*Prior to the events at Infernus Pass*

The faint sounds of breathing filled the darkness. Grunts followed closely behind the labored breathing as she attempted to move her body. The sheer act of lifting her arm caused her to cringe and gasp in pain. She knew that she needed to roll off of Belgard and make sure he was ok. Summoning as much energy as she could she yelled through the pain and forced her body to roll to the side.

“Agh! Ugh…No…no…” She said between breaths, now laying on her side.

Meladris closed her eyes and tried her hardest to reach out to the body she knew should be there, but she couldn’t move a muscle. Instead, overwhelming fatigue and lethargy took over her body and her eyes slowly closed. She was once again unconscious.

*****

Her eyes shot wide open, immediately regretting it due to the blinding sunlight that pierced her vision. Using her hand to shield her eyes she squinted in an attempt to get used to the brightness.

“Hm. Seems like you pushed yourself a bit too hard.” The voice said.

“W-Who’s there?” Meladris shouted into the air.

She looked around her, she knew she should be in a pitch black cavern along with Belgard. Both on the brink of death, but instead, she was in a lush garden, flowers of all colors and types surrounded the area she stood. The sun was shining through the canopy of brilliant green leaves. Before her, there stood a pristine white gazebo surrounded by a small stream, a bridge leading towards it. It was the most beautiful scene she had ever laid eyes on.

“Oh, now that’s not very nice. Come. Sit.” It urged.

The disembodied voice was nowhere to be seen. The sound came from everywhere at once, but it wasn’t overbearing or frightening. It was almost calming, and familiar. After offering for her to take a seat, Meladris felt a slight nudge in the direction of the gazebo. She whipped her head around hoping to see someone there, but instead was met with nothing.

“Who are you!?” she shouted once more at no one.

Once again the slight nudge towards the gazebo urged her forward. Swallowing hard, she decided there was nothing left to do but listen. She carefully walked towards the beautifully decorated and elegant gazebo. The flowering vines that crept up its latticed walls made it look as if it was all one giant plant. She carefully crossed the bridge and looked into the water. It was crystal clear, not a single sign of impurity in it. There were also fish that swam through it without a care in the world.

Looking behind her, she couldn’t help but think that she was truly dead and this was the afterlife. Her heart ached slightly at this thought but she continued on. Once inside the walls of the gazebo itself she was greeted with two elegant chairs and a small table between them. Taking a seat in the closest one, Meladris clenched her hands together and waited.

“Umm…I…I don’t understand what’s going on.” She said gently.

“Do you not?” the voice responded.

“N-no…I don’t. Am I dead? Is this…is this the afterlife?”

The disembodied voice began to laugh. It wasn’t condescending or spiteful but instead one that was genuinely amused at what they heard.

“Haha…oh…no. No, you aren’t dead. But…close.”

“What does that mean? I don’t understand! Please tell me! Why am I here?!” Meladris was beginning to lose her patience and began to worry.

“Please. Calm yourself. I promise, of all the places you could be, there is no safer place than here.” The voice assured her.

“How do I know I can trust you? What about Belgard? What about my friend?!”

“Oh, that wily old man? He’s stronger than you think. And much more clever by far.”

Meladris shook her head and closed her eyes. She didn’t know what was going on. She recalled the events that transpired to get her to this point, and nothing she thought about gave an answer as to where, how or why she was where she was at this moment. She began to shake, her fists were clenched so hard that she felt pain shoot through her hands. She wanted to make sure she could still feel pain and maybe it was enough to wake her up from whatever hallucination she was experiencing.

“Please. Don’t do that.”

As the voice urged her, she could feel a warmth envelope both of her hands, immediately making her loosen the grip. But after looking down, there was nothing there. No, there was something, but just a faint hint of something. A shimmer of light that almost looked like the silhouette of hands. Her mouth opened slightly, like she wanted to say something, but no words came out.

“…What do you want?” She finally managed to say.

“Hmm. What do I want? Now there’s a question I haven’t been asked in a long while.”

“If you are some…being, that intends to take my life, or energy, then stop wasting my time and finish it!”

