Lightning from the clouds struck the ground where the now-dead Hungering Spark’s body rested. A moment later, there was a second strike, then a third.
Dav’s mental voice was shaky when he reported that the lightning dismissed the Eldritch Fire Bud. Sophia was pretty sure it would have dissipated on its own soon, but it didn’t get the chance.
The lightning was constant. Sophia shielded her eyes from it and waited for it to slow down. The lightning all carried mana, but that wasn’t as blinding as the light itself. She could feel something float up from the ground with her Aural Mana Sense, so she risked a look and found that there was an irregular flattened cubic crystal floating point-up being struck by colorful magic-enhanced lightning that then flowed into the ground.
She’d clearly been wrong before; this had to be what the Guide meant by Domain Condensation. The crystal was the wrong shape, but the magic flowing through it seemed similar to monster cores back home. Sophia could recognize that, but she didn’t know what it meant; cores were dangerous, even though they were commonly used to create and power enchantments. She’d never had much to do with them since she had no desire to enchant things beyond the small projects she’d done as a child. They were far too fiddly.
image [https://i.imgur.com/mrUhQmM.jpeg]
The one nice thing about the magical lightning was that it wasn’t nearly as blinding as real lightning. It was probably not lightning at all; Sophia thought it was actually magical leakage. That could look like lightning if it was intense enough.
The strikes continued on and on, overwhelming anything else in the area. Sophia used the time to hunt down the knife that was hit by the Hungering Spark’s lightning; sure, it had dispelled the Imbuement, but the blade might still be usable.
When she found it, the knife looked like it had holes melted into it in odd patterns. It was also covered in similar magical lightning, similar enough that it took Sophia a moment to decide that at least some of it was coming from the blade. She was pretty sure it was reacting to the storm of magic, since it felt far weaker than everything else she could feel, but there still seemed to be something there.
image [https://i.imgur.com/QN4tYdA.jpeg]
Sophia considered it for a long moment, then dug in her pack for an insulated bag. The blade was still good, so it would be useful. It might also be worth taking the blade to an enchanter to see if the magic it was bathed in had changed the metal into something valuable; she didn’t know if that happened here but it did occasionally happen back home.
She didn’t have any good magic-isolating gloves, but she did have some silk-lined bags with appropriate enchantments on the exterior. They were intended to help preserve magical materials she collected inside dungeons, not to protect her, but that was close enough. She did legitimately want to preserve any interesting properties the metal might have picked up and anything that prevented the magic from dissipating or being contaminated would also prevent it from reaching her.
It really was too bad she didn’t have the right gloves, though. That might be something to fix in the future.
It took a little time to wrap the damaged blade in some extra cloth and tuck it into the bag, all without touching it. When she finished, she looked around. Dav and Taika were seated on a fallen log a decent ways away from the lightning show next to a healing beacon. Amy was over with the horses; she was probably calming them down.
The lightning show was still happening. The uneven cube had become even less even and turned into spikes that looked almost like rock candy radiating from a central glowing point. There was something sticking out of that point, something that didn’t look angular and hard like everything else. It was long and tin, somewhere between pink and red, and almost looked wet.
It took Sophia a long moment to realize that she was looking at a tongue that seemed to extend farther from the glowing central point of the lightning show as she watched.
image [https://i.imgur.com/piPXAt2.png]
The tongue was horrifying enough that Sophia couldn’t turn away. It seemed somehow appropriate; after all, not only was it the Hungering Spark, it had seemed to eat its own lightning and it had definitely threatened to eat her.
A tongue was not what Sophia expected as a reward from the Guide. Her past rewards were straightforward and mostly developed her Hallow. What was she supposed to do with a tongue?
All she could think of was that maybe it would be useful for someone who made things, but even then there was only one thought that dominated.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Ew.
It wasn’t until the severed tongue flopped lifelessly to the ground that Sophia started to dig in her bag for something to carry it in. It was at least the size of her arm, maybe even the size of a leg; what was she supposed to do with a tongue that big?
She didn’t want it in her bag, but at the same time they didn’t have any other way to carry it. Worse, at that size she didn’t have any insulated silk bags big enough for it. She wasn’t prepared for an object that big. Even two bags wouldn’t do it; not only would they leak mana, she wasn’t certain it would fit anyway.
She had a couple tarps; one of them would have to do. It wouldn’t prevent the tongue from slowly leaking mana or decaying if that was something it was likely to do, and it also wouldn’t block anything electrical, but it would at least keep any tongue slime off the rest of her stuff.
