Chương 126: Chapter 125- The Aftermath

" Mira!" Astra raced forwards, Elias and Tia a step behind her as they darted across the crater to where Mira had slumped near the core of the ritual, as she dropped to the ground next to her a wave of concern welled up the tether as she drew in a sharp breath. Elias crouched down next to her as he leaned forward and pressed a hand to Mira's neck to check for a pulse as he took in the damage to her from the massive discharge.

He grimaced as he reached forward with his left expecting the touch of warm skin only to be greeted by the sight of a stump, covered in scabby seared flesh, protruding from the tattered remains of his sleeve He reached forward with his right instead and found her skin was nearly hard as stone, with a cool smoothness to the touch that belied the warmth from below, the muscles beneath as hard as steel, and through the tough outer layer and unyielding muscle he was unable to find a heartbeat in the usual place given just how dense her flesh was.

Eli suspected that it may just be a symptom of this new world and how the system altered their bodies. A wave of joy washed down the tether as Astra spoke after giving a relieved sigh, " Thank the Ancients, she's still breathing." The slow steady draw of soft breaths set his mind at ease, although the ragged edge to them made him wince in sympathy.

Her armor had a series of dark sooty cracks running up each arm from the enormous amount of energy she had just been channeling across her body, and hints of charred and blackened skin could be seen in the gaps between. It may have been only for a short while, but for the entire time he had known her, Mira was nothing but a pillar of strength and power that towered over others.

Her simple presence had been a source of strength for everyone around her and, after seeing her in action for a single moment back at the bandit's camp, what felt like ages ago, but had only been a few scant weeks, he could understand. Mira had true power, not the hints he had seen where first had some simple vision improvements, or even the blasts of fire that Astra could dish out, marvelous as they were in their own right. No.

He had watched her save everyone in the blink of an eye, displaying the kind of overwhelming power that would end the fight before it even began, and gave him the first hint he had seen of what it would take for Eli to ensure he would never lose anything dear to him, ever again.

Elias glanced over at Astra and Tia, the first gently probing the tears in Mira's armor exhaustion, worry and relief warring openly on her face, and the second showing her concern in her own way, gently speaking to Mira in the silent communication that Tia could only share with her and Eli as she gently patted her thigh plate, her tail coiled around one calf in concern. Auntie-Mira you'll be ok, we fix you up, just you wait, I bet sister-astra knows who…

Eli paused a weary smile drifting across his face as he considered them for a moment before falling as he turned back to Mira's silent form as he contemplated the sheer power that had been on display only a few minutes earlier. Just what kind of strength does it take to put yourself through something like that? Just what kind of life do you need to not only have that kind of power, but that strength of will?

He glanced over at Astra and Tia, pulling a water skin from his belt and passing it over, Astra flashing him a brief smile as pulled out a rag and began cleaning Mira's wounds as best she could. Unable to do more to help, Tia just curled up against Mira's side keeping a careful watch on Astra's actions, as she continued murmuring her reassurances to the comatose woman. I mean I have something to lose now too, will I need that kind of power to protect them? More?

Elias stood, patting Astra's shoulder as he trudged over to some of the cultist's bodies, turning them over one by one, searching for the cleanest cloth he could find to help bind Mira's wounds. His eyes drifted to the still and silent channels covering the ground, finally able to confirm the crimson glow had faded as parts had begun to cool enough to turn back to normal stone.

A watery ripple of unease shot through his gut at the sight, his bowels twisting in fear and he clenched his fist around one of the tusk daggers in his boot, wincing from the spike of a headache due to mana exhaustion as he lunged out with a flash of [Veilrend] to sever one of the ritual channels as he eyed it warily. However, the only sight that greeted him was a neat line in the stone, no crimson pulses, and no upwelling blood.

A quiet sigh of relief came from behind him and Eli glanced over his shoulder as he spotted Astra half turned in his direction, a fist on the pommel of her sidearm as she glared at the same spot with a steely gaze that slowly faded. She turned her gaze up to Eli as she arched an eyebrow in his direction, a small smirk crossing her face at his embarrassed shrug before falling back into worry as she turned back to Mira. Damn. I need to cool it, she's worried enough.

Elias stood picking up the small bundle of cloth he was able to recover. Nothing in this crater was in excellent condition, but it shouldn't kill her and would do the job long enough to get Mira to safety. He crouched next to Astra, helping her remove the damaged armor from Mira's arms as he murmured, " Sorry about that." Astra shook her head as she worked, " No. It was a good call."

They worked together in silence, both of them wincing as they spotted the jagged and branching patterns of burned flash covering each hand and tracing up each forearm to end around the middle of her upper arms. Eli glanced over at Astra, her collected facade only barely concealing her concern as she tended to her mentor, the spiral of concern and worry twisting and winding along the tether. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more."

You know these kinds of burns actually had a name back in my world, Lichtenburg Figures." Astra's hands paused, glancing up at him and gave a strange look before continuing with cleaning the wounds on one arm as he worked on the other." Oh? Strange that the name did not translate into something else."" Yeah, probably because they were named after a guy who discovered them, they did have another one though, Lightning flowers. A much better one don't you think?"

