Free Web NovelZuzia is the first one to drop off of Magnir’s back as both groups arrive at the titanic remains of Sayrdarralouche. The ancient fiend isn’t moving at present, but Neith was reasonably confident that the mana-galvanized dragon could revive himself again if a ‘core’ isn’t destroyed.
Serrentuk and Senn levitate to the ground nearby, and the elder of the two elves states, “If no one else objects, I believe it may be wise to simply shove this one back into Gate and forget about him, since we’re here.”
“I have no objections,” replies Zuzia. “But, will you have enough mana to fight the fires?”
“Well… Since we have a moment,...” Serrentuk looks up at Yaulwembor, who is impatiently lounging on the blue dragon’s back. He does his best to imitate the tongue-clicking sound, but Yaulwembor simply warbles at him with a strange, almost irritable chatter, like a bored cat.
Daniel… Where did you pick up the weirdoes?
Zuzia calls out, “Please, Yaulwembor?” She gives a pleading gesture before pointing at Sayrdarralouche.
“If I may,” starts Magnir as he watches the superpredator refuse to budge for some reason. “The goal is to teach her Gate, yes? If Lord Serruntuk would, try using Gate. It may get her attention.”
“Why is she being obstinate now, of all times?” asks Zuzia. “We don’t exactly have the luxury of time.”
“I think she’s pouting,” replies Neith. “It didn’t last long, but she didn’t like it when she couldn’t copy Daniel’s spells.”
“I thought Daniel doesn’t have magic,” replies Zuzia, and the others all chuckle, though Serrentuk seems to not know the exact reason it’s funny to the two dragons and Senn.
Magnir explains, “Exactly. She is genuinely afraid of his rifles because they can hurt her, but she can’t copy them.”
Serrentuk doesn’t mind, and he says, “I can’t say I disagree, regardless.” He clicks his teeth again, and he holds his hand out, using Gate to collect one of the broken spikes from the titan.
Zuzia is impressed how easily it works for him, but she knows the real fallout will make this area a magic dead-zone for a long time if the working hypothesis about the world “rapidly decaying” it proves inaccurate, or not fast enough.
Strangely enough, though, there’s a lingering ‘wind’-like feel tingling across Zuzia’s skin, like the absolute bare minimum of sensation for air moving across the hairs on her arms, in spite of the clothes she’s wearing, which are mostly intact this time.
The Polish brunette flinches when an anthropomorphic dinosaur suddenly flops down into her field of view from above, but she quickly recognizes Yaulwembor, who growls. She waves her hand again, and Serrentuk looks at Zuzia and Senn.
“Maybe she wants you to do it again?” asks Zuzia.
Serrentuk nods, doing the same on another one of the broken shards from Sayrdarralouche’s body. Meanwhile, Senn is writing a note. It doesn’t seem to be the scholarly recording of Yaulwembor stealing her father’s skill, if she manages it, but rather, a hastily written note on an old rag.
Yaulwembor gives a hum, and she holds her hand out.
Everyone watches for a moment, and though a band of magic circles appear around her forearm, which doesn’t occur for Serrentuk, a black circle appears beneath another piece, and it disappears inside.
Serrentuk laughs as he lets himself sink to his knees. Everyone else other than Zuzia is speechless from apparent disbelief, and the black-haired elf-woman remarks as she pauses her note-writing, “Even innate skills…”
“Are innate skills truly different from regular magic in this world?” asks Zuzia. She knows that Amalaskae basically ‘slotted in’ a bunch of abilities on Zuzia. If she filled out a character sheet for a tabletop RPG game, any sane DM or GM would throw the character out for being too powerful, because she has too many skill slots used and all of her strength and endurance stats are basically ‘infinity minus one’.
Senn replies, “They’re understood in our world to be god-given at birth, since they rarely pass to children, not all children are born with them, and they can range from world-changing to simple. Yaulwembor’s innate skill is obviously to copy magic, even without chanting, and without restrictions. She doesn’t seem to forget any that she has seen once, either.”
Maybe Yaulwembor is the broken one here. But, that’s beside the point.
Zuzia clicks her teeth and gently touches Yaulwembor’s shoulder, using her other hand to point at Sayrdarralouche’s whole body.
Senn holds up her note on the rag she was writing on, and it reads in English, “[Git hem hole.]” frёewebηovel.cѳm
“Uhhh… Senn?” asks Zuzia.
