It made me realize that the bottle was not actually made out of clear glass: it was almost black. I only was able to see that now, because of the fact that it got shattered and the contents were scattered everywhere. The fact that I thought it was clear was thanks to the actual contents of the bottle: the oil was positively shining.

It was not the shine I attributed to the magical aura of things, or “the flame of mana” as I liked to call it. I was now pretty certain: it was definitely the shine of light magic. For some reason, somehow, the liquid had light magic trapped inside it.

I definitely did not expect that. While no harm happened to me, I was still startled and pretty sure I had swallowed a bunch of the “oil” along with some shattered glass.

-What the fu…

But before I even managed to finish cursing at her, for the first time in a long while I felt a searing pain.

It was like someone had spilled boiling water directly on me. The heat started radiating through my whole body, along with the intensifying feeling of mana getting released and absorbed by my crystal.

I, even surprising myself, screamed in pain, and rearing backwards fell right on one of the shelves, smashing through it, making the contents fall right on top of me.

That had some good and other not that good effects on the current situation.

Good: Eise has snapped out of her trance, jumped back and immediately extinguished the mana candle with one swift motion, before looking at the “not so good effect”: me being buried under a broken shelf.

It wouldn’t be that bad if not for the fact that it was stacked to the brim with different strange creations of hers, most of them in liquid form, made, of course, out of very infused ingredients and mixed with the “light oil”, making it burn even more.

-I am so sorry…

Eise started apologizing before even she realized properly what was happening .

I quickly wanted to toss the rubble away from me and try to get rid of the liquid, but it was harder than it looked. And it was not thanks to the lack of my strength - I actually felt quite invigorated, probably thanks to the copious amounts of mana in the air and on top of me.

The problem was the fact that the “oil” was still stuck to me. Well, I was calling it oil, but after seeing it spilled and feeling it myself, it was more like a thick tar, which it definitely didn’t look like inside of the bottle.

Thanks to the high viscosity, every smaller piece of the rubble was now stuck to me.

The sizzling pain was not the regular one either: I was definitely feeling it way too much. Or maybe it was just the fact that I never had felt pain in this body to begin with: the sudden change was just a shock.

And not only to me.

Last time, when I shared senses with Kon and Iloa, just the sudden grab from For was enough for her to break concentration because of an unexpected feeling, and now?

Well.

At first it was not a problem. Maybe because we were not sharing senses in the first place, and I specifically told her to leave me alone.

Too bad she didn’t listen. Or it was just the fact that I suddenly screamed and the burst of mana flowing through me was hard to miss, especially for someone inside my own head… or wherever she was.

-What the hell are you doing out there? Mor? MoooAAAAH!

Yeah she felt the pain.

And not only her.

At first it was just two screams inside of my head: my own and Iloa’s. While definitely not something good, I was already almost able to shake off the initial shock. But then another one hit me.

A third voice.

Kon.

Right, he was connected to me as well, but I never thought for the connection to be that good, especially if we were so far away from each other. If we were in the same room, then maybe, but now?

And it was not the last surprise.

Almost at the same time as Kon’s scream, I felt yet another one. That one was harder to recognize, because it seemed like it was coming from a lot further away. Like something you feel in your head can be judged by distance…

It was a female voice, also screaming. I couldn’t really pin it down at first, probably thanks to the searing pain that was still definitely distracting me.

Are you fucking kidding me? It was Melle.

Her voice was hard to mistake, even while the feeling was still so far away, I was certain it was her.

But it was not all bad: the fact that I felt her pain, or rather she felt mine. It probably meant that she was still connected to me. And it meant that I was still able to track her. That was nice.

And I didn’t even have to do the actual ritual like the last time: right now, I was able to tell how far and in what direction she was, along with Kon and…

Hm.

Yeah, that was not the end of the developments, nor to the shared pain.

It was like a web, stretching from one singular point.

As soon as I “connected” to Melle, something else also got dragged in along, and with it the whole wide web of different feelings and presences.

