Lyn finished walking Gael through the spell, and he finished the verses. After waiting several seconds, Vael's breathing steadied. Good thing they're both the same blood type, she thought. She released the shadow spell and saw to her satisfaction that Gael's blood spell did work as she envisioned it. Vael's veins were knit back together, and even though the skin was still ruptured through, her blood was staying in her. "She'll live," Lyn said with relief.
Gael's eyes were streaming tears and he leaned forward to grab his sister, but hesitated, and looked to Lyn. "Thank you...you saved her."
"No, you did."
Gael shook his head and cradled his sibling, "You warned us, and we didn't listen."
Lyn put her hand on his shoulder, the relief she felt turning to concern for Gael's mental wellbeing. She knew how difficult it was to see an ally felled. Thankfully, they would avoid the devestation of Vael's death. "I should have explained the various threats that we could have encountered. That's my bad."
"It's...it's okay. I forgive you."
Lyn felt her Destroyer core bubbling as the mana continued to fill her up inside, slowly recharging. "I wasn't asking for your forgiveness. I did warn you." Lyn cupped his chin and pulled his gaze up to meet hers. "I care for you two. As allies. As lovers...But do not mistake that for affection." I don't think I could ever fall in love with someone, she thought. She didn't want that level of connection. Especially now that she knew, if she stayed alive, she was practically immortal thanks to the internal regeneration spell. The idea of outliving a beloved companion was something she didn't know if she could come back from – even with the Destroyer core inuring her to the bad memories that were now even more isolated from her conscious thoughts.
Vael breathed smoothly but was not waking. Lyn stood up and looked down the hallway. "This was the last trial," she stated. "Come on, pick her up. We're finishing this and leaving." Gael did as he was told, and carried his sister as Lyn led the way to the altar. There were five items sitting there. Two of them were boxes that she knew contained dungeon cores. The other three were glass bottles of various sizes, with Elenthir labels. Farsight Eyedrops, which would give the user the ability to zoom in their vision up to several miles away. Faerie's Intuition, which would amplify her cognition and reaction speed. And lastly Crystal Marrow, which effectively hardened the bones to be as hard to break as diamonds.
She looked back at Gael, "There's enough here for two doses of each. I'll, of course, be taking all three. So, you two can argue over who gets what."
"I don't know what they do," Gael replied.
Lyn grabbed the items and put them into the storage choker. "I'll tell you later." She then went to the first chest and opened it. Lifting it, she peered into the crackling sphere. She heard words in her mind that were not hers. Those of a calm woman, speaking in Elenthir. You have bested my dungeon. I, Tenurel, Tide-Tender, give you the ability to manipulate the element of lightning. The sphere compressed and flooded into her mana channel.
It met her Destroyer core, and there was a brief – very brief – struggle between the lesser core and her more powerful one. The lightning was consumed, and she could feel the crackle of energy course through her body before settling. Pulling Cataclysm, she poured mana into it, and was pleased to see that it crackled with electricity as well as the other elementalism types she had at her disposal.
She went to the other box and opened it, lifting the deep, blue mana core. The same message replayed in her mind, but instead of lightning, it said water. The core shrunk, was absorbed, and she exhaled a burst of steam as the Destroyer core consumed that one as well. Her blade cascaded with water. Turning to Gael, she put Cataclysm away. "Ready to get out of here?" He nodded, and she put her hand onto the pedestal.
Lynhold was teeming with life. Brad was quite shocked at the change from the last time he had visited the Valley of the Volcano. A thriving town – made mostly of wood – was in the process of being erected. And there was far more being built than the scant population would suggest was required. She must be planning an expansion, Brad thought. He was escorted to the front of the fortress itself, and when he saw that enormous citadel...he was scared. The day they had snuck inside to fight the Demonic Dragon was cemented into his thoughts, and he replayed the events in his mind.