“I know very little of Daniel’s native language, but it’s the only one she has been exposed to at all so far because the letters are apparently easier to write. Which, I suppose they are…”
Zuzia approaches and says, “May I?”
“Please do.”
English is, of course, a common school course in Poland, and because it’s pretty much the international trade language of Earth, it can be beneficial to learn, especially when travelling. Not every person in every country speaks English, but in most countries that trade with the English-primary countries like USA, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, it’s often quite easy to find someone that speaks English as a shared overlap.
Zuzia probably wouldn’t be ‘hip to all the lingo’ of the current American vernacular at any given time, but she speaks fluently enough that she would have an easy time communicating with an American or a Brit, with the only barrier being local dialect and wording.
Senn warns, “Yaulwembor’s vocabulary is very simple.”
“Don’t worry. I understand what you were trying to write.” The honey-haired brunette writes, “[Use on big one.]” She then shows this note to Yaulwembor, pointing at the mountainous hulk.
Yaulwembor studies the note like she’s sounding out every letter, so it takes time, but she seems to make sense of the words, letting out a more pleased sound. She uses her newfound ability, but she does so with both arms. The rings of magical glyphs start layering around her arms, and nothing seems to be happening at first.
Magnir murmurs, “Perhaps he’s too…”
Just before the blue dragon can finish this thought, though, the ground starts to sink out from under Sayrdarralouche, and his massive body starts to collapse under its own weight. This is how it appears, at least, due to how the middle sinks in first, before the entire formerly-living mini-mountain disappears below a black, crackling surface.
“I know we should be pleased in a way, but it is a little disheartening to lose something that made me unique for quite a few millennia…” jokes Serrentuk as he climbs to his feet.
“You make it look prettier,” retorts Zuzia warmly in reply.
Just as the massive, dimensionless-seeming ‘hole in reality’ is disappearing, Yaulwembor coughs up blood, startling everyone. She sinks to her knees, warbling weakly before collapsing. Zuzia is just fast enough to drop and catch her, even though, like Zuzia, Yaulwembor seems to be impossibly sturdy compared to a human.
Regardless, the reptilian woman falls unconscious as Zuzia calls, “Yaulwembor!? Yaulwembor! Hey! Wake up! What’s wrong!?”
“Mana depletion,” states Neith. “I worried this might be the case… There is a strong rush of mana moving into the crater, but I don’t feel the mana of the area getting any stronger. She was fighting the anti-magic effects…”
“Father, did you…?”
“I know now that I wouldn't have been able to succeed,” replies the elder elf. “But, I wasn’t trying to test or incapacitate her. I only assumed she had more remaining mana than I do at present.”
“Sh-Should we feed her a mana potion?” asks Zuzia nervously, since the woman is still breathing, but she’s not moving.
Magnir replies, “Once a person falls into mana depletion and loses consciousness, potations are rarely effective at restoring their consciousness, even if their mana replenishes. Rest is the only thing that can really help her right now.”
“What about the blood?”
“She pushed herself close, but she didn’t die,” replies Senn. “It seems she doesn’t know her limits because she never experienced them. Fortunately, it’s generally extremely difficult to die to mana depletion, unless the spell pulls mana, which Gate shouldn’t.”
“I agree,” confirms Serrentuk. “All of us have probably been there at least once. It’s unfortunate, but at least we won’t have to worry about Sayrdarralouche for the time being. We’ll need his Grace Daniel in order to communicate that we want him back, since it will be too complex for us to convey what we want, but that can wait. Please look after her while we fly, and I’ll handle the mana fires from here.”
Zuzia nods, though she feels a little bad. If she knew that Yaulwembor would push herself to her absolute limit so readily, the Polish woman would have figured out something better to do.
Thankfully, if she is as large or larger than Neith in her true form, Yaulwembor in her current humanoid form is only slightly heavier than a muscular man of her height would be, which is nothing to Zuzia’s super-charged strength. She picks Yaulwembor up, asking, “Sir Magnir, will flying with you be troublesome?”
“I will fly steadily, my Lady,” replies the blue dragon, holding a foreclaw against his titanic chest as if he were in his human knight body.
Senn adds, “So long as no other monsters appear, we should be able to handle any surviving mana fires with ease. Though, if the anti-magic field is this strong after the weapon’s blast… I worry about any mana fires that may be deeper in the crater.”
