Joseph grabbed a book with a cry of delight. He had found what he was looking for! This book contained the runic language of the gnomes, with commentary on comparisons with the elvish runes. Grinning, he turned to tell Stella.
'Joseph! I need you over here now!' cried Joe.
(THERE IS AN INCOMING MESSAGE FROM YOUR FATHER: GET HOME NOW!)
Joseph didn't hesitate, noting Stella's look of concern. She must have sensed Joe's distress before he did.
PLANESHIFT.
The city was in ruins. Joe had obviously been working on fixing the damage from the attack, but Joseph had to replay the last twenty minutes to see what exactly had happened.
NURKONG had sent his lesser god Destruction, to try and destroy the kingdom. The clouds had rained acid, hail, blood, flaming boulders, and pestilence. Hordes of bugs had descended and eaten the crops, the animals that could seek shelter had, though many lay dead in the fields. Houses were destroyed, people were in a panic, and the castle was heavily damaged. Joe was using the power of the generator to fix most everything, casting mass level spells. He had already brought the people back from the dead and healed them, and was just finishing restoring buildings, when he arrived.
The problem wasn't the animals or crops, the poisoning of the land and water, or the massive numbers of dead everywhere. The problem was his mom. She had been in the garden when the attack occurred, and the healers were having difficulty stabilizing her. The mass heal didn't affect her.
Joseph teleported to her side, pushing one of the doctors away to see her better. Her eyes were dilated differently, telling him she had a brain injury. She wasn't conscious, so she couldn't say where she hurt, though a quick glance told him that many of the bones in her body were broken. She must have been hit in the head, fallen, and been pummeled by the hail and boulders. Her clothes were streaked with blood and scorch marks.
A few quick spells had her clothes removed and the area clean, but they did nothing to her. Gritting his teeth as he gathered all of the memories he had of medical practice without magic, Joseph did everything he could for her. Sterile needles delivered an IV drip, and bandages splinted her broken bones and immobilized her. Joseph sat heavily next to her bed, gently touching her broken hand. His father had watched from the background as he worked, not getting in his way.
The medical teams that had responded to the emergency had watched as well, taking notes on what to do when magic wouldn't work. They didn't know that an opportunity like this would ever occur again, and were taking full advantage of it.
Joseph glanced up as his dad sat down on her other side, gently touching her swollen cheek. She was having trouble breathing, with all of the swelling that was going on, and Joseph feared there may be something he had missed. His analyze spell wouldn't work on her, so he couldn't swear there wasn't something else he needed to do.
'Joseph, the animals are getting sick, laying down and dying. There seems to be some disease making its way through everything,' said Joe, in his head.
A tear crept down his face, as Joseph magically created medicine to add to the IV. This was unacceptable! NURKONG had gone too far!
No one said anything as Joseph changed out the medicine, trying everything he could over the next twenty-four hours, but his mother grew weaker and weaker.
"She can barely breath," whispered William.
"I can put her on a ventilator, but I don't know much about it," said Joseph miserably.
William didn't say anything, leaving the decision up to Joseph.
With a shake of his head, Joseph knew that he couldn't let her die. Creating every part of a ventilator, that he could remember from one of his past lives, having spent a lot of time in a hospital that life, he was sure he had everything he needed. Swallowing, he quickly intubated her and hooked up the ventilator to breath for her.
William watched with unease during the process, unable to do anything to help.
Joseph stood next to her, watching as her chest rose and fell, wondering how long she would live. It didn't seem to help. Air was being forced into her lungs, but she still couldn't seem to breath. Was blood in her chest? Was it pressing on her heart? She was dying!
Taking a large hollow needle, Joseph leaned down and punched a hole in the side of her chest, watching with horror at the amount of blood that poured out. She seemed to breath easier, but had lost so much blood, and it had to have come from somewhere!
Waving his hand to send the blood away, it didn't work, and Joseph just stood there and stared at the blood that was splashing on everything, pouring out of his mother, and magic wouldn't touch it.
The nurses behind him touched his back, pushing him into a chair, and with clean cloths, cleaned up the mess that was growing by the minute.
Refusing to take his eyes off of her, Joseph watched the color fade from her face, and leave. She was still breathing, but she was dead. William left the room, unable to stay as the blood spilling from her side slowed to a soft drip, drip, drip. She was gone.
Stella was there, somehow, leading him out of the room, away from his mother, to a soft bed that used to be his when he still needed to sleep. She was pushing him down, onto the soft sheets, and covering him with the blanket he had snuggled under as a child. He was still fully clothed, but that wasn't registering. The ceiling above him was clean, save for a tiny fly that was carefully crawling across the etched pattern in the tiles.
Joe was done, the kingdom was restored, and he was back in his head. He was just as exhausted, tired, done with it all. She was dead, and all the magic in the world hadn't stopped it. They both closed their eyes, ready to rest, pretend it was a nightmare they could wake from, rewind time, maybe, despite the repercussions of the gods, but they didn't.
Destruction had hit at them, and wounded Joseph in a way that NURKONG hadn't yet. His mother had been there for the first seven years of his life, doting on him, loving him, and being the parent, he had always wanted in every single one of his lives, and this god had dared to take that away from him. He would pay!