Chương 39: Materiality Poisoning

You have severe misgivings about my relationship with Fiya. Liesel remained quiet, pursing her lips to let the spirit know of her disapproval. Liesel was too weak to even worry about the idea that the Spirit was dropping her guards based on the frequency with which Liesel interacted with others.

"Anyways," Auram said, trying to sound a little more mature than she was.

"What kind of help do you need?" Liesel glanced at Fiya.

"Go ahead. What help do you need?"

"I... am not sure," Fiya said.

"Even if we ask the Seer to open the door from that side, and he does, we are so far away that we'd die regardless if we turned around."

"Then," Liesel shifted her attention back to Auram, "You can bring us some food and a satchel of water."

"She can do that?"

"I hope so," Liesel said as the spirit vanished.

"You will keep her help a secret. The food comes from your special talent."

"I can't possibly take credit for something like that. It makes no sense. I am not even aware of that vein of magic."

"We are desperate enough to accept the most outrageous stories," Liesel said.

"Think of something. Because if you can't, I am more than happy to bury the food in the sand rather than risk exposing Auram's existence to the expedition."

"They are good people," Fiya said.

"And there's no way they'd be against Auram when she is helping us out. There's a complicated history between us and spirits."

"Not against, that's for sure," Liesel said. But that didn't mean they'd see Auram as just a kind-hearted person who wanted to help them. She didn't want to imagine what they'd think, and how they'd make Auram useful. With a mage and warder, Liesel had many questions about whether Auram's teleportation magic would save her. She can get past the Custodian's dungeon. Verka and Jaisel's magic won't stop her. Liesel told herself.

And yet, in all its irreconcilable evil, the Custodian made a deal with Auram when he still refused to talk to Liesel, who was the presumed heir of his role. That doubt made it impossible for Liesel to even consider exposing Auram to ten people who might be able to trap the spirit.

"I think it is better if they think you are helping us, especially when you have burned your Soul Veins. You are a liability, and I don't know how far we can go before someone proposes discarding dead weight."

"You think most of us are evil, so evil that they can even suggest such a thing?" Fiya seemed appalled by the idea.

"Except for Kurvam, and maybe Garvin, I can't see anyone else suggesting abandoning one of us."

"You don't think I will?" Liesel asked.

"No—" Fiya stopped for a moment. Her lips parted to say no again, but she stopped herself. And she settled on, "I hope you will not." Liesel didn't affirm Fiya because she didn't know when or what would push her to make that decision. She liked to imagine she was capable of cold decisions. She had killed the captain of Rand Company without blinking twice. She could leave the mage behind for the sake of nine others. Auram teleported back in front of Liesel, dropping the wrapped bar of concentrated energy.

Here, it might as well be an elixir. And Auram vanished again.

"We are going to need twelve... no, eleven," Fiya said, pursing her lips. Liesel nodded. She was slightly more worried about water. Auram would have a much harder time filling one, let alone enough for eleven people. A sip of water is enough for everyone. With this, Liesel looked down at the temporary sustenance. It shouldn't be tiring. Auram did start to show signs of exhaustion after the sixth trip, but she emphasized it was because of the weight and not the teleportation magic.

Liesel didn't understand how it worked, or if that was even possible to understand. The Empire didn't have anything like Direct Teleportation. Only the Shade Passage, which shrank the route to a minute's walk, no matter the distance. It was nothing like Auram's magic, and so efficient that the spirit could perform it dozens of times in succession. After eleven bars, Liesel handed the water sack to the spirit. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

When Auram returned with it, she fell onto Liesel's hand, heaving from the effort.

"That's the most work I have done in centuries."

"I am sorry," Liesel said.

"I will repay you for this if I make it out alive." Auram shook her head.

"I am glad I could help. It feels nice to be exhausted after doing something. I am gonna go." Leaving behind a puff of smoke, the spirit vanished. The water sack was little more than half full. If she brings a little less but makes multiple trips... that might be better.

"All yours," Liesel gestured at their meal, picking up one.

"She is so nice," Fiya said.

"That's why she is better off hidden. It's less complicated." Fiya nodded.

"How did you get this?" Kurvam glared at Fiya as he yanked a few that he could grab, and the rest fell on the sand.

"I... uh, I can..." Fiya glanced at Liesel, shrinking behind Yehia, who, for once, was equally curious, so she stepped out of the way, leaving the injured mage all to the vicious leader.

"I, uhm, I just had this," Fiya made a circle, probably trying to imply a Shade Pocket where she hid the food.

