“Where is your body?” Zalia asked the misty form of her daughter.
Aylie turned and pointed through the mist towards the town. Zalia turned her head to look at Ember and tried to talk to her again, yet she only tilted her head in confusion once more. She didn’t know exactly why Aylie was able to talk and Ember was not but thought it might have something to do with Aylie’s astral powers.
“We ..an’.. g..t th..o..gh the w….l.”
Each time Aylie spoke, she had to repeat herself many times for Zalia to understand. She eventually got “We can’t get through the wall.” from the whisperings.
So this was how the Astar kept the human population enslaved. They ripped their souls from their bodies and blocked them from re-entering the town via some type of impassable wall for the spirits. What was Zalia to do about that?
Her first idea was to make a break in that wall somehow, which would release the entire human population in the city so their souls could get back in. Unfortunately, that might mean a slaughter as the Astar put down the rebelling humans. Perhaps she could perform a simultaneous attack to distract the more combat-oriented Astar while it happened.
She stepped up hesitantly and tried to take Ember’s hand but found her own passing straight through it as if she weren’t there. The Manifest Paste she had could solidify incorporeal beings but she wasn’t ready to risk that just yet. Who knew what consequences solidifying one’s soul would have?
“How can we fix this? Do you have any ideas?”
Aylie’s head slowly shook from side to side.
“Th….ki..g, ha..d.”
A few repetitions and Zalia discerned the words, “Thinking hard.”
Aylie’s speech was slowly getting more and more coherent, which was good. Perhaps she was managing to shake whatever effect had her so hard to hear.
Zalia began pacing back and forth, her hand tapping incessantly on her leg as she thought. She had no idea the long-term ramifications of someone’s soul being detached like this. Hell, she didn’t even know if their souls could be put back.
She wanted to attack immediately but put that idea aside. At the very least she needed to wait until Nature’s Wrath was back up. Then, she could fight.
While she thought, she explained what was happening to Boreal who tried to brush up against the spirits of their two family members, failing to do so. It was disheartening to see the sadness in her cold blue eyes.
Zalia had to find a way to break a hole in that wall. That would be the first step in this process, the most important one for sure. As such, she left the clearing and moved towards the town.
It was a long walk, over the course of which Zalia spent a good amount of time thinking about her actions and what she could have done differently. Apart from not coming here in the first place, she didn’t see any alternative. It was under Ember’s insistence that they had both come on the infiltration and Zalia wasn’t going to try to take her freedom of choice from her.
Her thoughts were still roiling when she arrived at the town but she put them aside momentarily. Boreal had stayed at the clearing so it was just Zalia and her ghostly family that stood just outside the barrier. Aylie stepped forward and tried to push through in the demonstration and was blocked quite thoroughly by the invisible wall. Zalia waved her hand through, finding nothing stopping it. Strange.
As hard as she looked along the line where the mist stopped, she just couldn’t see anything that could explain the phenomenon. There were no enchanted stones or material that would support the magical effect, not even any visible magical aura as seen by her Aura Observation. This was even stranger, as the ability should have allowed her to see something, anything that denoted where or who the magic came from. The only alternative to all of that was the barrier existing entirely on the astral. It was possible, the magic that was used to remove Aylie and Ember’s souls had somehow thrown them into the astral where usually nothing but bonds and thought existed.
With that in mind, Zalia realised she might have to figure out a way of affecting the astral. If Aylie were capable of using her abilities, she would be able to do it easily. Without her, that was a lot harder.
Her mind immediately went to the herb Manifest. It was capable of making the physical manifestation of things, usually dependent on what other herbs were used in the ritual. Maybe she could find a way to make that target the wall instead.
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It was all theoretical for now, however, as she didn’t want to actually do that just yet. She would have to wait for Nature’s Wrath to be back up.
Instead, she went back home, reading through the level-ups she had received over the past weeks while she did.
Congratulations! Kill Shot has reached Silver 5.
Congratulations! Hunter class has reached Silver 5.
Congratulations! Flora Identification has reached Silver 7
Congratulations! Druid’s Grove has reached Silver 10.
Congratulations! Herbalist class has reached Silver 7.
Congratulations! Nature’s Wrath has reached Silver 6.