She was met with only silence. She had enough of being toyed with. Valdiss and his three whore guards were more than enough to endure for the thirty years she was prisoner to him. Meladris was through with being the recipient of any further harassment.

After a few moments longer, all she was able to hear was a long drawn out sigh. She narrowed her eyes and looked around, but as usual, saw nothing.

“I do not plan to harm you. In fact, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

“If that’s true…then tell me who you are!”

“I can’t. You don’t know it yet, but you already know who I am, and why I cannot tell you anything more. It’s…complicated.” The voice sounded sad as it said this.

“That’s asinine! You bring me to this place, don’t show yourself and then tell me riddles about how I should know you and it’s why you can’t tell me yourself?!”

She stood from the chair and began to walk around, shouting into the air underneath the roof of the gazebo. The anger clear on her face as her eyes were narrowed and jaw clenched.

“I didn’t bring you here. Well…not alone. You unconsciously brought yourself here because you knew it would be possible.”

“What the hell does that even mean? Where is here?!”

“Hmm. Well. I suppose there’s no rule against telling you that.”

Meladris flinched slightly at the response and eased up in anticipation for the answer.

“This is, hard to explain honestly, but try to bear with me. I haven’t had to try and explain how it works before.”

“…Fine.” She answered and took her seat once more.

“Thank you.”

“Just tell me already.” She snapped.

“As you wish. This is a…separate reality.” The voice said hesitantly.

“That’s ridiculous. If you’re going to make things up on the spot at least make them believable, or better yet, let me free!”

“Hey, I told you it would be hard to explain!” the voice sounded frustrated and hurt that it would be accused of making things up.

“Ugh, very well. Continue.” Meladris crossed her legs and arms and looked off into the distance at nothing in particular. Her brow fully furrowed in frustration.

“This separate reality is made possible by three very powerful elements of magic. The likes of which have been lost to the ages.”

“But…that would mean…” her features softened at the realization.

“In the event that it would be required, you would be brought into this reality.”

“W-what event?” she uncrossed her arms and clutched the side of the chair she sat on, her body tense.

“To keep you safe in the event your life was in danger.”

Meladris took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.

“That’s what you meant by not being dead, but close?”

“That’s correct.”

“I don’t understand…what’s the point? If I’m almost dead, does this reality also bring my physical body?”

“No, it’s not that powerful. It brings along your essence, spirit, mind…everything but your physical self. Everything that makes you, you, is what’s inside the shell you call a body.”

“To what end?! If I’m to stay in this place for the rest of eternity with no way of returning to where I came from…I would rather die!”

“Now, now. You always jump to conclusions that are the worst don’t you?”

“If you’ve lived the life I have, you would do the same.” Meladris said with anger in her voice.

“Fair enough.” The voice replied. “But there is one more type of magic that is taking care of your physical body in the event that I am…” the voice cleared its non-existent throat quickly. “In the event that there is no alternative to reacquiring a physical vessel. Gramps should be lucky to be close to the effects as well.”

“Another type of magic? What do you mean?” she asked hesitantly.

“Can’t say.”

“How long am I supposed to be here then?”

“Not long. Time doesn’t exactly flow the same here as out there.”

“You like talking as vaguely as possible, don’t you?” Meladris chided.

“There is a method to my madness. Light of my life.” The voice said.

Meladris’ eyes shot wide open, her jaw slouched causing her mouth to open slightly. Tears began to form in her eyes.

“W-what did you call me?” her voice barely audible. “And you called Belgard ‘gramps’…only one person I know…”

“Even though you are one with Darkness, you cannot hide from me the light that draws me closer to you.”

As the voice said this, a figure appeared in front of her. The details were faint, but she knew exactly who he was. The tears flowed down her cheeks, her lips began to quiver. She reached her hand out to try and touch it.

“Amr…”

“It’s time to wake up.”

Before she could touch the shimmering figure of the one she loved more than anything in the world, everything vanished.

