Chapter 168: Chapter 237 – The Miracle of Passion

The five guards leading the girls stopped for a brief moment and discussed something amongst themselves. After coming to some agreement, three women split from the group and walked off in a different direction, leaving just two escorts with them. It was quite possible that the trio had decided to return to their stations now that Bryn and the others were more or less welcome inside their settlement. It didn’t look like they would be left completely unsupervised, though.

Finishing their short break, the remaining two resumed the walk in complete silence. They led the girls through various open segments of the underground colony, passing many valkyrjas on their way. Their quite unusual looks, or even the mere presence of someone the residents didn’t know, attracted lots of attention and curiosity. And fear too.

Some of the more frightful women escaped from the sight if they could. That mostly happened when the girls were moving through a section of what resembled primitive houses carved out of stone, mostly in the walls, just like pretty much everything in this dark place. They couldn’t spot a trace of wood anywhere, which wasn’t that shocking considering the fact that this place was located deep inside a huge mountain.

Soon, their two escorts guided them through another narrow passage and they walked into a flat, wide chamber with many slabs of stone which clearly were meant to imitate beds. To cushion the hard surface, they were covered with a layer of feathers. Those seemed to be one of the most common materials used in literally everything in the colony.

One of the valkyrjas leading them pointed with her old spear at a corner. Following it with their gazes, the girls quickly spotted a slightly different group of winged women sitting between two rock beds. They exchanged glances and hastily jogged up to the five individuals.

“Oh. You aren’t from here,” one of the ladies lying on the beds pointed out after noticing their approach.

Bryn stopped in front of the missing party with the others behind her. “No, we aren’t. And so aren’t you, correct?”

She ran her gaze over the five women. Two of them lay on the makeshift beds while the other three sat in between the slabs of stone, turned to either of their companions. They all wore slightly dirtied and damaged outfits of white and gold. The pieces of their armor and gear rested on the ground past the nonexistent headboards. As for their weapons, they were nowhere in sight.

“What gave it away?” The same woman chuckled quietly.

“A few things.” A warm smile showed up on Bryn’s lips. “I’m glad to see you all alive. I almost lost all hope after finding lots of blood and your lost communicator. We’ve been sent by Odin to find and bring your back.”

“Oh, thank gods! It was us who lost all hope!” Another valkyrja laughed openly and stood up. “My name is Vaja. I’m the captain of this squad. We thought it was the end of us when I dropped my satchel as those guards yanked us inside amidst an entire swarm. They didn’t let us pick it up even though it was right in front of the gate.”

“Fortunately, our friend was able to find it.” Miria beamed at her with a toothy grin. “And Master noticed the gate. We would have most likely gone past it if he hadn’t. It didn’t look like they were intending to open it again even with the cave being empty.”

“I can’t believe our luck.” Vaja shook her head with a wry smile. “Well, as for being alive… We might have gotten out of it somehow… But…”

She glanced down at the other woman on the bed who hadn’t spoken yet and Bryn’s face fell. While the rest of the party looked more or less fine, that one valkyrja had a much worse complexion. With her eyes closed and her forehead strained, she kept breathing quickly with plenty of sweat covering her skin. And what was the worst, her left leg was gone, clearly amputated right above the knee.

“The big puddle of blood you stumbled on must be where we decided to cut it off,” Vaja continued with a sad tone. “The wound ran deep and the poison was spreading quickly. It was our only chance. She is our healer so there was not much we could have done at that time as this high fever and shivers started very fast, sapping her energy quickly. She only managed to gradually stop the bleeding with whatever strength she had left.”

“I got grazed too but the herbalists from here fed me lots of mushrooms and applied a weird paste to my wound so I’m hanging pretty alright there,” the woman on the other bed added. “They saved her with their medicine too, but according to them, it’s only prolonging the inevitable. We hoped that she would at least recover enough to use her magic but…”

“She’s in no state to focus on any spells…” Tina finished for her meekly and the four ladies hung their heads low.

“And now we are all stuck here.” Vaja sighed deeply. “It’s great that you found our communicator, or brought yours, but even if we contact the ARK now, it will be too late before bigger reinforcements come. These valkyrjas won’t let anyone out so the only way would be to break in. Trust me. We’ve tried convincing them countless times.”

“That won’t be an issue. We have our own way out,” Silvia revealed.

“You do?” A familiar voice reached their ears and they all turned toward the source.

“Queen.” The two sentries standing a bit to the side quickly jogged closer and bowed, as surprised as the girls to see their leader there. “How can we be of service?”

