32. Aerolus

Tired and sick of fighting these cretins when I needed to find Alandra, I focused on the well deep within myself for ancient power.

Winds and lightning raged, pouring from my eyes and mouth. Torrents of static flew from my fingertips, riding the same air that threw my enemy into a great vortex of wind so vicious that nothing survived its path.

A sudden explosion from the south warned of danger. Ignoring the myriad cuts and blows I'd received from battling an enemy that clearly outnumbered me, I rushed through the same winds that crushed my opponents, only to see Alandra and another woman shuttling through the air away from each other.

Alandra landed with a solid crash, jarring her slight form into a moan but not sending her unconscious. The other woman fared poorly. She hit a massive tree at an odd angle, and I heard her body snap in half. As she fell to the ground, she decayed into a mass of crumbling flesh and bone.

Not wasting any time, I rushed to Alandra as her eyes closed.

I called her name, stroked her head, and cradled her to my chest. She didn't respond. Worried, I tried to see her aura but couldn't feel her power. Then it slowly faded from within me.

I blinked at a sudden dizziness, aware I'd taken more damage and expended more energy than I'd thought. I realized we were both in terrible shape.

I couldn't save her like this.

Darkness clawed at me, breaking my inner Light me into small, useless pieces. My head throbbed, and I kept seeing spots I had to blink away to maintain focus.

Yet I was awake and moving. My affai was not.

Studying the face more precious to me than life itself, I noted her perfect face had been bruised. Her lips bled, and one cheek looked swollen while the other turned a shade of purple. She had been struck, battered, and even now lay perilously close to death.

I ignored the thought that I might have found her too late.

Knowing of only one thing that might cure my affai, I used every reserve of energy I possessed and teleported us into Tanselm, into the shadow of Morn Mountain.

Finally at my end, I laid her down as gently as I could before I toppled next to her.

I reached out and clutched her hand, willing her to recover even as my soul struggled to separate from my body and seek the Next.