If that was not the problem enough, I started having flashes of memories… or no, it was more like flashes of different people.

Just like I was able to share senses with Iloa, right now I was having quick blinks of different people's senses. Some I was able to recognize: Kon, Iloa, For, Melle, Jacob and Caleb, the guys from the capital… It was all like a gigantic kaleidoscope inside my head. I was barely able to pay attention to one before my thoughts were pulled to another. And those were definitely surprising.

I saw the capital, and some rooms inside. A random run down bar. Something that looked like a cell. Red Edge. Then a boat… no, it was the bar-boat. Some places I didn’t recognize. A desert. A small village right next to some kid of oasis. Inside of a forest.

The flashes were coming and going, I was not able to understand who and what. Along with them, like in Melle’s case, I felt from where exactly the image was, or rather where the person was I just plugged into.

And of course, every single person was in pain.

This thing would’ve probably taken a lot longer, if not for Eise.

The tables have turned and now she was the most sane person in the room: the fixation on fire completely gone, now absolutely terrified and shaken, she was trying to get the shelf off from me.

I wanted to warn her, to not touch me nor that weird substance, but I was not able to speak, still in pain.

She knew, though. After all, she was the one who made this strange substance.

Carefully avoiding the spill, she quickly jumped towards one of the boxes that were hidden on yet another bottom shelf, and from it pulled a pair of gloves.

They looked like leather, although completely black, almost like they were covered in soot.

With one swift motion she pulled them on, and started grabbing the pieces of rubble from me, trying to get everything as far away and as fast as it was possible.

Considering her, rather not very strong, frame, she was doing great. Fast and agile, she was working efficiently through the whole thing.

It still was going to take her a good while to unbury me, and I was definitely not helping, still dazzled and stunned by the pain.

Honestly, even later, I was not able to tell how long I was just lying there, but I am pretty sure that I came to a long time after she finished.

In the meantime, I still had a mixture of visions flooding my mind. I mean, it was good for one thing: at least I was not focused on the pain any more, instead the stream of information was overloading my senses.

The first thing I can actually remember after the accident was me lying, still on the same spot, on the floor, while Eise was carefully wiping the remaining of her mixture from me. Or at least that’s what I think was happening, because at first I was not able to see a thing.

-Ouch…

My voice spooked her a little bit, but in a good way.

-You’re awake!

-Urgh…

I tried focusing on her voice, to get my vision to work correctly again. It took a moment, a bit blurry first, but I at least managed to see her mana.

Good to know that ability was still intact.

-What in the hell happened to me…?

I groaned and wanted to sit up, but I could not, my arms not wanting to work.

-Er… There’s been an accident. I am so sorry! I didn’t…

As she started profusely apologizing, my vision started getting back to normal.

She was kneeling next to me with a rag in hand that was surprisingly bright with mana. Apparently the feeling of her cleaning the spill was correct. Next to her there was that container with what I thought was the “failed mixtures”, now full with water. I could tell that was what she was using to clean off the mixture, because of the residue that was gathering on the bottom, clearly visible in my enhanced vision.

The rubble from the shelves was moved away somewhere behind the desk, only revealing its presence thanks to the mana signatures dotted in a large clump.

-Right, right… I remember. Eh, instead of apologizing, help me up… I can’t move much. Just don’t touch me directly…

She stopped talking and nodded, carefully lifting my head off the ground.

I must say, that was the weirdest way for someone to pick someone up. But hey, I was essentially a hazardous material, so I can’t blame her.

-A… are you going to be okay…?

-I’m still a bit sore and stunned. It’s kind of hard to move for me… so hard to tell.

She nodded with understanding.

-At least you are awake…

-Yeah… how long was I out?

-Twenty minutes? Something like that.

Damn. Longer than I thought.

Thinking of how exactly all this happened, I noticed her lean forward and almost bow down to me.

-Good thing that you awakened… in this state I never expected…

I gazed at her with confusion.

-I can’t tell how sorry I am… this was an accident… I swear…

I realized that she was actually not bowing, she was very carefully picking something up from the floor next to me.

