Herald of Steel



Alexander and Pasha Farzah finished observing this section of the clinic and were led through an attaching wing to the opposite side, which did not have small rooms but was composed of large halls equipped with benches and beds where patients could rest or lie down.

"This is where we treated the injured. Burns, fractures, and broken bones are the most common types of injuries we get here," Jupitus said as she led the two men down the hallway flanked by beds on both sides and filled with patients, many moaning in pain as there were no painkillers to suppress their throbbing and sometimes agonizing ache.

While the present doctors and helpers tried to smooth some of the suffering, using comforting talks and also thorough a variety of medical supplies and instruments, including bandages, splints, tools such as specula, forceps, scalpels, and herbal remedies

As Alexander and Pasha Farzah walked through these halls, one particular sensory organ that was particularly affected was their nose, as it was hit hard by the intense smell of quicklime and soap.

So much so that Pasha Farzah looked at Alexander questioningly with knitted brows.

And Alexander was happy to inform the man, "The smell is from the disinfectants. We always keep the clinic clean."

"That includes utilities like the beds, sheets, towels, and clothes, the cooking utensils such as the pots, pans, and even plates, and obviously the floor."

"We also boil all drinking water, and regularly wash the clothes the patients wear."

After saying this Alexander then turned to point to the series of basins and bowls attached to each adjacent bed, along with a solid bar of soap, and said, "And over there the doctors and their assistants frequently wash their hands and equipment, all to keep them dirt free."

Alexander tried to make it as obvious as possible that cleanliness was one of the core tenants of staying healthy.

The two men then observed some of the patients suffering from various injuries, where Alexander found them to be mostly workers from any of his many industries who had suffered various accidents, as he then asked some of them about their wellbeing.

Following this tour, Jupetus afterward led the men to the last unexplored room of the clinic, which was situated at the very edge of the building, which she introduced as, "This is the operation theater (OT). Here is where we do the major operations."

She might have said operations as in plural, but this room was really used for one thing, singular- and that was amputation.

This was because it was not like complex surgeries where the body was cut open, mended, and then stitched back together was possible, while small stitches and sutures could be done on the patient's bed.

That left only the cutting away the damaged bit of the body treatment.

So the colloquial name the doctors gave the room was the very apt name- 'The abattoir.'

Alexander entered the room half expecting it to resemble a slaughterhouse but actually found it to be in pristine condition, which was particularly impressive given this was a completely surprise visit.

And then gazed around to see shelves placed against the walls full of medicinal herbs and bandages, various tools such as saws, hammers, and chisels immaculately cleaned and hanging on a tool rack, and the most impressive bit of the kit, the large bed, which had many leather straps hanging off it, that were used to bind a person so that he could not move while he was being sawed alive.

It took a strong man to survive the procedure, and a doctor with a strong stomach to actually treat the person.

For it was a horrible thought to imagine doing such a thing to someone, a gruesome act to commit on others, and an excruciating act to experience oneself.

And Alexander shuddered to think maybe one day he would end up here, bound, gagged with a rug douched in strong spirit, and then have an injured limb slowly sawed, hacked, and hammered off.

He did not want to experience that, but knowing the battles to come, he was sure the chances of that happening were not insignificant.

After all, even the recent spear to his thigh might have easily turned gangrene even with all the comprehensive precautions he had taken.

With the visit to the OT, the tour of the relatively small clinic came to an end…or so Pasha Farzah thought.

Because after finishing all the regular sites, Alexander turned to the lady in charge and mysteriously said, "Jupetus, there is one of more we have not visited have we? Please lead us there."

And this made the lady look at Alexander with a questioning look as if to say, 'are you sure?' before quickly complying, "Of course. Then right this way."

The silent interaction did not escape Farzah which made him grow curious, as he silently followed the two to a remote corner at the back of the clinic.

And at last came to face a large, concrete shed with no roof, and smoke coming off it.

Which made Pasha Farzah even more confused.

"In here, my lord," But with Jupetus's gesture to enter the premises, everything would soon become clear to the aged lord.

So, with Alexander taking the lead, the trio entered the large spacious room and the moment he entered inside, the very first things that Pasha Farzah saw shook him to his core.

For there were several mutilated corpses laid out on the tables, turning the table and the surrounding floor matt red, as bloodied tools such as knives, scalpels, saws, and tongs adorned the surrounding.

And certainly appeared mutilated to Pasha Farzah, whose ever-shrinking eyes spotted that all these cadavers had been opened up, with their skin peeled off, the muscles and tendons parted, and the whole host of organs laid out to bear witness.

He saw that the bodies had been stripped down to reveal much of the bones, and most had several organs, ranging from the small things like eyes, noses, and tongues, to the significant ones like hearts, livers, kidneys, and guts removed.

And the reason why Pasha Farzah was able to so easily spot which organs were missing was because many of them were laid out right next to the bodies, as if it was some kind of cruel joke being played on the dead person who was helpless to resist having his organs being taken away.

This act was considered especially egregious by some because according to Ramuh's faith, people needed these organs to move on to the afterlife.

So according to them, what Alexander was doing was denying these people paradise.

And if that was not enough, as Pasha Farzah turned his head to face the walls, he found the shelves stocked with organs stored inside transparent glass jars filled with oil, hearts that he imagined were still beating, eyes that seemed to turn to glance at him, and the brain that appeared to be bobbling up and down in the green liquid.

All while on the walls themselves were strange drawings on large scrolls of paper, that looked like satanic symbols to him.

All these appeared to be like they were straight out of Farzah's nightmare.

And, seeing all these, Pasha Farzah who considered himself as a mentally strong man, felt weak on his knees and even started to hallucinate a bit as his world began to slightly spin.

He had never been a strong believer in the gods.

He could even be called half an atheist.

But deep inside his heart he still held a modicum of respect for the gods.

So seeing these 'sacrilegious rituals', his heart began to beat like never before, and his mind started to pray like he never had.

While the very first thought that came to Farzah seeing this was that Alexander was a devil's apostate or the devil himself, which somehow did not seem too far-fetched to him now given all the new inventions that he had managed to produce within a short time.

And then his second thought was they had brought him here to kill him or turn him into their own.

So he only stuttered in a terrified voice, "Al…Alex…ander…this…this…what is ..is this?"

Alexander was also surprised seeing this, but this was referring to Pasha Farzah's reaction, who had gone pale as a ghost right now.

Alexander thought he was having a heart attack,

He truly did not think the loud, boisterous man with such a shrewd mind would be so affected by this.

And so, though Alexander could not read minds, he thought it would be prudent to quickly explain what this was before the old man collapsed on the floor.

"This is the place where we learn the medicine- by cutting up diseased, dead bodies and studying them to learn what killed them. And then we apply that knowledge to heal the living." Alexander tried to keep the answer as short and concise as possible, and then quickly added, It's not a cult," to reassure the old man as quickie as possible.

And it appeared to have worked, as blood gushed to turn the pasha's face a relieved, rosy red, while Jupetus quickly fetched a chair to have the old man sit down.

"Ex..explain!" And as he sat down, he almost barked this while rubbing the sweat from his forehead.

And it made Alexander draw a rueful smile as he thought perhaps he had been too eager to reveal this secret.

But it was already done, so Alexander could only try and convince the old man.