“Well do you want a KISS or shall we save a life JOHN?” Geraldo said as he snapped the latex glove.

  John sighed as he stepped forward. It was going to be a long day.

  —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  “Oh stop being so squeamish! It’s just a little blood” Geraldo scolded Steve

  The necromancer-in-training was dead white, his body stone cold as the scalpel cleanly cut through the skin. Flesh parted, and bright red blood oozed up from the wound. The poor apprentice turned to the side and started to heave.

  “Get it together!” John called out

  Geraldo turned and gave a firm slap on the back. Steve coughed up the last bit of bile and wiped off the gunk.

  “Steve, I can’t have YOU as my apprentice if you CAN’T deal with blood. What did FAUST train you on? Picking flowers?”

  Steve ignored the taunts and went back to his place. Why couldn’t the man just be dead? It’d be so much easier to deal with.

  “You got this buddy, suck it up” Ryland whispered, giving his tormented friend some moral support.

  John whispered and activated a skill, the flesh slowly curled back. The underlying layers carefully maintained as the innards appeared.

  “Oh by the seven lordes of…”

  “STEVE!” John screamed.

  “Don’t hate me for this…” Ryland muttered as he activated [Freezing Touch]

  With the ghastly frost dancing between the fingers, the ghost gave his friend a good slap across the face. Steve’s panic subsided as he felt the frosted skin. He wanted to scream but held it in. Closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths.

  “Good?” John asked

  “Yes, sorry about that. First time seeing…this” Steve pointed at the vivisected man.

  “Don’t worry, he isn’t dying on my watch. Geraldo, I have the bleeding stymied. Can you find the blight?”

  “John JOHN john. It’s already gone! I don’t get distracted by…spectacles.” Geraldo tilted his head towards Steve.

  “Good, I’m worried about how much it is spreading. We’ve gone from one a week to nearly one a day.”

  The surgeon’s eyes scoured the patient for any signs of distress.

  “All clear, next!” With a wave of his hand, the wound closed.

  The sleeping man was wheeled out as the next was rushed in. Screams of pain reverberated in the halls as a group carried him to the operating table.

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  “Status?” John asked

  “Bad accident in the markets, Leg caught beneath overturned cart.”

  “Hmm…got it” John touched the man’s chest, and he collapsed.

  Peeling back the sheet, Steve recoiled once more.

  “Hold it together, this isn’t nearly the worse” Geraldo said.

  But it was bad, real bad. The leg was mangled beyond repair. Bits of white bone intermixed with the mushed muscle. Only through an emergency potion did they stop the man from bleeding out. Ryland knew that the leg was gone; only amputation would save this man’s life. But that all changed as a new cart wheeled in.

  “Oh good! The fresher, the better!” Geraldo exclaimed

  “What the…”

  The ghost jumped back in horror as the body appeared. Its skin was still bright and full of life, not even an hour old. An inherent sense of wrongness took over, he had to do something. His eyes darted across the room, trying to find somebody else that shared these thoughts. Then Steve made contact, the two staring at each other. A hint of madness flickered behind the necromancer’s eyes. This was normal, this was fine, the ends always justified the means.

  SNAP

  John cracked his knuckles and began the amputation. His deft hands quickly severed the muscle with ease.

  “Blood”

  Immediately a nurse pulled out a chilled jar. Streams of blood wrapped around the doctor before entering the open veins.

  “Hemomancy?”

  While not as hated as necromancers, blood manipulators did not have a good reputation. Why did they all congregate here? How did this man become a [Surgeon]?

  Even through the horror, Ryland couldn’t stop himself. It was…fascinating. A team working like clockwork. John keeping the man alive while prepping for the graft. Geraldo worked with Steve to remove the donor leg. Stale blood splattering along the floor as the various innards drooped out. Steve was green as he held the leg against the patients. Geraldo carefully manipulating the dead flesh to match the color, size, and general thickness. Once satisfied, he signaled to John.

  The hemomancer nodded and the two aligned the donor to the recipient. The color returned as fresh blood was forcefully pumped through the veins. John sweating as he delicately manipulated the crimson fluid throughout all the various capillaries. Meanwhile, Geraldo worked the bone and flesh, melding the two together. By the time they were finished, both collapsed in exhaustion.

  Nurses rushed forward with stamina and mana potions, the two doctors greedily slurping them down. As the crew cleaned up the surgical room, the mashed leg and corpse were tossed down the chute. Moments later, the man awoke. He couldn’t believe they saved the leg. Singing praises to the goddess, he left the spire with renewed vigor.

  But still there were more. Patients with blight, stabbing victims, even those that just felt off appeared. The group doing their best to treat as many as possible before the bell tolled. By the end of the shift, they had cared for nearly 17 patients. So many lives changed in a few short hours. As they left, Ryland leaned over to Steve.

  “You have a LOT of explaining to do”

  Steve smiled and continued in silence.

  “So you see STEVE. Working in the UPPER floors can help with fine-tuning. I hope you took notes as tomorrow we will TEST your own work on MICE. Make sure you reach out to JOHN he can be a PAIN but he has some good insight on the human body. I always encourage you to seek others! Now ont…”

  He went silent. The demon-eyed man stood in the hallway for a few seconds. His body swaying as the air changes into something sinister. Without warning, he ran.

  The two followed after the [Necromancer], trying to figure out what caused the mood shift. Down the spiral staircase they traveled, through the dimly lit halls, and into his sacred lab. The door slammed open, and Geraldo let out a cry of horror.

  In the middle of the room sat Ryland’s body. The zombie had torn apart all other creations and feasted on the remains. It looked up with a feral glare, a severed arm hanging out of the maw, and lunged towards the group.