Zuzia looks. She admittedly can’t see much of anything inwards of the crater, since the fire of the nuke’s residual ‘rising sun’ rapidly raced up towards the stratosphere of this world, assuming it has a similar atmospheric layering to Earth. And, now, between the mushroom cloud cap spreading out for dozens of miles in every direction, and the dusty haze spreading across the ground, there is no light from the moons reaching the crater to illuminate what’s going on deeper in.
That said, she can somewhat see due to the ‘rivers’ of light descending the edges, but they fade a short ways in. Because it was a surface blast relative to wherever inside of the crater Daniel detonated, there was direct nuclear exposure to whatever soil and rock there was.
It doesn’t seem like there are any immediate signs of a volcanic eruption. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“I sincerely doubt any of the mana fire survived deeper in,” replies Zuzia.
“Yes, but to be safe…”
Zuzia shakes her head. “No. It’s probably unsafe for us even at this distance, but down inside of there? It’s not just ‘anti-magic’ anymore. It’s an oven that will cook you from the inside out before you realize you’re being cooked. I don’t care what race or species you are.” She looks at Neith, saying, “And… I sent Ma-, er, Hekate into that…”
“Her Greatness is tougher than you might think,” replies Neith. “But, we obviously lack the wisdom you have in this field. We’ll trust your judgement unless we can see anything threatening from the rim.”
“What about Lady Baeka?” asks Magnir. “Her summons could likely investigate in our place, and because they’re summons… well…”
“We’ll ask her,” replies Neith. “Though, Arachne’s ‘angels of death’, as Empress Wenlianna called them, may provide more useful information, since I believe they’re technically capable of speech.”
“For now, let’s make sure the rim is clear at least, since that’s the most likely place for mana embers to have survived, if they were shielded or outlasted the blast wave.”
The group agrees, and Zuzia carries Yaulwembor up onto Magnir’s back, then hopping back down to help Serrentuk up, since he can only see blurs at present, and has an easier time ‘feeling’ the mana around him.
“Be careful,” calls out Senn.
“You too!”
Magnir spreads his wings, and Neith gives him some assistance with a wind-spell to carry them both upwards with an updraft. Magnir’s wings are beaten up, but mostly air-worthy. That said, he has to take off the old fashioned way for a multi-ton avian predator that, according to Earth physics, technically shouldn’t be able to fly, especially with biological ornithopter wing action. But, this world has mechanisms that don’t exist on Earth, so even though the ‘Square cube law’ should still be true, and seems to have been the case with Sayrdarralouche landing like a meteor, dragons the size of an international airliner can take off and cruise under their own power, even without their own magic spells.
The blue dragon cruises rather quickly in the clockwise direction around the crater, since the night sky and overshadow from the mushroom cloud does advantage them in one way, at least; the glow of fires of any kind stand out for miles.
Zuzia keeps Yaulwembor secure as Magnir flies, trying to watch for any small fires that might be easy to miss, but his large size does make it difficult.
And, it seems her own human eyes are unnecessary, since Magnir suddenly changes his angle to dive on a gentle down-slope. He looks over his shoulder, nodding once, and Zuzia returns the gesture. She calls over her shoulder, where Serrentuk is holding onto her waist, “Looks like we got one, my Lord! Are you ready?”
“I’m sick of mana potations, if that’s what you mean,” jokes the elf. “But, I should be able to handle a few.”
“Understood! Hang on! Sir Magnir! We’re good back here! Get us down there quick.”
The dragon gives a thumbs up with his massive claw, and Zuzia almost laughs. It’s too serious of a situation for her to really be giggling and laughing at everything, but she understands why Serrentuk is keeping a light tone so easily, and she can’t help but reciprocate with him and the others.
They need to keep moving forward, and humor is the best way to keep everyone’s heads above water, even if a column of death-smoke and poison ash are looming over them. Not to mention the residual heat that is noticeably coming from the crater. There’s a bit of a chimney effect driving natural circulation, where cool air is rushing down the crater bowl, and the heat at the nadir, or more specifically, wherever the nuke actually detonated is driving heated air directly upwards in a continuous draft. It’s not a powerful wind like the air rush that returned after the initial blast due to the vacuum left behind, but it’s a noticeable and continuous breeze that is keeping the rim of the crater rather ‘clear’ of smoke and ash for the moment.
