Removing the chest piece only served to worsen my mental state. While the downpour had washed the blood from her face and armor, it had done nothing against the dark red stains that bloomed outward from the torn fabric of her undershirt. I averted my eyes from the stain as I sat her up in my arms and pulled the shirt up over her head, carefully threading her braid through the bloodied fabric. The bare skin of her back was warm through my glove as I laid her down and leaned over to stash her ruined undershirt out of sight with her broken armor beneath the bed.
I grabbed her nightgown and prepared to wrestle her unconscious form through the sleeves, but the cloth fell from my hand as my eyes caught sight of her bare skin. No. No, that’s not right. A ridge of thick scar tissue curled across her chest in a crescent shape, wrapping up from her armpit to her collarbone. Familiar black lines forked off from the main wound at jagged angles, reaching out in a fractal web to her sternum, shoulder, and the top of her left breast. I took the darkness out of her. This should have healed. I placed my palm over the main bundle of scar tissue and activated the Healing rune in my ring, but the energy rushed over her chest and dissipated to no effect.
Why? I fell back in my chair and closed my eyes, fervently scanning her body with Detection to find the hidden corruption. Why? The single drop of amber mana in her core had expanded to a small pool that shimmered brightly against the empty backdrop of my mind. I scanned over the scar repeatedly, looking for any seedling of darkness I had missed that could be uprooted. There’s nothing here. Nothing to take, nothing I can fix. It’s just scars.
My scars. I stared down at my gloved hand and felt a sympathetic twitch in my fingers. Those are my scars, not yours. You shouldn’t have to carry them. My hands balled into fists against my legs as I stared blankly at the floor. After everything we went through, it was me. I killed you; not Virram, not the General, not even those monsters. It was me. I killed you, and I cursed you.
It felt as though a heavy fog rolled over my mind, and I struggled to hold onto a single train of thought. Do you hear her voice now, too? Do you feel the hunger for death? Will you fall into the void now, like I do? Tears rolled down my face and pattered against the wooden floorboards at my feet. Are you in there now? Are you ever coming back? What do I do without you?
I scrunched up my face and wiped my cheeks. “Sorry,” I repeated miserably. “You need me right now, and I'm just sitting here being useless." I gathered the dropped nightgown from the floor and retook my place at the bedside. “I’ll be here to watch over you until you wake up. I promise.” After a few minutes of effort, I had Lia comfortably situated in a fresh set of clothes. A small line of the black scars on her chest peeked out from the corner of her nightgown, and I tugged the collar back into place to obscure the mark. With the scars hidden, it was almost possible to imagine she was simply sleeping, but my memories refused to let me fully believe the idea.
A soft knock on the door jumped me and pulled the attention of my Detection away from Lia’s core to the bedroom door, where Hana waited patiently for a response. “Come in.”
The door creaked open just enough for Hana’s face to peek in and scan the room. A relieved smile spread across her face, and she stepped into the room and leaned against the doorframe. “Thank you for making sure she’s comfortable, Lux. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”
“It’s the least I could do,” I said, weakly returning her smile. “She did the same for me when we first met, right?”
“That’s right,” she answered. A loud round of Marten’s distinct laughter echoed through the house, and Hana nodded her head towards the hallway. “We’re sitting down for dinner now: bihorn stew. You should join us.”
I shook my head. “Thank you, but I think I’ll stay here with Lia. I wouldn’t want her to wake up alone.”
She pursed her lips. “Lux, you said she’ll be asleep for a few days, at least. Surely you have time to eat with us.”
“Even still,” I said, looking back to Lia. My mana rushed back to watch the golden energy that slowly expanded within her core, and I let out a small sigh of relief when I found it uncorrupted. “I appreciate the offer, Hana. If you could leave a bowl out for me, I’ll eat later.”
“I’ll leave it on the table for you,” she nodded graciously. “Please feel free to join us if you change your mind.” Her eyes lingered on her daughter behind me for a moment before she disappeared back into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
As soon as she was gone, I pulled my chair closer to the bed and took Lia’s hand in mine. “Don’t worry; I’m not going to leave you,” I whispered, leaning my head forward against our clasped hands. “Not until you’re back.” While I couldn’t find any signs of the darkness returning to finish what it had started, my mind refused to let me believe she was safe. Memories of her death, the raging black fire, and Amaya’s cruel voice played on repeat while I watched the black scars crawling across her chest. You won’t take her away from me. Not this time.
I lost track of the passing of
