After a good night's slumber, the day of Sigmir's healing dawned. We had breakfast with Kallista and Adra, who, for some reason, would not meet my eyes, before heading over to the Grandmother's house.

We knocked and got shown in, once more heading into a new part of the house. The room we arrived in was made out of smooth stone - most of it inscribed with glowing runes - and in the middle of the room, a large ritual circle was drawn. There was no way for me to decipher the circle, but it was made out of a large outer circle, and within it, two connected circles almost formed an infinity-symbol.

“Sigmir, Morgana, your partners should leave their Hallows. Their presence would greatly complicate the ritual. If you wish, you can be skyclad for the ritual but it won't matter in this case. Be in the state that you are most comfortable in.” the Grandmother greeted us. Ylva and Lenore materialized next to us before moving to the side, watching us intently. Neither Sigmir nor I wanted to shed our clothes with the Grandmother here and Lenore and Ylva watching us, so we stayed clothed.

The Grandmother guided Sigmir into one of the smaller circles, making sure that none of the lines on the floor were damaged before she looked deep into my eyes. "This is it, child. I'm sorry I can't prepare you for what is happening, but souls are simply too complex for that. I just don't know what waits for you. Keep your wits about you, your will strong and your magic sharp. You can do it." she said with conviction and motioned for me to take my place in the second circle. I took great care not to damage the formation in any way. The Grandmother stood next to the outer circle, holding a carved staff.

“Both of you, let your Astral Power flow into the glowing rune in front of you. Don't worry about the amount you pour in, just let it flow.”

One of the runes in front of me started to glow, and I placed my hand over it, letting my power flow out as unformed as I could. It was a strange sensation, connecting to the complicated network around me, but it was effortless at the same time. There was a floating sensation, and I felt as if I was a leaf in the wind, gently moving on complicated streams of air. I closed my eyes to focus on the sensation, and felt a disconnect between my mind and my body. My mind was drawn somewhere else, and I did not try to fight it, letting the currents of magic take me.

I floated on the current for some time before I felt the sensation change. I was no longer floating on the gentle current, now it was more as if I was rushing down a waterfall, falling with a rush of magic.

My eyes flew open, or at least that was the sensation - I no longer had eyes in the strange place I found myself in. My perception was strange; the closest analogy I could come up with was that I was looking down onto a tall, windswept, mountain. There was nothing gentle about the mountain; it was rough and rocky but also solid and stable, as if nothing could ever move it. Around the mountain, a blizzard was raging, cold as ice but also ferocious and wild.

The combination of the two extremes made me shudder but it also gave me a familiar feeling. That feeling of welcome drew me in, I let go of my fear and moved closer. The sensation of familiarity grew and the air smelled of welcome. Finally, my mind, or maybe my soul, made the connection, I was looking at the closest representation my senses could create of Sigmir's soul.

With the conviction that Sigmir would not harm me, here in the deepest part of her being, I let myself be drawn in. I stretched my senses and felt compatibility with the storm and let myself slowly merge with the storm, as I had before in the outside world. I felt Sigmir's strong arms embrace me within the storm, knowing that she was close made me push on. I held onto my ego as I joined her wild side, moving with the storm and slowly becoming the storm.

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Being one with the storm let me sense the entirety of her soul and I let them guide me. A strange smell in the air gave me direction and I followed the smell to find a strange spot on the mountain-side, it looked like a muddy bog hole, completely out of place on the rough mountain but it was still part of the mountain.

I focused onto the bog and felt a feedback from the storm, the bog felt out of place because it was. It had to be a representation of the parasite within Sigmir, slowly eroding the foundation of her soul but camouflaged as part of her soul.

The storm was howling around me, howls of rage mixed with roars of anger, whipping the atmosphere into a frenzy. Sadly, the storm was not cold enough to freeze the bog, they were part of the same entity after all. I felt the storm howling in impotence and my own howls joined the storms.

I wanted to destroy that thing defiling my Sigmir's soul, I wanted to annihilate it so thoroughly nothing was left of it for harming my beloved.

Hate like I had never felt before coursed through my being and my howling rage became more focused, changing in pitch and tune. While there was nothing the storm could do, I remembered the Grandmother saying that conceptual elements could do the impossible and I studied the concept of ice. Extreme frost, frozen eternity, cold enough to freeze even hell itself, that was what I believed in.

I let out a single, sky-shattering roar and a beam out of pure, furious cold burst from me, lancing through the sky and striking the bog in the middle. The ice spread, freezing the bog into a huge block of ice. But just freezing it was not enough, I dove down, gripping the block in my claws, spreading my ice-magic to hold it and I ripped it from the very bones of the mountain. The earth shook and a pained groan echoed across the land as I did so but it had to be done.

I returned to the sky with my price, once more joining the storm and watching the storm batter the frozen bog, grinding it into dust and scattering it until there was nothing left of it.

I stayed joined with the storm, flowing around the mountain, feeling the mountain's hard shape under the soft caress of the wind and I let myself be enveloped in the feelings of safety around me, losing myself in the storm. The storm felt no longer like an icy gale, it felt like a lover's caress. The mountain below me was no longer harsh and rocky, it felt like the hard muscles I had caressed so often.

Sadly, the feeling was far too brief; I would have been happy to stay there forever, but I felt myself drawn away, and I knew that I had to leave, to return to my own body. I gathered my will, and slowly separated from the storm around me, drawing back and letting the current that had brought me here an eternal moment ago take me back. Feeling the current flow around me, I felt a profound sense of loss and of loneliness.

I felt my mind settle back into my body, reacquaint itself with it's mortal shell, literally returning to my senses. It took a moment for me to be able to open my eyes again and when I did so, the world around me was blurred with tears but I was able to recognize Sigmir. I felt a yearning for her, to be held by her and hold her in turn.

Jumping to my feet, I no longer cared about the circle around us and we came together in the middle of the large circle, wrapping our arms around each other and trying to get as close to the other as possible, to eliminate even the smallest gap between us. I don't know who started to kiss but it was good we hadn't been skyclad for the ritual or the Grandmother, Ylva and Lenore would have gotten quite the show.

After some time, we separated and I was able to draw back a little and look Sigmir in the eyes.

“Did it work? Is the parasite gone?” I asked.

“Yes, it worked. I feel my strength returning, probably not all of it but the parasite is gone. Thank you.” Sigmir said. The moment I heard that, happiness engulfed me and I pressed another kiss to her lips. After we separated once more, I realised that I had ignored both the system and the Grandmother. A short glance to the notifications showed me I had gained quite a bit.

Skill increased You increased your skill: Ice Magic [60/100]

Skill increased You increased your skill: Astral Meditation [35/100]

Quest Completed Curing the Shieldmaid. You gained: 20.000 EXP

I looked over to the Grandmother and saw that she was smiling.

“Ah, you rejoined the rest of the world? Take your time, soul-magic can take quite a bit out of you. But I see you have been successful. Congratulations, to both of you.”