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The dragon arrives quickly at the ground, giving a slight upswing to his flight path to kill his momentum right before reaching the site of the mana fire.
Surprisingly, they’re not the first group to arrive.
Zuzia carefully passes Yaulwembor to Magnir’s foreclaw she he can move more freely, and she drops to the ground. “Lord Serrentuk, do you need help?” asks the Polish woman.
“Just keep speaking to me,” replies the elf as he uses magic to levitate himself. She hopes it’s not a wasteful use of his mana, but like a person jogging or running, mana isn’t exactly a ‘finite, discreet resource’ like some sort of video game logic, so even though they can replenish it rather easily by drinking magic liquids, only Serrentuk knows best how to make use of his magical energy.
He does wobble when he lands as Zuzia guides him down, and he is noticeably breathing heavily.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. Though, too many mana potations… is not the most enjoyable feeling.”
“He’s drunk,” states Magnir.
Zuzia nods in understanding, since Daniel mentioned mana potations, particularly, are essentially 110 proof liquor, which is 55% alcohol by volume. Like most western countries, as far as she knows, a common “strong” liquor is typically around 40%, while Poland does have one of the world’s strongest commercially available spirits, and her Grandfather challenged her to drink just a quarter of a shot glass on her eighteenth birthday, which drove her aunts and cousins nuts.
Zuzia managed it, coughing all the while while her grandfather laughed and had one of his own just for her, joining her in the coughing fit while still trying to laugh.
It was like drinking a live electrical wire, and the vapors felt like they would literally snatch her breath away.
She’ll never forget how proud her grandfather was as he patted her shoulder, laughing and coughing on his own, which he only made the ‘rookie mistake’ once more so she wouldn’t be alone.
Zuzia understands why everyone in this world is hesitant about potations, since they taste so horrendously bad in addition to being harsh spirits, even for a bit more than half of the alcohol content of Poland’s famous spirit. If she could heal wounds by drinking gasoline, Zuzia knows she would be hesitant to do so unless it was the line between life and death.
The young brunette supports her deceptively youthful-looking sagacious friend, teasing him playfully, “Well, steady on your feet, Staruszku. My Dziadek drank double the strength of your weak potations and hiked a mountain that evening. Don’t tell me your ten million years just made you soft.”
Serrentuk laughs as he summons his staff, trusting Zuzia to support his weight and lead him to their target. She obviously spoke of her beloved Grandfather while she was the elf’s prisoner, so he knows the term ‘Dziadek’ to mean ‘Grandpa’ for her, and he replies warmly, “I admire your Grandfather ever more with every story, my Lady. Even as a human, he sounds like a wise and well-lived young man.” He grins at her, and she can’t help but laugh in turn. Her beloved Grandfather lived a very long and full life, living through World War II, seeing the fall of the Iron Curtain, and experiencing the turn of the millenium, among so many other life events. To hear him called a ‘young man’ is supremely entertaining, since he was the oldest and wisest person Zuzia knew, and she feels like she’ll never know or experience half of the life he did, even on this faraway fantasy world.
When they approach the glow, though, they find a troop of knights of Mornistae, who are on the defensive with the arrival of a dragon just reaching their visual range in the darkness.
“We’re friendly!” calls out Zuzia. “Is that a residual mana fire!”
One of the Mornistae knights jogs over, greeting her. “Lady Zuzia and Lord Serrentuk, correct?”
“That’s right,” replies Zuzia, while Serrentuk adds politely, “I am he. A pleasure.”
“Thank you, and yes, my Lady. His Majesty and Lord Gunther are containing it, but it is burning longer than we hoped.”
“Allow us,” replies Zuzia.
The knight nods, glancing at Magnir, who is looming over them as non-threateningly as a massive super-predator can manage. The allied nations know the dragons are on their side right now, but generations of fear and conflict certainly don’t make that easy.
For Zuzia, she’s ecstatic that several of her friends in this world are actual dragons. Dragons are absolutely piled into myths and legends both as a slavic nation and Poland’s own founding myth, let alone the stories that continued to grow and become more widespread.
Sure, she favors the wonder of their full, impressive, reptilian size, but she also does like to be able to shake hands and hang out with them as ‘humans with extra bits’, like the common trend in anime and other fictions. It’s not just that it makes them easier to sympathize with as people, rather than ‘friendly monsters’, but it makes them feel more like friends that can, at any time, unleash the ‘true power inside themselves’.
