A Medical Breakthrough in the New Disease Commonly Known as Addle

Arvain let the farmer lead him, holding his arm as they traversed through the town. It was the biggest town Arvain had ever seen. He was unable to take in all the smells and sounds, the people who walked by casually as if nothing were wrong in the world. He felt glad that the farmer was holding his arm. He felt disoriented and frightened. During his travel in Ravenna, nobody had ever asked him where he was from and he could barely remember now. He vaguely remembered that something had happened at home but he couldn't make sense of it. He had traveled, hiring himself out to farms for food and shelter. He couldn't remember why. Images and voices would invade his mind sometimes, like hallucinations but he knew they were memories, not hallucinations. He knew they were in his mind and that nobody else could see or hear them.   The farmer led him to a doorway that was nearly invisible. It was set back from the other doors of the buildings on the street so one would have to be looking and know where to look to find the door. The farmer, whose name Arvain couldn't remember, pulled a chain. Arvain heard the bell ring from somewhere on the other side of that door. Soon, a tall robed man opened the door to admit them.   Arvain knew the farmer and the tall man were talking about him but their words didn't register. He looked around the room he was in. It was clean and bright as the afternoon sun came through the windows. There was little to see other than several doors leading into other rooms.   When Arvain became aware again, the farmer was gone and he was in a room that looked like a comfortable bedroom with a hearth. The only thing out of place was a locked cabinet made out of metal. He didn't care. He just stared into the fire. He felt oddly shut off from his mind. His body was on high alert, however. He felt a myriad of sensations. A slight movement of air in the room touched the fine hairs on the back of his neck and Arvain could feel the slight sweat cool in the slight air movement. The vibration coming through his feet that were resting on the wooden floor told him that there were at least three people in this house; two further away and one moving towards the room he was in.   Every sensation that his body responded to added together to make him the perfect creature for fight or flight. Arvain groped for his mind but his body was in control and he was unable to think in a conscious way though his body told him he was alert and awake. He was ready when the tall man opened the door and came into the room.   "Hello, Arvain. I am Mage Fenton."   Arvain heard the words and understood them but he couldn't respond. His mind didn't have the ability to form a response right now.   Instead, his body informed him the man was inching towards him, hesitant, wary. "Would you like something to drink?"   Arvain turned his head towards the mage and with tremendous effort answered, "water, please."   As Fenton left the room to fetch water for his patient he wondered what symptoms this boy would display. Each case presented in different ways but they all suffered from the overarching malady commonly known as the Addle. Fenton's fellow medical mages, Gregory and Mendel were on the observation deck. He considered briefly asking one of them to join him in his exam but was inclined to think he was safe from the boy for the moment.   Re-entering Arvain's room with water, Fenton handed the boy the cup. Arvain drank eagerly and asked for more by grunting, "more?"   Fenton got more water for the boy and sat down on the desk, his quill hovering next to his exam record book. "Arvain, as you know, you were brought here because you've had difficulties that indicate you might have been affected by the Addle. Do you agree with this assessment?"   Arvain looked miserable and with great effort, nodded. Arvain could hear the sound of the Mage's quill as he made notes. He could almost feel it; the metal point scratching against parchment. It made him grit his teeth. He could smell the ink, could hear the Mage's heart beat, felt the movement of other people moving about beyond the doors through his feet on the floor.   The Mage, Fenton continued, as if he couldn't feel, smell and hear all the things that Arvain's body knew. "I would like to ask you some questions. Let me explain what we are trying to do here, first. The three of us, Gregory, Mendel, and I came together to try to approach healing in a less traditional way. It's become clear that the traditional healing with medicines for the humors hasn't worked on the Addle. It is our greatest hope that we discover a cure. I have to be honest and tell you that we haven't found the cure yet. In order to find the cure, we must ask difficult questions and ask that you give the most honest reply you can. The more we know, the more we have to work with. Do you understand?"   Arvain hesitated. He heard the words, individually, and knew they should be strung together to make sense. But his body's constant input of physical information prevented him from understanding all the Mage said. He had taken in certain words; questions, hope, work, understand. He tried to think but couldn't. Instead, he went along with the Mage because his body told him the man was concerned for him. With effort, Arvain nodded his head.   "Good", Fenton continued, "Can you remember approximately when you started feeling different?"   Arvain sighed. He understood the essence of the simple question. He spoke haltingly, as if it took great effort to form the words. Fenton listened with patience as his quill took notes.   "I wish - - I could remember - - better. At first, it just - - seemed like something - - was changing, kind of like - - the feeling - - you know, - - when you start becoming a man - - it feels, - - you grow hair in certain - - places and voice gets - - deeper. Subtle - - at least  - - at first. The first thing - - I noticed - - that when I was - - interacting with - - someone or listening - - I had trouble - - focusing on - - what they said. Words.   "Do you remember how long ago that was?"   "Maybe - - six -- 10 ? - - months."   "When you noticed you had difficulty listening or understanding other people, did you notice anything else going on?"   "Body -- my body. - - Yes. My body - - took over - - mind - - shut my mind off. Instead of - - words - - body was - - like mind - - like - - feeling through feet - - movement of - - people, beasts - - where - - how many - - Arvain's words came slowly with many pauses as he had to bring himself back to what he was saying.   Fenton felt the stirrings of excitement. They had a patient here with intelligence and wit. They had the chance to learn more from him than they had from any of their previous patients. If what he was thinking the boy was trying to tell him were true, it would change everything.   There had been philosophical debate on the subject of body and mind, whether they were separate or acted alone. One philosopher, quite popular, had recently suggested the body and mind were separate and that if that were true, the mind would live on after the body died. Fenton's excitement grew. Arvain's halting description was profound and more importantly, he had a theory that could be tested.