Aftermath

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When Ahsch came to, he found his head cradled on Kirasiel’s soft thighs, with Mahat in her beast form, her head resting on his chest. Minor pain still coursed through every fiber of Ahsch’s body, including places he didn’t even know he had. Glancing around, he caught sight of Aena standing guard, the angel looking back and waiting momentarily for any orders before resuming her watch.

Seeing his eyes open, Mahat perked up, panting excitedly, while Kirasiel shifted. “You’re awake!” the royal exclaimed, her voice thick with emotion.

The vague sensation of Mahat rifling around in his memories stood out, even with the pain. What did she do to you? the familiar wondered.

Ahsch swallowed, then winced. “She said something about advancing my soul,’” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

“What?” Ahsch looked up at Kirasiel and saw her confusion, then belatedly realized that Mahat had only spoken in his head, not through Daydreamweave.

“Phashak,” he elaborated. “She gave me a ‘gift.’ Said she was going to advance my soul, whatever that means.” He grunted a laugh, then winced in regret. “Pain, apparently.”

The royal frowned in thought, and Ahsch, somewhat bleary from the pain, was momentarily distracted by the way a lock of her blonde hair had fallen in front of her face. “I haven’t heard of anything like that before,” Kirasiel said after a moment. “Maybe Rwnil knows?”

Ahsch just grunted, then focused on himself and used his diagnostic spell to check for any real damage. Nothing. Whatever this pain is, it’s more fundamental than bruising or inflammation.

Given she was messing around with your soul, it may not even technically be physical or physiological at all, Mahat suggested. Soul magic is… known of, as far as I’m aware, but poorly-understood.

Ahsch tried a couple standard healing spells, but frowned when they did fuck-all to alleviate the pain. As a last effort, he tried Accelerated Stitch, not expecting much, and was startled when the pain started to fade. Seeing his expression, Kirasiel frowned in concern as well. “What is it?”

“Normal healing magic isn’t helping with my pain, but my own spell, Accelerated Stitch is.”

“How is Accelerated Stitch formatted?” the royal asked. “How does it function?”

Ahsch briefly explained how it was a more specific and small-scale Etropic Revelation, aimed at accelerating the natural healing process with magic. He also added in Mahat’s theory about the pain not originating in his body, but his soul.

“If that’s the case… maybe you’re not so much ‘healing’ any damage, but… adapting to the change? Think of it like a workout where you get aches and pains after you’ve pushed yourself, but your body… well, it adapts to the stress you put it under and becomes stronger.”

He had to admit, it wasn’t a bad theory. But not one they could prove at that moment, nor one that would be particularly helpful. “Whatever the reason, the pain is fading, so we should see about getting back to Sarvas.” He slowly sat up, pushing through the last vestiges of pain, and looked around. “How long was I out?”

Only about ten minutes, Mahat informed him, looping Kirasiel in on the Daydreamweave. Then, with a flick of her ear, she sent out a longer-range message. He’s okay. We’re heading back now.

Several moments passed before the reply arrived. Glad to hear; keep us informed! Ariin had sent.

Ahsch shook his head. They’d rapidly learned that Daydreamweave’s cost and transmission time increased exponentially outside of a certain range - a range that hadn’t been tested before, as Ahsch had either been in the Capital or the nearby Temple. The end of The Canyon was much further from Sarvas than R’sath was from Enochiel’s Temple, seeing as the latter was only about an hour’s walk, whereas it took the majority of a day to make a round trip to The Canyon and back. Communicating with those left in R’sath with any efficiency was all but impossible with Daydreamweave, at least in its current form.

“Let’s get back,” Ahsch said as he got to his feet. “The sooner we’re back, the sooner we can figure out what the hell happened… and what we’re doing next.”

Kirasiel fidgeted. “Did… do you want me to…” she started, but halted when Ahsch held up a hand.

“We can all share our experiences in there once we’re back home,” he said. “No point repeating the stories more than we have to, and I know we’ll be doing it at least twice, by the time we get back to R’sath.”

The royal nodded, and the four headed back the way they came, the temple slowly growing smaller behind them until it vanished from sight.

Back in Sarvas, Ahsch’s companions - including Ivrine, Xitia, and Felori - and his family that were in the know all convened for a meeting. Looking between the three that had accompanied him to visit Phashak, he settled on Aena. “Did anything happen during your encounter with Phashak that you feel everyone ought to know?”

The angel hesitated for a moment before mechanically shaking her head. “No, Creator,” she said. “I believe only you, Mistress Ariin, and possibly Lady Celes need to hear about what occurred.”

Ahsch nodded, then looked at Mahat, who was now in her monster form. The familiar shrugged. “Same deal,” she said simply.

Another nod, and Ahsch’s gaze landed on Kirasiel. The royal shuffled nervously, and ended up staring at the table as she shared. “The short of it is that she… taunted me some at first. I think she was trying to goad me into acting like my old self, but I didn’t. She commended me on my… ‘growth,’ and on my… my…” she flushed deeply. “My devotion to Master,” she said, gaze flicking up to Ahsch before retreating instantly to the table again. “And… that was it.”

Ahsch nodded again, and everyone’s attention came to rest on him. With a deep breath, he recounted his conversation with the goddess, and while he tried to look around the table, he found his gaze regularly coming to rest on Rwnil. He finished his story by explaining the pain he had awoken with, and how Accelerated Stitch had been the only spell to work, and included Mahat’s theory about why that was. Once he was done, he looked directly at his mentor. “So,” he said. “I guess it’s your turn to talk now, since I want to know anything you know about what Phashak did to me, and she didn’t give me anything to go off of about those locations that she…” he trailed off as he detected something with his bond sense, then sighed and shook his head, cradling his forehead in his hand. “Figures,” he muttered, heading for the door.

“Where are you going?” Dahil called after him.