“Pay me no mind,” replies Magnir. “There is little I can do other than fly or breathe fire for the current tasks. I’ll look after Yaulwembor.”
It’s not far that they have to go, so Zuzia nods. “Thank you, Sir Magnir.” She makes a point of saying his name, so that everyone else knows who is the honorable man that didn’t try to threaten them at all.
The trio joins the group guarding Rikuto and Lord Gunther, who are casting some sort of spell that has successfully ‘lifted’ the mana fire off of the ground, but as the soldier said, it’s not dissipating as quickly as they thought. If anything, it is one very bright, large ‘ember’ the size of a basketball.
Serrentuk remarks, “Such an interesting phenomenon. It is sustaining itself in the ember-state simply from the ambient mana, but it’s not burning mana, per say… It will likely take years for this amount to ‘burn off’.”
“All due respect,” grunts out Rikuto with tension in his voice. “But, I don’t have years worth of mana, so I would gladly accept assistance…” He winces, sinking to a kneel as if holding his hands out towards the orb is crushing down on him like heavy gravity, rather than just ‘holding their hands out really hard’, as it appears.
Gunther, who is around Rikuto’s age or a little younger, by all appearances, is also losing steam quickly, wearing what looks like a cobbled together pair of gauntlets with glowing diamonds rapidly losing their luster.
“How far ahead of us are they?” asks Serrentuk as he aims his staff at the light. He can’t actually see or judge distances right now, but he seems completely calm.
“About three me-, or, uh… Just over one and a half of your staff-lengths. Sorry, ‘meters’ doesn’t translate directly, it seems.”
“Understood. That’s plenty. Your Majesty, please release the orb when I say. Ready…”
Serrentuk holds his own hand out, focusing carefully. Contrary to what Zuzia has been wondering, Serrentuk’s cartoon-like pitch black ‘movable hole’ doesn’t actually have to be on a surface, though it is extremely disorienting to look at because of its unnatural appearance, especially at smaller sizes, where there are no noticeable effects denoting its magical nature. The elf states, “Release.”
Rikuto and Gunther both gasp as they back off quickly, and Gunther stumbles dangerously close to the crater’s edge, such that some of the ground starts to crumble away. A massive foreclaw sweeps in and catches him as a thud denotes a monstrous body hitting the ground nearby. Magnir is humongous as a living creature, and he only had to move a fraction of his own body length to be in ‘arm’s reach’ of the group, managing to block the young man before he can actually fall into the crater, which would be an uncontrollable tumble into a poison oven. Everyone is startled, though Serrentuk somehow maintains his focus, keeping Gate open long enough for the white orb to descend into it without apparent issue. The knights cry out, but Magnir gently shoves Gunter back onto solid ground, quickly retreating back as he says, “Apologies. There wasn’t time to warn anyone.”
Rikuto calls out, “S-Stand down! Everyone stand down…” He looks at the blue dragon, saying sincerely, “Thank you, Sir Magnir.”
“I’m glad I was able to reach him. Apologies, my Lord.”
Gunther is speechless trying to catch his breath, but he waves and nods.
Rikuto manages to stand up, wiping sweat from his brow. “Thanks. Were you searching for survivors?”
“Mana fires,” replies Zuzia. “If there are survivors this close to the rim, it’d be a miracle, but last I heard, everyone around the crater was accounted for thanks to Hekate.”
“Mind his Majesty’s rank,” warns one of the knights sternly.
Rikuto starts to counter him, but Zuzia replies, “‘His Majesty’ is the reason I got kidnapped to this world for the Grand Psycho. Forgive me if I’d rather not humor a fellow Earthling playing at isekai hero.”
Rikuto sighs. He already knows Daniel isn’t spared from the exact same description in her eyes, so he doesn’t take offense. She is right, after all.
“We came on Dame Roetta,” explains the Japanese man. “She took Vaergraes and a few others to investigate Sayrdarralouche.”
“That’s where we came from.” Zuzia looks back at Magnir.
“If she saw us, she likely continued onwards to another priority,” states Magnir. “Given the threat Sayrdarralouche posed, she likely maintained great altitude.”
“Is it possible…” starts Gunther before coughing. He points, even as he shields his mouth to continue coughing, and everyone looks.
There are three stars visible in the sky, but given the mushroom cloud’s cap is still thick and blocking out the sky, these ‘stars’ are far closer to the ground.
