NOVEL FROG 60. The Kingdoms's Jewel
I kept my face buried in the dirt a moment longer. A good part of me didn't want to get up. That could've just been a chewed-up leg doing the persuading, though. I struggled to stand. White flames covered Purity's hand, which she held out casually. Death by fire should be better than death by wolfbears. I tried my best to ignore my gaping wounds. The small glimpse I got made me pale. Purity's averted gaze didn't go unnoticed either.
Dirt, ash, blood, and drool covered my body and clothes. I didn't bother wiping any of it off. After another few seconds to regain my breath, I limped my way over to the graves. Purity walked by my side.
"They really are all dead," the smoker said with a hint of amusement. "What a shame. What happened here?"
I kept my mouth shut and continued limping. My enhanced body worked overtime to repair the damage. However, the process was slow, and it would take a couple of days to completely recover at this rate.
"How did you survive? Judging by the mana levels, this must have been a war of thousands of people. There were no reports of soldiers outside of Cyanne, though. No, this was not the work of typical soldiers." Purity sniffed the air and held a licked finger up. This was the work of mages."
I could feel Purity's fascinated glare as she took my measure, making the walk more uncomfortable. About a hundred rough steps later, we got to the graveyard. What was left over of the corpses was a disgusting mess. Sasha had remained the most intact—which wasn't saying much since she was just a torso on a pole. I quickly turned away from the sight and noticed Purity keenly looking at the torso.
"Which one of these corpses belonged to Sunny? Or will we have to dig through a pile of ash?"
"She's here." I pointed to the pile of ashes next to Lana's sword, Light's Edge.
Purity prompted me to dig through the ashes by pointing with her hand. I countered with a nope, firmly shaking my head.
"Ughh," the sage complained, rolling her eyes. "Fine." She waved her hand once more, causing Lana's ashes to swirl. Picked up in the small cyclone were the slender sword and a smaller silver ring. Purity grinned and pulled the ashes, along with the two items, toward herself. She examined the ring for a moment before putting it on her finger. She gave her hand a look over and broke out in laughter.
"Thank you." Purity put her ring hand down and drew Light's Edge. The sword shimmered despite the darkened skies. "Unfortunately for you, doll, it is the end of the line."
I tried to move and found that intense heat had trapped me in a tight space. A step in any direction would turn my body to ash. Purity took two quick steps, positioning herself in front of me and stabbed me through the heart. She laughed euphorically as my body dropped to the ground.
Inhabiting a clone body was an odd experience. I didn't actually have a heart… nor should I feel pain, and yet, my chest struggled to pump, and searing pain spread from Light's Edge. Souls were a complicated mess. This loop was as good as over. My body was dying, and I had no way to recover or fight back. Instead, I used the last of my strength, positioning my falling body to land on my side. It was the most bearable option.
As a parting gift, Purity put her boot to my face and, using it as leverage, pulled out the sword. The sage blew me a kiss and launched herself twenty feet into the air. She hovered there briefly, snapped her finger, and flew into the clouds.
I smelt the smoke before I felt the worst burning sensation working its way through my legs. Curses and screams followed. I nearly passed out and knew that if I did, this loop would be over. In a sense, it was already over for me, but I wasn't dead yet, and if I could make it to my mindscape, I could train for hours while my body died.
It took a while to ignore the pain I felt enough to relax and fall into a trance. For a moment, I felt like I was back on the pike, trying to get comfortable. The trick, in this case, was slow, gentle breaths. I barely got enough air with the technique, but it reduced the pain I felt in my chest significantly. My legs were another matter. Closing my eyes helped a little bit. At the rate of the fire working through my body, I probably had five hours inside my mindscape. Thankfully, in my realm, I didn't feel pain. There were plenty of warnings that I was dying. The signs were easy to ignore, though.
"You are dying," Cal said as I walked into his room. It was one of those half-statement, half-question type greetings. As far as 'hellos' go, it was terrible. I'd cut the flayen some slack. He wasn't doing too great himself. At least he wasn't still balled up in the corner.
"Ae, this hasn't been my best loop…" I tilted my head in consideration. "Far from the worst," I added. Death by crawlers still haunted me. Why couldn't that memory be removed? "I don't have much time, so I thought we could watch some scenes together and prepare for the next encounter against Purity."
Even with Cal's help, the practice session didn't end well. There was an entire realm of power between Purity and I. The fact that I could withstand her direct domain as a low templar was a victory. In the end, it didn't matter how I fought. I couldn't defeat the fire sage.
Eventually, my loop of purity came to an end.
I stood alone in a forest of massive trees. Grass and shrubs covered my crouched body, and my hand rested on a tree. Massive trees crashed to the ground a few miles north of my position. They fell with heavy booms that cracked like thunder. Darkness and thick clouds covered the sky, and smoke filled the air.
I scratched my neck and cycled my mana. Suppression collars were terrible tools, and I was glad to be rid of mine.
After the battle settled and the victors left, I made my way to the dead. The lingering energy felt fresh and alive. Smoke still smoldered in a few spots.
"Sorry for disturbing your remains," I said to Goldi as I dug through her ashes. Light's Edge rested close by. I would be taking the sword with me from here on out. It was the sensible thing to do. It only took a few seconds of sorting before I found the silver ring. I held the jewelry up close to inspect it.
It was a basic silver ring. Usually, rings of value had runes scripted into them. The ring that held Snowpiercer, my bow, was forged in the shape of a rune script. Lana's ring was plain. Only when I reached out with my mana did I sense an ocean's depth within it. I swallowed hard and held my breath as I reached for a connection. A few minutes later, I found the open connection and bound the ring to myself. When I saved my friends, I would give Lana her ring back. Now connected to me, the silver band expanded to fit my finger. I slid it on and watched it disappear.
"Thanks, Goldi," I whispered to Lana's disturbed ashes.
With the ring on and connected to me, I could sense what was within. The kingdom's worth of treasures inside made me chuckle and shake my head.