Chapter 13

The Lifeblood

“What’s a…Lifeblood?” Terrill croaked. His fingers remained wrapped around his hilt, quivering with a step he took towards the glowing woman. On the floor, Floyd’s mouth was hung open, threatening to stammer out his immediate thoughts.

“The pillar which supports all.”

That didn’t really answer the question, and her expression didn’t change no matter how close Terrill got. He did feel, however, that if he wished to try, he could reach out and touch her. Her presence felt so real, and comforting, as though she’d reached inside his very soul and given him that comfort. He put his sword away, and tried to touch her, his fingers ghosting through her. “You’re…not real. Just a voice?”

“I am very much real, Terrill Jacobs, just not physical,” she said. Her lips became a bright smile as he stood before her, and her hands lifted up to caress his face. Krysta tensed up, but Terrill knew there was no threat from this woman. Her touch felt warm; like a familiar friend he’d long missed. “I am a soul. One whose purpose is to oversee the order of all magic. One whose vessel is this crystal.”

“So, that’s a Lifeblood?”

“You! You’re the source of Earth Magic!” Floyd cried out. His flabbergasted mouth gave way to one of utter glee. “A Lifeblood! But…how does it work… There’s a soul inside it… Are you a powerful Earth Magic user?”

“You could say I am. Or rather, that I was, before I chose to become a Lifeblood,” the woman said. Her hand retracted from Terrill’s face, coming to her chest as she recalled memories. “In life, I was adept at hearing the cries of the earth in my soul, as were those who could stare into the flames, enjoy the whispers of the wind, flow with the water, become one with the darkness…and those who could turn it all to light.”

“Until you became a pillar to support, your soul assuming an inhuman vessel,” Krysta said. She was looking away from the soul that was speaking, though she earned a glance from the Lifeblood.

“I take it the Lifebloods are from legend, too?”

“I thought they were fairy tales, just the same,” Krysta expressed. The recent revelations looked to have rocked her, and she sat herself on the ground, a frown overtaking her face. She looked to the soul in front of them, her foot tapping against the floor before she asked her own question. “Supporting what?”

The soul tilted her head, watching Krysta until slowly, all too slowly, she looked back at Terrill, as if he was the one who’d asked the question. Or perhaps Krysta had merely asked for him.

“To support all magic, and uphold the foundation of our world,” she said. Her voice was rougher, indicative of the earth where she dwelled. Her eyes bored into his very soul, ignoring Floyd, who bounced up and down on his toes. “To uphold the security of humanity until the fruit of the goddess’s design blooms.”

“Fate…” Terrill’s steps were unbidden, taking him backwards, away from the soul. The more he stared, the more he could see the shadows creeping in, rising up her connections of light. Something told him that they didn’t have much time. “That guy said the same thing in less words, something about fate. That Fiend, or whatever he was.”

“Indeed. The Fiends have long existed. Not as long as the Lifebloods, but certainly longer than most humanity, playing from the shadows, endeavoring always to destroy the world’s intentions for their own: one without humans or souls, we are sure. One which goes against the design so that they alone might remain.”

“Lifebloods? Plural?” Floyd asked. He was standing again (barely, at that), all business as he committed the entire conversation to memory. “You mean there’s more than one of you? Does that mean there’s a Lifeblood for each and every element?”

“Yes. We are, after all, the last line of defense, as Crea intended.” She shivered suddenly, her soul becoming more transparent as convulsions traveled through. Krysta stood, looking ready to run to her, though Terrill doubted any sort of healing magic could help that. She recognized it, and did nothing but wait until the Lifeblood composed herself. The soul soon had eyes only for Terrill. “We are running out of time.”

“What does that mean? Is it that Fiend? Something else? Why have you been calling out to me?”

“Calling out to you?” Krysta and Floyd asked, both coming near Terrill to express their shock, concern or whatever myriad of emotions flowed through them. Krysta clasped Terrill’s arm, shaking him, demanding some kind of answer. He must have seemed all the crazier to her now.

