Bryce

Awareness slowly crept back to me. Trying to process anything felt like wading through a pool of honey, and it took far too long for me to realize I was lying on a very comfortable bed. An eternity later and I recognized the smell of incense in the air. Eventually, I was able to work through the complex mental commands that were required for me to open my eyes.

“Hello, sleepyhead. How’re you feeling?” A honey-sweet voice asked, and moments later a blonde elvish woman assaulted each of my eyes with a penlight.

“My thoughts feel sluggish, but I think it’s getting better. Did I die?”

“No, nothing so severe.” The woman smiled as she studied a datapad she was holding. “Otherwise, I’d be charging at least twice as much to treat you.”

“You’re being paid for half a resurrection? How bad were my injuries?” Then I had a sudden realization. “I’m, uh, not the one paying you, am I?”

“Nope! Your bills are being covered by a not-so-anonymous benefactor, so you needn’t worry about them.” The woman paused before continuing, which was concerning. “Your injuries were bad, though. Heck, you probably should’ve died, but your nanites are remarkably efficient. Mortal ingenuity never ceases to amaze me.”

“Mortal ingenuity? Are you not…?”

“Mortal?” The woman’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Oh goodness no, that’s probably the concussion talking. I’m a phoenix, silly!”

“Well, Ms. Phoenix, I’m Bryce. Thank you for saving my life.” I reached out to shake the woman’s hand, but she just rested hers delicately on top of mine, putting a ring with a heavily enchanted fire ruby on full display.

“Actually, it’s Mrs. Phoenix.” Her smile was radiant. Literally, it was glowing. “I found myself the most adorable little vampire and seduced them a few centuries ago. Oh! But you can just call me Lennie, or Doctor Lennie, if you’re feeling extra formal.”

“Well, Doctor Lennie, do you know where my girlfriend is? She’s usually the one who greets me after nearly dying.” I settled back into the bed. If I still had a concussion, then it was just a matter of resting and letting my nanites take care of it. There really wasn’t much more I could do.

“That is… complicated.” Lennie frowned, her previously bubbly attitude disappearing entirely. “I’ve done everything I can for her, but it’s not exactly my specialty. She’s stable for now, but a decision will have to be made soon. Unfortunately, our options are extremely limited.”

“Where is she?” I sat up on the bed and moved to the edge of the mattress. I didn’t see my boots anywhere, but I was still wearing my clothes.

“Bryce, I don’t—”

“Where is she!?” I shouted the question and Lennie flinched before nodding.

“I can take you to her, but I really think you should wait until you’re finished healing. Her condition isn’t going to change over the next few hours.”

I got up from the bed slowly, and when I was fully convinced I wasn’t going to collapse, I turned towards Lennie. “Your concern is noted. Now please, take me to her.”

She nodded reluctantly before leading me out of the room. It was pretty clear as we walked through the leather padded halls that we were still in Chorus’s ‘temple.’ Which meant that the not-so-anonymous benefactor had probably been him. Hopefully, that meant he felt at least partially responsible for what had happened, because I was going to give him a piece of my mind the next time we met.

I didn’t even have to wait long to do it either, because he was standing near the bed in the room Lennie led me to.

“Bryce, I’m glad you’re okay.” Some of the tension eased from the god’s shoulders as he recognized me.

“What happened?” I spoke in a soft tone to match the one Chorus had used as I approached the bed where Thea was lying. She looked fine, just like she had found a particularly comfortable place to sleep and didn’t want to get up.

“We’re not certain.” Chorus shook his head as he explained. “Thea attacked Orrid after that child decided to overwhelm the wards around Tartarus. During the battle, she somehow managed to increase her power to dangerous levels after the prince had her cornered. She still hasn’t recovered despite being physically fine, and as Doctor Lenestia has explained, she’s not likely to.”

“The increase of power overwhelmed her mana core, and it shattered.” Lennie stepped forward to fill in the gaps. “Under other circumstances, I’d recommend chancing a resurrection, but since the issue is her core and thus attached to her soul, a new body won’t fix it. I’m sorry, this is outside my specialty. Somebody else may be able to provide more information, but…”

“But it’s not likely to change anything.” I finished the thought after Lennie had trailed off, and she nodded sadly. Without a core, Thea wouldn’t be able to absorb or circulate mana. Eventually, whatever she had left would run out and her body would start to decay. She was going to die.

“What about Tess?” I turned towards Chorus as I wiped away the buildup of tears. “Surely, she could do something about this? Or maybe another god? You must know somebody. Please, you have to do something. This is… my fault.”

I was about to accuse him, but I just couldn’t. This was going to happen eventually, and not only was it my mana that did this to her, I enabled her to do it. Thea was her own person, and she made the decision herself, but I’d already seen what my mana was doing to her. Esme had even warned us, and I didn’t do anything about it.

I could have put in an upper limit, or I could have done more research, or tried literally anything to stop this from happening. Instead, I gave her unlimited ability to hurt herself, even going so far as to remove the one check we actually had in place and let her take mana without approval. It was entirely my fault.

