Ch. 26 - The Price
After I invoked the Word of Death to cleanse the Hydra’s curse, chaos erupted at the dungeon’s entrance.
A storm of voices—shouting, arguing, spreading like wildfire.
The adventurers’ clamor fell into two major topics.
First: Alex. She had barely escaped with her life, dragging back a powerful curse from the dungeon. Many had already given her up for dead, but through sheer rotten luck, she survived.
Second: the brat who purified the undead Hydra’s curse.
…In other words, me.
Regrettably, my curse-reversal had failed. And the divine power I had spent would never return. The price owed to Mother remained unchanged.
It had looked impressive enough, smashing Eva’s tail in front of that muscle-head, but the sudden drain of divine energy left me in tatters.
I was about to collapse when Enzo swept me up and carried me away.
“Doc, you alright?”
I had no strength left to reply. Sweat poured down my jaw, dripping to the ground. My vision swam and twisted. Healing anyone else was out of the question.
That spell was never one I should have been able to cast. Only with the memories of Dietrich Becker fused into this body, and the capricious help of Mother, had it worked at all.
My prayers and divine reserves were utterly insufficient. For daring to wield power far beyond me, what would Asclepia’s serpent demand?
No regrets.
I knew what I was doing.
Without resolve and without sacrifice, great power cannot be wielded.
The inescapable dark crept close, closing around me.
Mother had come, greedy as ever, to collect her due.