Hyder

Biography

Attempt to remove Jenna's curse

Hyder is a specialist healer asked to treat Jenna after Leylin Farlier's curse infects her. He identifies an ancient, unusually complicated model, warns that experimentation may make it erupt, and estimates that only a month remains. Because the Botelli family supplies Manla as a second infected Magus, Hyder researches a transfer procedure despite misgivings about sacrificing a patient for their seer (Chapters 219–225).

During the operation he confines Manla's curse with purifying light, draws a snake-like manifestation into prepared bait, and seals it in a runed test tube. A hidden second curse then reduces Manla to a blackened skeleton. The captured manifestation breaks its container, and although Hyder's robes repel most of the lightning-filled mist, his left hand blackens as the poison infects him (Chapter 226).

Bargain with Leylin

Leylin later contacts Hyder through a hidden imprint and identifies the infection as Shadow Corrosion. Hyder has analysed its intertwined components but can only suppress them, not produce a true antidote. Feeling abandoned by the Botelli matriarch, he exchanges his knowledge of the family, Sacred Flame, and the dangers of their meditation technique for a cure. His evidence exposes fatal madness among men who train in it and helps Leylin judge the family's misleading claims (Chapters 256–268).

Appearance and personality

Hyder wears thick spectacles and white runed robes. Even when ritual strain leaves him sweating and panting, his surgical hands remain mechanically steady. He is cautious about curses, uneasy with the Botelli family's fatalism, and concerned for Manla, yet professional pride leads him to declare success too early. Once poisoned and abandoned, survival overrides loyalty to his patrons.

Magic, bloodline, and abilities

Hyder specialises in healing, curse diagnosis, Potioneering, ritual transfer, and magical surgery. He can compress spiritual force into a precise scan while guiding purifying light, confine active runes to a small wound, extract a manifestation with surgical tools, and seal it in a runed container. The operation demands sustained concentration and rapidly drains his energy (Chapters 225–226).

His preparation invokes the Woman of the Deep Red through a potion and sacrificial rite, while the completed procedure uses prepared bait and Manla's body. These dependencies mean it is not a simple dispelling spell. More importantly, Hyder detects only one layer of Leylin's combined curse; the second kills Manla and Shadow Corrosion defeats Hyder's own healing knowledge. His robes reduce exposure but cannot stop infection completely (Chapters 225–256).

Relationships

• Jenna: The prophetic patient he tries to preserve.
• Manla: The volunteer used in the attempted curse-transfer procedure.
• Botelli matriarch: A patron whose favour draws Hyder into the dangerous case.
• Leylin Farlier: The curse-maker who poisons and coerces him into providing intelligence.

Items

• Stethoscope and silver scalpel: Diagnostic and surgical tools used during the curse treatment (Chapters 219, 226).
• Runed white robes: Defensive clothing that repels the released black mist (Chapters 225–226).