Chapter 14 Aurora #3
My temples throbbed with the effort. But eventually, every droplet of blood yielded to me and flowed as I commanded it.
“Gale, I need you to create an air chamber for his blood. We’ll contain it together until Selena finishes.”
Her breathing quickened, but her reply was swift. “Ready. I’ve secured the space.”
“Release the pressure. I’m bringing it out.”
The invisible barrier Gale held over the wound relented, and I opened my eyes to witness the extraction.
The knots I’d formed throughout his circulatory system had merged during transport, creating one dense crimson mass.
It lifted at my order, encased in Gale’s shimmering air bubble, and floated away from Hummingbird’s body like a dark jellyfish suspended in glass.
Selena was already positioned over his abdomen, fresh cuts bleeding down her wrists while her hands worked above the gaping wound. Deep red light emanated from her palms as her eyes became totally black.
I’d never witnessed her healing powers before. Check-ups, yes. Nexus repairs, certainly. But never this—never watching her drag someone back from death’s threshold.
Terraknight flicked his fingers and sliced razor-thin shards from the rocks on the ground. The fragments he’d created levitated toward Selena, seven inches long and sharp enough to split hairs.
“Keep them coming,” she murmured. “I need consistent flow.”
The shards kissed her forearms, opening precise wounds that immediately began sealing. Blood streamed from her into Hummingbird’s torn belly, but her immortal healing fought against the process. The cuts closed within heartbeats, forcing Terraknight to slash fresh ones in an endless cycle.
I must have missed when she’d given him instructions, lost as I was in the delicate work of blood separation.
With a constant crimson supply flowing, Hummingbird’s intestines began repositioning themselves.
Gray-pink coils slithered back into place as if guided by invisible hands.
New muscle fibers sprouted and wove between damaged tissue while blood vessels branched out, connecting in intricate networks that pulsed with fresh circulation.
“Holy Sea Goddess,” Pearl breathed. “Is that normal?”
“Nothing about this is normal,” I replied, gaping at Selena’s regenerative powers.
Wound edges crept toward each other in waves of pale pink tissue. What should have taken days happened in seconds. No scarring, no misaligned flesh, as if the injury had never existed.
My jaw went slack. Pearl rose to her knees and slammed a hand over her lips. Ember’s mouth moved around soundless words.
Selena’s heartbeat began slowing.
I focused on her pulse, steady but weakening as she hemorrhaged. Crimson hadn’t yet invaded her irises, but the black veins creeping along her hairline warned of our lack of time. Selena in bloodlust would be catastrophic after tonight’s losses.
Four inches remained until the wound would close completely.
Terraknight had positioned himself behind her, knees bracketing her small frame. Each slash of his stone blades made him wince, but he never hesitated. His entire focus had shifted to tracking every tremor, every hitched breath, every pained hiss that escaped her lips.
I’d seen that protective intensity once before, in a mother bear defending her cubs. Ready to die for what was hers.
Selena’s shoulders drooped, tipping her over Hummingbird’s body. I reached out, but Terraknight was faster.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured against her ear.
Her rigid posture melted at the sound of his voice.
Crouching behind her, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest. The black veins in her hairline had darkened, her skin losing its luminous quality.
She’d lost too much blood.
“What’s wrong with her?” Ember’s voice hitched despite her attempt to whisper.
“Sel?” I called out.
Her irises remained their normal obsidian, but the hollows beneath her cheekbones had deepened.
“You can put the blood back now,” she said, her words slurring slightly.
Gale’s glowing eyes met mine. Together, we guided Hummingbird’s extracted blood toward the narrow gap remaining in his skin.
It slipped inside as if drawn by suction, helped by the vacuum Gale maintained to keep the area sterile.
While I worked to de-stack the clot and distribute it through his veins, Selena sealed the final inches of skin, and the crimson glow faded from her hands.
Darkness settled over us again.
“He should be fine,” she announced with a weary sigh, slumping back against Terraknight. “Rest, fluids, and food. That’s all he needs now.”
Color was already returning to Hummingbird’s face. His heart rate strengthened, pumping renewed life through his system. The collective exhale that escaped us carried relief so profound my eyes burned with tears. Looking at him now—peaceful, whole—no one would believe he’d been dying moments ago.
“Time to keep your promise,” Selena murmured, tilting her head back to meet Terraknight’s gaze. The hunger in her eyes matched his own.
His smile held enough sin to damn a saint. “Take whatever you need, hellcat. You’ve earned it.” He pulled her in his arms, and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her into the darkness.
We watched them disappear in silence.
Gale was first to speak. “Guess we’re carrying Hummingbird home ourselves.”
“Guess so,” Pearl replied with a shrug.
I kneeled beside Hummingbird and watched his chest rise and fall.
Victory never came without cost. We’d saved one life tonight, but Quakelord was gone.
A man whose journey had been carved by war and persecution; his life cut short when the world needed more people like him.
No pretense, no games. What you saw was what you got.
His sacrifice couldn’t be meaningless.
I wouldn’t let it be.
May you rest in peace, friend.