Immortal Healer: Immortal Stonekeeper Prequel (2025) Chapter 26: Chapter 26: A Life Worth Living

Read chapter 26 of Immortal Healer: Immortal Stonekeeper Prequel (2025) by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

When Duncan woke, he was in darkness. The silence that accompanied it felt good, too. He had missed this sort of peace since… Well, since whenever . He couldn’t even remember the last time he felt such serenity. The last thing he remembered was being disintegrated by some sort of mega bomb blast. Not like he had ever been reduced to fine dust before, but he was pretty sure he could even survive something like that. The magic that protected him made him immortal, not simply tough. So why couldn’t he move? Was this oblivion? Was it finally time for his much-needed rest? A terrible pain wracked his body without warning. Duncan opened his mouth to scream, but he quickly realised that he was rendered immobile by some sort of concrete cast. He could hear some kind of muffled beeping from somewhere, as well as urgent voices all around him. “My god… It’s happening again!” a female voice exclaimed. “That poor man… how is he still alive?” A strangled cry escaped Duncan’s mouth. It was barely recognisable to him and sounded more like the death screams of a cat being skinned alive. “Stay back, Maya!” The voice was a lot more familiar this time. “The radiation is killing him again! Keep your distance before it reaches you as well!” Hilda? What’s happening? The burning sensation overwhelmed him, and darkness took him again. ~ ~ ~ Duncan Ward spent his 567th birthday doing two things. First, he spent the morning talking to a nurse. And then he was taken off life support for the first time in six years. The first thing he took in was how bright everything was. After spending all that time wrapped up like a mummy, his eyes needed a lot more time getting used to vision again. The next thing he noticed was the beaming nurse beside his bed. He broke into a small smile as well. After all, he had spent the past six years speaking to her, and this was the first time he was seeing this woman with his own eyes. “Maya?” Duncan croaked. The woman nodded, tears glistening in her eyes. She was dressed in a pristine white uniform, the fabric stiff with starch. The ever-familiar scent of bleach and lavender soap clung faintly to her clothes, while the hospital’s insignia— a small silver brooch, unassuming yet luminous against the white— was pinned just above her heart. “Mister Duncan Ward…” Maya paused as her voice trailed away. “It is nice to finally see your face. You are… You look good.” “So do you,” Duncan said. “I take it, it’s safe for you to speak with me like this?” Maya nodded. “The radiation in your body has already been syphoned out by our most technologically advanced machines. But it is not technology that saved you. It is your… biology. You are very much different from the common man. You’ve spent every single day dying from radiation poisoning, and yet you find your way back to life each time.” She took another pause, as if to marvel at something so impossible. “You are… very resilient. ” “Only because I had someone to chat with all these years,” Duncan said. “Thank you for never giving up on me.” “Doctor’s orders,” the nurse chuckled playfully. “Although… I was more than happy to oblige.” A creaking sound caught his attention, and Duncan noticed— for the first time— that there was, in fact, a door in this hospital room. “Duncan! I came as soon as I heard. How are you feeling?” Maya stood up from her chair— albeit slightly reluctantly— and left the room, giving way for the anxious-looking doctor. “Hilda, it’s been a while.” Duncan cracked a relieved smile. “I should’ve known it was you who had been taking care of me all this time.” Hilda Harvey looked ready to burst into tears at any moment. Although she looked only slightly older— understandably so, of course— Hilda seemed to be carrying an air of maturity around her now. It was a far cry from the excitable yet timid teenager Duncan once knew. “You… You scared the hell out of me back then, y’know?” Hilda said. “You just up and disappeared with nothing but that letter. And then they were sayi