I let go of Sloan's body and stood up. He remained motionless, his body limp and his brain wiped clean of every thought like a blank slate. Although he had stopped moving, mana had yet to complete the corrosion procedure. His skin slowly charred, assuming initially a variety of dark colours, which slowly mutated and converged towards a particular ashy cerulean hue. In a few minutes he was rendered unrecognisable. Every time a direct gust of wind hit his body, parts of its current outer layer detached and were carried away, decaying in the fine black power, disappearing into the night.

I had to get away from this place. Although my aura infused body was holding on for now without getting damaged, I didn't know for how long it would be able to delay the onset of mana corrosive properties. I picked up my weapon, I started moving and managed to leave the eye of the still shrinking tornado.

The situation outside had worsened. Lightnings of impossible colours scarred the ground, sending debris flying and raining down everywhere, and I risked getting pushed around by the mightier blowing winds. I focused on my surroundings and in spite of the thick fog my eyes didn't betray me and located the two things I was looking for: Faye, which I couldn't leave there alone, and the wagon, which would have served as a shelter.

Faye was further from me than I expected, about twenty metres. Initially she had been almost glued to my back, but she had probably distanced herself after Sloan had started hitting me with my own weapon. She must have lost her bearings shortly after that, giving rise to the current mana storm.

The wagon was about one hundred and fifty metres from my current position. Sloan and I had moved quite a bit during our scuffle.

First of all, I had to get Faye. Ignoring the complaints of my creaking bones and swollen body parts, I approached her and in a few steps I found myself in front of her. The pale halo that had previously surrounded her had become more defined and had transformed into a pulsating mana cocoon, around which barely visible rings and orbs of light formed, danced, dissolved and appeared once again.

I crossed its boundary and found myself immersed in an incredibly mana dense environment. The air had assumed the viscosity of water and although breathing hadn't become impossible or particularly difficult, it had become much more unpleasant. I carried on and in two steps I was at an arm's length from Faye.

“No, no, no, no…”, she continuously murmured to herself like a broken record.

Mana vibrated in time with her breaths and words, and probably with her heartbeats too. She was safe, but her clothes were slowly decomposing and her skin was visibly darkening. Her genai heritage made her one with mana, but her human one made her vulnerable to it. Had she been aware and in control of herself, she would have probably been able to keep mana at bay, but in her current conditions she was at its mercy.

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“Faye”, I called her name, trying to garner her attention.

She didn't seem to notice my presence and continued on with her chant.

“Snap out of it”, I uttered in a clear resounding voice.

Her mouth stopped and her head turned to me.

“John?”, she said.

Her eyes were unfocused. Whatever she was seeing, it was not me.

“Don't die. You can't die. Without you, only hate. You can't die. If you die, I'll be alone. You can't die. You know, and yet… You can't die…”

She continued speaking, but I didn't pay attention to her raving speech as I had neither the strength nor the time. Maybe once we were safe and sound, but not now.

“I'm about to be impolite. Bear with it”, I spoke, completely ignored.

I placed my mace on the ground, stretched my hands towards her and put two fingers per hand on the symmetric sides of her neck, where the carotids were located. I applied a little bit of pressure and in seconds her body lost every ounce of strength. She would have fallen flat on the ground, had I not moved fast enough to move my hands on her shoulders in order to support her.

The surrounding cocoon of pulsating mana disappeared the same instant she had lost consciousness and the winds started to blow on my face. I lifted her up and positioned her body over my right shoulders, keeping her in place with my arm, while with the other hand I recovered my mace.

Once again I ignored the cries coming from my body. I started to run and rapidly reached the wagon. The mana storm seemed to have exceeded some unknown bound, ignoring the supposed inherent effect of the Obsidian Path. I could tell as much from how its strength hadn't varied one bit even if I had set foot upon the road. Another possible explanation was that the mana storm was following Faye. As a matter of fact, I could feel a weak pulse still coming from her body.

The exact reason for why this was happening wasn't important, as it wasn't relevant to what I had to do now. I placed Faye's body to the ground and started to unlock every single one of the three horizontal bolts keeping the wagon door shut.

A groan escaped from her lips, signalling she was regaining consciousness. If not maintained for too long, recovery from a blood choke was usually just as quick as the time needed for fainting to occur.

“John…? You are fine…”, she said in a weak voice, before losing consciousness once again, this time due to tiredness and fatigue.

I finally managed to release each latch and I swung open the door. I launched my mace inside, lifted the dishevelled Faye with one hand and then climbed inside of the wagon and closed the door behind me, shutting it with the big internal vertical bolt.

We were finally safe. The wagon would certainly get damaged, but it would be able to hold on until the end of the mana storm, guarding its load and the two of us from danger. Although the mana that was trapped inside was resonating with Faye's pulsating own one, it seemed to be too rarefied to cause the activation of another undesired phenomena.

It was pitch black inside. Feeling around with my free hand, I was able to determine the internal free volume. I first put down the sleeping Faye, then sat and rested my back against one of the crates.

I felt my blood vessels return to their normal dimensions and my frenetic heartbeat and aura flow settle down. I could finally relax a little and give my body time to recover in the safe space provided by the insulated environment.

Listening to the howling of the wind and lulled by the rocking of the carriage, I waited for the storm to pass.