Anisha felt the mana enter her body before she felt the healing begin, her headache went away, her chest finally loosened allowing her to get a full breath of air for the first time in wha felt like hours. Rancid thin air, but sweet sweet air filled her lungs. And along with it she heard herself take the deep breathe and slowly let it back out.
"Huuuuu.... Ahuuuu"
Anisha felt her face, the bruising had disappeared and her hearing returned.
"How... Who...?" Anisha stood up now, while she still felt unusually heavy like she was wearing full plate mail, she felt her strength return to her.
Was this the Oracles work?... No she would never, then perhaps... Malissa?
Even after everything her teacher still fixed her up. She couldn't stop the small smile that brightened her face.
Malissa was the kind of teacher who never let her Pupils quit. She'd stuck by Anisha even though it took her years to be able to perform some of the simplest magic spells. Never giving up on her. She can't let her teachers efforts go to waist.
She had to keep going, she was going to save her Summon, and survive the Oracles Trap, after that... well one step at a time.
Setting her mind she set off for the next memory.
Choosing a random tunnel in the endless mine she followed it, deeper into the ground.
The darkness of the tunnel finally gave way to a slight red glow in the distance.
On the ground were three dead men, in armor that was... no longer its brilliant white shine. But was stained a deep red. Some of them had red mana crystals sticking out of their body.
"They were killed with Mana Crystals?! How, no one ever used a mana crystal as a physical weapon before. So barbaric."
Perhaps it was some kind of undiscovered magical creature? Some Golems were known to have magic crystals grow on their rocky hides.
As if to bring an answer to her questions a dark beast immerged from the dark. In the dim light she couldn't make out its shape, but saw its two massive red eyes that glowed in the dark, how had she not heard it approaching? With her restored hearing she should have some inclination to its arrival, but nothing. The creature moved fast with careful and deliberate footsteps that struck the ground with power launching it forward but minimized sound. And was heading straight for her.
Instinctively she moved out of the way as the creature charged past, its bipedal form just barely glancing past her. Its two flat tails that trailed behind it were the last thing Anisha saw before it disappeared into the tunnels.
"What in the Gods creations was that?!" Was that able to bring down all these armored soldiers? Was that what killed her summon?
A forgotten concern raised back to her mind. She didn't go to far into his memories did she? Listening carefully she could barely hear the monsters continual gate head further and further away. But heard nothing else. Bending down she began checking for her summon amongst the dead. One of them was missing his head at the shoulder, but the other two still had their helmets on. She checked for the unique symbols her summon had on his helmet the first time she saw it. While she didn't know what they meant one looked like a ring, and the other a twisting snake.
Only one here had a ring symbol on his helmet but it was followed by a straight line. The others helmet had symbols that were more complex, comprising of three individual symbols.
He wasn't here, that was good.
Turning back to where the monster had fled from she continued down that way. It didn't take long before she was able to hear what sounded like voices.
Turning a corner and saw two more white armor clad warriors, one significantly shorter and smaller then the rest she had seen, and to her relief and worry, her summon, and he was in trouble.
Her summon stood hunched backed, bearing a large beam on his back, the artificial caves ceiling collapsing down upon him. But he just barely managed to hold it up.
She saw his muscles bulge under his grey tunic, blood poured from beneath his helmet, and in his right shoulder a red mana crystal protruded out. A thick stream of blood pouring from the wound. His chest rose and fell with the effort to hold up the beam.
This had to be it. He was about to die. She had to act fast. Ignoring the creaking of the ceiling that was slowly collapsing down on her summon she ran to his side.
Now finally coming face to face again with her summon she never realized just how tall he truly was. Even hunched over his height came to her shoulders.
A white gas hissed from his mask, its odor smelt familiar like one of Malissa's healing agents.
Close by the other warrior who was in much better condition stood by seemingly trying to help her summon escape from beneath the beam.
He placed his much smaller frame beneath the beam and pushed with all his might but nothing budget.
"Kab.... Kab!" Her summon yelled out.
