96. Before The Return to Northengard

They were still deep in the woods, and Nysta woke up feeling terrible. The horny dreams did more than just make her dream of doing terrible things in the bedroom. It also messed with her ability to properly recover her holy and magical energies.

"Ugh." She groaned and felt the curse throb around her waist. The wound left by the undead still left its mark, and she touched it. She instinctively used her healing powers to try and suppress its effects, but it still didn't work too well. Her healing powers felt like a trickle, a drop of what it once was, even if her physical condition felt alright.

"You alright?" Ethan asked. He offered a meat on a skewer. It was the only warm food around, and was only lightly doped.

"Not great. I can't wait to get back to town." She said and did not hesitate to take the meat skewer. The skewer didn't last long, she finished it rather quickly. "Thank you."

"We don't have much food left." Ethan said, and tried to sound as non-threatening as possible. "We can't even stay here long even if we wanted to. Also, you've been dreaming about Aman a lot."

"I did?" She blushed. "What did I say last night again?"

"Let's just say, it was quite sexy." Ethan laughed. "And not helping Aman's reputation at all."

"Oh the goddesses." Nysta blushed like a red tomato. "Please forget whatever I said."

"I can't. It's really sexy and it is now forever imprinted into my mind." Ethan said, and then, he changed his voice to mimic Nysta's voice. "OOooh Aman~ Please. kiss me. Touch me everywhere~" Ethan joked, and Nysta was so embarrassed that she quickly grabbed her magical staff and swung it at the dark healer.

Ethan dodged and dodged as Nysta scolded him. "Stop it! Stop repeating it."

"Hey, I can't. I'm going to tell everyone about it. I bet the soldiers and the mages would find it quite appealing."

"No, you won't!" Nysta said, her face thoroughly flushed. "I wouldn't be able to work in the barracks if you ever did that!"

Ethan ducked, and dodged. But Nysta was both simultaneously embarrassed and furious that her lewd fantasies were known to others. He ducked some more, as she swung her staff with such force. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I should get a recording crystal or something so that you can listen to the things you say at night."

The nun swung her magical staff again, and it grazed his hair. "Don't you dare!"

"Oooh. Dangerous!" Ethan then quickly tried to change the conversation. "Seriously, Nysta. You look much better. Maybe once the rest of them come back we can travel back."

"Get back here! I'm not done with you yet."

"Ooooh that's so sexy. Is that what you tell Aman when you didn't get enough?"

The nun's face was so red with embarrassment that it almost seemed like steam was coming out of her ears and nose.

"Hah. I'll just tell Aman instead that you fantasized about him."

That made Nysta thoroughly horrified. "No! He can't know I did that!"

"Ooooh Aman, kiss me! Touch me!" Ethan said playfully. She didn't actually say it, but the fact that Nysta so easily accepted such words were said meant she did think of similar things. "Maybe it'll actually help your chances! After all, I heard that the hero touched the dragon mage's breasts. Maybe he'd like to touch yours too!"

"Don't!" She almost punched him, and this time Ethan grabbed her hand instead. They were really close, and their eyes looked into each other. A shame he didn't have full access to his demon lord abilities. It would a fun time to see whether hypnotism could work on her now. "Don't do that."

Ethan smiled and then, sniffed. "You smell like a woman who had not showered in days."

"I have not showered in days. We've been in this lodge for three days? Four?"

"True." At that moment, Ethan stopped, as he felt footsteps from a distance. "I think our friends are back."

***

Hannah and Wynn both returned. They looked battered, and injured. Nothing too serious, thankfully, but they didn't look like they were in the mood for more battles.

Nysta ran, to the best she could, which was more of a pained walk. The pain on her belly seemed to throb. "Wynn! Hannah! Let me help you."

She raised her staff, and activated a spell. "[Heal]."

A strange, fizzled magic pulsed out of her, and she looked horrified.  Wynn frowned. "You don't look so great yourself. The curse sucked out your magical powers."

Nysta flushed. "I'm sorry!"

Hannah sighed. "And here I hoped I'd get a good fixup before we go back."

Nysta apologized again, and Wynn checked on Nysta. "Yeah. That's bad. At least you didn't get worse."

Hannah turned to Ethan instead. "You're a healer. Can you help us?"

Ethan looked at Nysta. "My healing isn't the same as Nysta's. It's not based on holy magic."

Wynn's eyes seemed curious. "Strange. You are a cleric from the temple, and yet it is not holy magic. Why is that?"

"The goddesses rarely bless men with holy magic, though they do grant us other sorts of powers." Ethan answered. "It is for this reason most of the holy magic resides with the nuns and priestesses. Instead, mine is more of a primal, physical kind of healing. The sensations will be uncomfortable, even if effective."

Hannah shrugged, and pointed to a wound on her leg. "It is what it is. Can you fix this? I'm not sure how long I can walk with this pain."

"I'll try." Ethan approached the heroine and touched her leg. There were cracked bones and some torn muscle. She should not be able to walk, but somehow her divine blessings were so strong that she could still function. The fact that she managed to even return here was a miracle.

"Your bones are cracked, and more than a few of your muscles are injured." Ethan said, and noticed Wynn staring at him like a hawk. The Dragon Wizard was clearly still suspicious of him.

So, Ethan decided to play it safe. No point doing anything funny now.

"I can only use the mildest of my healing abilities. My healing abilities are primal, so they trade life force for another."

"Life force?" Hannah and Wynn both asked.

"Yes. It sounds dangerous, but it is often some kind of need for another. So, If I heal you now, you have to compensate later by eating a lot. Are you alright to eat a lot later?" Ethan said. A [Dark Healer] offers healings and blessings at price. The price could be a future hunger, a future curse, or, if Ethan so desired it, a future surge in desire. The heavier the price, the stronger the healing.  In Nysta's case, he used it to amplify her lust and inflicted horny dreams on her.

Hannah blinked. "What happens if that doesn't happen?"

"Worse case, your healing starts to undo itself. But what usually happens is that you might have to sleep more, or you might feel a lot more tired than normal. You might lose a day's worth of energy, or two."

"Yeah. That's fine. Let's just get back. I'll chow down a few plates if it means I don't have to deal with the pain."

"Got it." Ethan said and tapped her leg. "[Healing Trade]. You will see a mark on your stomach. You will have to pay the price of feeding that mark your energy. Once you did, the mark will vanish."

Wynn stared. "A trading form of healing. Interesting."

"It is what someone who doesn't have [blessings] have to work with. Now, are we ready to get home?"

Nysta nodded. "Yes. I need to use a goddess altar."

***