A demonic rend in my back tortures me. Pain is my whole existence. My body screams: a howling that blocks out my ability to think. These last few days after flying to London have been utter hell. A cold saps my energy and a stomach bug makes me constantly queasy, the combination confining me to our closet-sized hotel room. My eternal wound fills these hours with agony.
The pain has flared up beyond anything I’ve ever known. My back and arm seize in pain and swell to many times their usual size. I am practically carried to the hospital by Robin and a host from our hotel. But the local doctors, as always, have no way to help. In fact, in their view, there’s nothing really wrong with me beyond swelling and that minor detail of excruciating pain. They tell me they can’t even prescribe me pain medication. I need to go to a GP for that.
Eventually I find a clinic that will do something for me. They prescribe some muscle relaxers, and some Codeine-tylenol pills. Codeine, it turns out, is a terrible drug. It does next to nothing for me. In fact, I research this and find out that codeine on top of being an inconsistent vehicle for morphine delivery, has it’s effectiveness reduced by another medication I take. Unfortunately, despite telling them this, the doctors decided to prescribe me a mild-pain-for-a-normal-metabolizer dose of Codeine. Either they are inept or too afraid of the government to prescribe me some proper opiates. Of course, at that point I would’ve taken pretty much anything, so I don’t complain. None of this situation is helped by the fact that I’m an American and not part of their medical system.
My quest lays forgotten for weeks. All I can do is think about my pain and how to reduce it. Robin and others say that I seem like I’m underwater. I can’t hear anything but my pain. Perhaps I am approaching the demon who left me with this unholy wound. Finding it seems the only way to cure this, but how will I ever be able to do so if I am incapacitated by its very presence. I must research these demonic energies so I’ll know what to do when the time comes. And I must start working to strengthen my magic and mind.