Chapter 54 - Fallout
[Soul Withering: 40.43%
Time Remaining: 78H 15M]
A grimace adorned Liesel's face. As she had anticipated, her ability to seal the decay was also withering away. She should still have over a hundred hours if she were to calculate with the previous rate of erosion. Withering was a cascading progression, and though the System said she had about seventy-eight hours, it might be less than half of it. While the withering spread, her ability to stop it would remain fixed.
How long can I keep up? A day, at best. Or two, but the second would most likely be a miserable waste.
Liesel sat in her tent. She was having a hard time breathing as she spent every ounce of her mental strength tightening the faux seal to dampen the rate of deterioration and squeeze out a few more hours from the System's calculation, but she was failing. Her best was not enough.
The blob-like Soul Form had shrunk significantly and was basically touching the Rune Cage. Perhaps in a day, the Ashdust would burst out and leak into her physical body. The thread from her previous Soul Unravelling had stretched her soul form vertically to keep the Rune Cage within the form, but even that wouldn't sustain for very long.
"Auram," Liesel said. She was having a harder time gathering her thoughts. Her entire body was covered in cold sweat.
"I don't know what I can even do," the spirit whispered.
"Is the beast mutated? Can you take a look?"
Auram blinked. "Yeah. Be back in a blink."
Auram teleported away.
"Is there nothing we can do?" Fiya asked. She was sitting in the corner of the tent. Yehia was in the men's tent, upset that Garrol Borran didn't have anything to help out Liesel.
Drahk had offered his healers, but Liesel refused to let a stranger observe her Soul Form.
Liesel didn't have an answer to Fiya's question. She focused on maintaining her soul's current state as best as she could. The only way that Liesel could imagine didn't include anyone but her own efforts. She could use Fiya's helping hand, though.
"Yeah," Auram said as she teleported in front of Liesel. "It can grow further, but if you hunt it now, it will give you what you want."
"Then," Liesel gathered her strength, creating a partition inside her mind. One to solely focus on her Soul Form, and the other for the rest. She climbed back to her feet. She picked up her sword and the pouch of Materiality Cores. "I will get it over with now."
"But it's curfew," Fiya said.
"I doubt anyone's going to mind, but I will see Drahk before leaving," Liesel said. "I will need his permission to take Tiran. If you are unsure, you can rest."
"N-no!" Fiya hurriedly got to her feet. "I will help. There's no way I can rest."
Liesel nodded. She made her way out of the tent, and as she had expected, the village was busier today. The Pathstriders seemed to be in a hurry. They shoved the random people walking back to their abode aside as they rushed behind tents. Was there a thief?
Liesel still couldn't fathom how they went along with the fight. Understanding in theory and seeing it play out with her at the center were vastly different experiences.
In some way, Liesel considered herself fortunate that she didn't have the energy and time to linger on the Qhidah-Shi. It was behind her, and now it was time to search for a way to live.
"Can I see Drahk?" Liesel asked one of the Rakamels still in Strider gear.
The Strider tensed in her presence. With a curt nod, he went inside the tent and then invited her in.
Drahk was here, listless and sitting in isolation.
"Why are there so many Striders wandering around the caravan?" Liesel asked.
"They are looking for Arval, Kfahan's daughter," Drahk replied, exhaling tiredly. "No one has seen her since your... duel."
"Was she there, at the arena?"
"She was supposed to be," Drahk said, "But we don't know if she was."
"I would have offered to help," Liesel said, "But my own situation is growing worse. I am confident you will find her, and I must return to the Primordial Domain to claim my jewel."
"Will it help with your illness?" Drahk asked.
"I expect it to be so. Can I borrow Tiran?"
"You are not learned. I will ask one of my warriors to assist you."
"Auram can guide her, and I remember the directions," Liesel said. "You should let them do the important work. Regardless of the circumstances, I have played a role in the child's distress. I cannot be at peace if you stop short because of me."
After a moment of consideration, Drahk nodded. "I will ask someone to bring Tiran to the entrance."
"I will wait there, then," Liesel said. As she had thought, Drahk didn't want to show their stable. Not that Liesel considered it wrong, but these small gestures were necessary fragments to understand his attitude in its full spectrum.
"Thank you for everything, Drahk," Liesel said.
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Once they left Drahk's faction, the village was quiet. Some Rakamels were still making their way back, but most people had already returned. Anyone who noticed her stopped in their tracks, as if afraid to cross her path. They only moved once Liesel was past them.
Liesel hadn't been able to observe their reaction to witnessing the uneven Shade Severance. The strike didn't just cut the physical body and the soul, but also the Materiality construct. It was bound to have looked like an otherworldly power from a distance. She had killed one of the stronger warriors in the caravan with a single strike, which then destroyed the barrier created by Elder Ahura. Their fear was not odd, even if the mage was very bothered by it.
At the very least, no one showed outward hostility towards her, and in some manner she might have felt more accepted now than the first time they entered the village.
Because of the duel, I might be adequate for the village.
By the time they reached the entrance, the entire passage was barren. The tents were burning Materiality to create the artificial night within.
Children peeked out from the corner, and once they met her eyes, they shrank away.
What kind of story will I become?
They saw the same Pathstrider that had been attending Drahk's tent. He had brought the farikam along.
The desert crawler purred when Liesel petted its stone-hard shell.
"Thank you," Liesel said. "I will take care of it from here."
The Pathstrider was confused, for a moment, but he got the hint and hurried back inside the village.
"Auram," Liesel called as she climbed onto the back. "Can you converse with it?"
"Yeah, leave it to me," Auram nodded.
Once Fiya also climbed onto the back, Auram began guiding it forward. While Liesel didn't think it was a conversation as Auram had with Fur, it was not as far off as the animals in the forest.
