Healing

Overview

An important and well studied branch of magic spells, healing spells are ones that all Laku, save for those who use inverse magic, attempt to learn. Most healing spells are complex, though some simple ones, such as those to heal a small cut or bruise, are concentrative. Healing is one of the most fundamental actions of both tamed and Raw Magic and one that involves the lowest risk of Turning. However, anyone who is a user of inverse magic cannot perform any healing spell as they will always experience a harsh Turn akin to those experienced when normal magic users attempt to kill something.

Types of Healing Spells

There are many types of healing spells that exist, all with varying degrees of difficulty, complexity, and required magical stamina. The easiest spells involve healing wounds that the body can normally take care of on its own. These spells, which are concentrative rather than complex, typically force the body to speed up its normal healing processes using a stream of magic so that the wound can heal in seconds rather than days. All but the least capable of the non-inverse magic using Laku can heal a minor wound, though in many cases, the wound is not worth the magic needed to heal it. These spells also do not require much magical stamina.
Larger cuts, scrapes, and bruises require a complex spell, much like any significant healing spell. These wounds do not require a chant, for the spell itself is not overly complicated. Unlike the concentrative spell used for minor injuries, these spells actually use magic to heal the wound, rather than spur the body to heal itself quicker. Unless improperly worded, the spell regrows proper tissue and leaves no scars. A decent amount of magical stamina is required, but the amount is still little enough that most who are capable of the spell will not have to worry about running out of magic.
Gaping wounds require the same spells as large cuts, though the healer must use a greater amount of magic and may choose to chant a modified version of the spell. Chanting allows them to start and stop the healing process if needed for a break or to pursue additional avenues of healing, as opposed to a single spell that will go to completion unless there is a Turn from running out of power. Due to the severity of these injuries, the magical stamina required is much greater.
Healing broken bones does not vary much from a small fracture to a completely shattered bone. Centuries ago a healer among the dragons devised a uniform spell for repairing all types of broken bones that continues to be used to this day. The long spell lays out the process needed to rearrange bones and pieces back into their proper places and knits them together with the proper bone tissue. The only difference by situation is the amount of magical stamina needed, though in all but the most severe cases, the magic needed to heal a single large bone is less than the magic needed to heal a severe gash. This spell can also be used in the treatment of bone loss. A healer may choose to use an individualized spell for particular bones and situations if they do not wish to recite this bone healing spell, but only if they know exactly which bones are injured and in what way. The spell developed centuries ago is one of the only healing spells that works for a wide variety of situations with no variation.
Burns tend to be simple to fix unless the damage goes deep, though by their very nature, a burn over a large portion of the body cannot be healed in one sitting, even by a dragon or Lakis of similar magical stamina. Additional spells are needed to heal burned tissue beneath the skin.
Organ damage is a far more complex injury to heal than any other, and some organs, such as the brain and the heart, cannot be completely healed by magic. Most healers will not begin to heal any injury to the brain, partly from lack of training, partly from the lack of safe and effective spells. Other than the brain, most organs can accept some magical healing safely, though in all cases, the sheer complexity and the stamina needed limit healers to the strongest and most capable magic users, and at times only a Spirit Dragon can heal certain injuries. All such organ healing spells are performed as a chant, and oftentimes a magical link is used to provide the healer with additional magic and guidance.
Healing illnesses with magic has only become possible thanks to the scientific research of humans, which the dragons, and later the other Laku, used to create different treatment spells. Prior, only a handful of illnesses and ailments had safe and effective spells, and most of those dealt with nutrient deficiency. The discovery of viruses, bacteria, and other illness-causing pathogens led to an explosion of spells that could not only treat the effects of the illness but kill or remove the pathogen from the body. Understanding of chronic ailments also led to advancements in treating and even curing these conditions, though in modern times, using human created medicines is a far easier route to take than using healing spells.
Viruses are the easiest pathogen to deal with. Because viruses are not alive, the rule of not killing with magic does not apply. Great amounts of effort have gone into spells for killing viruses, including modifying them to handle different types. Some healers believe it is possible to develop one spell that can treat all viruses, even ones that mutate readily, much like there is one spell for healing bone. However, such a spell has not yet been developed. Killing viruses requires spells that involve a decent amount of of magical ability and stamina, but is otherwise readily accessible for many Laku.
Despite being living creatures, many bacteria can be outright killed like viruses. But other bacteria cannot be killed without some degree of Turn, and the healer must decide if the Turn is worth the risk, of if they must use other spells and other means to combat a bacterial infection. There are some spells that work to purge harmful bacteria from the body through waste, but must be uttered with the utmost care and must exactly specify the bacteria to purge and through what means. Otherwise, the healer risks severe harm to the one they are trying to heal. This method is relatively new and lacks the deep body of research that other spells have.

Automatic Healing

As healing is a fundamental action of magic, there are cases where a Lakis may experience automatic healing, the event where the body’s innate magic works to heal a wound or ailment without any input by the magic user. Studies have proven that Raw Magic plays a role in all cases of automatic healing, even if the Lakis experiencing it has never used Raw Magic. However, the tamed magic of the Lakis performs most of the effort. The Raw magic becomes the magic user, guiding the tamed magic to heal.
All cases of automatic healing are slow and almost unnoticeable by the Lakis affected by it. Because Raw Magic structures the ongoing spell, rather than a magic user, the results are not always desired. Automatic healing tends to take the shortest path towards being completely healed, meaning that for injuries most of the healing done is with scar tissue and for sicknesses and tumors, much of the healing is done by attempting to purge the ailment from the body in uncomfortable ways. Scar tissue can have negative effects depending on what it is replacing, and purging of pathogens and tumors can lead to magical resistance.
It is unknown what triggers automatic healing, as not every sick or injured Lakis experiences it, and those that have do not experience it every time they are in need of a healing. The odds of any given Lakis experiencing automated healing once in their lives is incredibly slim, though the odds increase proportionally with an individual’s magical stamina.