Chương 135: Chapter 133 - The Price

Mira's POV The cold wind of the high altitude air scoured the icy trails of frozen liquid tracing down her cheeks. Mira was unsure if the tears had come from the force of the wind or… something else. As she flew to the southeast tracing a path into the unknown she was shaken from her recollection and her thoughts were derailed as an enormous flare of mana lit the sky, spearing upwards from the ground below.

She turned towards the spectacle in an instant and, with a grim smile, she was rewarded with a confirmation as the scent trail also shifted in that direction. The newly resurfaced memories were set aside, gently as if wrapped in gossamer, as she etched the scent indelibly into her mind, with the hope that she would be able to later recall them once more with its help.

Her gaze latched on the spire of energy ahead of her, duty was calling, and there was no more room for the softer world of the younger Mira, only the cold and stark world of Lady Blackhall. Mira's eyes narrowed as an unseasonable storm spread before her, the thin threads of icy mana laced throughout clearly the source of the phenomenon, and as she traced her gaze over the net of loosely connected weave her mount took on a grim set. The center was clearly in the same region as the flare up ahead.

Diving into the clouds ahead, the pressure of her passage was enough to disturb the delicate lace of the threads as they became unraveled in her wake, the energy from their dissolution discharging into the clouds as she passed in a ripple of lightning. The flare began to build, growing wider and more dense by the moment, and within a few minutes the energy in the air began to grow to truly frightening levels.

Urgency pushed her faster and faster, as she began flying at truly reckless speeds, her gaze fixed on display just above the horizon ahead. A gathering of mana in her eyes caused the clouds to clear her vision as she spotted a knot growing at their center. The knot pulsed and curled, before squeezing tight and turning with a sharp twist.

Mira swore under breath as knot crackled and burst, a burst she knew would have released a shattering sound if she had been close enough to hear it, as the dimension fabric shattered, leaving behind a pane of fractured space. A ripple of icy white mana shimmered over her form coating her in a plane of force that she shaped into a lance as she poured her all into increasing her speed. She grunted with effort as her cocoon cut through the air like the prow of a ship through icy waters.

The pressure of her passage pressed down around her, and she gritted her teeth as more and more of the knots appeared and shattered before her. The ground had already been whipping past before she entered the clouds, but as she raced forwards even those became a blur as the column of energy grew close, miles passing in the blink of an eye. In one of those odd moments that only happen when moving at truly absurd speeds, as the horizon finally grew near, the last few miles flashed past in moments.

Her passage shed the clouds light water from a cloak and as she punched through the cloud layer she spotted a partially wrecked castle below and a crater, one that appeared to be host to the source of the flare. Mira turned sharply, plunging into the earth below on the rim of the large formation at the base of the spire, the earth and stone fountaining into the air around her until enough had shattered under her feet to halt her momentum.

She grit her teeth, her power roiling in the air as she seethed at the very thought of anyone dense enough to try and open a fracture. Her hand gripped the box holding the token through the fabric of the bag hanging at her waist, as her eyes narrowed, her aura carrying her lethal intent forward into the air around her. It's them …

She was unable to repress an angry hiss from escaping her teeth, her tongue flicking outwards to lick her lips as she gnashed her teeth for a split second before she growled and pressed down suppressing her emotions under the iron grip of her will as her face smoothed with the implacability of the reaper coming for his harvest. The stone shattered under her grip as she grasped the rim of the smaller crater made from her impact and launched herself into the larger one.

Her gaze was riveted on the intricate workings of the bizarre ritual in front of her, but a familiar shade of red seen out of the corner of her eye drew her gaze across the rubble strewing the ground before her as she spotted a familiar figure. Lady Ast-- Flash. -- "... ire, both magical and mundane." Mira glanced down at young Tiamat, Explosions and a lot of two-legs stuff. Then over at Mr Mercer, "Spatial severa-- Flash. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

-- ira gritted her teeth as she conducted a symphony of magic, dozens of threads blossoming at every gesture. Microscopic blades of ice cut the sigils in hundreds of places, the air steaming away from her skin as her body flared with heat and she pushed her prodigious Wisdom attribute to the limit, her body burning through her reserves at a reckless rate. Her stomach began to growl as the energy deficit grew, but her mind raced as she searched for more connections to s-- Flash.