Once it began moving forward, Liesel felt at ease.
"Do you think Garhalik's daughter ran away from the village?" Fiya asked.
"I would hope not," Liesel said, "Kfahan's would be destroyed if she lost her daughter and her partner on the same day."
"Yeah... I don't even understand what the point of today's duel was; it feels so horrible all around. It does nothing. Why would anyone even believe her accusations?"
"The divines have them in isolation for centuries, divining them to their prophesied shape, and no matter how anyone from the outside can see the absurdities and contradictions of their belief, they can't. Until the last moment, Garhalik was unquestioning in his belief or in the wrongness of our duel, even though he knew Ahura was in the wrong. The same would be true if they were to observe how the Empire acts and the contradiction. You can say they are trained to care more about a single string, that they can never step back and look at the pattern it weaves."
*****
Auram flew over and settled on Liesel's shoulder. "It's straight ahead from here, so I don't need to worry about her getting lost."
"Thank you," Liesel said with a nod.
"It seems kind of dangerous though," Auram said, "The mutated beast, I mean. Are you sure you shouldn't be taking everyone along?"
"If we all leave at once, it would not be good in the long term. They might even suspect us as the culprits behind Kfahan's missing daughter, or perhaps I have already given them sufficient cause by leaving right now. Not to mention you cannot be exposed to everyone."
"Yeah... Guess so," Auram nodded. "I hope they don't do anything stupid again.
"Don't worry about the future. All we can do is make the right decisions in the present."
Liesel closed her eyes and began meditating again. Her Soul Veins were, for the most part, still fine. There was a slight pain, but she couldn't mind that. She was far past the point where she should've given them the necessary rest. Instead, they were just being continuously abused and healed, and that damage had accumulated over time. If not for the miraculous potion, she'd have lost her ability to use magic by now.
In the corner of her Soul Form, the tiny runes she had woven lingered still. She hadn't paid them any mind, and as things stood, they were merely the indication of her imagination of the future. How she had thought the expedition would end without a disaster.
I was supposed to be done with the Crest by the time I had the Soul Weaving Skill. Am I ever going to weave the Crest now?
Liesel was not sure. There were ways that she could survive. The last twenty-four hours had opened few doors for them to pursue. At the same time, it also put into perspective the impossibility of their reality.
Killing the sand serpent—how was she supposed to even begin to rationalize that idea? What weapon? What magic could harm something so massive?
"I was wondering," Fiya said, "If we had followed the Ash Lord's advice and made our way towards the Skull Peak, wouldn't we have died once the storm started? We'd not have been able to escape if we were even an hour deeper into the wasteland."
"Perhaps he expected us to go north or south," Liesel said, "and we fortunately picked the right path. On the other hand, it may have wanted us to die. Since it could start an untimely storm and stop it, the serpent might be its familiar or a pet. In that circumstance, can we trust that there is a key at the skull?"
"Should I look into it?" Auram asked. "I can teleport away if it is dangerous."
"No," Liesel shook her head. "If we decide to pursue that path, then we will consider our options."
"But there's no other way," Fiya said.
"I would like to have a conversation with the old hag first, and figure out if there's something that I can salvage. But first, we have to understand Saaranam's decisions. I don't want to waste my days dealing with him."
"If he pokes you again?" Auram asked.
"He might vanish in the darkness of the night, who knows," Liesel chuckled, clenching and unclenching her right hand. She wanted to use Soul Unravelling on an Ascendant, and he might be the perfect candidate she could hope to find.
Fiya seemed bothered by the implication, and that lifted Liesel's mood a bit.
In a flash, the world around them changed.
Auram teleported away for a moment, and then came back in front of her.
Liesel frowned.
"I hate going through the distorted realities," Auram explained, huffing a breath of fresh air. "So should I look for your prey?"
"That's unnecessary," Liesel said, as she pointed at the trail of red blood on the ground. It was bright and visible from tens of meters away.
The Rosharam had run out of the woods and instead gone towards what seemed like a hill.
"We will not risk the steed. Auram, can you ask her to stop here and wait?"
"Sure. I don't feel anything in the meadows," Auram said, "So she should be."
With a nod, Liesel climbed down from Tiran, who had stopped moving.
Her control slipped as her feet hit the ground. She applied the pressure immediately. What she lost was a tiny fragment, but she had been distracted in her conversations.
Focus...
Exhaling, she approached the red blood, with Fiya in tow.
"You should keep an eye on Tiran," Liesel said to the spirit. "I don't want to walk back to the village."
"I will!" Auram grinned. She was swimming in the air, leaving behind a trail of light. "Ah, this place is pleasant. I feel young again."
"How old are you, Auram?" Fiya asked.
"Dunno, probably older than the Laks Empire. Can't say for sure, but somewhere around that time."
"What?!" Fiya gawked at the spirit.
"She is a child," Liesel said.
"I am not!" Auram snapped.
"Ignoring your age, every decision you make, I'd expect from a reckless child," Liesel said. She didn't point out that approaching Fiya was one of them.
"Yeah, well, the wise old woman just accused you of something you are not, and then proceeded to have you kill one of her own. So, I think I am doing better than her..."
The spirit stopped speaking. She streaked across the air, stopping hundreds of meters away. And then she returned to Liesel's side again.
"There's..." Auram took a deep breath. "There's another farikam... something killed it."
"Does it have a saddle?" Liesel asked as she picked up the pace.
It did. And the presence of red blood mixing with the black of the Farikam implied it was a victim of the mutated Rosharam.
Liesel approached the puddle of blood, her eyes fixated on a small piece of apparel. She picked it up from the black blood, her brows knitted in apprehension.
"This is Arval's armband, Garhalik's last gift."