Her progress was much slower now, thanks to the high rank. Even this much progress over a few weeks was the most she had gotten in a while, the frequent fights and constant new discovery playing a large role in that.
Looking around her, Zalia wondered if it was best to just try bring Nateysta here to deal with this problem. Through his use of aura and absurdly strong magic, he might be able to break down the wall and free her family. Something he said when she had left Endaria to come here nagged at her though. He had said that his ability to contribute was greatly diminished and she had taken it at face value, simply thinking that now the Thousand-eyed one had been imprisoned, he felt like he didn’t have much to contribute. Now though, she wondered if it’d had a deeper meaning. He was brought to this world by the power of Balance, a force more powerful than any Ascendant in this world and perhaps he was held in check by that very same force.
Still, she decided to try to reach out anyway. Just in case.
When she arrived back at the clearing, she brought out the tiny altar she kept in her vault, the one she had taken from Cormaine dedicated to her friend Nateysta, also known as Ro-ak. She kept it with her always, both as a keepsake from her time there and as a way of reaching her friend should she need it.
Putting the altar down and kneeling in front of it, she summoned Glowing Cave Mushrooms, ones that were specifically from the caves in Cormaine that she knew were often used in rituals around Nateysta in the far past. She placed them haphazardly in a circle around herself and the altar before beginning the ritual of communion.
The mushrooms began to glow, bright dust floating away from them as they were disintegrated.
“Nateysta, I need your help.”
She had to wait for a few minutes, kneeling there with her eyes closed, before a reply came.
“Zalia, what is wrong?”
She breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he would at least be able to talk to her.
“We were seen by the Astar and Ember and Aylie were caught. Their souls have been separated from their bodies, now blocked from re-entering them by a wall that cannot be seen or felt by anyone other than them. Can you help us?”
Once more, she had to wait.
“I cannot help you, dear friend. I can, however, send you one who may be able to.”
The last of the mushrooms burnt away in a flash of light and Zalia found herself kneeling in darkness once more. All the others waited nearby in anticipation, yet were quickly subdued by Zalia’s expression.
She looked around, wondering what exactly he had meant by sending someone who may be able to help. There hadn’t been any portal opened or anything of the sort.
“Well, he said he could send someone to help but…”
She trailed off as a bright light brought her attention upwards. Through the mist she saw a pinprick star, shining strong enough to reach them all the way through. She stared at it hopefully, the others looking up to match her gaze.
There, the star grew brighter and brighter until a lone wolf fell down upon them, landing in a stumbling crash.
Zalia stared at Lumen. Lumen stared at her. Then barked quietly, licked her face for good measure and ran around excitedly greeting everyone.
She stood, trying to get out of licking range and looked at Lumen, then back up at the sky expectantly. Surely Ro hadn’t meant Lumen might be able to take out the wall, did he?
Thinking that however, Lumen was different to the last time she had seen them.
Luminescence - Bronze rank (Ascendant)
Being Bronze rank wasn’t the only change that had overcome the wolf since leaving them with Nateysta. Lumen was also considerably bigger, now matching Boreal in size. Considering Boreal was up to Zalia’s shoulders, that made Lumen massive.
Lumen looked at Aylie and Ember with confusion, tilting their head from one side to the other and back before approaching. They licked Aylie’s face and to everyone’s surprise, managed to make contact. Lumen could touch them. That meant…
Zalia ran up and grabbed Lumen in a big hug, thankful for the wolf’s presence. This would make things much easier.
Lumen wagged their tail in happiness, jumping around energetically and almost bowling Zalia over.
“Alright, calm, calm. Stop that… stop it!”
After a moment of calming the wolf, she turned to Boreal who was giving Lumen the stinkeye. She did not like Lumen being that big, which was fair considering how much the wolf liked to play fight with her.
The young ones for their part were extremely excited as well, soon swarming over Lumen and climbing up the wolf’s thick fur, causing another bout of excited jumping around. Caught off guard, Zalia tried to get out of the way of the runaway wolf body but was knocked backwards by an off-kilter spin. She was sent stumbling into Ember, who caught her.
Zalia looked down at the misty hands holding her, then up at the amorphous head of Ember, then over at Lumen. Lumen had done this.
“You beautiful, beautiful wolf.”