*****

She jerked upright and eyes wide open but was greeted with nothing but blackness. She reached up and wiped away tears that she shed…if it was a dream she didn’t quite know how to take it. It wasn’t until she was sitting upright and moving that she realized that she was not in pain. In fact, any trace of fatigue, pain, soreness or any negative effect on her body was completely gone. She had never felt this alive and good in years.

“Another type of magic?...what kind…” she placed her hand beside her and felt a lump of cloth.

“Oh my god, Belgard!” she quickly fished around the soft ground for his arms.

Meladris was confused, but she had to dig up soft mud or clay to get a hold of his arms. When she was able to wrench it free from the soft earth she lifted him up and out of it. Quickly placing her ear to his chest she waited with bated breath for any signs of life.

“Please….please…” she said to herself.

*Thump*

“Oh thank you!...Thank you!” she let out a huge sigh of relief and gently lowered him onto his back.

Raising her head up to survey the area she was not able to make out anything. It was pitch black. Darker than anything she had ever experienced. Reaching into her pockets she searched for anything she could use as a means of illumination, but the only thing she had nothing.

“Dammit…”

Meladris began to sift through the mud for anything that would be solid enough to contain the illumination chant but everything around them was soft and wet. Making a decision to search further out from where they were she got on all fours and began to slowly crawl while feeling around in the darkness for something, anything.

She couldn’t believe just how much soft wet earth was down here but there was no signs of any large pools of water or moisture. It was while she was pondering just what happened or where they were that her hands stumped on a solid object.

“Ah! Yes!”

She clutched it in her hands, it was the size of an apple which would provide ample lighting she thought. Bringing it closer to her chest she concentrated and uttered one simple word.

“Illuminate.”

The stone began to pulse slightly with a dull white light. Over time the pulse grew larger and brighter. After a few moments the stone was totally engulfed in a brilliant white light, thinking it would be enough to give her an idea of how large the abyss was she held it high above her but was dismayed at what she saw. Nothing. She was totally engulfed in darkness. The light stretched out as far as it could and was swallowed by the pitch black shadows.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, she lowered the stone and turned towards where she crawled from and held it out. She could see a trail of drag marks that she made as she crawled away from Belgard. Slowly making her way back, slower this time since she had to keep the glowing stone above herself to make sure she didn’t veer from the path or passed Belgard. Squinting her eyes she could make out a faint mound that didn’t look like mud, clay or stone.

“Just a little while longer Belgard. We’ll figure something out…just don’t you dare leave me.” She muttered to herself as she awkwardly shuffled on three limbs towards his unconscious body.

Once Meladris finally reached Belgard’s body she shined the illuminated rock over him to check for any wounds that might need to be tended do, having to scrape away the mud, but found nothing. She did notice that his chest was moving up and down slowly, so he was indeed alive and breathing, which caused her to have a huge weight lifted from her emotions.

She began to inspect his limbs and any areas that could have been injured in the impact but saw that other than being unconscious, he was physically fine, but she had no way of knowing if there were any internal injuries. The only thing she could do now was wait until Belgard woke up and then they would be able to figure out what to do from there.

Meladris placed the illuminated stone on top of a mound of clay and made sure it wasn’t going to fall or roll away and sat next to Belgard, lifting her knees to her chest she hugged them and rested her head on her knees. Thinking about what had happened in the separate reality that she was in…and how it was possible. And if it really was who she thought it was that she was speaking with. But it didn’t make sense. If it really was him, wouldn’t he be furious with her?

She immediately recalled the image of Amrin’s face, filled with rage yelling at her as she tried her best not to pass out after Valdiss finished his chant. There was no way that the voice she was speaking with was the same Amrin…it didn’t make sense. And yet deep down she knew it was him. He felt the same, spoke the same and called her the same name that he only used when it was just the two of them alone. It was Amrin. No doubt about it. So the only question she had and would most likely not get the answer to, was why he wasn’t furious with her?

She closed her eyes and began to doze off. There was no way of telling just how long they had been down there but by the time Meladris shook herself awake it was because she heard something. Her eyes shot open and she was prepared to fight off anything that may have wandered close to them for a meal, but in the glow of the stone she saw nothing. Her breathing was the only sound she could hear, until a groan filled the silence.

