2. Ancient magic

It may sound surprising as to why Stella had not taken the wounded guy to the hospital,she knew even if she were to take him to the hospital she would not be able to afford the medical expenses and he might die before being attended to, another thing is she was sure she could combine her science knowledge of medicine, after all she was a medical student and to add with her grandmother's ancient treatment she was so sure they could save his life.

Grandmother Elizabeth all the while hadn't spoken a single word to her that she thought maybe the old lady had really forgotten her, her face had no any evidence of excitement at all,instead she maintained a straight expressionless face which really saddened her.

Grandma Elizabeth gestured them to take Lucian through a sliding door on the wall to the inner room, one which both Stella and Morgan didn't know of it's existence until then, she led them in until they found a stone platform resembling an altar in the middle of the room, where she gestured them to place the already unconscious Lucian on.

The room itself was so strange to both Stella and Morgan, and as Stella scanned around she was shocked when she would have a faint recollection of some of the things, only that they were not very clear to her, she felt like she had ever seen them before but she didn't give it a thought.

In any normal circumstances Stella would have already asked her grandmother what all this were because even after staying together with her for twelve years she had never seen any of it, and deep inside she wondered to herself whether her grandmother was a witch for her to have such things with her.

As if reading her mind, "Come on Stella, we got to save his life, I would explain everything to you thereafter," the old lady said as she placed her walking stick at the side and sat at the corner.

"Here, take this and deal with the gunshot wounds before we could start," the old lady spoke as she passed her a small woven basket, which had almost everything that Stella needed, and she wondered how exactly did her grandmother know that she was majoring in medicine, she had never talked to anyone about it,not even her aunt and cousin knew about it at all, but she didn't give it much a thought.

All this while Morgan who was standing beside her was acting like her assistant passing her everything that she asked for, and sure enough not long after she had felt with all the wounds.

One thing though caught Stella's attention,with each passing second the bite mark that she had earlier on noticed on Lucian's stomach was growing strange with each passing second and it was growing large, the spaced puncture wounds were arranged in a circular pattern, with each puncture exhibiting a faint bioluminescent glow.

The edges of the bite mark was jagged, reminiscent of serrated teeth, and there was a slight acidic residue around the perimeters of the wound, it was not a normal wound that she has ever come across before.

Grandmother Elizabeth too must have noticed it, and her face was turning paler with each passing second, there was a clear hesitation on her face as if she was contemplating over something.

After sometimes of silence she summoned both Stella and Morgan to sit just beside her. In addition to that she asked Stella to remove her pendant and carry it on her palm,and have her palms wide open.

Stella didn't quite understand what her pendant had anything to do with treating those alien looking bite marks, but she was not in for any argument, after all it was her grandmother who had given her the pendant in her fifth birthday.

As Stella and Morgan faced the unconscious body, the old woman faced the opposite direction giving them the back, she was facing an old oak tree which was just before the window, and with stern warnings, she started her magic trick.

"No matter what don't open your eyes, and as for Stella she had to make sure that her palms were wide open, otherwise...

Since Morgan and Stella were facing the other side they didn't take notice of the glowing blue eyes that grandmother Elizabeth's eyes had turned, they could definitely penetrate through a person's heart.

With clear determination etched into her weathered face, Grandma Elizabeth too crossed her legs, and started chanting in an ancient language, one which both Stella and Morgan could not understand a thing. Guided by an ancient knowledge passed down through generations, she opened her palms as she continued chanting, a little louder than the first time with each passing second.

As grandma Elizabeth continued to chant, her voice weaving through the night like a melody. With each word, a shimmering aura enveloped her, drawing upon the latent magic of the earth itself making gusts of wind blow into the room propelled by the collective energy and resonance of the voices, swirling and undulating with the rhythm and intensity of the chants.

It was almost morning when the ritual reached its climax, a soft glow emanated from Grandma Elizabeth's outstretched hands, illuminated the darkness with a warm, golden light. At a closer glance one could clearly see that the golden light originated from her hands while the bluish one came from the pendant on Stella's palm. With a gentle touch, she pressed her palms against the wounds of his body, channeling the healing energy of the earth into Lucian's body.

Grandma Elizabeth slowly and carefully took Stella's pendant and had it pressed gently at the edges of the wound, after which she instructed them to open their eyes.

Slowly but surely, the wounds had started to recede, driven back by the ancient power of Grandma Elizabeth's magic.

The two grandkids watched in awe as the wounds on Lucian's body started closing before their eyes, leaving behind only faint scars as a testament to the ordeal, they were eager to know what kind of magic that was.

As dawn broke on the horizon, the last of the wounds had already been healed, restoring the skin surface to normal as if nothing had happened to it at all. The skin had been healed, the only thing that remained was for Lucian to wake up from the unconscious state that he had succumbed to due to excess loss of blood, and Stella had taken note of his fever and she knew he only needed a little rest before he could finally wake up.

They were both feeling tired having stayed up all night, and before they could ask the young lady a question she spoke first.

"Stella, I know both you and Morgan have a lot of questions to ask me, but unfortunately I don't have anymore time left to answer any of your questions, but I would leave you a book where you would get the answers from, as for now take care of yourselves, and remember you should always put on the pendant,never even for once should you ever remove it.