Satisfied with his purchases, Finn left the market silently. After exiting the alley and starting his walk home, he paid extra attention to his surroundings. He didn't want to experience being followed and surrounded again.
Seeing that the lights in nearby houses were out, he decided to climb up to the rooftops. Entering an alley, so as to not be seen, he stealthily climbed up to the roof of the two story house.
His climbing ability had definitely improved, thanks to his previous experiences and his time in the obstacle course with Pete.
Once he got up, Finn moved along the rooftops another two blocks towards the guild before stopping. Sitting down with his back to a warm chimney, he looked up at the stars.
Finn liked being up above the dirty streets. The air seemed fresher, and it felt a little like an escape from all the business of the city life below. Wrapping his cloak around his legs, he sat there enjoying the peacefulness.
Looking out over the city, Finn saw some taller buildings and spires in the distance. He thought those would have an even better view than what he was enjoying. Unfortunately, there was a tall wall between this part of town, and the middle district.
Thinking about his new silver bolts, Finn took one out and examined it. It was a beautiful work of art, there were even words in the language of the dwarves carved along the shaft.
Hesitating slightly, Finn adjusted his armor to reveal his left forearm. Holding the silver bolt, he stabbed it into his arm.
Now Finn had spent some of this peaceful time thinking of where he should stab himself. In order to determine which creature his heart came from, he needed to test how he responded to being injured with silver. The potential donors would all respond differently to a wound caused by silver.
This was actually a big reason why he bought the bolts in the first place. The hard part was decided where to stab. From the anatomical drawings he had seen earlier today, he remembered humans had a lot of blood vessels and important looking organs. Not wanting to cause permanent damage, he chose to stab somewhere he had been hurt previously.
As logical as Finn might have approached this test, he wasn't prepared for the burning pain that shot up his arm. There was a hissing sound that came from his wound. The blood and muscles around the silver were sizzling.
Finn almost barfed from the pain, and had to clench his jaws to keep from yelling. Resolutely pulling the bolt out again, Finn felt immediate relief.
Putting away the silver bolt weakly, Finn looked at the hole it had made in his forearm. He started questioning the wisdom of such a reckless test.
He was relieved when the burnt flesh, blackened from contact with the silver, fell away like old scabs. Blood soon filled the cavity of the wound completely and turned jellylike before a new scab formed on the surface.
Moving his fingers carefully, Finn was happy that they seemed fine. The wound still hurt if he strained those muscles, but other than that he was fine.
Finn kept sitting in order to give his arm time to fully heal. Thinking through the results he thought he might have an answer.
First, his wound healed quickly even without washing it. That rules out the possibility of the heart coming from a werewolf. Even a small cut caused by silver would take a werewolf several days to heal naturally.
His second observation was how the silver seemed to burn his blood causing him extreme pain. This seemed similar to how holy water was advertised to affect vampires and the undead raised by necromancy.
For now it seemed most likely that he had a vampire heart, but he couldn't rule out the troll heart yet. Although it might seem like a troll's heart would be too big for a human, Finn couldn't exclude the possibility of magic shrinking it, or only a sliver of the heart being attached to his own,
It was rumored that trolls were weak to fire so he would have to test that back at the guild. When he is sure of the answer, and has access to the library, he planned to study the creature who's heart he now had.
Looking at his wound again, he picked at the scab and it came off. Underneath was an interesting sight. It looked like skin, muscles, and blood vessels, except they were transparent enough for Finn to see through them and observe all the layers at once. It was weird, but he looked at it in fascination.
Prodding it gently, it felt a little softer than normal, but otherwise seemed fine. The blood-red tint of it all made it look like a bloody wound from a distance, so others wouldn't notice its abnormality during a fight.
Covering it carefully with his armor when he noticed it wouldn't bleed any longer, Finn stood up and headed to the guild.
As he ran and leaped, rooftop to rooftop, Finn tried to soften his landings and footsteps. Pete had told him that the sound of their footsteps separates the professionals from the commoners.
With the guild's fort in sight, it really looked like a fort now that Finn could see it from higher up, he climbed down into a nearby alleyway.
After entering the guild, Finn took a lot candle to the training room. Nobody was exercising at this time of the night, so Finn could do his final test.
Finn took out a dagger and cut a slit in his palm. Watching it it quickly bled a little and formed a scab. He thought it would heal soon, it had already stopped hurting.
Cutting his other palm, he quickly held it right above the flame of the candle. The heat of the flame started to cause him a little pain and his skin soon felt like it was being burnt. Many warriors would intentionally burn or cauterize their wounds to stop the blood flow.
Removing his hand, he stared at his palm waiting for how it would respond. If a troll's wound was burned it wouldn't regenerate, instead I would leave a scar. Finn wanted to see if his body could heal a cauterized wound.
As he watched, the burnt skin flaked off and blood seeped through his pores to cover the burnt area. The blood retained its jellylike texture, and more would come out if he wiped it away. It seemed like the blood was functioning like the juice of a plant he had heard about.
The 'aloe sanitatem', which humans called 'St Althea's Tears' was a succulent that had thick teardrop shaped leaves attached with short stems. The leaves could be harvested and kept for several weeks before drying out. Snapping the tip of the leaf would release the gel-like sap stored inside it. This gel had healing, cooling and soothing properties. Widely used in making health potions and ointments, or for treating burns, the plant was grown by many in their homes.
Finn waited until the blood had dried before brushing it away. Underneath was healthy pink skin. Checking the wound caused by the silver bolt again, he noticed that all previous traces of it had disappeared. It was as if he had never stabbed himself. The combination of this result and the behavior of his blood during healing led Finn to his conclusion.
His heart was from a vampire.
AAAAAND the verdict is out! The donor has been identified. Although Finn has noticed some changes due to his operation, there will be more in the future.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I did :P
In the next chapter a new character will join the guild.
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Also for some info in the source of the plant name in this chapter see comment section