Quinn

His kiss was soft and gentle, and I felt myself melting against him as he gently cupped my face. When he nudged my lips to part, I willingly obliged, and he keenly plunged his tongue into my mouth.

I moaned as his tongue intertwined with mine while our lips locked and our breaths mingled in a heated passion. When he moved back, I was more than a little dazed as I gazed up at him. He claimed my lips again, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, drawing myself closer, wanting more. But alas, I knew now was not the time to go any further.

I ended the kiss and pulled back. I said, "We'll have to wait until we get to Norsewood to do any more than this."

His eyes on me and his fingers slightly stroking my cheek, he said absentmindedly, "You're from another world. Much like the heroes summoned from other worlds by the priests of Athol, another being entirely, a being higher than us mere mortals."

Heroes? Another being entirely? The likes of me? What did he mean by that? And they could summon people from other worlds?

I asked, "You can do that? Summon people from other worlds?"

He nodded. "Though it requires an enormous amount of mana and powerful magic."

"Wow!" I expressed, shocked. Returning to me and another world, I asked, "So you believe me that I'm from another world? And what do you mean by heroes being another being entirely?"

"It explains all the unique things that you do," he said. "Heroes are being higher than us humans and other high-tier monsters though below legendary beasts. No matter how they got here, through summoning magic or reincarnation, they are blessed with multiple abilities and magics and an endless amount of mana storage within their body."

Unique. Aldric referred to all the things I did as unique. Not strange or abnormal, but unique. And apparently, I was something of a being that was higher than humans and high-tier monsters, but how the heck could I not even deal with orcs, which were mid-tier monsters, let alone goblins, low-tier ones? No, Aldric must have it wrong. Maybe I was just a random glitch in this world.

"Heroes could do things, and yours is especially unique. They must be from your world, the things that you do," he said.

I nodded. "It's very different, my world and this one, so it's a little hard for me to adjust. We are far more advanced in terms of technology. There's no magic or anything like that in my old world. I guess because of that, technology flourished to make our lives easier."

"It sounds interesting, your old world and technology," he said. "I would love to know more about them."

I grinned at him. "I'm only too pleased to enlighten you on those subjects, but that'll have to wait for another time." I turned my attention to the most important matter at hand as my gazed drifted to his side. "Aldric, I can heal."

He nodded. "We Norsewood people are very lucky to have you, Quinn, and now that I know you're a healer, too, those injured—"

"Yes, yes," I said impatiently. "I'm only too happy to help and heal them since I'm your wife, the lady of Norsewood, after all." I grabbed his shirt and started unbuttoning it.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his hand around my wrist. I knew he wanted to stop me, but his grasp was too damn gentle to prevent me from moving.

I said, "I saw injuries on you earlier. On your left side, I think."

He was silent as I completely unhooked the buttons and pulled his shirt wide open to reveal his chiseled chest. Gosh, I still couldn't stop marveling at just how much of a hunk he was.

No. No. Not the time or place, Quinn! I told myself and shifted my gaze down, noting the bandage wrapped around his lower torso. Had he always had that around him?

"I'm going to undo this and check your wound," I said. Once I unbandaged him, I inspected the injury and found that it was even more grotesque up close, a gash with black, blue, and red.

Holy shit! How the hell could he even move, let alone fight, with this festering like that?

I lifted my gaze to look at him and said, my voice trembling, "Why didn't you tell me? I'm your wife, you know."

He lifted his hand and gently and lightly stroked my head. "I didn't tell you because I've had this before I met you. It was four years ago."

"Four years?" I said, flabbergasted. "And it hasn't healed?"

"It's a different sort of injury," he said.

"Ugh! Whatever it is, I'm going to heal you. No injury is going to cause trouble to my husband." That said, I summoned my appraisal skill on his wound, and within seconds, a screen popped up stating: Injury caused by an ancient dragon's claws. No known information.

"What? No known information?"

"Is that what it said" Aldric asked. "What's written in divine language."

I nodded.

"What else does it say?"

"It said it's an injury from an ancient dragon's claws?"

He said, "I got this during a dungeon break four years ago. The behemoth of the dungeon, an ancient dragon named Hellfire, wounded me during the battle."

"You fought an ancient dragon, and you came out alive with only this as an injury?" I said, stunned.

