Galen often sat in his counterpart’s room since the switch. He had gone through each of the books and journals that filled the shelves, read every word of the stacks of papers on the desk.

His counterpart, Jason, was clearly intelligent.

He was able to understand some of what he read, knowing it was all medical journals. But the words they used were different and the acts that this world had been capable of were… astounding.

Without magic they managed to save people lost to death through resuscitation. They had transplanted organs between people, prolonging the lives of others. Their prosthetics were capable of far more than even the best mage could create.

It was incredible.

And terrifying.

There were illnesses he had never heard of, things he couldn’t comprehend. And there were things he had long since overlooked.

Allergies were almost a new concept to learn about, any common village healer able to change the body enough to end the reaction for the rest of the individual’s life. Asthma was the same.

Illnesses he had known about were treated differently – with similar results. He almost laughed when he discovered that neither world had found a remedy for the Common Cold.