“This is outside Tess’s domain.” Chorus apologized. “Even if it wasn’t, she doesn’t approve of celestials. So, she’d be unlikely to help.”

“Is there anybody else?” I was basically begging at this point, but I didn’t care. Thea was dying.

“There are no mantles focused on manipulating the soul,” Lilith answered, and my eyes snapped to where she was sitting in the corner of the room. I hadn’t even noticed her before, but seeing her now, it was obvious that she was exhausted. Her damaged armor was on the ground beside her chair, and I was pretty sure she had just woken up from a nap.

“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of gods. There has to be at least one who could fix this.” I wasn’t an expert on the divine. Hells, I had learned more about gods in the last two days than I had known my entire life, and I knew there was a lot about the subject that I still didn’t know. “There has to be something we can do.”

“There aren’t any, and if any ever formed, they would likely have their mantle removed.” Lilith straightened her back and took a deep breath as she prepared herself for what she said next. “Esme is on her way here from Dis, and once she gets a chance to say goodbye, we’re going to let Thea go.”

My heart stopped, and I was nearly overcome with dread. Lilith was the head of Thea’s household, and she had decided to let her die. But Thea couldn't die. I wouldn’t allow it.

“Does me being a part of your household allow me any special privileges to make requests?” Lilith reluctantly nodded, so I continued. “Then please, let me save her.”

“I’m sorry, Bryce, but it’s just not—”

“Then let me try!” I shouted at the woman who would probably decide Thea’s fate. I wouldn’t be able to do anything if she tried to stop me, and she’d be well within her right to do it. Hells, anybody in the room could kill me where I stood and I wouldn’t be able to stop them. I was out of my depth, and exactly how fragile I was had just been thrown in my face with Orrid’s little experiment.

Lilith, gods bless her, didn’t even hesitate before replying. “Esme will be here in a few hours. You have until then to prove to me it’s possible. If you can’t, then we need to let Thea go. Mana decay is one of the worst ways a person can die, and I won’t let it happen to her.”

A few hours wasn’t much time, but she did say I only had to prove it was possible. The only issue being, I didn’t even know if it was.

“I can do it.” I said, half to myself and half to Lilith.

“What can we do to help?” Chorus stepped away from the bed to give me more space. “If there’s somebody you want us to get here, or something you need, then it can be arranged. So long as it’s within my power.”

I paused to seriously consider his offer, but there was no one. As far as I knew, I was the leading expert on mana circulation. Because arcane casting relied so heavily on your personal mana capacity, it had been a large part of my focus before the Para Vista incident. Even after that, I focused most of my time studying what the mana engine spell had done to my core and how it affected my meridians.

That gave me something of a confidence boost, albeit only a minor one. I still had no idea if it was possible. “Just time and space, please. I need to focus.”

Chorus nodded before escorting Lenny out of the room. Lilith stayed, but she didn’t speak. I took that as my signal to get started.

First, I needed to assess the damage. So, I cast an advanced mana detection spell, which I nearly regretted. Everything was so much worse than I had expected. Nearly half of her meridians were just gone without a trace, and the ones that remained were burnt out husks. She had clearly continued to cast even after her core shattered, and it had shattered. There was maybe a quarter of it left in one piece, the rest of it was scattered and fragmented.

I didn’t even know where to begin. Hells, I didn’t even know how to begin. This was so far beyond anything I had ever attempted that I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. I took a step back and closed my eyes before exhaling deeply.

Thea’s core would be complicated to repair. it might be impossible, or it might not be. I didn't know, but I did know meridians. Just a few months ago, I spent nearly thirty hours non-stop building my own up in a mad dash to prevent a lethal poison from killing me. That felt like the place to start, and then I could deal with the core when I was done.

I nodded once to firm my resolve before stepping back up to Thea and resting my hands just under her stomach, where her mana-core should have been. Ideally, I would have started from an intact meridian and built it up along the natural passageways that already existed. But after spending an eternity searching, I wasn’t able to find a single undamaged passageway. Which meant I was going to need to rebuild everything from the ground up. This was never going to be easy, but it had just become a lot more tedious.

I spent another long moment planning out the ideal arrangement, and once I settled on one I was happy with, I rotated Thea’s right arm and traced a finger along the inside of it. Her hands were going to be complicated, and I was planning on getting to them in a moment, but first I needed to know if this was even possible.

The creation process was slow at first, but I was able to speed up as I grew more comfortable, and soon enough I had a ten centimeter section fully rebuilt. Then I very carefully channeled a small amount of mana through one end of the newly formed meridian. I nearly started to cry as I watched it saturate the surrounding muscle.

“It’s working.” I turned to see Lilith looking over my shoulder, and could only nod as I wiped away the forming tears.

“It is, and I can provide mana to the rebuilt sections as I work to prevent decay.” I didn’t mention how the hardest part was going to be rebuilding Thea’s core, or how I still had no idea how to even approach it. All she wanted was proof that it was possible, and I was hoping that this would be enough.

“Please continue.” Lilith nodded before she turned to leave. “I’ll let the others know what’s going on before I head to Tartarus.”

I mentally wished her luck as I went back to work.