“Because you are my Blessed, and in the world’s present state, that is what is needed, risky as it is,” the soul said. Her eyes were sad, and her body was clenched with the effort. As the smoky tendrils reached her, she began to crackle; her soul was being suppressed. The conversation needed to be handled quickly.

“What’s a Blessed? That Fiend mentioned it, too. Is that the hero they’re looking for?” Terrill’s questions couldn’t stop coming, but for the first time, he felt like he might finally have answers, his search and pursuit finally paying off.

“It is…difficult to put into words, but think of it as though through my soul, I returned a piece of your soul to you.” Terrill didn’t have any questions this time, though that was only because he didn’t understand a single thing of what she was saying to him.

To his great surprise, it was Floyd that was managing to reason it out.

“Magic is supposedly born from the soul, or so we’ve been theorizing for years. Director Rainert was the closest to proving it. Are you saying Terrill’s capability for using magic was taken out of him, and you restored it to him? How could that even be possible? Though I suppose as a source of Earth Magic, it makes sense… If we could study the Lifebloods-”

“Floyd! I told you already to drop it!”

“Shut up, both of you. We don’t have time to bicker on this,” Terrill yelled. Both of them flinched, but clammed up with nods. “I don’t understand any of this about souls or magic, but you did something to me that allowed me to use my magic, right? I don’t care what, but I care about why, because I have no memory of that and no damn clue why it matters so much that these Fiends keep mentioning it.”

“How best to put it…” she mused, but from the way her body was shaking, it was time she didn’t have. The ground rumbled a tiny bit, nearly pitching Floyd to the floor. “Fifteen years ago, a great war occurred with a tremendous loss of life that nearly ripped the world asunder.”

“Everyone knows that. There was a great influx of monsters.”

“Yes, and here on Silicias was the greatest battle. So much death that it tainted the very earth, itself. It nearly ripped the world off its foundations, to the point that as a Lifeblood, I feel its effects to this very day,” the soul said. Terrill folded his arms, peering at her as he saw the smoke of darkness repelled but a little by her aura. Behind her, the crystalline structure shivered, and a small piece of its crystal, as if by coincidence of what she was saying, broke off. “Every human has, within them, the ability to cast magic. We are the keepers of that capability. And so, to ensure that those who should live should live, I blessed many during that time, yourself included. Though you are the first to seek me out. To find your way here.”

“So, it was when I was young.” It made sense, even if the explanation was just a hodgepodge of words with little meaning. “You tried to keep order in the world, so you blessed those meant to live, and that includes me, even though I was nowhere near…”

“You were near enough, and your soul, which always had the ability to use Earth Magic, was in resonance with mine.”

“And are there others? Others that you’ve blessed, I mean.” Terrill’s question hung thick in the air, and he had the answer that she did not want to speak. Krysta was gripping tighter, her fingers digging into his upper arm.

“In times past, there were. Those who existed to protect the Lifebloods. Alas, those times are past, and none now remain. We are not protected, but will protect what we must to ensure the design to its completion, though it takes its toll upon us. We cannot bless with impunity.”

“So, what’s this about a design, then?” Floyd was asking, standing back up again. His no-nonsense attitude was strange to see, but Terrill welcomed it after his prior foolishness. “Does it have something to do with the edge of the world or something? Are you Lifebloods pillars that hold it up?”

“You could look at it in that sense, one would suppose,” the Lifeblood responded. Her legs had started to turn black, her soul beginning to be absorbed back inside the crystalline structure. Terrill attempted to reach for her, wanting to pull her away until all of his questions were answered, but it was a fruitless endeavor. He passed right through her. “Think of us as conduits through which all elemental energy passes, a way to make sure the world works as intended. Were we to fade, those energies would go out of control, and we cannot predict how. Perhaps magic would fade, or perhaps there would be such a great infusion of it that people could not withstand it…or perhaps it would grow to be a world of Fiends.”