“Return to your duties. I’ll assign someone else to watch over them,” the woman replied calmly.

The sentries bowed again and scurried away. She escorted them with her gaze and turned to the two groups in front of her.

“Don’t even think that you can stop us.” Miria glared at her while releasing low growls.

“I’m not planning to,” the Queen replied, staring right back at her.

“Let’s talk about it later. First, we have patients to treat.” Bryn turned back to the women on the beds.

“What can you do?” Vaja asked as she moved closer to the less injured person.

“She is one of the best healers I’ve ever met,” Silvia answered instead. “Just let her work and your friend’s fate might not yet be sealed.”

The other members of the party who had remained on the floor moved aside to give Bryn more space. She quickly put her hands on the injured woman’s chest and traced a few golden sigils over her skin. Pressing her palm over them, she closed her eyes and focused deeply. After a minute, she turned around to do the same to the woman without a leg.

“How is it?” Vaja took a reserved peek at Bryn’s face as she opened her eyes.

“Your other subordinate can recover in a flash but…” Bryn’s lips tensed into a strained line while gazing at the unconscious valkyrja. “There’s too much poison in her veins and organs. She lost way too much blood too, which weakened her body greatly. It’s a miracle she’s held out for so long. Alone, I might be unable to save her.”

Silence fell onto them as everyone stared at either her or the poor woman.

The captain sighed gloomily. “There’s nothing we can do. I’m grateful we could save at least one person.”

“No.” Bryn stood up straight. “I need Master.”

“It might cause a huge commotion if anyone sees Ast here.” Tina smiled wryly.

“Then let’s make sure that they don’t.” Selene smirked and brought five of her tails out.

She completed a set of hand signs and stepped back. Slapping her palms together, the fox lady closed her eyes and gathered mana in her hands. Collecting enough, she pulled them apart and a small sphere of a cyan shade appeared between them. The more she increased the gap, the bigger it grew, soon passing through everyone and surrounding them with a spiritual dome. Finishing her technique, she snapped her fingers and the barrier turned opaque.

Bryn summoned a small orb of light, dimming it enough not to blind anyone, and the complete darkness disappeared. The Queen hissed in pain at the bright golden glow, covering her eyes with her thin hands. No one else seemed to be affected by it even if they looked straight at the source.

A dark crimson gate rose from the ground and Asterios walked out of it, making the Queen jump. She hit the barrier’s edge with her back, instinctively trying to put more distance between them. He regarded her with a single glance before stepping closer to the stone beds.

“Bryn.” Asterios nodded at his Valkyrie friend, signaling that he was ready to help however he could.

“I would like to borrow your mana, Master.” She regarded him with a determined and partially pleading expression.

“As much as you need.” He smiled kindly and moved to stand on the other side of the bedridden valkyrja.

Bryn took a deep breath and placed both hands on the woman’s skin, trying to deepen her connection with Asterios as much as she could. Thanks to him being close, she could reach for much more of his scorching hot energy than when he had been away, and it flowed into her much easier, without so much of it getting lost in the air.

She recalled what she knew about treating people deeply poisoned by Scourge blood and considerably weakened. It was impossible to cure everything at once with a simple spell, even with Ast’s potent mana. At least not with the current level of their familiarity. Therefore, she quickly picked the appropriate techniques and started the treatment.

First, to avoid causing the woman to bleed out from the rejuvenating properties of some of the spells, she had to begin with the missing leg. Moving both palms as close to the sliced edge of the valkyrja’s thigh, she filled them with spiritual energy and furrowed her brows from the effort.

Swirly, golden marks showed up over her skin, running up her entire arms, collarbone, and even crawling around her neck, reaching as far as over her cheeks and forehead. They shimmered faintly, emitting a gentle, bright, spiritual mist. As Bryn focused on her spell, they pulsed regularly in the motion of a wave rolling from the top to the bottom, where her palms were.

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The injured stump started shining too and everyone watched how the light unhurriedly expanded from it bit by bit. It happened at a snail’s pace but the progress was apparent. Even though no one knew the exact spell she used, they were sure that the poor valkyrja’s leg was slowly growing back.

Then, Asterios placed his hands over Bryn’s and focused too. Her marks glowed much more intensely, including the shaped light developing in place of the woman’s missing limb. Thanks to Ast’s draconic mana partially mixing together with Bryn’s through the touch, the pace of recovery increased significantly. In just about fifteen seconds, everyone else could see the cast of light take the full shape of a proper leg.

