A Little Insane: Raising The Dead

Chapter Four - Welcome Back, Mother

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   “I understand now,” Riley told him.

Hart opened his eyes to look down at Riley, who also had his eyes closed while he hovered over the table. Hart was healing him by infusing Riley with his own energy and magic. His healing was an ability he earned at birth, just like Seraphina who acquired the opposite of his gift – poison. It was more complex than how he described it, but nevertheless they were exactly what they seemed.

“What do you understand?” Hart asked him.

“Why you have no emotions, why I never see you smile or act happy. It's not because you're incapable of feeling them, but because you suppress them out of fear.”

Hart thought it was unnecessary to respond, so his eyes closed again and he returned to healing Riley's broken soul. He felt every part of Riley's body at his finger tips, his magic was connected to every nerve in his body. So long Hart was healing him, Riley was his puppet. He could make him do whatever he wanted. Hart was in full control.

“In a few moments, you'll be completely healed. Do you still want me to help you with your teleporting problem?” Hart asked him.

“Do you want me to die?” Riley said.

“No,” Hart responded dryly, “but the spell requires time.”

“How long?”

“A couple of days. But you'll be unconscious, so it will feel like a few minutes.”

“As long as you fix it, I don't care,” Riley said.

Hart withdrew his energy after repairing Riley's soul, it felt like cold air as it returned to his own body. Riley slowly descended, but Hart stopped him right before he touched the table and lifted him back in the air, pushing the table away so that there was nothing underneath him.

“What are you doing?” Riley asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

“I'm doing the spell, isn't that what you wanted?” Hart said, blinking at the floating man.

“It's not gonna hurt, right?”

Riley's body floated on its own like it was in zero gravity, it shifted around until he was hovering straight up with his eyes looking down at Hart. There was an uncertainty in the way Riley's eyes skimmed over Hart's face, but it was gone as fast as it came.

“I promise it won't hurt, but I can't promise you'll forgive me after it's complete. So it's better that I say it now. Riley, I'm sorry,” Hart said softly.

Riley looked like he was about to say something, but Hart waved his hand over the man's face and he instantly fell asleep without a chance to speak his mind. Hart chanted words and made gestures with his hands over Riley's chest, then the sleeping man burst into black flames. The fire wasn't harmful, instead of heat, they gave out a sense of coldness.

With the same black fire, Hart drew a ring under Riley and two more inside. They were slowly, very gently, growing and expanding. In a few days, they would touch the walls and be sucked back to the middle, where they would disappear along with the flames enveloping Riley's body, and the spell would be complete.

Hart's blue eyes sparkled as they looked at Riley's peaceful face.

“I'm truly sorry,” he whispered.