“And is that what the Fiends are trying to do?” Krysta said, her voice louder than usual. The chamber shook again, and Terrill was beginning to wonder if it was from the interference of something outside, or perhaps a further indicator of something being wrong with the Lifeblood. “Is it that they want to create a world of Fiends?”

“We could not say.” The Lifeblood was zeroed in on Krysta now, the two rooted in place. “But so long as we elements remain, or the light holds us together, we will continue to uphold this world, as Crea intends.”

“I see…”

It was all too much for Terrill. Talk of the way the world was created or upheld or all that nonsense. Nothing made sense anymore. The Lifeblood could explain how he received his ability to use magic all it wanted, but it didn’t change a thing. Its power had always been a part of his life, inextricably connected, with the only difference being that he now had a greater estimation of how it was possible. And, he supposed, what he was possible of. Magic and the soul, together. What was more, it was normal.

That led to its own bevy of questions.

As Krysta retreated, her face adopting a pensive expression, Terrill brought forth the most important question while he yet could.

“If this is all normal, these blessings and this magic, then why have I never met anyone with the same power until recently?” he demanded. It came out much louder than he had intended it to, but the distress he was starting to feel, that sensation that he had been living some sort of lie, was intensifying within him by the second. Too much did it remind him of how he felt the Sayn he remembered was all in his head.

He hated how ill that made him feel.

“But you have met them, have you not?” The non-answer didn’t do much to improve Terrill’s mood as he glared at the Lifeblood. Explanations or no, he wasn’t going to appreciate getting the runaround from this formless soul inside a weird vessel of sorts. “The friends you journeyed with to stop the King of the Dark.”

“They didn’t show anything like that!” Terrill yelled. His frustration was reaching peak as the ground shuddered once again. Floyd dropped to a knee, clasping at his chest, and Terrill had to wonder if this Lifeblood was merely stalling for time. “The whole time, neither Charles nor Lumen showed any magic of the sort! And it doesn’t matter anyway, because after we fought Golbrucht, I ended up here, where no one knows about him, or Lumen, or the Chosen One, except those Fiends!”

“Terrill, calm down,” Krysta tried to say, reaching out for him, but he was having none of it. He got as close as he could to the fading soul. The chamber shook once more, making Krysta look up to the stone surface. “What is going on up there…?”

“I just want one answer, and it has nothing to do with being blessed, or Fiends, or magic, or any of that stuff that doesn’t matter,” Terrill said, his words clipped to ensure that the Lifeblood understood. “What happened when we defeated Golbrucht? Why does no one know anything?”

He waited with bated breath. Krysta had swallowed, the noise echoing around the cavern, while Floyd darted his eyes in confusion, not understanding any of it. There was a long period where nothing was heard but the tremors and rumbles that should have threatened another cave-in, but didn’t.

After some time passed, the Lifeblood sighed.

“No one knows because you could say you were taken inside Golbrucht’s domain, the world that you could say he was a part of.” The explanation was as confusing as the circumstance. Her soul clapped her hands together, parsing her words to give the most succinct explanation to those already confused by her talk of pillars and souls. “You passed through what we could call a corridor to fight the King of the Dark. I felt that you did, as it used a Lifeblood’s power to do so. From that moment, you could say you entered an otherworld of sorts, one that fundamentally altered reality for you.”

“But that…wait… What does that mean?” Terrill’s mouth dried, and his swallowing felt blocked. His hands grew clammy, and his head dizzy, but he didn’t fall over at this sudden, and strange, implication.

“Hold on a sec…” Floyd’s words were coming as grunts, the wounds from their battle with Clay catching up to him now that the adrenaline of the events was wearing off. Krysta ran to him, catching him and supporting him. “Are you saying Terrill’s living in some different reality from the rest of us?”

“That can’t be right. Everything I know is still here. Hart, Sayn, Carth. The only difference is the people that are missing.”

