Chapter 93 #2
I searched her eyes for a microsecond, noting nothing but trust and resignation, before I pulled on my magic as hard as I could.
With a guttural scream I felt from the very depths of my soul, I shot a barrier of Destructive mist into the sky, barely a few feet above Alois’ and my prone forms. No sooner was the barrier in place than the projectiles began to rain down, turning to nothing more than fine dust as they passed through my shield.
I screamed as I held my magic, a burning sensation taking root deep within my chest and spreading throughout my body until it felt like my very blood was on fire. The effort to keep the barrier intact was monumental, nearly impossible with the little magic I had available.
Stone after stone passed through the shield, bathing Alois, Gisei, and I in a thick blanket of grey dust. No sooner had the barrage stopped—the last few stones so large they must have broken off the Academy—than I released the hold on my magic, but I feared it was too late.
Where my body was hot, I was shivering, my muscles aching and contracting.
Fever.
I could faintly feel the telltale leaking of blood as it trickled out of my nose and into my open, panting mouth, flooding my tongue with a warm, coppery tang. I swallowed, having no energy to turn and spit, and my stomach roiled with the taste.
Gisei’s hand was limp in my own, her fingers twitching enough to let me know she was alive, but a quick glance proved she was unconscious, twin streaks of blood gushing from her nose and ears.
I dislodged my hand from hers before rolling on my side to face my friend. The effort of that movement was exceptionally painful, and I let out an agonized cry as I felt something move in my back that should not move.
Fuck, this is bad.
“Alois?” I husked. My friend didn’t respond, didn’t even move, and my heart beat erratically in my chest.
“Alois?” I called again, urgency bleeding into my tone.
No, no, no.
I didn’t even wait for an answer before I started dragging my limp legs behind me, crawling arm-over-arm to reach Alois’ mangled body.
Magical blasts shot over me the whole time, the earth rumbling periodically with an Earth Mage’s attack.
The rainstorm had stopped earlier, leaving the courtyard full of bloody puddles.
I wished the rain would start again to wash the dust away that covered Alois and I. I needed to see how bad the damage was—to find how to fix my friend.
My body inched along, dragging dirt, debris, and bodily fluids with me as I moved. The closer I drew, the clearer it became that Alois’ body was not right.
While his chest faced the sky, his lower back and legs were twisted in such a way that it appeared as if his knees were facing the ground. Almost like his spine was completely snapped and twisted.
Holy fuck.
My face hovered just above his abdomen as I took in the black and purple, swollen, mottled mess of his stomach. I wasn’t a healer, but I knew enough to know that wasn’t good.
“Alois?” I asked, my voice cracking at seeing the extensive injuries on my oldest friend.
“Rohak,” he rasped, eyes never opening. “Are we in hell?”
I tried to laugh, but it came out dry and humorless.
“No, but it feels that way.”
“You s-s-survived?” he asked, and I nodded before audibly confirming when I realized he still hadn’t moved his head toward me.
“That’s good, Rohak. That’s good. S-s-she was never in danger,” he said, his voice warbling and catching as he spoke.
“What?” He was speaking gibberish.
“Faylinn. Faylinn was never in d-d-danger. I j-j-just n-n-needed you to . . . fight me. This . . . needed to h-h-happen.” His teeth were chattering now, his hands pale and jumping.
I pushed myself to my elbows before pulling my useless body toward my friend’s head.
I looked down when my elbow suddenly came in contact with a slippery, warm pool of something.
A quick glance down confirmed there was an increasingly large pool of blood beneath Alois’ head, accompanied by a chunk of something hard and full of pieces of Alois’ hair.
My gut roiled, and it was all I could do not to be sick.
“D-d-didn’t expect t-t-to go l-l-like this,” he whispered.
“You’re not going to die, Alois. I’ll get a healer. I’ll find Faylinn,” I rambled desperately, but Alois flicked a tremoring hand at me.
“You h-h-have t-to be the one, R-R-Rohak,” he stuttered, and I instantly shook my head.
“I’m not going to kill you, Alois. I’m not. I can’t.” My voice broke, and I felt hot tears streak down my face.
“P-p-please. T-t-trust me,” he whispered. “One l-l-last time, b-b-brother.”
I sobbed openly now as I watched Alois’ chest fall in uneven, rapid pants.
“P-p-please. D-d-don’t let it b-b-be for n-nothing,” Alois choked.
My breaths sawed in my chest as I watched my friend—my brother—die. Unable to take him into my arms as he took his last breaths, unable to offer any sort of physical comfort at all.
But I could give him this. I could give him this last request.
Face screwed in pain, I pushed myself away from my dying friend until I could grasp Gisei’s practically lifeless hand with one of my own. I dragged her through the muck and mire, blood, brain matter, and dust coating every inch of our skin and clothes, back Alois’ side.
“I l-l-love you, R-R-Rohak,” Alois stuttered, his eyes fluttering open as he tried to see me one last time.
I placed my face in front of his and touched our heads together.
Laying a soft kiss on each temple and his forehead, I drew away, my tears falling freely to splatter on my friend’s ashen face.
“I love you, Alois. I’ll see you in the ether,” I whispered before pulling the remaining dregs of my power from Gisei. There was barely a whisper left, a small ember, but it would be enough. It had to be enough.
I slowly let a tendril of my Destruction Magic escape the hand clutching Alois’ face and watched as it ate away at my friend’s body.
Slowly, then all at once, I watched as his flesh was consumed by my magic, transforming his clothes and skin into dust tendrils that floated lazily in the early morning breeze to rest amongst the rubble and ruin of the courtyard.
I swore I heard him sigh as I felt his soul leave this plane.
“Alois!” I screamed and sobbed as the last of my brother’s body was consumed.
In my grief, I forgot to release my hold on my magic and felt the moment that I drew past my Vessel’s limits. Her grip spasmed in mine, her whole body contorting in pain as her life force was drained away.
Horror washed over me as I watched Gisei burn out before lying completely still, her hand growing limp and wax in my punishing grip.
No. No. Not her, too.
I sat frozen in my decisions—my actions killing two people a handbreadth apart.
What have I done?
Before I could come to terms with my actions, I felt a pull in my gut, my essence fleeing across time and space to another as my body flamed hot—hotter than I’d ever experienced before, and my limbs began to tremor uncontrollably.
Blood flowed from my nose and ears in earnest as I curled into a protective ball as best as possible.
My legs wouldn’t cooperate, and each jolt of my broken body felt like hot knives jabbing through my spine.
I screamed in pain, pleading for Fate to end it all, yelling for my mother, and, at one point, screaming brokenly for the woman my soul craved.
The fire, the heat, the pain were all-consuming and, blessedly, my eyes closed.
I knew no more.