-- olors filled the air, as she rotated through every aspect and affinity she knew, something had to work, Faster, I need to be faster. Wait…" intere– Flash. -- tra. She had already lost one family she would not lose another." Stay behind m-- Flash. -- he weave, writhed in her hand as the core fought her. She groaned as the pulses slammed into her, with a tw-- Flash.

-- oared as she plunged her hands into the core, the roar turning into a scream of pain as it felt as if she had plunged them straight into a stream of liquid fire. Th-- Flash. Screaming. Flash. Pain. Flash. White and red flashing around her as she could feel her veins melting. Flash. --old on little one, just a moment longe– Flash. Darkness. Her mind floated in the dark, devoid of all sensation other than a gently bobbing sway, as if she was floating on the surface of a vast body of water.

A warm voice filled her mind, familiar and comforting, but unrecognizable by her battered and worn psyche. The cadence was sibilant and flowing, reminiscent of the rushing flow of water down a stream. Rest now little one… You have done well… Let the swells carry your burdens until you wake. While her mind did not recognize the voice, on an instinctual level she knew it could be trusted.

She sank deeper into the darkness surrounding her, no longer aware of the content of the words, but as the voice continued speaking, the soft rhythmic pattern soothed her mind, combining with the gentle rocking of the dark void to lull her to sleep.

Mira drifted in the darkness for an interminable period of time. Some moments her mind would drift up to the surface and she could hear voices, garbled in indistinct through the water that surrounded her, only fragments piercing through the veil. A woman's voice, " -urned, needs rest to reco-" A man's voice, " -brought some soup for her. Can she eat liq-" A silent voice, - rother said you might hear me, are yo- Other times it was a sensation instead of sound.

These tended to be more difficult to parse, as a thick haze of pain muffled anything before it could even approach the dark waters, but some made it through. A warm touch on a hand. A trickle of warm fluid down her throat. The brush of cool scales, rumbling they pressed against a leg. However, most of the time it was dark as she slumbered in the depths of the dark void.

At least until one moment, a brief glimpse as a trickle of light plunged into the darkness, cutting through the darkness and the haze, illuminating Mira in comforting warmth as the voice returned. It is time little one.

"... unnn." Mira groaned with a raspy voice as she came to consciousness, her head pounded as she tried to remember where she was and what she had been doing. All she could remember was flashes of light, and vague memories of floating somewhere dark and warm. She stirred slowly, wincing against the light to find herself laying alone in a bed in an empty stone room, the faint scent of medicinal herbs filling the air.

She idly traced one hand through a spellform to assist in memory retrieval, a valuable skill she taught most of her pupils, but a lance of searing hot white pain shot through her head as the spell failed, her mana mostly unresponsive as the few threads she had woven unraveled before they could take root. She clutched her head in pain as she heard a sound from across the room. A young woman in healer's attire stepped through the door, carrying a pitcher of liquid over to the bedstand.

Two steps into the room she glanced upwards and halted midstep, nearly fumbling the pitcher from her hands, as she caught sight of Mira. She spoke breathlessly, " You're awake." She recovered almost immediately, setting the pitcher hurriedly on the bedside table before rushing back to the doorway." Go fetch Lady Emberholdt, Lady Blackhall is awake!" The room fell quiet once more. Mira leaned back against the pillow as exhaustion weighed down on her, making every muscle feel leaden.

A door crashed open somewhere down the hallway as muffled voices erupted just beyond the doorway, although the hall was silent as no steps could be heard approaching. Mira smiled and closed her eyes. Her young Lady would be here soon.