The Veil of Darkness

Leela helped Annalise to comfortably lie down on the bed before the girl covered the latter with a blanket.

"You seriously look like someone who’s about the die." The girl didn’t hold back at all as she spoke the truth while taking a place beside Annalise on the edge of the bed.

Just like the plan, Annalise did help Ezra in boosting his teleportation spell as the man teleported all of them to the Capital City of the Mortal Realm. However, she paid a huge price for such a powerful spell as it had sucked out all her energy and left her exhausted, and magicless for the moment.

"I really appreciate your comforting words," Annalise muttered as she tried to joke and smile to lighten the mood but the effort only made her grimace when she felt a jolt of sharp pain shooting through her entire body.

At the current point, she had no clue what exactly was wrong with her body other than the guess that the teleportation spell sucked out way more magical energy than she even carried, leaving her body weak and her powers in shatters.

"Don’t speak if you are only going to hurt yourself more than you already have. Stay here and rest while I will go out and try to find a physician to come here and look at you." Leela advised Annalise like an elder sister as the girl moved to stand up and leave the room that Ezra had booked for Annalise in an inn near the end of the main market street of the Capital City of the Mortal Realm.

But before the girl could have walked away, Annalise grabbed her hand with the little energy that was left in her body as she spoke, "There’s no need for that. You should rather follow Ezra and his men to learn their findings at the Portal Hall."

Leela looked at Annalise for a couple of moments while observing her before she spoke, "Are you sure, My Lady? Even if it’s important to find out exactly what’s the deal with the Wish Jewels, your health is even more important. Let me go and get you a physician first and then I’ll go and..."

Annalise hurriedly shook her head in denial and the effort caused her to wince in pain as her body protested. Taking in a deep breath to collect the remaining bit of energy left in her body, she spoke, "I will be alright after resting for a while. It’s just my energy level, it will slowly grow back to normal after a proper rest but if we lost the chance to find the answers from Ezra and his men, we will end up wasting all our efforts."

Leela didn’t respond immediately as she appeared skeptical about their current situation. She stared at Annalise for a while before she stood up and started pacing the room. "Leaving you here all alone still doesn’t seem like a good idea to me but... you are indeed right about our efforts going to waste if we both stayed here and lost the chance to find the answers... What should I do?"

Annalise let out a small sigh before she gave a last effort to make the girl understand. "I will really be fine, Leela. Please leave and follow the dragon shifters to find out the answers that we all need so much. I promise to take care of myself until your return."