“And that is why I say it is fundamentally altered. Though you could say it is mere minor differences. It is…ungh…” This time, the soul was feeling pain. Terrill saw her continually blink in and out. The room began to shake, as if it intended to toss them all about and give them concussions. This time, Terrill was certain it was the Lifeblood’s resistance against whatever was affecting it that was causing the great tremors. Terrill yet again tried to clasp her, but failed. She leaned in, close as her vanishing form could. “It is still your world, so worry not. But be wary of all your actions.”

“That doesn’t really…”

He knew there was no more time left, not with the fading, wan smile upon her face. His body was shaking from the revelation she’d given him, but his mind had no chance to come to grips with it in that particular moment. He chose to just listen to her, the words meant only for him.

“All will become clear, in time, Terrill,” she whispered. He didn’t believe it was by choice this time. “Seek out the other Lifebloods, and it will lead you to your friends. It is imperative that you find them.”

“Why?” he whispered back. Krysta and Floyd were doing all they could to maintain balance, attempting to catch snippets of their conversation, but failing to do so. “Does it have to do with the Fiends?”

“It may yet. Just be ever wary. Strange though this reality may be, it is ever the same and intertwined. Your actions will have an effect. I wish I could tell you more, but I will not break further what they have already broken. I only ask you to save them and… Just know…all of you will return home.” It was the last thing she could say, but the intent behind her message of reaching to cup his face yet again was clear. “You are my Blessed, and I believe in you.”

Terrill’s mind whirled with all of the different things he had been told, from this “otherworld”, to the Fiends and their devious plans, to his own status, and the magic that rested inside him. Connections to everything were trying to be made, though a most prominent thought that stuck out was wondering just what the Fiends were attempting to cause and how the woman had been contributing to that all this time. That, and how he was supposed to “be careful” while he searched for the missing Atrum, Lumen and Charles.

Too much. It was all too much, and for a moment, he felt he would be lost in the mazelike abyss of this confusing otherworld. He wanted to shut down, to process it all, but a more pressing thought intruded and outweighed the confusing ones.

He had a lead.

With a conflicted nod, Terrill forced himself to come to grips with his situation, and silently, he reassured the Lifeblood that her message had been received. For good or ill, he was now in this “otherworld”, and while he was, he would treat it no differently than his own.

Seeing that he understood this, and took heed of her message, she allowed a last smile, and a fleeting look to his companions, appraising them. Krysta nodded, hoisting Floyd on her shoulders, and then the soul winked away, the room descending into that pale light once again. The rumblings would not cease.

Before long, Krysta let a breath out, clasping Floyd’s body tight while Terrill brought his senses back to reality. The weight was hitting him, if slower than expected. “Terrill, are you all right?”

“Yeah…” he managed to say, though he wasn’t sure if he was lying. His breath was too rattled to be certain. “Just a lot to take in. Otherworlds and stuff like that. How does that even play out? I don’t even know where to start…”

“The way she made it…urgh…sound,” Floyd began, clasping to his wounds, “everything’s pretty much the…same…except for a few things. Probably an aftereffect of some…magic. Who’s this Golbrucht?”

“Long story, and not one I think we have time for. I don’t get most of this, but I think there are more immediate concerns here. I can’t dwell on it. Not now.”

“I’m just saying-”

“Hold still, Floyd.”

He was on the ground, with Krysta’s light covering his stomach as she tried to patch up the damage that was done to him. Floyd continued on, nonetheless. “I’m saying, because often huge expulsions of magic are known to have greater effects.”

“She told me to look for the Lifebloods,” he said. Another quake trembled through the area, sending dust fluttering down from the ceiling.

“Then that’s perfect! The source of all magic could explain this whole thing and why no one remembers in this ‘otherworld’ of ours!”

“Yeah…I guess…” Terrill sighed. He wanted to scream and groan and beat the Lifeblood again, but after running his hands through his hair, all he could do was sigh and resign himself. There was no use worrying over it; strange reality or not, he had been close to getting answers from one Lifeblood. If the others would lead him to Lumen, Charles and more…then his path was set. Answers would still await him. There was no use worry over the future. To that, he chuckled. “Sorry, Krysta, I don’t know what I got you roped into here, but it’s something.”

