Some six hours later, having stopped for lunch already, I carved the last of the runes. I made sure that once I was getting close to where I’d started, the runes would be size-fitted so they would create a perfect circle. Both in terms of alignment and in terms of repetition. To my surprise, once I carved the final rune, both the circle of sand and the runes around the Tree, gave out a brief yellow flash.

“What was that?” Adel asked as he positioned his legs in a battle-ready stance, one hand on the pommel of his sword, the other on the top of the shield strapped on his back.

“I’ve never experienced a ritual powerful enough to emit mana during its preparation!” I exclaimed.

“The flash came out of the Mana Tree,” he said.

“And the ground,” I added, “so probably its roots. Fascinating.”

“Can we continue?” Kai asked, not wanting to wait any longer.

“Yes, of course,” I replied and moved toward Adel. “You’ll have to wait outside of the circle.”

“Why? What happens if I enter it?” he asked suspiciously.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “That’s why I want you to stay out of it.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” He pressed for an answer as he started looking a bit worried. “Will you be in danger?”

“The book says nothing of the sort,” I said, trying to put his mind at ease. “Then again, it doesn’t say the opposite either. Just please keep out of it.”

“I’ll be ready,” Adel said, and put on his determined face.

“I know you will,” I said, and tried to kiss his right cheek but he moved, startled, and instead my lips landed on his.

He didn’t expect it.

I didn’t expect it either, but being in such close proximity to him, it felt natural somehow.

This will be something to talk about afterward.

This was not the time to talk or think about it. The book warned the caster that during the chanting of the 2048-word incantation, the elements would run wild, and I needed to keep my mind focused on performing the ritual perfectly.

“Let’s do it,” I said to Kai, and took him by the hand.

He looked at me with a wide smile on his face that I hadn’t seen since Nara. He was hopeful of what was to come, and so was I.

We stepped inside the circle and I gave the dagger to Kai. Once the incantation was finished, he was supposed to stab the Tree so that The Divine Essence would travel from him, through the dagger and up the Mana Tree, to Its own plane of existence. I just hoped It would protect us from whatever might happen afterward.

I opened the book and held it in my left hand. I put my right hand on Kai’s head and smiled at him.

“I love you. You’ll do great,” I said, and turned my head back to the book.

As soon as I started chanting, a gust of wind started blowing my hair and robes.

It was a good thing I cast a binding spell on the sand.

I read in a steady and loud voice, taking deep breaths at the points where the book noted I should. As soon as I reached the end of the page, I instinctively tried to move my right hand from Kai’s head in order to flip it to the next one but held myself. I needed to maintain contact with him at all times.

The page turned by itself and I managed to continue reading without missing a single moment. I had, of course, practiced on chanting the spell and was relieved to see it didn’t require any somatic components.

However, even without any bodily movements needed, it was a challenging incantation and I only had one shot at executing it. If the precious gems were consumed during the chanting and I botched the spell, we wouldn’t have enough to start anew.

By the time I reached the 512-word mark, the wind had turned into a hurricane around the circle. I was a bit worried about our chest but mostly about Adel, though I was sure he would have found a way to secure himself.

As my chanting progressed, I felt myself being elevated. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there were step-like roots growing out of the ground. Both Kai and I were now standing on the top of a four-step platform, the carved runes now glowing right below knee-level. I moved my attention and also noticed that the sand around the Tree was now glowing too, alternating between red and yellow.

When I reached the middle of the incantation, the runes and the circle were glowing very brightly and alternating colors even faster. The wind was throwing leaves and small branches on the open book I was holding, yet nothing stayed there for long, as if a magical force pushed them away again.

I continued the chanting, thinking that at least our quest would soon be over.

Soon, Kai will be free of the monster in him, and the world will have The Divine again. All of the pain and all of the means will be justified.

Moving into the last 256-word verse, the wind died down but rain was now pouring on us from above. The water was falling in thick drops as if an infinite amount of buckets was being thrown over us.

But no drop ever landed on the book’s pages, as might be expected of a tome of its magical stature. The sound of the howling winds was replaced by rumbling thunder, which made me sure that the last part of the incantation would be accompanied by lightning.

As expected, once I had less than sixty-four words to go before completing my part of the ritual, flashes of lightning started to give us bright snapshots of our surroundings. What I didn’t expect was that the purple light orbs would completely abandon the forest. Just when I hoped I could at least continue to read with the light offered by the runes and the circle, their color-changing lights also faded.

I was now reciting the last lines of the spell from memory, and from what I managed to see whenever lightning lit up the area around us. This was where my practice paid off and whenever I found it hard to remember the words, a bright moment of light helped me.

A flash of very bright continuous lightning carried me through the last eight words of the spell.

“Now, Kai!” I shouted, so that he could hear me amid the rain and thunder.

I gently caressed the back of his head in complete darkness as he moved to stab the Tree in front of him. I didn’t hear the moment the dagger hit it, nor did I see it, but I felt something.

A warmth spread through my wet body, starting at my gut and moving down.

Lightning flashed.

I saw Kai.

He was smiling again and looking at me.

He was still holding the blade, his hands red with blood. My blood.

I only caught a glimpse of the hilt of the dagger protruding from my body before the light went out again.