The radiant glow began dispersing into tiny motes of golden energy as it gently uncovered the woman’s new leg, disappearing after revealing the tips of her toes. The girls gasped in awe at the incredible sight and shared joyful smiles. Meanwhile, the injured valkyrja’s friends and the Queen were frozen in shock.

Bryn sighed softly and Asterios withdrew his hands, allowing her to do the same without troubling him. She opened her eyes, examined their work, and showed a dazzling smile at him, to which he obviously responded with the same.

“Let’s quickly take care of the poison before it spreads to the new limb,” she suggested and he nodded.

Flicking her wrist, she summoned her staff into her hand and held it on the side, announcing just how difficult the spell she had in mind was. The big circle atop it began to glow as she chanted under her breath, holding her other palm extended forward and facing up. Little wisps of spiritual energy floated out of the cross inside the glowing ring and gathered into a swirly cube above her fingers.

It took over two minutes for Bryn to finish her preparations and the last serpents to reach the tiny block floating over her palm. She glanced to the side and held her weapon away. Miria hastily trotted closer and took it from her, making a cute nod before rejoining the others.

Bryn surrounded the pretty, spinning cube with both hands and carefully lowered it onto the poisoned valkyrja’s chest. Making sure that she was doing everything correctly, she aimed for the spot just above the woman’s heart. Taking the last, reassuring breath, she lowered it further, pushing it inside the patient’s body. The cube’s spiritual light slightly illuminated the flesh surrounding it, showing the outline of the woman’s beating heart to Bryn and Asterios.

Not wasting any more time, she gathered everything she had and started the treatment. Asterios immediately lent her his hands once more, sharing with her as much mana as he could that way. Everyone else watched how with every single beat of the unconscious valkyrja’s heart, a golden pulse traveled through her veins. At first, it didn’t reach far, but it was slowly pushing farther and farther with each throb.

A minute passed, then three, then five, and finally ten. The pulses of light still hadn’t reached even halfway through the woman’s entire body. Bryn’s forehead was furrowed deeply as she focused to her utmost limits all the time. Occasional beads of sweat decorated her soft skin.

“There’s so much of it…” She sighed heavily without moving her head. “It’s fighting back and slowing us down but I can’t go any faster… It could be dangerous… Her heart and veins could be damaged… But, I can only raise the strength of the flow to combat it… Unless…”

Slowly opening her eyes not to break focus, she raised her face and glanced ahead. Asterios was staring right back at her, still keeping his palms resting on top of her hands, transferring as much of his energy as he could. He examined her expression curiously.

Bryn’s eyes roamed over his face for a few seconds before they skipped briefly to his lips. A subtle, rosy flush spread over her elegant cheeks as she gently swallowed her saliva. Asterios noticed a bit of hesitation in Bryn’s gaze, but when she started carefully leaning forward, he understood her intentions perfectly well and mirrored the action.

As time seemed to slow down for her, they soon met in the very middle and paused for a split second. She then crossed the remaining distance and joined their lips in a delicate kiss. Taking a deep breath through her nose, Bryn closed her eyes and let the pleasant, fluffy sensation overcome her alongside the warm, sweet heat that flowed straight into her circuits many times more potent than before.

While they were lightly grazing their lips together, the spiritual cube inserted into their patient’s heart shone brightly, glowing stronger and stronger as the golden pulses traveled through her veins a little bit further than before. Then, it suddenly flashed pink and a small spiritual wave passed through everyone. 

The pulses of rosy light pushed to the very ends of the woman’s body in just a few beats. Their pace rose too but it didn’t look like it put a strain on her blood vessels. Everyone stared at the fascinating spectacle in amazement when another small spiritual wave burst out of her heart and the valkyrja’s entire figure was set aflame with ethereal, pink fire. It burned while emitting dark and gray fumes which dissipated away instead of accumulating, soon turning completely white before completely disappearing.

When Bryn finally broke their gentle kiss, lazily drawing her face back with a fervent blush, the flames gradually died down, sinking into the woman’s body. The pink glow returned to its initial, golden radiance as the pulses kept traveling to the far ends of her veins without anything to obstruct their path anymore.

Tearing away her gaze from Ast’s gleaming, crimson eyes, Bryn glanced down at the valkyrja, whose breathing had already calmed down, and she sent a spiritual probe through her body. Finding nothing wrong, she sighed heavily and raised her gaze again.

“I… should treat the other patient.” She smiled shyly and Asterios nodded at her kindly.

Taking one last peek at his lips, she withdrew the cube of light from the healed valkyrja and turned around to take care of the woman in a less critical condition. Asterios was sure that she would be able to remove the poison alone without an issue, especially now, so he straightened up too, and turned to the others. As expected, Miria, Selene, and Tina had big smiles on their sunny faces and he chuckled wryly.

