"Are we going to do this again?" he asked. "Calm down, Melas. If I was going to harm you, I would have done so by now."
He’s right. I knew he was right; however not only did he now know about my magic. There was also…
"What was that?!" I snapped, pointing a finger at all the corpses, then back at him. "Why didn’t you just do that the entire time!"
The Plague Doctor shrugged, replying as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The same reason you did not use your magic. I believe we were both at fault for being too cautious of one another, choosing not to reveal our secrets unless absolutely necessary."
"I— but, that’s…" I bit back my tongue, sighing. "Well that’s fair, I guess?"
"Indeed," he concurred casually.
I heard a branch snap; I cast a glance to the side, and saw the flames from my Fireball were spreading to the rest of the woods, looking as if it were not stopping anytime soon. I should probably put that out, shouldn’t I?
Unfortunately, since the magical flames went on to create regular fire, I could not just put it out with Dispel Magic. I could theoretically force the fire to extinguish itself, but not only was it more than I had ever done that on before, it also usually made it burn up all its fuel at once— something which I was certain would get pretty bad here with all the potential sources of fuel.
I knew a few Hydromancy spells, but not enough to quickly put it all out. It would have taken a while for me, so I turned to the Plague Doctor.
"Do you know any water magic?" I asked, gesturing at what appeared to be the start of a forest fire.
"No," he said simply, "I do not know any magic. Especially not water magic."
I raised an eyebrow at that. "But what you did earlier— wasn’t that magic? Thaumaturgy?"
"There were no spell circles, no?" he pointed out the obvious.
That was true; I noticed as much when it happened. I assumed that maybe it was something similar to pre-casting, or maybe he was hiding the magic circle somehow. But now that he admitted that was not the case, I was… lost as to what he did. It could have been some advanced mana tool, however I sincerely doubted it.
"Wait, so how did you do that?"
I heard a muffled exhale. The Plague Doctor took a step forward, reaching for his mask. "You know, I knew you had a secret from the first time I saw you at the orphanage. Magic was… not unexpected. But I believed that maybe there was something more than that."
I folded my arms. "What do you mean by that? Magic gets you killed!"
"Only in some places in this continent of Vitae. And while it is illegal in both continents, especially so in Soli, that is only because of the influence of the Church. Even so, the Dark Crusaders exist. Some criminal organizations employ spellcasters within their ranks. And there are many stories of children finding a book they should not, and picking up magic in their adolescence before an adult or a member of the Church ‘disciplines’ them."
I… did not know that. "Is magic really that pervasive?" I asked stupidly.
"Not pervasive. It’s uncommon. Rare, even. An average person would never meet a practicing spellcaster more than once in their life. And that is unknowingly. However, I am a master of secrets. I have seen many in my time, and I know for a fact, that secret is not the grandest of them all." The Plague Doctor pulled off his beak-like mask. I caught a glimpse of his face underneath his face covering. He was... handsome.
I had thought he would be ugly, or at least, terribly scarred across the face, which was why he wore the mask. But instead, his face was unmarked. His skin almost glistening under the pale moonlight, and his face was almost perfectly symmetrical. He had sharp violet irises, and curly blonde locks that went down his shoulders. It was almost a crime to cover up a face like that!
"What do you want from me? It’s still illegal!" I argued, as the Plague Doctor yanked a glove out of one hand.
"I know it is," he said, "but something tells me that’s not your only secret."
I scowled, pocketing my hands. "I’m not telling you anything else. You won’t even tell me how you did that weird magic thing!"
"True, you did reveal a secret to me," the Plague Doctor remarked, rolling up his sleeves. "Now it’s time for me to reveal one of mine."
Then he raised his arm up, pointing at the flames. There was a glimmer, then I squinted as it turned into a flash of light.
Lines began to form. Not into a magic circle, or even in midair like they usually did. No— glowing green lines began to draw itself down his arms. Up into his hand, forming a complex pattern. Like some kind of magical tattoo. But it was not magic.
It was a miracle.
The lines stopped at his shoulders. I could see some of it peeking up the right side of his neck. Otherwise, however, was left alone. A globule of water amassed in the direction he was aiming; it quickly ballooned up in size, covering most of the area on fire, before dropping. The water splashed over the flames, putting it out completely.
I covered my head as thousands of little droplets rained down on me for a moment. But it ended soon enough.
"You—" I whirled on the Plague Doctor. "You’re a Saint?!" I exclaimed.
"No," he said simply. "I am not."
"But that was a miracle! Only Saints and