Lyn and James were at the front of the group as they probed the enormous door leading to the fortress interior. "It's not going to budge without noise," Lyn had whispered down the line of heroes who were all sneaking along the edge of the building.
Brad pushed his way through the line, "I've got this," he whispered as he pulled several powdered herbs in vials from his belt. Muttering a series of water spells, the flasks began to hiss and bubble as the dehydrated and powdered acidic compounds were activated. He tipped the fluid from the vials onto the locks, and a gout of steam and smoke rose as they ate through the impediment.
James clapped him on the back, "Good job." He pulled out his divine blade and pushed the door open – slowly. There was a violent shrieking sound that permeated through the air around them as some type of inscription ward went off. "Fuck," James said as he stepped through and began fighting some foe in the darkness.
Brad wheeled around as the large encampment of Duskari in front of the citadel turned on the heroes. He remembered scrabbling around his clothing trying to find the right potion, in a panic, as one of the Duskari warriors descended on him. Lyn stepped in front of him and speared the man through the neck, and the blood burst out, covering Brad's face. She activated her artifact spear and with a single thrust blew a hole through the rushing attackers – a gust of wind with the strength of a battering ram.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"Yes. Am I the first one to arrive?"
"Since Volio left to deliver the letters? Yeah. Thomas was here briefly, but he ran off due to a misunderstanding." Lyn's armor shifted and warped, revealing more of her skin. She leaned back in the chair and kicked her legs up on a nearby table, "What have you been up to?"
"I...I tried to start up a business. It got me kicked out of two kingdoms. I set up in Shereld, but then Cecily took over." He took a deep breath. "She...did things to me." Lyn's face was unreadable, so he shrugged and continued, "She fucked with my mind. But eventually I got enough of her trust that she didn't feel the need to use those spells anymore. And then Volio showed up and broke me out."
"He did?" Lyn asked with genuine surprise. "I wouldn't expect him to do something like that."
"Right? Anyways. I'm here because...if you're really Lyn...then you need all the help you can get." He lowered his voice to just above a whisper. "Cecily has been getting stronger. For years. She's doing that thing we were told never to do."
Lyn's eyes narrowed, "She's harvesting mana cores?" Brad nodded. "What method? Torture?"
"Yeah. Fucked up stuff. It makes what she did to me tame in comparison." He shook his head, "She's incredibly strong. And you're probably one of the only people who can protect me from her. James could probably protect me as well, but he hates my guts. The same with Misty."
"In other words," Lyn replied, "You ran out of options of people to hide behind."
Brad chuckled and nodded, "What can I say? I'm a coward. I don't like fighting. I just want to help people now."
"Help them get high?"
Brad shook his head, "No. I went cold turkey and got clean from everything. Now I'm in the pharmaceutical industry." He stood up, reached into his satchel, and pulled out several bottles full of pills that he had been developing for Cecily. "That bitch had me working on combat stimulants that were non-addictive and with limited side effects. I was also creating antibiotics, cancer medicine...pretty much anything you can think of."
Lyn stood up and grabbed one of the bottles, examining it. She glanced sidelong at him and grinned devilishly, "You want a job?" Brad nodded and she handed him the bottle. "Then let's make a deal. I will protect you. You want apprentices? I'll find some for you. You want raw materials? I'll get them for you."
"And what's the catch?" Brad asked as he palmed the pill bottle.
"You're going to start up this pharmaceutical industry in my new empire."
Brad grinned and felt an emotion he hadn't experienced since his prison break. A feeling of hope and renewed purpose. "As long as you're okay with me making a few intoxicants with no side-effects. You know, just something to help take the edge off."
Lyn nodded, "That seems fine. As long as it won't cause something like the opioid crisis back on Earth. And...as long as it won't cause issues. You know, lung cancer and that type of shit."
Brad nodded, "I won't do that to your people."
"Our people. You're part of this now." Lyn held out her hand, and Brad shook it. "Let's get started."
"With pleasure." Brad heaved a sigh of relief internally. Finally...I'm safe.