“Damn it…” grumbles Rikuto. “We only just started…”
“Leave the mana fire search to us,” states Serrentuk as clearly as he can without slurring his words. He is definitely feeling ‘heavier’ because his legs are softening, but he does still seem capable of remaining sober.
Zuzia scoffs in her own mind. Just like Grandpa.
“Your Majesty,” starts a male gatonine knight. “Grand Duchess Senior Aramellianna knows the protocol. I believe we should entrust the flare response to her, and if they’ll allow, accompany Lady Zuzia and Lord Serrentuk to ensure none of the embers remain. This is my humble recommendation, of course.”
Rikuto nods as he thinks.
“Give me a second,” states Zuzia. She quietly casts the simple summoning spell, and her cell phone materializes, just as she hoped. She goes into the phone app and hits redial on Daniel’s name; the most recent calls she has made.
After only one ring, a new voice answers. “Hello? Lady Zuzia?”
“Reina?” asks Zuzia. It obviously sounds nothing like her, but she should be the one standing by Daniel’s phone right now, and it is still a woman’s voice.
“Apologies, Lady Zuzia. My name is Syaphomuir. We met briefly when her Divine Grace Geirahoel was helping you dress for the mission.”
“One of the Keepers? What are you doing with Daniel’s phone? Is Reina nearby?”
“Their Divine Graces Geirahoel and Reignleif have gone to the Emperor’s side.”
“Em… Daniel’s at the Citadel now?” asks Zuzia, surprised. She noticed Rikuto was surprised the moment he saw her phone, and he’s listening to the speakerphone conversation with the others.
Syaphomuir replies, “Yes, my Lady. His Majesty arrived in a wounded state with her Greatness Hekate, Lady Baeka, and Queen Heralesse.”
“Are they nearby?” asks Rikuto. “We need to know if anyone has any idea who fired off some flares recently.”
“I-I can ask. But…”
“Anyone who can use telepathy would be fine,” counters Zuzia. “I want to know if Dame Roetta made her way towards the flares. If so, we can concentrate on our mission.”
“One moment, my Lady…” There’s a pause, and a short while later, a new voice comes across.
“This is Illianna, loyal servant to her Grace Vaergraes. You wish to know Dame Roetta’s status, yes?”
Zuzia looks at Magnir, and the dragon nods once. It seems Illianna is someone they can vouch for.
“Yes, Lady Illianna, if you can contact her, it would be greatly appreciated. There are emergency flares active, but right now, we’re too close to the crater to use magic effectively, and Serrentuk is likely the only one who can, but we need his mana for any residual mana fires, which we’ve just addressed one.”
“Understood, my Lady. One moment.”
There’s a pause, and Rikuto asks, “Your… phone works here?”
Zuzia nods. “Don’t even think about stealing it. If you have yours, I’ll ask Amalaskae to add you to our little network, but…”
Rikuto shakes his head. “I wish I had mine. I had no idea the Goddesses could do that.”
Zuzia doesn’t mind the others calling Ryukana and Amalaskae goddesses. She understands why, and she can coexist with people who believe differently than her. She’s now friends with elves, dragons, a little fox-eared kemonomimi girl, a wolf-man, and several cat-people, after all.
Illianna’s voice comes back, saying, “Roetta is indeed headed for the flares. She was high above when she saw Sir Magnir flying towards the mana fire, and that Sayrdarralouche was no longer on the field. She apologizes that she couldn’t inform you directly, but she and her team believed the flares could mean an emergency, since they are Fievegal-issue Signal Twelves, not magic.”
“Thank you, my Lady,” replies Zuzia.
Magnir adds over her shoulder, essentially, “Thank you, Lady Illianna. We’ll keep sweeping the crater to make sure his Grace’s decision wasn’t in vain.”
“Understood. The Empresses that are with Daniel are waiting on Doephluev to produce a decoction to ease his pain so he can talk. If you are alright with it, I will continue to monitor Daniel’s art-, or, um… ‘Phone’, is it? Syaphomuir, who was entrusted with the phone by her Grace Reignleif, will be with me as well.”
“Got it. Thank you. We’ll make regular contact.”
“Much appreciated. Illianna,... over.”
