcefully sat him back on his seat. "You need to rest and take it easy. I will go get the bandages, so don't worry yourself about it."

"Alright," Magnus said as he knew that was good advice. Feeling a bit parched, he asked Shui before he left, "Could you also get me some water?"

Shui nodded his head then headed off, then before long he was back with all he needed and hand Magnus the water he requested. "Thanks," Magnus said with an appreciative nod as he swiftly gulped the water in seconds.

"Do you need me to get more?" Shui asked as he stared at him in amazement.

Magnus shook his head, and replied with a simple "No." There was more pressing concern than his thirst, namely Bulut.

"Alright," Shui said as he started to bandage Bulut's arm. "You know I should have listened to you," Shui suddenly said while he was working.

"What do you mean?" Magnus asked, a bit confused about what he was talking about.

"You have the correct mentality. We should have amputated the arm, but in my desire to save him, we almost lost him."

"Well, what counts in the end, is the result," Magnus said with a shrug. He did have the opinion of amputating Bulut's arm, except that Shui had another belief and in the end, it did pan out.

"Yes, you are right, in the end all that matters is the result," Shui said. Magnus had the feeling that his words did not have the intended effect that he was hoping for, boasting Shui confidence and sweeping his worries aside.

Trying to get a feel for things Magnus asked, "Isn't Bulut stable now?"

"Yes, he is," Shui replied, "but he won't be for long."

"Ahh, what do you mean?"

"Come have a look, if you are able to stand and walk."

Now that Shui presented a whole nother troubling issue, there was no way that Magnus could be sitting around. Getting up from his chair, he hastily made his way over to Bulut's side and asked Shui. "What is wrong?" as he tried to look over the man's shoulder.

"This is the issue," Shui said as pointed his fingers to the black lines he noticed before. Now they were more prominent than before; like veins, as they crisscrossed all over the large man's arm and all the way to his shoulder.

"What is it?" Magnus asked, not daring to touch it.

"Magical infection from that faceless creature."

"Magical what now?" Magnus shouted, unbelieving at what he heard. 'Of course there would be magical diseases out there,' he thought as sighed audibly, 'why wouldn't there, huh?' Still, the prospect of that, sent a shiver down his spine, normal disease and contamination were bad enough, now, how much more dreadful would magical diseases be?

"Yes, that thing carried a magical contamination in its teeth and claws. Now, I thought that the ointment would heal it, but it looks like it is out of my playing field."

"Wait," Magnus said as he held out his hand for Shui to pause. There was something bugging him, as Soykan said Magic just can't be learned at the flip of a hat. Therefore how were these mindless creatures able to learn it.

And that was the exact question that Magnus raised, "These things know magic?"

"No, no, no," Shui uttered as he shook his head. "At first, I thought that it was an ability of theirs' but that does not seem to be the cause since this infection is more potent than any ability that they should have."

"Okay," Magnus remarked, "So what is going on here than?"

"My theory is that somebody or something much more powerful Imbued these creatures with his or her magic. That is the only thing that could make sense, though I have no idea how these things were able to stand all that potent magic permeating through them."

Getting back on track, Magnus asked, "So if you can't cure this then who can?"

"The only people I know who can is a Magical doctor."

"And where the hell are we supposed to find such a person?"

Chapter end