“Mm, I suppose. I don’t mind having to keep an eye on you, though.”

“If you say so. But right now…how the hell are we going to get out of here?”

Terrill’s question came with it a sobering realization that they were stuck there, and with the cave-in back the way they came, there was no way they could ascend from the mines. On top of that, the seismic activity was getting worse with every moment. Floyd banged his hand on the floor, muttering Torry’s name under his breath, and Clay’s taunts returned. Now that he had some sense of direction, Terrill turned his mind to the immediate threat and wished to curse. He looked to the Lifeblood, its dim, pulsing light reminding him it was still there, watching him.

“One last favor. Can you get us out of here?”

Krysta snapped to attention at the favor being asked. Her eyes were wider than dinner plates, and she was shaking her head, as if he was crazy. Floyd, too, seemed to question the validity of the request in successfully getting them out of there. Terrill didn’t worry; a master of magic, he was not, but he was more than certain of how this would go down.

For the last time, the voice came to his head. Yes.

The strange substance beneath their feet shined, as did the pillars. They glowed with a golden hue, turning the entire space into one giant teleporter. Floyd gasped in recognition, and Krysta closed her eyes, hands clasped as they began to be enveloped in that same golden light.

“I’m sorry…” she whispered. It was an apology that Terrill understood, and he felt awful for imposing an extra burden on the already struggling and exhausted Lifeblood. So, before the light could take them completely, he smiled in its direction, to offer that little bit of hope.

“Thank you. For blessing me, too. I may not understand it, but thank you for my magic, all the same. For giving me a chance at understanding. Thank you.”

Terrill’s response had to have shocked Krysta, especially when she saw the smile on his face. Her eyes never receded in size, and when the golden light blinded all else, breaking their bodies and all other things around them into magical energy, he could see her start to offer her own smile back. It disappeared in the light before he could discern further details.

The familiar sensation of riding the magical waves took over his body again, just as it had when transporting from Lentaris to Serotin. He had become nothing more than energy along a highway of souls. This time, he could identify it; it was the same thing he felt when the four of them had gone to Golbrucht’s castle. Now, he could know that what the Lifeblood had said wasn’t a lie, and he could trust in her words to find Atrum, Lumen and Charles.

No. To stop the Fiends and help the Lifebloods.

Despite a lack of physical form during the transportation, Terrill clenched his fists, and for the first time, he felt welcome for the power of earth inside him, one that he no longer needed to keep hidden. It would be his sword, his shield, and all else in between. That magic was his, and she’d given it to him. Part of him believed it was for this very moment, as though fate had it in store for him. But fate or not, Terrill knew what he wanted to use it for.

He had a goal: protect the Lifebloods and his friends along the way.

Terrill found himself grinning, and moments later, his body had reformed, touching to the earth with a dust swirl at his feet. Next to him, Krysta and Floyd also reformed, the latter off-balance by the sudden transportation, but hardly looking alarmed. The sound of the sea could be heard.

“Ha ha! Fresh air! We made it!” the redhead cried, throwing his own fists into the air. Terrill chuckled, his hand finding his blade.

“You look ready for anything now, Terrill.” Krysta’s words and smile further impressed his new conviction upon him.

“I feel like I am. Let’s go help those Lifebloods.”

BOOM!

The sudden explosion blasted the dirt next to them, sending all three flying. A tear appeared to have fallen from Krysta’s eyes, though she lost the smile it had accompanied. Floyd screamed as a conflagration lit upon the stony paths.

As for Terrill, he was flung forward, hitting the path with a painful thud that failed to knock him out. He grunted in pain, but had the presence of mind to look up towards the shore at his first opportunity.

There were ships at the shore, flying the flag of pirates, and on the beach, he could see her.

His first mission. The enemy of his new goal.

The woman had returned, and this time she had an army.