‘You… healed,’ said Elias in a confounded whisper.

Luna turned to him, equally baffled. ‘Wasn’t I able to before?’ she asked. There were novels she had read before that revolved around sorcerers, wizards, magicians, and the likes of it, and they were all able to heal by themselves.

Elias shook his head. ‘There hasn’t been a Healer since five decades ago,’ he said quietly.

‘Impressive!’ said Lucilius, clapping his hands. ‘Sirius has been blessed with a Healer after a long time.’

Luna glared at him. Weren’t you the one who wanted to kill me just now?

Then, as the thought crossed her mind, a smile crept to her face. She folded her arms across my chest. ‘See, I told you you’d regret it if you were to kill me—I turned out to be a blessing, didn’t I?’ she said.

Lucilius returned her smile but his version looked like he had just killed someone and was unnecessarily proud of it. 

‘It’s still a shame to have lost the greatest magician of the decade,’ he said. ‘But I guess it can’t be helped.’

‘Weren’t you so intent on beheading me earlier?’ She questioned.

‘As of today, I appoint you as the Healer of Sirius,’ he announced, dismissing her. ‘And this shall not leave the Great Hall, for whoever’s present.’

Silence engulfed the room like a slicing blade. Nobody dared to say anything; they all had their heads down.

Elias nudged her elbow. ‘Your gratitude,’ he whispered.

Luna frowned. ‘But I never agreed to it,’ she whispered back.

The redhead clearly disapproved of her answer. ‘It doesn’t work like that,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t an offer; it was an order.’

Luna rolled her eyes and mumbled a thanks that no one heard.

‘I shall pardon you for all your offences you have committed today, Luna Eir Seraphinus,’ Lucilius said. ‘But Elias, you put up a barrier against me.’

Elias stayed silent as he moved to a kneeling position, one knee against the ground. ‘Forgive me, Your Majesty. It wasn’t my—’

He was cut off. ‘Your public execution is this evening,’ said Lucilius.

What!? Luna quickly grabbed Elias’s arm. ‘You’re not doing that!’ She hissed.

Lucilius crossed his arms. ‘It’s so refreshing to see you like this,’ he said. ‘You used to act like a mute. Nodding your head whenever I give orders, a simple “yes” or “no” whenever I ask. No questions, no arguments—’ he glanced at the guards by his side. ‘Take her away.’

Two guards moved towards her. ‘No, wait!’ Luna yelled and backed away. They hesitated and looked at Lucilius for confirmation. He nodded, as in “proceed” and so they did.

‘No!’ She desperately screamed, and the soldiers looked as if they wanted to die as they were torn between orders. ‘Wait, listen! If you try to kill him, I’ll just heal him again before his life runs out!’

Lucilius hummed. ‘Smart, but I’ll just keep killing him until you give up.’

She frowned. 

‘That, or I could just lock you up,’ he said, shrugging, then gestured at the guards to continue their job. 

‘Wait, wait, wait!’ She yelled again, panicked because they were approaching. 

Out of nowhere, Lucilius pulled out a wrapped candy and threw it into his mouth after unwrapping it 

Luna had run out of ideas. So she just said whatever was in her mind. ‘As your Healer, I kindly ask you to spare his life.’

He stared at her like she had just given him a Maths equation to answer.

Then he hummed. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘In conjunction with your bizarre behaviour, I won’t kill him—He’s the last Primaeval Magician on the grounds of Sirius anyway.’

Her lips arched into a grin.

‘Quickly get out of my sight. You guys are annoying.’

‘Thank you, Your Majesty!’ She chirped and ran to the door, dragging Elias along.

***

Elias’ steps were silent and he walked ahead of her, seemingly in a deep thought, which baulked Luna from saying anything.

‘Where…’ he began without looking into her direction.

‘Hmm?’

‘Where did you learn healing?’ he asked.

‘Learn? I never learned it,’ she said. ‘It just happened.’

‘But that’s impossible, you weren’t a Healer before.’

Luna shrugged. ‘Well, maybe I’m different. Maybe the ability just suddenly decided to pop up right then.’

He sighed. ‘It’s true the attack might have messed you up but this is a rare case–in fact, this hasn’t happened before.’

‘I wonder if the attack was really by the bandits,’ she said and he glanced at her. When she realised Elias was waiting for her explanation, she quickly added, ‘I mean, why would they go as far as vanishing my magic if all they wanted was to rob me?’

He hummed. ‘Makes sense. But assassins should know better than attacking you; your senses are beyond this world. A few have tried before but after you killed them over and over again, they knew not to go after you anymore. It’s just this time that they got lucky.’

‘Assassins…’ She murmured. She hadn’t heard of that term for a long time. Perhaps because in her world, those people were scarce and irrelevant in the era. And to think that people were going after her throat endlessly–she shivered at the thought.

Elias reached the end of the hallway where there was a door. ‘I’ll send you back to your manor,’ he said. She had no clue about the whole place so she accepted immediately. It felt like she was on a school excursion, constantly waiting for the next instructions.

As he opened the door, sunlight pierced in and Luna squinted her eyes. ‘You have a room in the Turrim,’ he said, leading her under a roofed pathway in which on either side were beds of colourful flowers. They sparkled nicely while bathed in the sunlight. ‘But you really fancied the special residence His Majesty built for you after you started as the Official Magician.’

‘What’s Turrim?’ She asked.

‘The Magus Turrim. The magic tower for magicians of Sirius. It’s where we work or do research or observe stuff,’ he replied. ‘The tower manifests special magic mana. It has been our source for healing and energising people. But of course, it can’t heal as well as you did. We still need physicians; the tower only fastens the process.’

Luna nodded in understanding.

‘The manor His Majesty built for you is strategically located so you could reach the palace or him quickly even without using teleportation.’

‘I can teleport?’ Luna asked, eyes gleamed in surprise.

He smiled. ‘Yes.’

They reached a huge manor; big enough to become a community college. Luna stared at it in admiration, never having seen it before in her previous life. They neared it and there was a maid waiting by the front door.

‘Miss Luna!’

A maid dashed towards her like a lost child that had found her mom. Elias looked at her lovingly, smiling wide.

‘That’s Helena,’ said Elias. ‘She’s the maid you personally picked and has been serving you ever since you started working as the official magician.’

Helena literally jumped onto her, hugging her tightly as if she would run away. Luna felt awkward at the sudden skinship.

‘Miss Luna, is it true?’ she asked; her voice muffled as she buried her face unto her shoulder. 

Luna glanced at Elias, silently sending help signals.

‘Yes, it’s true, Helena,’ he answered. ‘Could you please ready her bed so she could rest? She had a long day.’

‘But it hasn’t even been a day, it’s only 11am!’ she wailed.

Luna chuckled. Helena had a point.

‘So,’ Helena looked up at her, face wet with tears. ‘Did you really forget about me? And you really lost your magic?’

Luna only smiled in lieu of an answer.

Helena bit her lower lip and finally let go of her. She took several steps backwards and bowed politely. ‘Then,’ she said, suddenly sounding serious. ‘I’ll prepare your bath and bed.’

‘T-Thank you…’ Luna stuttered and Helena disappeared into the large house.

‘I’ll be going back to my room,’ said Elias after a moment of silence. ‘I have a client to see this evening.’

Luna nodded. ‘Okay, thank you.’

And he left as well. Luna stood alone in front of the huge manor, still unable to absorb everything that had happened so far.