(Book 2) Hayden Mackay and The Tears of the Maiden

8. In Depth Explorations

"Then why did you let them take him away?" Tyrell asked again, "You could have fought back. You must be stronger than Shourya and all"

"Because Shourya was right," he said, his eyes shining, "It is not safe if Ashvanth stays among us."

"What?" he asked stunned, "What if he kills him?"

"He is already dying;" he said a small tear fell from the corner of his eye, "With me or somewhere else, Ashvanth is dying."

"Oh!" moaned Celina cupping her mouth with both of her hands.

Doctor wiped tears coursing from his eyes and walked away from us. He collapsed onto the mat near the fireplace and buried his face in his hands. His shoulders shuddered as he lamented the loss of his son. We waited in silence it till doctor was able to talk again. As I looked around the bed, there were many jars filled with colored liquids. I supposed they could be some sort of medicines doctor has been using on Ashvanth.

"I am so sorry doctor," said Tyrell sitting across him, when Doctor shifted his position, "I shouldn't have blamed you."

"Don't be sorry," he said, his voice still quivering, "I don't want any of you to be sorry. It's not your fault that I am not able to save my child."

Tyrell looked remorseful.

"Doctor, tell me that you have plans to get Ashvanth back" Celina asked, following Tyrell and sitting beside him, "We can't leave him like that!"

"I don't know Celina," he said slowly staring outside looking away from them, "I am supposed to one of the skilled doctors and above that the stone user and for what? I am unable to save my only son."

"Why are you giving up?" I asked, "I mean, if it is disease, it has to have a cure."

"If it has one, don't you think I would have used it by now?" he asked.

"Dananjay mentioned that one of the Chandrika's kids was able to cure it."

"What do you expect me to do? Run after a long lost myth, leaving everyone suffering? What is the guarantee that I'll find it in time? Go on a glorious quest to come back to a dead village? Atleast by staying and working to the best of my abilities I can ensure they are taken care until they die," he said sadly. "Till now I haven't found anything regarding it. Trust me Hayden; there is no cure for this disease."

"But..." Tyrell said frowning but quickly stopped there, when Celina glared at him asking him to shut it.

"How did the disease spread in the first place?" I asked, "How did it start?"

I wanted to know everything there was about the disease. If one had to combat something, knowledge was power; before we decide to find a cure, it is imminent to know about the disease.

"It needs continuous flow of the blood from a human body," doctor said, his voice softening, "To generate such a detrimental virus."

"That's it?" I exclaimed, "Only blood?"

"Continuous flow of blood?" asked Tyrell, "Like flow of water from a waterfall?"

"Precisely," said doctor.

"I cant even imagine anyone agreeing for it."

"A dark magic doesn't require permission. If so, it wouldn't be called dark magic. A person is petrified and forced to be still, and drained. You see, the person is fully conscious and knows what is happening but unable to move any part of their body. They can only wait in horror for their turn to be drained of their blood and thrown away in order to harness the tremendous amount of energy present in blood sacrifice . I am sure he had performed something similar to it."