“Call for me whenever you need anything.” He winked at the girls and nodded politely at the Queen before dark shadows enveloped his body and plunged into the floor.

Shortly after Asterios disappeared, Selene removed her barrier and the opaque dome dissipated, spooking a few healers who had gathered around it to investigate the weird structure. Seeing their Queen inside, they hastily bowed and scurried away. 

“Now, we should give the other patient some time to rest and everything should be fine,” Bryn said, finishing treating the more healthy member of the scouting party. “Is anyone else hurt, injured, or anything?”

“No, the rest of us are good.” Vaja shook her head and stepped closer to her, pulling Bryn into a gentle hug. “Thank you for saving Eydi’s life. She wouldn’t have made it without your help.”

“I only did what I could, just as you said. And it was my master who made it possible.” Bryn smiled at her warmly, still a little rosy on her cheeks. “We should be good to return tomorrow if you wish. With his help too.”

“If our captors have nothing to say about it, that is.” Selene turned to the Queen.

“Please, forgive my advisors and the sentries. Everyone is so tense because the risk is so great. You should be able to understand that after encountering these monsters. Saying that, I do not wish to have any qualms with you. On the contrary, I came here to discuss what both of your groups have shared with us,” the woman replied calmly.

“Does that mean that you believe us?” Miria asked with a suspicious squint.

“Our people lost hope generations ago. Many are in denial regarding any news about the surface since the individuals that have stepped outside our sanctum can be counted on one hand, not to mention anyone visiting the outside world past the tunnels. Most of both never return. But, when two separate groups of strangers show up at your doorstep and claim the same thing, one can’t help but give into the temptation to dream again.” A sad smile painted the Queen’s lips.

“How do you survive without going out? Or without water? I assume all you eat are the mushrooms we have seen but is that really all?” Tina glanced at her with sympathy.

“Our ancestors excavated a tunnel leading to a clean, underground stream. It serves as a duct and transfers some of it to our small reservoir,” the woman explained. “As for food, you are correct. We are limited to what we can grow in these caverns. Thankfully, during the initial expansion and construction of this place right after the Cataclysm, our ancestors stumbled on a vein of crystals whose glow substitutes the sun to some extent. You can see them everywhere, especially on our farms.”

“It doesn’t look to be as good for your bodies, though,” Silvia commented.

“We don’t have a choice. Not since the moment our people, who were the workers in these mines, have been forced to hide in them when the end of the world struck. The majority lost their lives before the real masters of craft decided to bring their best equipment and burrow deep to create a temporary shelter, melting rocks together to form and enchant the gates. Unfortunately, as they were expecting, that temporary shelter turned out to be their permanent home.”

“Well, now you might have one. Right, Bryn?” Miria glanced at their winged friend with an adorable smile.

“She is right. We obviously can’t force you into anything, but we won’t just leave you behind if you are willing to accept our help.” Bryn nodded.

“I would love to try. I really would. But… I’m afraid that my people will never set foot outside of the gates out of their own volition.” The Queen sighed heavily. “They are too afraid, too scared, too frightened of the Scourge. I honestly am too. But I’ve always been taught what it means to be the Queen and it’s my responsibility to make sure that I take any chance to make their lives better. I’ve been doing my best since the moment I abandoned my name and succeeded my predecessor.”

“I knew it felt a little weird to be just a title,” Miria whispered under her nose.

“Then we have the perfect solution for you.” Selene chuckled softly, capturing the attention of the Queen. “One of our master’s familiars can transport people from place to place through the shadows. No one has to leave the safety of your shelter to be transported. We can move everyone right to the flying city, one by one.”

“If they can bear it,” Tina chimed in. “But, even if some people wouldn’t be comfortable within the darkness, I’m sure it would be unimaginably easier to convince them to leave through a more traditional means with their friends bearing witness to the truth.”

“Is that true?” Vaja asked.

Bryn turned to her. “You saw it just a moment ago. We were planning to bring you through that ability if we didn’t receive permission to leave, transferring you straight back to Odin as soon as you recovered. It should take no longer than a few minutes.”

The other members of the party exchanged relieved smiles, except for the unconscious healer, of course. As they started happily chatting amongst themselves, the girls turned to the Queen, who stood there with a pensive, thoughtful look on her face. Noticing their gazes, she looked up from the floor and set her calm eyes right on them.

“I would like to personally see the truth if you would be so kind as to grant me this favor.”

 

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