Sophia pulled the tarp out, then looked towards the tongue. It was half-hidden behind a small pile of burning branches, but that wasn’t what grabbed her attention. Off to the left of the tongue, a tree blazed with fire. Sophia didn’t know if it was set on fire by lightning or by the Eldritch Fire Bud, but it didn’t matter: she definitely didn’t want to get too close to it. It didn’t look like the rain was going to put it out any time soon, unlike the smaller burning piles of fallen branches that littered the area.
The fight was clearly hard on the local landscape.
image [https://i.imgur.com/De4yruc.jpeg]
Sophia definitely didn’t want to get too close to that tree. She looked to its right and frowned; the tongue was probably far enough away, but she wasn’t entirely happy about the distance. Was there any other way she could move the tongue?
Sophia couldn’t think of one. She could manage some light telekinesis with a spellform and a couple minutes, but she wasn’t sure that was enough to pick up the tongue. It wasn’t very strong.
She also didn’t have any good fast movement Abilities. Dav, however, did. If he could get in quickly, grab the tongue with the tarp, then get out, he’d probably be fine. Sophia could give him a Parrying Presence …
No, on second thought, she couldn’t. Parrying Presence was a spell and Sophia didn’t have enough mana for it. She grumbled to herself and walked over to Dav and Taika. She wasn’t sure she’d have asked him to get it even if she could put a protective spell on him, but without it she definitely wasn’t going to. It wasn’t worth risking his life for. They could get it once the tree was no longer a threat. It probably wouldn’t be long.
They watched as the tree burned. With all the rain, the fire didn’t spread. They were soaked and scorched, but they were lucky to be alive and just as lucky that the destruction of the Hungering Spark’s domain resulted in a massive rainstorm.
Sophia wasn’t sure how long she watched the tree burn before Dav actually spoke. “This is the second time I’ve seen a tree scorched like that.”
Sophia felt Dav’s warm presence beside her. He wasn’t quite touching her, but he wouldn’t have to shift much to touch. She forced herself to relax a little and leaned against him, instead. “When was the first?”
“About five years ago.” Dav’s voice was warm and happy, not at all like how Sophia felt. She couldn’t get any closer, but she felt Dav’s arm close around her comfortingly and warmly when she tried. “It was before I found my new niche, I thought a certification might help me find work. I was the oldest one there, of course, but I was also the only one who’d already taught himself nearly everything they covered. I still don’t know why they thought traveling to a quiet edge zone was a good idea. Everyone else was from a Safe City.”
Sophia could almost hear the capitalization Dav placed on the last two words. He was clearly emphasizing just how different he was from everyone else in the group at the time. Sophia suspected he’d been alone for most of his life, even though he was surrounded by people.
“There was a Dustfall, probably from an attack a long way away. It was just a minor Dust storm, nothing to be worried about as long as you were prepared, but they weren’t. One of the students panicked when he saw a tree start to be morphed by the Dust and set it on fire instead of using a shocker. I don’t know if he didn’t have one or if it just didn’t occur to him.” Dav tightened his grip on Sophia for a moment, then loosened it again. It felt like a warm hug. “It worked, naturally. He was fined for destruction of the tree later, but we all got to watch as the Dust in the tree went up in flames. Dust gives off sparks when it burns; it’s not like the lightning was, because it’s smaller, but it’s similar.”
“It sounds like a good memory,” Sophia offered. She wasn’t sure she’d have felt that way about it, but Dav clearly seemed to. “Did you stay in contact afterwards?”
Dav shook his head. “I don’t remember his name and I doubt he ever even knew mine. The only people from that course I stayed in touch with are Jem and Vira. That’s how I met them; the instructor had a shocker, but she didn’t have any idea how to use it and she also didn’t have a Dustcloak. Jem, Vira, and I did.”
Dav paused and shook his head with a fond grin. “We even worked together a few times, but they’re different enough that it was usually one or the other working with me. It’s funny; everyone always assumed I was dating one or both of them, but they were interested in each other, not me. They actually had an argument about which of them got to have me on their half of the wedding when they got married a couple years ago. Vira won, but I’m pretty sure it’s because Jem let her.”
They watched the fire burn for several more minutes before the only limb that was really close to the tongue fell. It landed a decent distance away, which left the entire tree falling to the side the only major threat. Everything except the tree was smothered by the rain by then and Dav was certain he’d have time to get out of the way if the tree fell as long as Sophia warned him. It took him a little time to convince Sophia it was safe, but in the end she agreed and Dav was the one who hurried in, wrapped up the tongue in Sophia’s tarp, then carried it safely to the horses while Sophia watched the tree.
Even with Amy calming them, the horses were not happy to be as close to the fire as they were. It was a good thing the land was essentially flat, because they had to swing wide around the still burning tree.