“Uuughh…Worst. Idea. Ever…” Belgard managed to groan.

“Belgard! Oh thank goodness…I didn’t think you would ever wake up!”

“How long have I been out?”

“Honestly?…I have no idea. I don’t even know how we survived…”

“Ah, that might be my fault.”

“Your fault? I don’t believe you are using the correct word in this situation.” She said chuckling.

“Hey, if you feel half as bad as I do…you’d say it was my fault too…” the groans increased as he tried to sit up.

“Here, let me help you. Does anywhere hurt?”

“I think you mean, does anywhere not hurt?”

“Such a whiner.” She said with a smile. “So how did we survive?”

“Ah, I kept some of the clay you brought, thankfully it was terrible and had more water than it needed. But because of that I was able to use what little magic I had left in me to throw it into the ground ahead of us.”

“I see. So that’s why we’re in this…mess.”

“Hey, this mess saved our lives…barely.” He grunted as he finally sat up. “You’re just lucky I’m not half bad with Water magic as well, if I wasn’t, this ground would be a shade darker red than brown. Well…even though everything is black to me…Heh.”

Meladris rolled her eyes and shook her head in playful frustration at his continued disregard for his blindness.

“Yes. Thank you Master Dwarf. Your skill with reorganizing the base elements of the earth are amazing.”

“No need to get sassy with me, woman.”

“But how did you make it so large?” she asked confused.

“What do you mean? It should have just been big enough for use to land in with only a few feet to spare.”

“No, the clay goes on for at least a dozen feet…It took me forever to find a solid stone to illuminate.”

“T-that’s….I have no idea.” He replied, thoroughly confused. “But I suppose that makes sense why I’m still alive…that shouldn’t have worked to save us both…” he said absentmindedly.

“Belgard?” she said angrily.

“Uhh…I said that out loud didn’t I?”

“You fool!” she screamed and smacked him on the back of his head.

“Ouch! Woman, I’m injured here!”

“Yes, but alive!”

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He could hear her keeping back the tears with the way she was breathing.

“I’m sorry…It was the only thing I could do to at least save you…” Belgard said as he lifted his arms and hugged her back.

“Don’t ever do something like that again…” she said while choking back the tears.

“Well…you’re the one that jumped…” she squeezed him harder “Ouch…sorry.”

She leaned back and laughed while letting out a sigh of relief at the same time, wiping the tears from her eyes. She then looked at her hands and realized they were totally caked in mud and her clothes were the same, no doubt her face was a mess as well. But seeing as the only other person with her was blind, she paid it no mind.

“Now…what do we do from here?”

She looked towards Belgard who was on all fours waddling through the muddy earth.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for something.” He said.

“Well I can see that…but what? Is it something I can help you with? I do have the upper hand in looking for things.” She said teasingly.

“You little…sassy as always. But yes, is there any large puddles of water you can see? Or any water at all?”

“Um, I didn’t find any before, but I’ll check again. Just sit tight.”

Meladris picked up the illuminated stone and stood up. She held it high over her head and began to survey the area she was in for any signs of bodies of water.

“Doesn’t look like it, no.”

“Dammit…” Belgard said, frustrated.

“Why do you need water so badly? Thirsty?”

“No. I was hoping to make a healing spring.”

“A…healing spring? How do you know to make something like that?” Meladris said fully surprised.

“Elynara taught me…a very long time ago. It’s not nearly as powerful as hers, but it’ll do for now.”

“Why Belgard, I never knew you to learn something so…not earthy.”

“Not earthy? The hell is that supposed to mean? I can learn things too you know!” he began to mumble to himself, all while hearing Meladris chuckle to herself.

She walked towards him, careful not to trip and fall into the muddy clay like ground. When she got closer she saw him digging a hole deeper into the earth. She realized that if this was like any other form of water filled landmass, the lower you went, the more likely water would be present.

“Ah! I can feel it! Meladris…is this water?”

She shined the stone into the hole and even though it was a muddy brown color it certainly was water.