The too began talking in their shared tongue. While Anisha had no idea what they were saying the tones in both their voices allured to some amount of kindship between the two.
Using his head her summon gestured forward back from where Anisha had come from.
The smaller one turned to look to but shook his head and began pulling on the beam again.
"No'baul Kabshiel!" Her summon yelled out again.
"Tyos.... Jeg kan ike" the smaller one replied, defiance in his voice.
Her summon continued to talk in a raspy and tired voice. Clearly his strength was giving out. He was probably trying to get the other person to leave and get to safety. The smaller one had a similar symbol on his helmet, a ring followed by a snake that wasn't wrapped around itself.
Another blast of white gas hissed out of the sides of the helmet. And with great effort her summoned straightened up, pushing not just the beam but all the stone debri back up along with it.
He stood now legs spread bearing the weight of part of mountain alone on his shoulders. He looked like one of the great carved dwarven statues of their deep hallows.
"IKE! KAB! Verden Ennhet!!!" He grunted out. More commanding than before.
Hesitantly, and reluctantly the other one began to back away, turning he ran off back up the tunnel, but not before turning back one last time and crossing his arm across his chest, straight handed he gave a loud yell back
"Verden Ennhet!!" Before running back up the slopes.
Her summons shoulders gave way as the other left the area. Falling to one knee, rocks began falling from the ceiling, Anisha was forced to dive to the side to avoid being crushed by a boulder the size of a haybale fell where she was just standing.
She had to get out of here quick. Moving quickly to her summons side she wasn't sure what to do, she had no idea how to reconnect his mind to his body. So she did the first thing that came naturally to her, she tried healing him in his mind. Placing her hands on his injured shoulder she tried to send mana into him. And letting his gate do the healing.
Nothing happened, It was like she was trying to pour mana straight into a rock. Her efforts just ran off him like rain on a roof.
She moved her hands to his helmeted head, which now hung low and tried again. Putting everything she had into it this time. But nothing happened.
What was she supposed to do? Why isn't it working? She was running out of time, he was gonna die again if she didn't figure this out.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!!??" Anisha yelled out to the Oracle, she knew she couldn't hear her, no one could, even her summon couldn't hear her, she was like a ghost, watching things play out Infront of her and being unable to do anything about it.
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The ground around her began to vanish her summon no longer moved now, but was as still as if he truly was a dwarven statue column.
The room she was in suddenly shifted, her summon and the collapsing tunnel were gone. Now kneeled down on the ground all she saw ahead of her was a empty tunnel.
"No!" Anisha grasped at the empty air trying to see if any part of her summon remained, but only grasped nothing.
She looked around for him, if she was moved to another memory then perhaps she still had a chance. Standing up and turning around she saw the smaller white glad soldier facing the wall.
Hes fists were wrapped tight in fists and he hit the wall with them.
"Tyos... Cryaden... Jeg beklag" He said his voice saddened by leaving her summon behind.
Tyos? He had said that before, was that her summons name? If that was the case then this ones name was Kab, Kabshiel.
Why was her summons memory here? She looked around expecting to see her summon, but it was only her and Kab in this tunnel.
Kab reached for the back of his helmet, flicking something on the back, the helmet let out a small hiss before removing it. The face below that helmet was one she recognized all too well.
A boyish face with black hair and a strand of hair sticking off to the side.
This was her summon?!
She tried to mentally compare the two in her head. No this couldn't be him, her summon was very tall, according to Murdera a skilled fighter. He was.. well... Shorter than she was. His body while still muscular was more average. But the face... The face was undeniable.
Thinking back to any amount of info she could Murdera highly suspected he was a part of some nobel house. And Tyos the one she thought had thought was her summon had called him "No-baul." A weird pronunciation of the word but it supported their guess.
She now looked at her summon in a new light, she never truly knew how much the summoning changed his body. Part of the deal she had made was to give him a body in its prime, which explains the change.
This was her summon.
She reached out her hand to him. Placing her hand on his face she hesitantly pulsed mana into him. Fearing she might still be wrong some how and that her mana would just pour off again.
