Look, Elden. Look inside. It’s Lia’s final gift to you.A primal force entered my head and directed my attention to the energy in Lia’s core. I looked on in awe as I found her vast ocean of amber energy still intact, though its lustrous glow was gone and the edges were tinged with the familiar black energy of the void.
No, that’s not right, I thought weakly. She isn’t like me. There isn’t any darkness in her.
Elden, you’re not looking closely enough,Amaya explained patiently. Look. Watch. Understand.My focus was pulled closer to the boundary where the light and darkness met. The border between the energies roiled and shifted as the void consumed her golden light and advanced inwards towards her core.
Stop, I pleaded. Stop, please. Don’t do that. Don’t taint her like that. I watched helplessly as the darkness advanced, uncaring. “Stop,” I cried out, “please. No more. I can’t...just leave her to me…I can’t.”
I’m not doing anything, Elden. This is what death truly means.As she spoke, the word “death” thundered through my mind, echoing in the empty expanse Lia’s consciousness had left behind.Death holds power, just like life; they’re two sides of the same coin. What you call “mana” is the power inherent to life. You should know that by now. Every living thing has it and has the aptitude to control it. But death…
The void energy continued to ravage the amber ocean of Lia’s mana, increasing in speed as it devoured its way in towards her deeper reserves. What did you think happened to the mana of the men you killed? A new kind of pain split my head as my memories were scoured, and I was forced to remember every man I had killed since arriving in Kaldan in vivid detail. You’ve known it all along, regardless of whether you’ve accepted it. Just as life turns to death, life energy turns to death energy. And you, Elden, have the power to control it. In a hundred trillion lifetimes, there’s never been anybody else like you.
A faint tendril of void energy ran from the edge of Lia’s mana reserves to my fingertips and fueled the dark flames that continued to spread outward from my body into the forest. Do you understand now? Do you see what you have to do?
I stared into Lia’s lifeless eyes, unable to turn away from the scene as it etched itself into my mind forever. Her face had drained to a sickly gray pallor, which only further accentuated the streaks of blood that dripped out from her nose and mouth. No.
Look at the source of energy you’ve created. All of your training, all of your meditation, all of the time you spent to ensure she would be ready for anything: it all led to this. Her mana is changing into the most potent source of power the world has ever seen, and when her death is complete, you’ll be here to take it from her. It’s Lia’s last gift to you.
When her death is...complete?
Yes,Amaya encouraged me, when her death is complete, you’ll have more energy than you could ever use. You just have to take it. Virram’s face suddenly appeared unbidden behind my eyes. Take it and use it to punish the people who have wronged you. Take it and fulfill your purpose in this world.
I consciously tugged at the deathly energy swirling ever thicker around the edges of Lia’s mana, and the flames that engulfed my body exploded upward into a pillar of scorching light. When her death is complete. I focused on the advancing edge of darkness that continued to push its way down into the deepest reaches of her dull amber energy. The black power twined up my arms and fueled my burning emptiness with an intoxicating sweetness that drew me further into its depths.
Yes, just like that, Elden. Drink deep. Take as much as you can bear to hold, and make the people who did this to you suffer.
In a forgotten corner of my mind, I felt my body screaming in pain as my skin blistered and cracked, barely held together by a steady stream of unconscious healing magic. Despite the raging flames that crackled around my body and blotted out the sky above, Lia’s body remained unaffected by the conflagration, perfectly parting the fire that should have leapt from my arms and engulfed her; the blinding light of the inferno drained the color from her flameless sanctuary, turning her skin to porcelain and her blood to black streaks across her armor and face. My eyes remained unflinchingly locked with hers as I took a final breath to steel my resolve. I’ll fix this, Lia. I promise.
An overwhelming rush of power crashed over me as I fully embraced the death energy corrupting Lia’s core. A thunderous roar reverberated in my chest as the dark presence within me reveled in the influx of power, but a tinge of concern colored Amaya’s voice as she spoke inside my mind again. Not so quickly, Elden. Your body can’t handle so much energy at once; it isn’t accustomed to the—
I retreated away from the voices to the last safe haven I held hidden deep inside my mind: the long-abandoned refuge I had created during my multiple trips through the void to hide in when the pain had threatened to erase my consciousness entirely. A sense of comforting warmth and silence washed over me as I escaped; the hungering darkness inside my chest, Amaya’s harsh voice, and the searing pain as my flesh burned and my blood boiled all faded into static. The only thing that remained were Lia’s eyes and the battle of energies within her.
I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this, I thought to her, stroking her cheek with a burning finger, but I think there’s a way I