“Yes. Although it’s not very clean.”

“Nah, I’m not too worried about that at the moment. This is perfect.”

Just to the side of the hole he dug he began to fashion a large basin out of the mud, working dexterously to dig out and smooth the walls and make it high enough to keep the water in. After he shaped it to his liking, based on touch, he placed his hands on either side of the deep bowl and began to whisper to himself. Over time Meladris saw the color of the basin change from a deep dark brown to a light sandy color. A few more moments the basin was solid as a rock and smooth to the touch. Belgard had created a perfect wash basin for reasons that Meladris didn’t know.

“You umm…plan on washing up do you?”

“Shut up…” he reached to the side and began to dig deeper in to the small water well he excavated just moments ago.

The water began to flood into the hole more and more until he couldn’t reach far enough into the hole to dig any more out. Taking both hands, he dipped them into the water and began scooping tiny handfuls of the muddy water into the basin he had created. The process was very slow, but Meladris wasn’t able to help since the hole Belgard had dug was too small to allow her to assist without getting in his way. So she held the light up and watched him work. Even though she knew full well the light did him no good.

The basin was more than half full of dirty water by the time Belgard took a break and began to breathe heavily. He had used all of his energy digging, forming and hardening the basin and filling it slowly handful by handful. He plopped onto his backside and tried to catch his breath. Meladris began to gently pat his back in comfort.

“Mm…thank you. This body isn’t what it used to be…” he said in a haggard voice.

“I’m sorry. I wish there was more I could do.”

“Oh, you’re going to hate me in a moment for taking you up on that…”

“What?”

Without answering her, he leaned forward and placed his hands onto both sides of the basin just as he did earlier to solidify it. Then taking a deep breath in and slowly releasing it, began to mumble slowly.

“Clear as crystal, clean as fresh fallen snow, clear as crystal, clean as fresh fallen snow…”

He repeated these words over and over. Meladris once again held the illuminated stone above his head and over the basin to see if she could see just what he was trying to accomplish. She could guess as to what he was trying to do based on the words, but didn’t know he was capable of it. Since her affinity was the farthest thing to Water as she could get, there was nothing she could do to help, yet again.

Deciding to keep the self-deprecation to herself, Meladris instead watched patiently and quietly as the water began to swirl and churn within the basin. The faster it swirled the clearer the edges of the water became. Every second the water whirled around inside the bowl, the brown muddy cloud receded further and further from the edges of the bowl. As if there was a drain specifically sucking the impurities within the water out in the middle of the basin, the water became crystal clear after approximately a minute of Belgard chanting the same words over and over.

“That’s amazing Belgard…it’s utterly pristine.”

“Oh thank god…it’s finally done? I thought I’d have to be here for god damn ever!” he shouted and let out a massive breath in exhaustion.

“Is this the healing spring you were talking about?” She could see her reflection in it, and she was right…her face was a mess.

Dried and caked mud covered it, to which she frowned but didn’t do anything to fix. In their current situation, there was no point.

“Nah, I wish it was that simple…this is just the first step. Getting clear, clean and pure water. I’ll need to take a break and gather my strength before I continue on the next step though.”

As he said this he laid down on his back and nestled his head into the soft muddy ground and smiled wide.

“You look positively elated to be wallowing in the mud…”

“You know what they say about a pig in mud, dont’cha?” Belgard grinned wide. “Oh, go ahead and take these here and see if you can’t figure out just how big this place is.”

Belgard reached into his ratty shirt, opposite the area he pulled the clay ball from and handed Meladris a small pouch. Taking it from him with a confused look on her face she began to open it slowly.

“Pebbles? What are these supposed to do?”

“Ah, they aren’t just any ordinary pebbles. They’re highly modified and magical pebbles that will illuminate even the darkest of caverns!” he said haughtily.

“Really? That’s amazing! Where’d you keep these things hidden?”

“I’m joking, they’re just pebbles I found in my cell and kept since they were smoother than normal.” He said and began to laugh.

“You’re an ass. You know that? A right, royal ass.”

