Soul bonding definitely doesn’t get easier the more you do it. At least this time, I knew what to expect. Liliana thought as she opened her eyes. Her body groaned its complaints at her as she shifted. For a ritual that supposedly only affected her soul, it sure did hurt the rest of her body. Or it could be the many wounds that were causing her Health bar to flash red in her peripheral that was the origin of her agony. Her mind was slow to work after the absence of all encompassing pain, but a feeling of urgency filled her until her mind finally connected the dots.

Emyr! Liliana shot up and climbed to her feet. As soon as she stood, her legs went out from under her and she fell to the ground, only to be stopped by a thick tail. Looking up, Liliana saw the eyes of her newest Bond, Nemesis.

Hatred was long gone from the serpent’s gaze now, for how could she hate the person sharing her soul? Concern, pain and exhaustion replaced the hate and Liliana could sense the serpent was ready to collapse. A spike of pain sent through their bond had Liliana grabbing her own neck in empathy. Her eyes trailed up, and she saw her naginata still planted in the serpent’s neck. Now the thought of hurting Nemesis made her feel ill, or perhaps it was the puncture in her side that was causing it.

“Lay your head down, I’ll get that out,” Liliana ordered as she forced herself back to standing. Her body screeched this time as her wounds once more made themselves known. Broken bones in her chest grated together and nearly robbed her of breath. She didn’t have to check her Health bar to know that she had bleeding and broken debuffs going, stopping her natural regeneration from working. Thankfully [Regeneration] had been working even through the ritual and she knew she was better off than before. Though her health was still in the red, she probably wouldn’t die in the next few minutes.

Nemesis did as she was bid and laid her head on the ground, letting out a painful sigh as she did. The very end of her tail right before the leaves, as thick around as Liliana’s forearm, lifted up for the girl to grab onto as she moved. Hobbling to Nemesis’ head, Liliana pitched forward and leaned against the serpent’s petals for a moment to regain her breath.

Every step had been pure agony, ripping things open that had barely started to heal. Taking in a steadying breath, she scrambled onto Nemesis’ neck and grabbed onto the weapon impaling her. As gently as she could, Liliana wriggled the blade free, wincing and gasping at the pain that shot through her as she did. Not just the pain from agitating her own wounds, but the pain that Nemesis felt as well.

Liliana was sure going through her notifications would explain her heightened sensitivity to her Bond, but she had never felt this close to Lelantos. She’d known when he was in pain, or known when he felt a certain thing. But never before had what one of them felt leaked into the other until it was impossible to tell whose emotions were whose. As she finally freed her weapon from her Bond, Liliana would’ve been certain she too had a gaping wound on her neck, had she not already checked for one.

A chuffing sound from her right drew Liliana’s attention, and she saw a rather sorrowful Lelantos laying on the ground, his head in his paws. His ears were pinned to his head and his tail lashed out behind him. He was obviously agitated, sensing his Bond was hurt and upset but no longer able to do what he was good at, fighting and protecting. For how could he attack Nemesis when she now too shared his Bond’s soul? Liliana slid off Nemesis’ neck, stumbling and nearly falling again as she did. She knew Lelantos was still hurting, even if she without checking his Health in her peripherals.

Lelantos surged to his feet despite the pain that put him in and rushed to her side. Liliana gratefully rested against his flank, where she knew he had no broken bones, but almost immediately gasped in pain. As before, with Nemesis, she struggled to separate their feelings. She could feel worry, fear, and resentment, with a never ending undercurrent of pain. Liliana groaned as she activated [Companion Heal] and [Healing Harmony]. Most of her active skills and spells she’d shut off during the bonding ritual, no longer needing them taking her Mana and Stamina.

Lelantos chuffed an almost purr, as close as he could get to one, as his injuries healed slowly. Liliana lifted her head as soon as the pain abated enough for her to have another coherent thought and turned to Nemesis.

“Give Emyr the antidote, please, and be gentle,” Liliana implored the serpent.

Nemesis looked at her, licking the air around her face before turning and slowly winding her way to where Emyr laid. Liliana knew the serpent had an antidote, or would it be an antivenom, as she’d felt it working during the contract. It was why Liliana was still alive and not dead on the ground, Nemesis had injected her with the antidote. And either the antidote or her Bond had made her immune to the poison on the serpent’s scales, for she didn’t have a poisoned icon despite the contact.

She sensed that the serpent had given Emyr the antidote and Liliana just hoped he could hang on for a minute more as she healed Lelantos as best she could. As she healed the tiger, she leaned heavily into him, exhaustion pulling at her limbs. She just wanted to lie down for a few minutes. A rough, almost painful tongue rubbed against her face and woke her some. Liliana shook her head as she tried to clear the cobwebs from her mind. Her Stamina was struggling to regenerate and her Health was still stalled. She knew she was still bleeding out and for the first time she wondered if [Regeneration] did anything for blood loss.

Lelantos nudged her, laying down with a clear intent. Liliana dragged her body into his saddle, and he rose. His steps were smooth as he tried to jostle her as little as possible, yet she still bit down on groans and whimpers of pain. Without adrenaline, her pain was becoming overpowering. Summoning a high tier health potion, Liliana downed it quickly, then a mid-tier potion quickly followed by a second.

Her Health finally started to tick up and she could feel the river of blood rushing from her arm and side slowing to a trickle as her body knit itself back together. A crack in her chest nearly sent her out of the saddle as a wave of sharp pain shot through her. She hadn’t had to sit through a bone setting awake and as another bone grated and shifted under her skin, she hoped to never do it again.