He chuckled, and I noted his eyes were twinkling. Wow, again, so much expression for a stoic man, and so damn gorgeous, too.

Shifting my eyes back to the wound, I said, "Regardless that there's no information, I'm going to attempt to heal it anyway." I rolled up my sleeves and summoned my analyzer and pharmaceutical magic circle. With it glowing and hovering in the air, I retrieved the finger-prick pen and said, "All right, Aldric, give me your finger."

"Finger?" he asked.

"I'm going to need to test your blood first," I said.

He offered me his index finger, and I pricked it. After dripping a small amount of blood into the circle, it was analyzed, and within seconds, the results popped up. I scrolled down to the diagnosis section, noting that, apart from already suspecting he was deficient in such as Vitamin C and B12 and folate and other vitamins and minerals, there was a severe infection. Besides that, it flagged red, stating: Unknown infection, currently analyzing bacteria.

Okay, I thought, at least it was doing something to identify the cause of the infection. Within seconds, it flashed again, and a statement popped up: Two types of bacteria found. Would you like to store data? I clicked on the Yes, and the screen changed to Data of bacteria stored. Would you like to create antibiotic and vaccine?

I frowned. An antibiotic for bacterial infection I understood, but a vaccine. I tilted my head to one side, deep in thought, and then it clicked. Toxin! One of the bacteria must have produce a sort of toxin, much like tetanus.

I clicked on the Yes.

The screen changed and stated: Creating antibiotic and vaccine. Please perform wound healing while waiting.

I sighed in relief. So the infection was something similar to tetanus. But I guessed it being this world, how the bacteria infected and caused symptoms was different because clearly, Aldric had had it for a good four years and seemed to deal with it just fine. Unless, of course, he was different compared to the average man in this world, which made him able to withstand the infection better.

I said, "It appears there is a solution after all." I smiled at him.

"There's a solution? How?" he asked, looking as astound as could be, which surprised the bejesus out of me. If he was that stunned, then it must mean he was very shocked to hear there was a way to heal his wound? Considering he had had the infection for four years, it must mean the method of healing it has not been discovered yet?

"Antibiotic and obviously healing with my magic and, of course, injecting you with a vaccine," I said.

"Antibiotic? Vaccine?" he asked.

"I'll explain another time, for now, it's more important to say bye-bye to this nasty thing," I said. "But first things first."

As a scientist, it was imperative I gather samples, especially if I wanted to create medicines using this world's ingredients to cure deadly diseases. Of course, I could always make the medicines using my magic, but it was not viable, especially when I wasn't around. It was best to create a method that others could use, too.

I summoned my magic circle and created a test tube and a pair of tweezers. Then I lightly picked the infected skin off Aldric's side and put it into the test tube. After putting the sample away in my magic storage, I began the healing.

I hovered my hand over Aldric's wound and then said, "Heal."

As the glowing mana exuded from my palm to his skin, we both watched as the gash disappeared and the skin closed. When it was done a mere minute later, I sighed with relief. "All done. Phew, that was nerve-racking."

Aldric stared at his side, and he looked... confused? Shocked? Stunned?

By this point, the antibiotic, supplementary pills for his deficiencies, and the vaccine were done. I grabbed those after reading the instructions. Since they were already in small bottles with labels that had his name and the instructions, I handed them to Aldric as I said, "Take one of each now and then once a day for the next seven days. This one here is the antibiotic to heal the infection the wound cause. I know it's healed but you still need the antibiotic to heal properly on the inside. And this one here are supplementary pills for your deficiencies."

He looked from one to the other and nodded.

"And now I'm going to inject this into you," I said. I summoned a creation magic circle and made a syringe and needle. After cleaning a spot on his arm with an alcohol swab, I injected the dragon's claws vaccine in.

"All done," I said a moment later.

His eyes on me, Aldric said, "Thank you, Quinn." Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight, and I knew he was emotional and grateful.

I chuckled and said, "My pleasure, husband."

He leaned down and planted his lips on mine, kissing me briefly. When he moved back, he said, "You not only saved my life, but opened a whole new world, a new future for me."

I didn't understand what he meant, but I smiled nonetheless, delighted that I was the one to open a whole new world and future for him.