“Hee haw!” he imitated a donkey and began to cough violently afterwards. “Dammit…”

“Serves you right, you crotchety old bastard!” Meladris reprimanded him. “So what, just illuminate and throw them around?”

“Sure, unless you want to walk around a bit, but without knowing what’s out there I suggest we stay put as much as possible.”

“Mm…that’s true. Very well, I’ll see what I can do.”

Taking out a handful of pebbles, she enchanted them all with Illuminate, causing her to squint slightly as their collective brightness. Taking one of them she wound up and threw it as far as she could manage, hearing it clatter against hard stone and come to a stop. Nothing around it indicating a wall or anything other than more vast emptiness.

Meladris repeated this step over and over until one of the pebbles clattered and then struck something that made a very faint but noticeable dull thud to Belgard.

“What the hell was that?” Belgard said.

Without his eyes, his hearing had taken on a higher form of function. As with anyone that loses one of their primary senses, the others increase proficiency to accommodate.

“What was what? I didn’t hear anything.”

“That last pebble, throw another in the same direction.”

Shrugging her shoulders she threw another in the same direction, with a little more force.

*Clatter, clatter, thunk*

“That!” he said quickly.

“That…thudding sound? I could barely hear it. But I don’t know.”

Reaching into the pouch Belgard handed her she tried to fish out some more pebbles, but realized that was the last one.

“Oh, I’m all out.”

“Already? How long as it been?” he asked confused.

“It’s been probably ten minutes? I don’t have much else to do so I didn’t exactly go fast.”

“But…where was I for that time?”

“You passed out. Other than your snoring the only thing I could hear was the clicking of the stones on the ground until you yelled at me just now.”

“I see. Well I suppose that should be long enough to give it a shot then…”

Belgard sat up with a grunt and faced the basin once more. Noticing this, Meladris picked up the large stone she first used and held it over the basin to keep an eye on things.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” she asked, concern filling her voice.

“It’s going to have to…” he said and leaned his head over the basin and once again began to whisper the words to begin the incantation.

“Life giving nectar, breath of life and source of all things living. Grace these tranquil waters with your unrivaled gift of relief. Fill this chalice with your power and grant those in need the aid they seek. Healing Spring.”

Not feeling the chance in the water, he repeated the incantation. The strain taking its toll on his body. His voice became hoarse and his breathing labored. Meladris could also see he was beginning to shake more and more each time he repeated the incantation. Using the last of his strength and power, Belgard whispers the words once more. Much to Meladris’ relief she could see the water take on a golden tinge to them, shine slightly and then a silver like cloud coursed through the crystal clear water.

“I think you did it Belgard!” she shouted.

As soon as the words left her, Belgard fell to the side, his entire body limp and breathing rapidly and covered in sweat.

“Belgard! You did it. Did you need me to have you drink it now?”

She lifted him up and was about to dip her hand into the water when he replied.

“No! Not yet…”

She froze in place from fright at the sudden vigor in his voice and worry at why he needed to wait.

“But why? Shouldn’t you drink it now that you’ve made it?” she asked curiously.

“Not yet. Remember…how you keep saying…you wish you could do more?” he said, slowly and between his labored breathing.

“Y-yes.” She was hesitant to reply.

“Well, this is the part where you’ll hate me for making you change that.”

“What are you asking me to do Belgard?” she furrowed her brow and frowned slightly in concern.

“Oh, nothing major…I know that we’re surround by shadows and darkness…and far enough…from Valdiss, so I know you can do it.”

“I’m not following you Belgard. Just say it…what do you need me to do?”

“Take this, damn thing out of me.” He said and pointed to the orb on his chest.

“Are you out of your mind?! How do you expect me to do that!?”

“You know damn well how! I know you can do it Meladris! You have more than enough power to do it and you don’t have to worry about Valdiss finding out. Please…I can’t stand another second with this damned thing in my body…”

“But…what if I fail? What if…”

“Oh god dammit, woman! I trust you!” Belgard shouted and grabbed her hand tightly. “I trust you.” He squeezed her hand as tightly as he could. “Just…get it out of me already. I don’t want to go another day feeling my very life being sucked from my body. There isn’t much time. The Healing Spring doesn’t last forever.”

