Redemption of The Suff
Makings of a legend.
The first part is Origin of the Suff. You can read that one first or start here.
Sanus didn’t know that he had died at the place he called home.
He woke up on a damp rock. The small fire burning a few feet away did nothing for him. His clothes were torn at various places from being dragged unceremoniously to the cave.
The man muttering with his back to him was someone he knew. He would give him a new life again. Like he had before.
“Master!” He rasped.
The man in a long cloak turned around and made Sanus gasp with his appearance. His eye sockets held none. And his skin seemed to be stuck to his bones.
“What…What happened?” The disciple stumbled towards him to hold his hands, but the shadow of the man moved away.
“Don’t touch me.” There was no malice in his voice. Yet, Sanus felt chided, and his face fell.
Vulnerate sighed, “It isn’t your fault. I knew the consequences when I taught you healing.”
“I don’t want to leave.” He looked up from his kneeling position.
“I haven’t taught you everything to waste it here.” Vulnerate sat hunched on a stone as he placed a hand on Sanus’s head, “Go. It is the only way.” He could die peacefully then.
Young Sanus had wandered in the cave, seeking refuge from the hunting wolves. He had been as cold and as broken, on the verge of losing his life. He hated everyone, including himself.
Vulnerate had been privy to the power Sanus held from the start. That much pain could only result in the man in front of him. Begging to be saved. He had both the ability and desire to kill others. He wanted to prove he was as strong as his age mates and perfect as a soldier. But he had been taught something better, saving others.
Useless in every other way but learning and healing, Sanus had been the perfect student, surpassing him in months. And draining him of the life as he did so. Vulnerate knew he wouldn’t live long. He had succeeded in ending his own life.
“What if I…” What if the curse followed him again? It did. And Vulnerate also bore the brunt of it.
“Do not insult me.” His voice had turned to steel as he glared at his pupil. His hand stopped the caressing motion.
Sanus bent his head in shame. He picked up the bag he was gifted and turned to leave. Vulnerate had made every piece of cloth from his hands, spending hours scrounging for the plants and making enough strips to hold whatever Sanus would need for his journey.
“Don’t ever come back.”
“Lie down here.” Vulnerate pointed him towards the large rock they had used as a table to learn. It was devoid of the poultices, rags, plants, and even the burning sticks that would better illuminate the contents on the table.
Sanus had helped him the past few days in gathering whatever required for the ritual and carving the symbols.
Vulnerate had dragged his lifeless body himself and brought him back. They were going to repeat the ritual.
Sanus had unwrapped his bag before spreading it on the whole rock as per the instructions of his master. He laid down and closed his eyes, shivering with the cold. Vulnerate had extinguished the burning fire in the cave so that only a few rays of moonlight could reach inside.
Sanus watched him begin chanting the words he remembered. He started feeling dizzy, and his vision blurred. He was about to fall asleep when he heard the change in words. His eyes shot open. He grabbed the hand of his master this time, “No.”
Vulnerate’s whole body was glowing from the procedure. He snarled at the intrusion, “You dare stop me!”
Sanus sat up quickly, “You will condemn me.” He shouted back, masking the hurt in his voice. The one person he thought cared for him had turned against him.
Vulnearte snatched his hand back, “You deserve it.” He pushed him back to lie down. Just the last few words, and he would be free of his eternal demise.
“Please don’t.” The short man fought to get up again. He could feel the strips of clothes being wrapped around him as Vulnerate kept chanting, “I don’t want to be that anymore.”
“Shh. I would always protect you.” Vulnerate looked at the strips he had made, now covering the whole body of his pupil but the face. He ran his hands over his head in a soothing motion as he felt stronger. It had worked. He would die a mortal death now.
Sanus looked him in the eye. Tears ran down his face as his lips trembled around the words, “I don’t want to be the suffering anymore.”
“This is your destiny, my child.” Vulnerate looked at him with pity. But he stood up and turned to leave. There was nothing more he could do now, “I couldn’t change who you are.”
“…No..I am not the suff…” He said to his retreating back before losing consciousness for the last time.
The two boys were punished for lacking in their work. They were heading back from the woods, carrying extra logs over their shoulder for the harvest feast, when they came across the dead man.
Dressed in a long cloak, the man had no external injuries. He was a healthy man, not over thirty winters. What was he doing alone?
They were picking up their logs again to head back to the village and inform others when they heard the rustling from their right side. Another late-night traveler. The dead man’s companion. Or the man from the caves?
“Who is there?” One of them called out.
They felt his presence before they saw him emerging from the shadows of the trees.
“I am the Suff…” He didn’t have to finish the sentence.
Next part,
