“Using… that power you used back there?” Tia said cautiously, in a tone that suggested she didn’t want to pry.
Vir nodded. If he let Haymi die because of some twisted desire to keep his powers hidden, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.
“Please do. We leave her in your care,” Tia said, backing away from Haymi.
She looked incredibly pale and was covered in sweat. Vir scooped her up as gently as possible, then walked off into the darkness before sinking into the shadows.
“That’s a neat trick,” Vason grunted.
Tia merely frowned and bit her lip.
Vir rushed to the surface as fast as he could manage, invoking Dance repeatedly. Between the battle with the Narapazu and his prior invocations, he could feel the prana begin to run thin, even in this prana-dense region.
Moreover, he strained under her weight. She wasn’t a heavy girl by any means, but with her armor and his fatigue, Vir found he needed to Empower parts of his body to keep her in his arms.
I never did finish mapping out the Imperium ruins… Vir thought belatedly. He’d diligently mapped the area… until the Narapazu encounter. There had been no time to finish it. He at least hoped the incomplete map would gain him some favor.
But next to Haymi’s life, none of that mattered. It took several activations of Dance of the Shadow Demon to make it to the mine entrance, but despite that, the journey only took a few minutes.
Vir immediately handed Haymi over to the white tent that housed the mining company’s Life mejai, explaining the situation. They went to work, rudely pushing Vir out of the tent, saying he was ‘in the way.’
Unhappily, he went to a nearby bench, but stopped when he saw it was occupied. By a familiar face, no less.
Vir took a seat beside the haggard-looking man. With his hair disheveled and a stare that looked as though he’d witnessed death itself, he was nearly unrecognizable compared to the man who had challenged Vir to a duel the night prior.
“Holding up alright?” Vir asked.
His question was answered only by silence. The man next to him slowly turned his head to stare at Vir. Then, several seconds later, his eyes widened in recognition.
“You!” he breathed.
“Me. So you made it out alive.”
“I… How?”
Vir raised a brow. “How, what?”
“Everyone hears the stories. From the Ash Wall. Hideous monsters… But I never thought they could be that bad. The Ash Biter… How can it exist?”
The man’s words were barely louder than a whisper, hoarse and broken.
“Trust me, there are fiends out there worse than that Ash Biter. I killed it, you know?”
“Thank Vera,” the man said, looking at Vir with true appreciation. “And, I’m sorry. For yesterday.”
Vir could scarcely believe this was the same overconfident man from last night’s party.
I guess it’s true that near-death experiences change you. Vir just never imagined it could be so… drastic.
He only hoped the change was for the better.
Just then, a haggard-looking healer exited the tent, interrupting their conversation.
Vir rose to his feet. “Will she—”
“She’ll live, don’t worry. Good that you got her to us quickly, though. Much longer and there would’ve been little we could do for her. Never seen that many broken bones and ribs in my life. What happened down there?”
“Ever heard of a Narapazu?” Vir asked.
The Life mejai shrugged. “Can’t say I have.”
“A giant beast with the head of an elephant and four arms. We fought it on the lowest level. Barely made it out alive.”
And yet, the fact that they had lived, let alone bested the creature, was a revelation to Vir. Tia had guessed the Narapazu’s Balar Rank to be in the several hundreds. Even with his powerups, Vir doubted he’d rank over a hundred, and though they fought as a party, their cumulative rank was nowhere near that of the Narapazu’s.
It went to show just how flawed the Balar Scale was. Or at least, flawed when gauging the results of a duel. The scale was built for military combat potential application in mind, but Vir doubted a single number could accurately gauge relative strength with a single number alone. After all, Maiya had ranked higher than him in their duel at Riyan’s place, though she’d have easily lost unless she carefully curated the conditions to Vir’s disadvantage.
And yet, when considering who could wreak more havoc in less time on a village, or on a company of soldiers, Maiya had the advantage. It’d take Vir far longer to cut down buildings, and he simply had no way of eradicating a group of enemies in one attack, while higher tier magic could do that with ease.
“Well, if her wounds are any sign, I’d say you got lucky,” the Life mejai said, shaking Vir out of his thoughts. “She’ll need several days of rest, but she’ll be back on her feet soon enough.”
Vir nodded. “Thank you.”
“It’s what we do,” the Life mejai replied with a small smile. “Do you have any injuries that need to be looked at?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
Tia and Vason arrived a half hour later, looking even more haggard than when Vir had left them, and once Vir assured them that Haymi would be alright, whatever energy they had left fled them.
They each spent the next hour taking quick naps while Haymi was readied for transport. Vir didn’t even remember the ride back—he spent much of it nodding off atop Bumpy. It wasn’t even that late in the day, but the continuous subsequent fights and the stress had drained them all. They all fell asleep the instant they reached the Sanctum and their heads hit their soft pillows.
Dreams of giants and loss plagued Vir’s sleep, and morning came earlier than it ought to have.
Though it was before dawn, try as he might, sleep no longer came, and lying in bed never made him feel better. Only action ever had. So he got dressed and snuck out of their room well before anyone was awake. The hardest part was getting past Neel without arousing him, but his friend was fast asleep after his hard day’s exertion.
Wish I slept as well as you, Neel.
Few people were up at this pre-dawn hour, allowing Vir to visit the Executor booths in peace. The Executors maintained a twenty-four-hour rotation, so finding one was never a problem.
“Balindam booth. Enter,” the Executor said in a low, gruff voice.
Again, Balindam, Vir wondered idly. Either the Executors were all in on some elaborate prank, or Fate itself frowned upon him.
“Acolyte Apramor. Do you seek a new contract? I advise you to pace yourself, lest your flame be prematurely extinguished.”
“Oh, believe me, I’m not taking on another contract anytime soon. Rather… I’d like to redeem some of my karma. For a favor.”
“Very well. Acolyte Apramor, your current karma stands at zero, I’m afraid.”
“What about the karma from the mining raid? I know the results aren’t out yet, but I should’ve gotten something.”
The Executor remained silent, and Vir wondered if he was somehow communicating with his ‘Collective’ as they’d called it.
“Very well. While I cannot tell you your amount, I can say whether you have enough for your favor.”
“Alright. First… is there any word on Maiya? I’d left instructions with Daha’s branch to tell her where I’d gone.”
“Checking… Yes, it seems that one by that name has visited the Daha branch. They directed her to Zorin.”
Vir’s eyes bulged. Maiya came looking for me? She’s alright! The weight of a mountain came off his shoulders in that moment, and he nearly slouched back in his chair. An inner warmth filled his chest. One that he’d not known for a very, very long time.
No. I can’t assume she’s alright.