Zuzia scoffs, but replies, “Grand Odkrywca, over and out.” She hangs up, knowing what the elegant-sounding woman was going for, since Daniel has magic-powered radios and decided to implement basic ‘hey you, it’s me’ and ‘over’ protocols. She then turns to Magnir as she unsummons the handy little device, noticing in her peripherals that Rikuto watched as she did so. “Sir Magnir, how many people do you think you can comfortably carry in your current condition?”
“I can safely handle a few with no issues,” replies the dragon. “The rest of your knights…”
“Can you handle four of us, Sir?” asks Rikuto sincerely.
“Yes,” replies Magnir with a bob of his head. “Though, be mindful, I will not be able to rescue very many people if we are knocked from the sky.”
“Thank you, and I understand. Loxourren, Chebnom, Gunther, if none of you object, I want you to accompany me. The rest of you, fall back away from the crater to be as safe as possible, and signal the riders to pick you up.”
“Your Majesty… I must recommend against…” starts the knight that confronted Zuzia and Serrentuk when they landed.
“My decision is final. We can’t waste time, and their mission is the same as mine right now.” He looks at Zuzia and Serrentuk, saying, “With small portions, I can somewhat contain it alone, and Gunther managed to build those gauntlets to supplement his own mana while he works.”
“It’s still quite draining…” replies the young lord. “I may be dead weight to you at this rate, your Majesty.” He holds up the gauntlets, and the crystals have already lost their glow.
More importantly, his hands are a deep blue color, as far as Zuzia can tell from the torches and magic lanterns being held by some of the soldiers around them. He seems like he can’t move his fingers at all, either.
Rikuto is shocked, and he starts to speak more than once, but hesitates. He finally replies, “Gunther… I didn’t know.”
“Neither did I, your Majesty. With your permission… I’d like to retreat with the main group and try to get healing magic as quickly as possible.”
Zuzia doesn’t know anything about Gunther. He seems like someone who has lived a very privileged life, but also, has had a major dose of reality recently.
“Are you in pain?” asks the young King.
“No… That’s what worries me, your Majesty. I thought this would work, but…”
Magnir states, “Handling direct transfers of mana from crystals is… risky. It can be done, but… I can make an awful suggestion that… will ensure your lordship’s recovery.”
Gunther’s expression goes noticeably pale, and Rikuto asks cautiously, “What… suggestion?”
“I’ll start by saying I have potations, but, direct mana overload like that… If not treated swiftly, can take months or years to heal… if at all. I… would recommend amputation and immediate healing, which the potations can handle.”
“What!?” screams Gunther, retreating away from the dragon who, moments earlier, saved his life.
Serrentuk asks, “Are his hands a dark blue-black color?”
“Yes,” replies Zuzia softly. freewebnovёl.ƈom
“Sir Magnir speaks the truth, then, boy. While brave, you surged more mana through your hands than they can handle, and you ‘scorched’ your nerves, so to speak. The fastest way to recover, and the most time-limited… is as our draconic friend recommended.”
“N-No! No, you can’t! I… I’ll be alright. I’ll join up with the healers! This… You’re lying!”
“We won’t force you,” states Zuzia bluntly. She starts towards Magnir, saying, “Rikuto is right. We don’t have the time to coddle you or convince you. You have a dragon and an ancient elven sage willing to help you while our paths have crossed, but your life is yours to live.” She and Serrentuk step onto Magnir’s palm, and she turns to add, “I’d do it, though. I’ve seen these things work quite well. The people of my world would kill for a magic drink that could let you simply chop and fix any problem in a few minutes. Anyways, Rikuto, you should join us quickly if you’re coming with us. Otherwise, we’re going.”
Rikuto hesitantly calls out, “H-Hang on a moment, please!” He is caught between knowing of the option to help Gunther, who risked his own health and safety to help fight the mana fire, and he says sternly, “Gunther. She’s right. This… I thank you for your help, but you should address the issue swiftly… while we can.”
“You’re talking about chopping my arms off!” screams the young man. “I… I need my arms!”
Rikuto clenches his fists for a moment, like he’s torn between something. He seems about ready to order Gunther to be dragged to Magnir, but he also doesn’t want to.
“Rikuto, let’s go. Let him be paralyzed if he wants. Why would a precious lord of the east want to take the advice of an ancient and wise dragon?” The brunette adds with an icy tone, “One who has experienced death once already.”
Rikuto twitches and looks at Zuzia, who just spoke so coldly.
However, the horror spreading across Gunther’s face seems to be what she was after.
If he is to recover, it may be sooner than expected.
***
