The Naturalistic

CHAPTER 9

My next morning starts pretty much the same as it began yesterday, Gloria's special greeting with a cold glass of water all over me before I even come to my senses.

"Oh come on, stop doing that already!" I yell too loud.

"What? I thought you are getting used to this, if you want me to stop, simple, get up before I come in." She answers as if the thought never crossed my mind before.

"You know there is a simpler way. . . I kill you, How does that sound?" I snap.

"Perfect, I'll be waiting, but for now Victor is waiting, better get your lazy soul moving." She answers.

"Thanks for the compliment." I glare and she smiles back.

A few minutes later I am fully dressed wearing my black training suit which Gloria gave me this very pleasant morning. It has white cuffs and a thin grey lining along the sides. As usual, I tie my hair back into a ponytail and head outside.

I complete my runs, which my uncle has changed from 10 to 50 and after taking a short break we again head towards the tent we practised in yesterday.

"Today let's learn about poisonous plants, shall we?" He starts.

"Oh great, I am hoping someone to get killed today." 

"May I care to know who and why ?" He asks with wild eyes as he was not expecting this from me.

"No one that matters much, My sleep killer."

"Oh, my houses!" He laughs out. "Well, then she is in great danger."

"I have warned her to better stay away from me."

"Of course." He chuckles.

He starts explaining about the qualities of different plants, what features they share in common when mixed with what makes a perfect poison blend. Mostly every blend includes just water, a few more ingredients and then it's done.

He then takes the plucker, which he has not used in the entire lesson up till now and I frown. I expect something to see like coalflower but instead, he simply plucks a leaf from the last pot.

"Why did you use a plucker for this one?"

"This, my dear is no joke." He says looking at the leaf, but I am not joking, I shake the answer out of my head.

"Okay . . . So what is this?" I ask.

"This is the 'Voiceless killer'." He answers.

"The Voiceless killer?" I repeat.

"Yes." He starts "One cut from the edge of the leaf and you are as good as dead, You won't even know the changes inside a person or that of your own body because it kills so quietly without coming under anyone's nose. Once you get a cut, the poison travels at high speed from the injured part to your brain."

"Brain, Holy. . ."

"You heard it right, it attacks your brain and rather than spreading from the injured part, it starts to spread inside your brain, damaging it in the worst ways possible. And the more unfortunate part is that we healers can remove the poison from any part of our body excluding the brain and you know once our brain's damaged we are gone. And so it is named ' The Voiceless killer '." He pauses for a moment and dries off the leaf, crushes it and throws it in the dustbin. 

He then continues, "Also the effects start after an hour or so but by the time it's too late, the poison reaches inside your brain and starts working, you feel dizziness, your body temperature drops with a severe headache."