Steeling her resolve she clenched her jaw and took a deep breath in.

“Fine. But you better not die on me you crotchety old bastard…you understand!?” she shouted at him.

She laid him flat on his back and held her right hand above the orb embedded into his chest. Without uttering a word shadows began to wrap around Belgard’s body, gathering at the orb in the middle of his chest. Covering the purple gem entirely they began to swirl around and around. Before she attempted to extract it, she made sure to tie his arms and legs down with additional shadows to keep from flailing from the pain.

When Meladris was confident that she took enough precautions, even going so far as to make a funnel of shadows to quickly gather the water to splash onto the wound and into his mouth after the orb was removed.

Holding her breath, she clenched her open hand elevated above his chest and the shadows that swirled around on his chest drilled into his chest just along the edge of the orb. His body lurched upward in pain and the screams that filled the darkness caused her to cringe from the volume as well as the realization that she was the one putting him through this pain.

The shadows continued to act as a saw and drill into his chest and around the orb. Slowly at first she made sure to control the shadows to follow perfectly the contour of the gem, closing her eyes and focusing on the feel of them as it traced along the orb. She was almost through, it was going smoothly, too smoothly she thought. And she realized why. At the very back center of the gem was a long needle like spike that had dozens of tiny barbs that faced away from inside of his body. It was a vile precautionary measure that would prevent anyone from simply trying to pull the gem out.

If anyone attempted to rip the gem out the barbs would mangle all tissue and flesh on its way out, causing a tremendous wound and excessive bleeding.

“Bear with me Belgard…the bastard didn’t make this easy…” she said quickly.

Driving the shadows deeper and deeper, she poured all the power and concentration she had into refining their reach and precision to wrap around all of the barbs all the way along the spike. It was slow and tedious work but had to be done. Her heart was beating rapidly and made her feel as if it was going to burst from her chest at a seconds notice. But not wanting to fail this close to the end and not allowing Valdiss even a modicum of victory in any sense, Meladris urged herself to stay calm.

A few more moments she was able to envelope the entire gem inside of the shadow and using extra power made sure the barbs were crushed and still wrapped inside so they didn’t leave shards inside of Belgard. The entire time she was doing this, the screams filled the darkness, the shadow restraints straining at Belgard trying to break free due to the pain. Knowing that she had wrapped the entire gem in her shadow she began to extract it. Slowly at first, but noticing that Belgard’s body went limp she realized that now wasn’t the time to take things too slowly.

Taking a risk, Meladris quickly and smoothly pulled the gem from his chest, leaving a large open wound where it was. Having the shadows take the gem and hurl it as far as she could manage, she lifted Belgard up and used the shadow funnel she prepared earlier to begin pouring the Healing Stream water onto his chest and into his mouth.

Exhausting all of the water inside the basin, she gently laid Belgard down and tried to make him comfortable. Her breathing was so rapid that she caused herself to go slightly light headed and decided to rest herself. But didn’t want to take her eyes off of Belgard. She released all of the Darkness magic she summoned and instantly began to feel better. Looking at the wound on Belgard’s chest she noticed that the bleeding had stopped and what should have been a gaping hole in his chest was already beginning to close itself and scar over.

But what she was really waiting for had yet to come. Even though the wound was beginning to heal, his chest was still. She held her breath and focused her full attention at even the slightest movement. Luckily she didn’t have to pay too much attention. The sudden gasp for air and lurching of Belgard’s chest made it obvious he was still alive.

“Thank goodness…it worked.” She whispered to herself.

She fell onto her back and closed her eyes. She was mentally and physically exhausted. While her body was completely unharmed and she felt good, the events that befell her in quick succession were just too overwhelming for her emotional state. Resting her head against the soft clay, it would be once more that she loses consciousness, but at least this time it was her choice to do so. After closing her eyes, she fell asleep almost instantly. She had been through more than she thought possible in the span of a few hours, or at least that’s how long it felt to her…