Astra ran her gaze over the branching patterns on the arm as she continued, " An oddly pretty name, for something so dangerous."" Yeah, isn't it? There was a way of making art using lightning that was probably the source of that one. There was actually a whole…"

As they continued chatting back and forth about inane topics the rapid spiral along the tether began to ease and, as some of the tension eased from Astra's shoulders, Elias felt a soft tap on one arm and looked down as Tia glanced up giving him a wink that he returned with the eye facing away from Astra. She's going to be ok right brother? Eli smiled back down at her, I don't really know Tia. He reached down to give her a scratch as he felt a small curl of anxiety in the back of his mind.

But I do know that Mira is very strong, and if anyone can pull through it's her. Either way, we will figure it out together. They began wrapping each hand and, as he wound the fabric across one palm, carefully threading it through each finger, wincing as the skin cracked when he moved it too much. Eli considered his words as he silently thought to himself, I mean I wasn't wrong, she damn near unstoppable, it's hard to imagine anything that could take her down.

His eyes drifted skyward as he wound the bandages, I mean, what could possibly be more powerful… than her… Elias froze, his eyes wide as he gaped into the sky. Astra paused as she noticed that he had stopped wrapping, turning to follow his gaze upwards as a spike of worry shot through the tether. It's still there. Sitting in the sky above them, the fractured panes of space still hung, no wider than before, but no smaller either.

Instead of a massive pillar of panes reminiscent of shattered glass tracing from the ring to the ground, there was only a small handful, hanging suspended freely in the sky unconnected to either, above the crater roughly around a hundred feet from the ground. After a few moments, the worry eased as Astra turned back to her work on Mira with an exhausted sigh, " That's a problem for another day, someone else can deal with it."

Eli glanced at Astra, before glancing back down at Mira, a small smile growing on his face as he returned to wrapping her palm, " You're right. We have something much more important to take care of first."

Elias plopped down with a sigh, him and Astra sitting back to back against the crumbled remains of a wall that had tumbled into the crater after the explosion. Tia remained curled up by Mira's side as they watched, and Eli took a sip of what was left from the water skin before reaching over to pass it to Astra." So what's next?"

Astra drank deep from the water skin, the loud deep gulping sounds bringing a small smile to Elias's face, which turned into a grin as she audibly gasped in satisfaction as she finished, the leather hitting his shoulder with a soft pat as she passed it back. He drank some more as she gave a soft sigh before speaking." I just don't know Eli…"" The Viscount is dead, as are all the cultists we found, but there has to be more right?"

A gauntlet flicked about in the corner of his vision as she gestured to the scene around them." This just doesn't seem like the kind of operation run by a single man. Those schedule boards mentioned visitors, as if some ghoulish bureaucrat might stop by for an inspection as if they were just a simple local workhouse making wine barrels or something other banal thing." Her voice grew quiet, " … not just slaughtering townsfolk like they were cattle, just to harvest their blood."

The silence lingered for a moment before she spoke again in a quiet voice, " Have you ever seen anything like that before Eli? I have heard stories of what can happen during monster tides, but these were people. What kind of thing could possibly be worth such a price?" Eli sighed as he handed the skin back over his shoulder, " This bad? No." He leaned back staring up at the darkening sky at the sun set above them, some of the clouds slowly drifting back into the valley as the cool night air began to settle in."

I've seen some really awful things Astra, but as far as my personal experience goes nothing that was quite this bad." He paused for a moment before continuing, " The thing is though, in case you forget we didn't have monsters in my world, or rather the only ones we did have were people too. I saw plenty of what they would do to each other, killing for power, drugs, money, and there was definitely worse in our history.""

There were a few times that something like this showed up, some cruel and cold bastards turning on the rest of humanity, turning death in chore, places where people came and collected a daily wage on the misery and misfortune of their neighbors." Eli stood, circling the wall to plop down next to her with a grunt as a bit of stone dug into his rear as he shifted to get comfortable as he continued, " But you know what I also saw?"

He leaned back as he tossed an arm over her shoulder as he looked up at the sky again, watching as the first few stars appeared in the dark blanket above." I saw people helping. People who would stand up to the darkness and declare no more, who see people in need and extend a helping hand, even when no else could help, or at least when no one else would."

She leaned her head over onto his shoulder as she joined him in looking up to the sky above, and Eli glanced down, smiling at the ringlight reflected in her eyes." People just like you Astra." Astra blushed slightly as she looked up at him for a long moment, before they turned back to the sky, the silence stretching the emotions from the long days behind them slowly settled, the weight of exhaustion wrapping them both in a comforting blanket.

Eli saw a mischievous smirk cross her face out of the corner of his eye, before she spoke, " As I have said before you are more than welcome to expound on my magnificence anytime you wish." Elias laughed, " Good, because I would never dream of stopping." Astra paused. She glanced at him briefly out of the corner of one eye before laying her head back against his shoulder, speaking so quietly he almost missed it.

"... well now that's just not fair…"