The change Tzar Bolotnik’s death had caused were quite obvious, even if I wondered how long it would take for them to reverse. What had been a dreary place, right out of a horror-set, with withered trees, ever-present fog and strangely grey grass seemed to rejuvenate in front of our eyes, the trees seemingly straightening a little, fresh leaves appearing on a few branches and even a few animals were coming in from the outside. It was almost a little too extreme a change, too magical, at least for me. Adra seemed to simply enjoy the change, a blissful smile on her face, even if all of us were bone-tired.

After a few minutes of walking, my natural regeneration had replenished the life-force I had drained earlier to heal Sigmir and I felt Astral Power seep back into my body. The new power soothed the headache I had gotten from overdrawing my power and I let the regeneration do its thing for another minute, before I started to channel most of it into a simple healing- and strengthening-formation, trying to help Sigmir. I was quite relieved that I was able to help her, Lenore, on the other hand, was still unconscious, but stable. I tried to get a feeling for her body, trying to see what was wrong with her, but there seemed to be some rather extreme and delicate process going on, making me wary to interfere with it, simply because I had no idea what I would be messing with. Even if I were to try to help, if I did so in a hazhaphard way, might cause a lot more harm than good.

Luckily, the way out was clear, nothing jumping out to attack us, or we might have been in trouble. Killing the bolotnik seemed to have done the trick, cleansing the swamp of its malevolent properties and, in the process, completing the dwarven quest. Still, I only relaxed when we crossed the, no-longer as distinct, border between the swamp and the forest around it, a border we only recognised because of the time we had spent in the area.

Heading over to the clearing we had used to rest for the last week, we were finally able to relax, Sigmir more or less collapsing once we were there. I managed to get her onto the furs we normally used to sleep, placing her in such a way that I could cradle her head in my lap while I leaned against a tree, letting her get some sun, while I was in comfortable shade.

Ylva mirrored my position, curing up on my other side with Lenore, who was still out of it. I could see the changes in her body with the naked eye, her feathers changing colour but the change was going deeper, I could feel it. Hopefully, she’d be back with us soon, so I could stop worrying. For the first time, I realised just how Sigmir must have felt when I had been out of it, after some reckless use of magic. Only that Sigmir meant a lot more to me than Lenore, even with the closeness Lenore and I had, due to literally sharing a mind, when we used the Avatar-state.

With us situated, and Adra and Rai relaxing nearby, I finally had time to look at the gains from the fight.

You reached Level 100. Skill increased You increased your skill: Mind Magic [17/60] Skill increased You increased your skill: Darkness Magic [55/100] Title gained You gained the trait: Mystic For reaching level 100, following the Arcane Path, you gained the Title of Mystic. Your ability to understand Arcane Runes is increased. Special Ability gained You gained the Special Ability : Runic Understanding For having Intuition of 40 or higher, you gained the skill Runic Understanding. At times, you can gain an understanding of runes, even without the required skill. The amount of information gained depends on Intuition and overall Runic Mastery. Special Ability gained You gained the Special Ability : Runic Might For having Intelligence of 50 or higher, you gained the skill Runic Might. The runes you create are more resilient, allowing you to channel more power into them at one time. The amount of additional power depends on your Intelligence and Runic Mastery.

The new abilities made me smile, they sounded interesting and quite powerful. I’d have to see just how useful Runic Understanding would be, maybe I had gained it due to my continued attempts to understand the grimoire given to me by the Grandmother, a task that required me to study various runes and her notes on them, notes that always seemed to be a little unsatisfying. It was simply impossible to describe the scope of a rune in normal words, they were more than simple words, they encompassed wide-ranging concepts with a particular feeling to them, a certain attitude, if you will.

Runic Might, on the other hand, was quite straight-forward and pretty much what I should have expected. I had a habit of pushing my runes to their limit, especially when using Overflow and now said limit was raised. Just what I wanted, to pack the biggest bang into a single spell.

Finally, the Mystic-Title. I had no idea what to make of it, just like the other titles I had gained over time. They were just there, not really doing anything, at least not that I could detect it. Maybe it would just increase the rate at which I gained skills, or something like that. It would be boring but at least it would be predictable, not like the Outsider-Trait I had taken in the beginning, something that sounded rather unproblematic but proved to be a pain in the behind, especially for someone travelling as much as I did.

With that out of the way, I focused back on Sigmir, giggling when I heard her soft snoring. I considered to wake her, to get rid of the splattered blood on her, but decided against it. Instead, I created another Blood-Rune formation, slowly and gently channelling power into it. She was still not cured and hale again, something I wanted to change. It was a testament of her exhaustion that even as the power was flowing into her, she didn’t stir.

Now, with more time to inspect her, the damage she had taken was even worse than I had thought. I had no idea how she had managed to walk with those wounds, let alone fight. The quick and simple fix I had created earlier was still there, keeping some of the damage at bay but even that would require more time and effort to heal.

Gently stroking her face once again, I got to work. Astral Power, carefully filtered to keep the elemental Ice out of it, seeped into her body, guided by my understanding and power, cleansing her of the damaging remnants of Death-Magic, before slowly regenerating the damage she had taken due to the battle. It was hard work, requiring all my focus, but for Sigmir, there was no effort I wouldn’t take. She was well worth it.

It took me maybe an hour to make sure that there was no lingering damage in her and once it was done, I made Adra and Rai come over. I could have gone over to them, but that would have meant disturbing Sigmir, something I wasn’t willing to do.

The other two had taken a lot less damage, only a few scratches that were quickly healed. It was quite obvious that Sigmir had been the main-target of the Bolotnik, at least once she had forced him to abandon his attempt to force his will onto me, and her furious attack had left little room for her to defend herself.

“That was… interesting.” Lenore’s voice echoed through my head, over our connection. Carefully not to jostle Sigmir, I looked over to her and the changes in her had settled down, leaving her with a plumage of black feathers with white trim. Her head and beak were still bone-white, as they had been since she crossed the first divide, but now the tips of her primary and secondary feathers were just as white, giving her wings a white fringe. It looked interesting and it took me a second to realise what it might mean.

“Did you cross the second divide?” I asked, wanting to make sure I wasn’t adding two plus two and getting five.

“I did. The power I drained from the wisps was meant to serve as a foundation but with all the power in the swamp at my disposal, I decided to push my luck. And it worked.” she explained and I could feel her pride over our connection.

“Well done, friend. Anything interesting you want to share with me?” I asked, quite curious what had changed with her. In response, she hopped a little, flapping her wings in the air and suddenly, a distinct stream of cold air was flowing out from her, looking very much like Ice-Magic.

“I guess I picked up a few things from you.” she explained, her mental voice highly amused. Obviously, she had somehow learned Ice-Magic.