"Magic," Liesel said, stepping between the mage and Kurvam.

"And I promised no one would bother her about it if she helps us. So we are not going to ask anything."

"C'mon," Yehia uttered, wrapping her hand around Fiya's shoulder.

"At least, you can tell me."

"Later," Liesel said.

"For now, we are going to eat, sleep in rotations, and then continue forward. I expect another long, drawn-out fight when the ash storm starts in sixteen hours."

"Kurvam," Liesel extended her hand, "One for everyone." Kurvam returned the rest except for one.

"I appreciate your understanding." Unfortunately, they were so famished by then that consuming an entire thing quickly would've sickened them. The healer suggested nibbling on it for hours, and he performed a ritual that would boost the body's absorption of energy and recuperation. They rested after that. First, Verka, Kurvam, Farki Jan, Fiya, Garol Borran, and Liesel rested. Liesel wanted to make sure she was awake when Kurvam was. She even told Yehia specifically to wake her up if Kurvam gets up.

Otherwise, she might not wake up, or wake up with half the team dead. It was desperation that forced her to allow Kurvam to be part of the team again. His pretence of becoming gentler in his approach did little to earn her trust. They lacked the power, and they most certainly needed Verka's help to reach the primordial vein. As they were expecting, they did fight another swarm of centipedes, and there were twelve of them this time. But they were better rested and understood the centipedes as well.

So, except for minor injuries to the limbs, the centipedes were easy to deal with. Except, by the time Liesel killed the last one, her Soul Veins were contracting from overuse. After that, they took an hour's rest. Auram learned to teleport inside Fiya's bag. So she kept teleporting a few bars every hour or so, and a half-filled sack of water, because that was the weight she could be consistent with.

It was a rather awkward deal to see the mage access a seemingly infinite amount of food and water without any explanation, but the biggest thing it solved was the tension among the group. Though they were having to fight, the centipedes were great for them to absorb Materiality from. They were seeing growth, so to speak. It was only Liesel whose Soul Veins were not strong enough to survive this sustained use. And she was the only one who could quickly kill the centipedes with her Shade Severing Strike.

She tried to show Markil and Charbil how to do it, and they just couldn't do it. It was like she was talking to a blind person about colors. Liesel asked Auram to bring her a note.

"Auram," Liesel said, sitting on the dune. She started writing a letter. Her fingers were pale white, and they were shaky. The skin hugged the bones, and the nerves were visible on it. Her constitution was too low to handle the source of food.

"I am grateful for everything you have done. I can never repay it, no matter what I do. So I want you to refuse my request."

"Refuse?" Auram frowned.

"Then why are you asking?"

"Because if I don't, I will not make an honest attempt to survive," Liesel said.

"I will not exhaust every possible avenue I have available."

"If I refuse, will you die?"

"I will die regardless when the sandstorm hits in two hours," Liesel said.

"But if you fulfill my request, perhaps there is a chance I will survive."

"Then, how can I refuse your request, Lis?"

"Because it is negligible, and I do not think it is worth the threat I will expose you to." Auram didn't reply. Liesel finished the letter. She put all the Siyirs that were in her pocket still, now a bit dark from all the Ashdust in the air, onto the page and folded it with her uneasy fingers.

"This is a letter to Isa. I need a potion from her that will improve my constitution, I hope." Liesel took out three of the Materiality Cores from the Centipedes.

"She would have to prepare it with these."

"Did you tell her about the taint of the tomb?" Auram asked. Liesel nodded. She couldn't expose the alchemist to that kind of danger without informing her first.

"I will do it," Auram said.

"There's a chance that potion would kill me," Liesel said. She was not feeling weak by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, she felt strong, like she could punch through metal—this feeling was Materiality poisoning. It happened because of the energy bar and the consistent twine of Materiality and her flesh. There was lingering Materiality in her physical body that made her stronger while decaying her body like cancer.

"Because of my likelihood of death, the danger that you are exposing yourself to probably achieves nothing."

"I trust Isa," Auram said. Her voice was heavy, barely managing to be coherent.

"She will save you. I know she will. And there's no way I could refuse you after you show so much care for me even now. Just wait for me... I will be back."

"Before you leave," Liesel said. Perhaps because she felt her end near, she wanted to know a little about Auram's inner thoughts.

"Why do you trust me so much? I have done nothing to earn it." Auram looked down at the orbs and shook her head.

"I feel if I tell you, I will really lose you." The spirit teleported away.