Lelantos stopped by Emyr’s prone form and lowered himself to the boy’s side. Liliana groaned and half fell, half slid from her saddle. Next to the still body of her friend, fear washed through her until she saw his chest rising and falling. A shaking, blood coated hand reached out and pressed to the side of his neck, confirming his pulse.

Nemesis rested nearby, her eyes watching the two humans intently. Liliana could feel through their bond that the flowered serpent was comparing how Liliana acted to her own actions the day her garden was murdered. Liliana had to forcibly rip her own focus from her Bond, or risk falling into despair. The memories she got a glimpse of, the emotions tied to them; they broke her heart.

Liliana double checked that [Healing Harmony] was still going and then she pulled out more health potions. She’d gotten several high tier potions at Astrid’s urgings before they’d left for this trip, and now Liliana was grateful for the woman’s advice. It very well might have saved not only her life, but Emyr’s. She’d only had five to use, and she’d already used two. One on Emyr initially, which may very well have saved him, and one to repair herself.

She dumped one into his still open and bleeding wounds. Without poison taking up the Health potion’s magic, she saw it quickly regenerating his body. Liliana looked away, her stomach too weak at the moment to be able to watch. Taking a deep breath, she shuffled towards Emyr’s head, resting it on her thigh. She opened another potion and gently opened his mouth. Tilting the potion into his mouth, she almost panicked when some leaked out, but sighed in relief when Emyr swallowed the life giving liquid.

Emyr still stayed asleep, but Liliana wasn’t too concerned. She remembered she’d slept for hours after the wolves had attacked her and knew from her time in the hospital that sleeping was common when one was severely injured or ill. She’d probably sleep for an entire day once they got back somewhere safe. Liliana looked down at her side and arm and saw the wounds were almost healed, and her bones seemed to be set, if sore. She placed her last high tier potion in storage and grabbed the healing potions meant for beasts.

“Come here, both of you,” Liliana ordered, her voice soft from strain.

Lelantos crawled towards her and Nemesis slithered until she was nearly on top of them. Liliana held out the potion and Lelantos opened his mouth for her to pour first it, then another into his mouth. She got a feeling of dislike for the flavor, but the tiger swallowed the medicine. More bone cracking sounds filled the air and Liliana winced. She must not have completely healed him then. Nemesis mimicked Lelantos’ movement, and it was bizarre for Liliana to feel no fear now as she looked down the maw of a serpent that could eat her in one bite. But at the moment she was too exhausted to bother thinking too much on it as she fed Nemesis her own potion.

Finally, certain that everyone who had walked into this fight would be walking back out in one piece, Liliana leaned back against Lelantos. He quietly growled, a comforting noise that sent vibrations through his body and Liliana. Nemesis watched them both with her unfathomable eyes, tongue snaking out to taste the air. Liliana could feel the serpent thinking, but she didn’t have the mental capacity to investigate. Just like she didn’t have the mental capacity to investigate why she could feel both her Bond’s emotions so clearly when she touched them.

Even now she was struggling to stay awake as she fought both her own exhaustion and Lelantos’. However, she lifted her head some when she sensed Nemesis come to some sort of decision. The absurdly large serpent shook herself, her petals swaying and the remaining bleeding heart flowers that grew on her fell like a beautiful magenta and red rain. The flowers swirled faster as if caught in a tornado until Liliana could barely see her Bond, when suddenly it stopped and flowers fell to the ground, Nemesis gone.

Liliana almost panicked until she felt something sliding up her arm. Looking over, Liliana saw a miniature Nemesis, probably no longer than her arm, curling around her bicep and resting her flowered head on her shoulder. Her vine like body now sported only small, delicate leaves and the flower petals around her arrow shaped head almost seemed too big. Looking at her, Liliana couldn’t resist the urge to coo softly, raising a finger to gently stroke the snake’s head.

“Is this why we could never find you? You kept shrinking? What about the flowers? We never saw those,” Liliana wondered, looking over where her serpent had been in her large form she got her answer.

The flowers had dried and decayed to dust in the short amount of time since she’d looked at them. Yet the ground had a green patch of grass now where the flowers had fallen. Liliana hummed quietly as she considered it. It must be a racial trait or some evolutionary mechanism specific to all flowered serpent types, so they could hide their tracks.

“I’ll think about this, everything else, and the consequences for my own actions tomorrow after I sleep some,” Liliana mumbled to her Bonds, getting two mental agreements back. Both seemed quite happy to sleep for now after such a tiring and deadly battle.

As Liliana curled up to Lelantos with Emyr at her side, she smiled. She’d almost died again, but she’d gotten a new Bond. A new friend and companion to see this life through with. And perhaps she’d let go of some of the baggage that had been holding her back from trusting Emyr fully. She didn’t think she could convince herself any longer he wasn’t to be trusted, not when he’d sacrificed himself for her, fully expecting to die doing it.

Her heart still ached and thumped painfully as she recalled him throwing himself in front of her, taking the fatal hit that had been meant for her. She couldn’t forget the utter despair, the feeling of her heart being ripped out of her chest, as he commanded his shadows to drag her to safety even as his own body slowly died around him. He had to of been half mad with pain, venom coursing through him, yet his first thought had been keeping her safe.

How could she reward a selflessness like that by continuing to distance herself from him? How could she look at someone like that and think for even a second he wouldn’t stand by her if she revealed her secret? Not that she would. She’d keep that close to her chest. Best if she was the only person who knew Imogen’s evil ways for now. She’d spare Emyr and Alistair that pain for as long as she could, but she wouldn’t be the one to cause them anymore. She wasn’t going to heal the pain Imogen wrought by making more of it.