Page 26 of Amethyst and Iron
Hard.
He hurtled toward me.
We collided, crashing through the tear.
Bright white light filled my vision.
And then all consciousness slipped away.
5
~Cassius~
It was there.
It was still there.
I ran my fingers back and forth over the two intersecting lines on my chest.
The Soul Brand had been mended.
I found myself constantly checking it ever since it had re-formed shortly after Lazriel had heard her heart beating again with Sylas beside her at that point.
Velra was alive.
Sylas had died to ensure it.
He’d been casting the dangerous and worryingly dark spell,Auctoritas Mortis,and I had witnessed it working. Even in spite of Kai Hunter drawing on both his and Cornelius Martel’s magic to override it, wherein we’d then been planning to place Velra in stasis until we’d found another way to return her to life.
However, Sylas had then abruptly altered tactics and abandoned the spell.
As he’d shredded his wrists, I’d stood beside a screaming and howling Lazriel whom I’d needed to restrain from smashing himself into the dome and thereby worsening the situationand endangering both Kai and Cornelius. Because I’d been so depleted at the time, I’d required the assistance of Warlow Boyd in order to successfully hold Lazriel at bay.
Sylas had bled out horrifically quickly and ended his life in order to access the Valley of the Dead to extract Velra personally.
Fortunately, through the tear in the fabric of the Veil that Sylas had previously created whenAuctoritas Mortishad been in motion, Kai had been able to reach in through it without causing any additional damage than Sylas already had to the sanctity of the plane, and subsequently pull Sylas out alongside Velra.
We now knew exactly why Sylas had shifted tactics so abruptly.
He had been deteriorating significantly as he’d been casting the spell—desiccating terrifyingly. He’d run out of time, unable to hold the spell, and if he’d let go without following through with another action immediately, we would have lost our hold on Velra.
Although they’d both been extracted and even Sylas was now breathing again thanks to blood from Lazriel and magical shocks from Cornelius, damage had been done during the entire process.
And now, there they were, within Aetheric Wing, a specialized infirmary inside the Guardian Compound, both of them unconscious in Restoration Chambers.
The vaulted area was surrounded by white stone walls, the ceiling shimmering with intersecting magical streams belonging to both the power imbued in the Compound itself and the energy radiating from the Healers who worked within the Wing. It created a kaleidoscope of colors and the effect of the ceiling shifting perpetually.
The Restoration Chambers to the right of the facility were horizontal cylindrical vessels of carved stone and reinforcedglass that hovered off the ground, each one humming. Holographic charts levitated above each, detailing the patients’ medical state and the treatment being delivered.
Velra was situated within the one closest to the door. Her whole body was visible through the glass, which had been giving me a great sense of relief over the last two hours that I had been standing here trying to calm myself after what had transpired earlier. She was covered in a silky white sheet from her chest down to her thighs and a fluffy pillow cradled her head and beautiful ombre hair.
Sylas was beside her in the next vessel. He didn’t have a sheet over him, only a pair of white boxers because a close and constant eye needed to be kept on the desiccation still ravaging his body.
It had become clear all too quickly after he’d been brought back to life, that even with an injection of his serum which Lazriel had found in his coat pocket, the desiccation was now returning moments later, instead of a day later without another dose.
So Lazriel had gone with Kai to Sylas’ home to bring all the serum he had on hand—three hundred vials—and it was being administered constantly, seeping into his veins from tubing all over him.
This ordeal had significantly worsened his sickness.