But that didn't happen. Instead the mana went into him. She felt it flow from her and into him.
Taking her hand back for a moment she couldn't contain her relief.
"It worked... " Setting herself upright she placed both hands on his head as he hung it against the wall.
"I'll heal out. Everything's going to be alright."
Anisha didn't try to using healing magic however. She couldn't deny his reality anymore, he was a thing of Hmota, made from its essence. If anything could heal him it would be that.
So She poured her mana into him, and imaged a summon circle around them.
Malissa stayed crouched next to her pupil. A few more minutes has passed since she gave her the healing, and luckily she hadn't needed anymore since. However healing was being done in the room.
The mans burns and bruises slowly, ever so slowly began to disappear. By the Gods Anisha was actually doing it!
From the corner of her eye she glared daggers down at the Oracle who sat stock still unmoving, unblinking.
If this truly worked she didn't know what she would do to that thing. She was enraged by its actions towards her pupil. But so far it seemed Anisha was able to do something, but what was the girl doing in there? She'll have to ask her later when they were done here.
A wish she hoped would come sooner rather than later.
Unseen by Malissa as she now focused on the mans slowly closing wounds, the Oracle gave one small but deliberate twist up of her mouth, a slight knowing smirk.
Anisha modified the summoning spell in hopes to have it be used for healing instead of summoning a new entity from Hmota. If the current spell circle could create a body, then their should be no reason the same one couldn't be sued to repair the body as well.
So she went about removing the contract parts of the spell, along with the protective wards, as she didn't plan to enter Hmota while still in her summons mind. She's not even sure what that would even entail. But she bet Kameko would have wanted her to try for "Research purposes."
Unlike any other type of magic modifying this type came naturally to her. It was easy to control the symbols in her mind. And the new version of the circle was complete within a few minutes.
Within that time her summon had moved away from the wall and was pacing back and forth a bit. Routinely checking weapon that hung at his side. She now recognized it as the one he had used on her in Hmota. She still had no idea what it even really was. Murdera tried to explain it as some kind of magical crossbow that could fire thunder.
"Okay, its ready." She said out loud to her summon, even though he couldn't hear her Anisha couldn't help but talk to him. It seemed more, friendly, or polite.
She reached out for him to finish the healing, she only got a few moments in before the room around them shook violently. She managed to keep her balance this time, but the explosion was much closer than any of the others. Her summon straightened, his head snapped up quickly and darted up the tunnels path way.
"Frea..." He dawned on his helmet, and it quickly sealed around his head with a hiss and click. And without another word or hesitation, he ran off towards the explosion.
"W-Wait!! You're healings not done!!" She yelled out in vail, letting the magic dispersed from her she ran after him. She couldn't let him escape her sight. She didn't want to risk getting shuffled around in his memories again. There was no telling where she would come out next.
But her summon, despite his shorter stature, ran at un unbelievable speed. She couldn't keep up. His boy disappeared into the dark tunnel ahead, and with his leaving the tunnel around her disappeared too.
"No no no, Please don't change." she pleaded, but the world around her changed anyways. Now she was suddenly in a much bigger room. Around her were the bodies of more white armor clad soldiers and some without armor. All dead,
"No no not again, where are you?" She moved around the dimly lit room. The only light that was there came from a small crack in a wall that let in a beam of sunlight and the red glow of crystals that laid desugared in the dead and the ground.
Walking past a large chunk of ceiling that had fallen i the middle of the room she found her summon.
He was laying bloodied on the ground, red power crystals protruding from his chest and arm. His helmet was removed, and his head rested in a another's white armored soldiers lap.
The other, also without their helmet was a beautiful woman with a long singular braid that hung over her soldier. Her face was bruised and tired, but she smiled down at her summon. He likewise gave a weak smile back.
Anisha walked over to them and kneeled by his side.
His face was pale, and was bleeding a lot. At first she thought she was too late again, and that this was his death. But he didn't have the large wound in his chest.
Though red crystals stuck out of his armor none left left gaping holes like the one in his armor had.