-After I saw this, I was sure you’d be out cold for… I don’t know…

I finally realized what exactly she was holding.

It was my whole arm.

Yeah, what she got from the floor was my arm, broken off right at the shoulder, or I should say melted off. The other one was still next to me, lying so close that it was hard to believe that I didn’t notice it sooner.

I mean, it was surprising that I didn’t notice the lack of them in the first place. It at least explained the lack of feeling in my arms and overall lack of strength.

-Holy fuck… how did that even…

All that time I never thought that something like that was possible any more - I mean, I did break my neck, or rather burst it a while back, but… I guess it was again the large amounts of mana that were a culprit back then too. And now, to boot, there was that potion added to the mix.

That was not the only wound on me, though. I now realized that I was sporting a rather large scar on my chest, in the shape of a spill and then some.

Well, a scar is the wrong way to put it: it was like the crystal got… liquidated at those spots and had hardened in a strange, unusual way. I reflexively wanted to touch it, but lacking my arms of course that was not happening.

Luckily, my legs got spared the acid treatment. Be it because of luck or maybe just because I was wearing pants, the lower half of my body was intact and just as if to confirm that, the feeling in my legs came back just as I was starting to wonder why I was lacking it.

-Well that is the weirdest injury I have gotten so far - I finally said, looking at my severed arms, now safely in her hands.

She grabbed both of them and wrapped it up with some kind of cloth that she pulled out of yet another shelf. I was already on my feet, standing up and trying to get the feel for my new, a bit crippled body.

It actually was not that bad. Besides the scars that I already noticed, my face got only lightly sprayed by the mixture: a few drops here and there only left small marks. I didn’t really care anyway, more worried about the fact that I had now no arms and no magic to maybe somehow supplement the lack of them.

Yeah, and there was also one other problem that appeared in this flood of issues: I was not able to contact Iloa. Or Kon for that matter. I was no longer able to feel that string of connection that I had constantly in the back of my head.

It was definitely worrying, especially after the earlier scream that I felt inside of my head. Did this accident somehow affect them as well?

-What the hell was that liquid even? - I asked, walking down the corridor, trying to as soon as possible get to For and the rest.

-It was… I don’t know honestly…

She was clearly trying to hide something.

-Come on, it’s a bit too late to try and keep secrets - I sighed, irritated. - It is kind of important to me…

-I know! But I am really not sure!

-You’re not going to tell me that some random vial just appeared out of nowhere on your shelf, are you…?

-Of course not! Well… not completely…

-Oh boy. Come on, say it.

-It’s… well… It’s been a while ago… Back then I was working on a way to restore mana in a way that non included drinking or eating something.

-Like that incense of yours? - I asked.

-Yeah. That’s actually the end product of this whole research.

-And you say that even though you finished it, yet you have no idea what you used to get there?

-No! I mean, yes! I mean…

-Look, I can tell that you are worried about something, but I need to know this. After all, this thing kind of melted my body.

-Yes, but…

-And while I can see how that has nothing to do with you, I am not sure if I am going to be able to regenerate at all from this. It’s the first thing that was able to injure me in such a way, you know…

-Mrgh…

It was clearly a bluff.

Sure, I was wounded, pretty badly in fact. And the existence of something that was able to do that much damage to me was worrying. But it did not mean that I was unable to heal the wounds after the accident. As a matter of fact, thanks to the abundance of mana that I absorbed during the whole fiasco, I was pretty sure I’d be able to regenerate some damage. Maybe not both arms, I am not even sure if one, but I would be able to maybe patch the scars.

Arms were considerably harder, and I think I’d need a lot of time for that: especially considering that just healing a small hole in my neck took me a good amount of time… Doing this…

Well, in any case, learning what exactly wounded me was the first step. And not only in case of this story repeating, I was more interested in actually using it myself.

If my hunches were right, I might have had a need for the way to fight another crystal remnant in the future. And considering the fact that now there was a good possibility that I’d be blocked from using magic, having this acid on hand would be very handy.