The vision that greeted me, once I opened my eyes, was incredible. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the sheer density or some other effect but the strands of magic were visible, even without Lenore’s special sight. And what a sight they were, both Lenore and the Tzar Bolotnik were lit up like fireworks, a light-show unlike anything I had ever seen.

Lenore had somehow managed to get onto the staff after separating from me and that was where she perched, her wings flared outwards and her head reaching upwards, beak wide open. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on with her, but I could see the ashen strands of Death-Astral-Power flowing towards her, infusing her. The sheer magnitude made it obvious that, if I were still linked into that process, I would be pushing daisies. Even Lenore was pushing the boundaries of what was possible and I could see her changing in front of my eyes.

At the same time, the bolotnik had an even harder time, hundreds of strands connecting him to the Eternal Ice floating in front of me, glimmering with an icy, silver light. I could feel cold emanating from the strands and the bolotnik himself looked like he was in serious trouble, parts of his body freezing over, even as Sigmir was gleefully taking advantage of his stunned state, hacking into his body. It was still sturdy but under her onslaught, it was just a matter of seconds before limbs started to come off, ending the fight in a rather messy way. Sigmir must have been rightly ticked off, for even after the bolotnik had lost all limbs and was a pile of loosely connected flesh, she continued to chop him up, mincing him into a chunky, red paste. We would have to find a nearby stream before we got some supper, her savage onslaught had left her covered in blood, gore and small bits and pieces I didn’t want to think about.

Looking at the Eternal Ice, I could see that it was visibly shrunken, almost half of its total volume gone, making me realise just how powerful the draining effect of the bolotnik had been. Before I could do more than put the Eternal Ice back into my bag, I had to catch Lenore, who had reached her limit. Yet, despite the fact that she was unconscious, there was still magic flooding into her, her life-force flagging. This time, she was the one who had recklessly pushed herself, beyond her ability to control her magic and was paying the price.

Reaching out, similar to the way I had done earlier, I pushed myself again, gathering the last shreds of my Astral Power to sever her from the magic flooding into her. The magic from the outside resisted for a moment, as if it was somewhat sentient, but I managed to push past the resistance and felt the flows unravel, bathing me in a painful cloud of Death-Magic.

The magic made me choke, making it hard to breathe. It wasn’t just its foul smell, it was a feeling of pain, unlike anything I had ever felt before. The pain didn’t compare with the pain caused by blood magic but it was all over me, every bit of skin and seeping into my body. I couldn’t even begin to compare it with any experience I had, no matter how hard my mind tried to come up with one. Maybe it was supposed to represent the pain of dying, one cell at the time.

Cradling Lenore in my arms, I stumbled forward, trying to get out of the area of effect. Lenore was completely out of it, even our connection couldn’t let me reach her. Without Astral Power, the best I could do was hold her gently and make sure that she was taken care of. I would have loved to draw her into her Hallow, but sadly, it was a process that required her active participation.

Looking at the others, I realised that Lenore wasn’t the only one hurt, Sigmir and Ylva were sitting a few steps away from the gory pile of chopped-up flesh, Sigmir bleeding profusely from multiple wounds while Ylva simply looked dead-tired. Similarly, Rai and Adra appeared to be standing by force of will alone. Forcing myself to keep calm so I wouldn’t drop Lenore, I walked over, careful not to stumble on the uneven, now partially frozen, ground.

“Watch over her, please.” I asked Ylva, gently depositing the unconscious bird next to her, so she could curl around Lenore. Ylva simply looked at me in acceptance, without the strength to even nod.

“Oh love, what have you done this time?” I gently asked, looking at Sigmir’s wounds, trying to see which needed the most treatment. I would have loved to use my magic to simply heal them, or at least perform some sort of first aid, but the small amount of power I had regenerated since helping Lenore was barely enough to form a single rune. I was all out of Power.

“Just, hold me?” Sigmir asked, sounding as tired as they all looked. “He wanted to take you away from me…” she mumbled, as I settled in behind her, kneeling so I could support her larger body.

“I can’t have that. You are mine.” she continued, passion thick in her exhausted voice.

“I’m here, love. We’ll have you back on your feet, soon, I promise you.” I told her, gently stroking over her arms, just trying to soothe her and show her that I was there. Looking closer, I realised that a few of her wounds were rather serious, especially on her legs, that death-magic was slowly seeping in, poisoning her body and making her even weaker. Making an instant decision, I drew my athame, cutting into my hand to use the one resource I had on hand, my own life-force. I had only taken very limited damage in the fight, so I could use some of it. Even the last burst of Death Magic hadn’t dealt a lot of damage, I could some blood magic. I just had to be careful, not to overdraw it, or I might permanently harm myself.

Focusing on the shallow cut, I hissed in pain as my blood magic was slowly ripping out my very life, channelling it into a healing-spell directed at Sigmir’s worst wounds. It was a testament to her exhaustion that she didn’t realise what I was doing, that she wasn’t even twitching. I could feel the remnants of Death Magic push back against me, forcing me to use more power, draining me even more, until finally, I had to stop. I was just too far gone, I felt myself shake from blood loss, pain and exhaustion. If I tried to do more, the magic would fail and just harm me, possibly permanently. Luckily, Sigmir looked a bit better, her wounds no longer getting worse.

Feeling seriously relieved, I looked over to the others, who had rallied somewhat and were checking the pile of flesh that was slowly seeping back into the soil, like an enemy defeated in a dungeon.

In the meantime, I took a short glimpse at the notifications and realised with some glee that I had gained two whole levels in the fight, bringing me to level 100. It felt justified, fighting two enemies in a single encounter, especially if the second one made it impossible to get away, had been a nasty surprise. Thinking about the mist-barrier, I finally looked up, only to realise that it had dispersed, that even the mist that had hung around the swamp was dispersing, getting driven off by the sun. Finally, that nasty, hot light could do something good.

There were a lot more notifications, but those could wait for now, but I quickly distributed the attribute-points, hoping that the few points would allow me to heal Sigmir sooner. It pushed my intelligence to fifty, my Intuition to forty, both giving me special abilities but again, I ignored them.

“Should we try to leave?” I asked Adra, the exhaustion making me a little insecure. I had no idea if destroying the bolotnik had drained the swamp of its malevolent intent and the deadly magic, if the shambling crawlers and will-o-wisps would be gone, at least for a time. If we ran into enemies in our current state, we would be in major trouble, even if the enemies were the type we normally could wipe the floor with. On the other hand, there was lingering Death-Magic in the shallow basin we were in and even the Ice-Astral-Power the bolotnik had drained from the Eternal Ice was harmful to the others.

“Let’s leave. I want to get out of this dreary place.” she said, getting a nod from me in reply.

“Come, love, can you walk?” I asked, giving Sigmir a gentle kiss on one of the few spots on her neck that weren’t soiled with blood.

“I can walk.” she instantly answered, even if I wasn’t quite sure how truthful she was. I helped her getting up before taking Lenore back from Ylva, carrying her myself, while Ylva helped me to steady Sigmir.

It was a strange, exhausted procession, travelling away from the frozen mud.