She didn't' waist any time. She poured mana into him and started the healing process. He might still have some injuries from this battle, but she needed to heal that chest wound if he had any chance of surviving at all.
The circle appeared and she felt the mana began to pass from her to her summon.
The amount of mana she was pouring in felt like a waterfalls amount. In all her years of training her gate she's never felt something draw this much mana in such a short span of time. She felt her strength begin to diminish fast.
She couldn't maintain this much longer without risking breaking her own gate.
She was almost done though. She could in a way feel his body healing itself through there link. She couldn't see it in his gate but she knew it was still there.
Her summon gave a gasping grunt, which caused aniisha to look up from her meditative state, and she was struck with fear.
The monster had returned.
It stood up behind the woman with a braid, it had massive teeth in what looked like a mockery of a human smile. In movment that Anisha couldn't track he stabbed the woman in the exposed part of her neck, and the only sound that game out was sharp intake of breathe before falling over.
Anisha couldn't stop herself she reached out for her, trying to place her hands over the wound but the blood pooled through as if her hands weren't even there.
Her summon too reached for her, but struggled to move.
"F-Frea!! Frea!! R-R---Recrant..." He glared back at the monster that now stood over him. A large spear made of metal bar. And with great force the monster stabbed it into his armor.
For a moment the armor held against the blow, but the monster didn't give up and brought the spear down again crashing through the armor. The second strike was so much stronger that it went through all the way and pinned her summon to the ground.
He let a a horrifying gargling yell of pain.
No she waited too long!
She reached for magic out of desperation and with practice motinos tried to push the monster back, but just like everything else she had no affect on it.
But the monster did react though. Its red eyes fixed on her. Their glaring hate filled eyes froze her in place. Her head began to hurt like it was under a ton of pressure. Then she felt as if something grabbed her from behind, and pulled her into the dark.
Anisha was on the ground. She felt the smooth ceramic floor beneath her. She stared up at a ceiling with a dome shape and a old chandelier that hadn't been used in years.
The fireplace still burned but was now down to a much lower flame, comprising mostly of embers and mostly burnt logs.
Malissa flower like a pendiges appeared in her vision, they were flared out, and her teacher stood above her, magic crystals glowing bright from use.
As she started to get her bearing she could hear her teacher yelling something.
"Anisha... ANISHA!! Are you alright pupil?!" Her teacher looked back to see if she was conscious but maintained her defensive stance.
Anisha struggled to get to her elbows to prop herself up. She's never felt this spent before, she felt completely and utterly drained of mana. Her movements were slow in it took her some time to register what was going on.
In the center of her room, her summon no longer layed on the stretch. He was now standing up in the center of the room. His left hand gripped tightly around his bandaged side. He stood almost at full height. His new body towering over everyone else in the room by a good head. His eyes darted from side to side, as if looking for a threat.
"Hva... Hva Jeg...." His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell to the ground, unconscious again.
"What was all that about." Malissa said out to one one in particular. Her pedals slowly lowered back down and her magic crystals on his belt faded back to a lower glow.
"I-I think he was just scared." Anisha struggled to even talk, it was not like she was physically tired. But was experiences the side effects of being tired. Her mind felt fuzzy.
She unsteadily got to her feet, with the help of her teacher she was able to fully stand up.
"I wasn't talking about his reaction pupil. Your... Healing, what went wrong?" her teacher questioned, not letting her eyes leave the man on the ground.
"Wrong?... I... Healed him... I fixed him..." Words were getting even harder to say.
"Fixed?" Her teacher scoffed.
"You might have just made him live through that wound again. He was almost healed, I watched his chest wound slowly close. I don't know what you were doing pupil but it was working. Until it wasn't. You went to far didn't you."
Her teacher said that last question with not anger but more concern.
"yes... I... didn't have a... choice... Memories... Kept.... changing." She moved over to him, ignoring the oracle who still layed on the ground, its eyes closed and unresponsive. Neither of them moved to check on it.
The wound was closed.
Along with it her eyes closed too, and the world faded to black again.