Chapter Thirty: Resurrection

The day after I decide to resurrect Astil, I feel reinvigorated. I’m going to do everything I can today to bring Astil back to life. I slept for a long time, but I’m glad I did. The more I rest, the better my core will feel.

I don’t know how resurrections will work. Because of this, I’ll need to work harder today. By the end of today, I’m hoping Astil will have been brought back to me. Yue’s talk with me yesterday may have been a godsend, but I would still much rather have Astil here than not.

Standing up, I grab my shirt and trousers from where I left it. Quickly, I dress myself.

Breakfast is my first priority now. Only after can I prepare myself for what I’m sure will be a very stressful day.

I rush to the cafeteria where I grab my food, sit down, and start shoveling it down as quickly as possible.

“How are you doing?” Xavier asks softly, sitting down next to me. Refusing to stop eating, I grunt.

“Are you okay?” His tone has changed now. Instead of being just soft and tentative, his voice is concerned now.

“I’m fine,” I respond sharply. I glare at him, and he shrinks back.

“Something is wrong with you,” My friend tells me.

Hitting my fist on the table, I stand up.

“I’m fine, okay? I just have so much to do. You’ll see when I’m done.”

“That isn’t comforting,” My friend responds, standing up as well. Worry all over his face now, he grabs my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” I yell “I’ll be fine.!” As I finish speaking, his head recoils as if I’d slapped him. His face grows stony.

“Fine! If that’s how you want it…” he storms off, food still on his plate.

I feel bad for speaking like I did, but I don’t have time to think about that. There just isn’t time for distractions. My book is calling to me already, and I can’t help but feel a thrill of excitement as I think about it.

I’m going to bring you back, I think. I won’t leave you, Astil.

— — —

“I want to learn something new,” I tell Master Thul, my voice determined and no-nonsense.

“Sure, what do you want to learn this time?” I’m reassured by his optimistic tone, so I don’t hesitate.

“Resurrection.”

“Of course not. That is off the table.” Master Thul winces. “Not only is it advanced, but it is also dangerous, immature, impulsive, and just plain stupid. Zade, forget it.”

My lips curl upwards. “You can’t say no.”

“Excuse me?” Master Thul retorts.

“I don’t think you can outright refuse me, can you? Every time I ask you for something, you’ve accepted the request. You’ve never refused to teach me anything. You can’t, can you?”

Hanging his head, Master Thul sighs. “Most mages-in-training take longer to figure it out. No, I cannot outright refuse something. I can try to refuse you, but if you push, I am forced to teach you.

“But I will try to convince you otherwise.”

“There’s no need.” I respond. “My mind is made up.”

“Not if I can help it. Zade—” Reaching for me, Master Thul’s voice turns sad— “No one has ever successfully been able to complete a resurrection. Not even with animals. It’s merely a theory. You’re just a mage-in-training. If you try, you’ll just Burn.”

“I have to try,” I retort frustratingly. “If there is a way to bring Astil back, I have to try, right?”

“No, you don’t. He might be happier on the other side.”

“But he might want to come back.” I look down, realizing how weak my logic is. “I need to try, okay? I can’t let this go.”

“Zade, do you know what a shade is?” Shaking my head, I narrow my eyes at Master Thul. He smiles grimly. “There was a High Mage hundreds of years ago who wanted to resurrect his wife. He did everything he could, but nothing worked. After years of training, he did it.

“He had more knowledge than you. Years of experience. When he looked at his wife reborn, he realized immediately something was wrong with her. She didn’t act like herself, Zade. As the days went by, her skin began to turn sickly, pale. Her eyes turned black, and veins of darkness tore through her body. After just a couple of weeks, she was unrecognizable.

“And then she turned feral. Her mind was gone, don’t you see? The rest of his life, the High Mage had to hunt her because she attacked everyone she met, killing many and injuring more.

“She had become a shade, Zade. After that, others found ways to create shades. They grew rampant, until finally it was outlawed to even try to create shades.

“What you are trying to do could create one, Zade. You can’t take the risk.” Master Thul sighed. “Have I convinced you?”

Heavy thoughts in my mind now, I shake my head. “No, you haven’t. I’m sorry, but I need to do this. Even if just to prove to myself that I can’t do it.”

“Give me five minutes then,” Master Thul says, disappearing.

Breathing in and out, I relax my core, getting ready for what I’m sure will be a grueling session.

What Master Thul said sounds scary, and making Astil a shade is not a comforting thought, but I know I have to try. Without risk, there is no reward. Right?

I start to juggle the book, my dagger, and my sword in the air. It’s hard work, and I still can’t do it very well, which is proven a second later by the clatter of the sword on the ground.

Magic is hard. But I love it.

And now I have a reason to do it. If I’m successful, I get my friend back. If I’m not, he either becomes a shell of his former self or I Burn.

Therefore, I need to succeed. It’s the only option.

“Necromancy is a delicate thing,” I hear Master Thul say. Looking to the left, I spot him staring at me somberly. “Necromancy is about controlling the dead, communicating with them. You are a necromancy mage, Zade.

“But resurrection has never been part of Necromancy. Necromancy is about zombies, shades, ghosts. As resurrection is a form of changing what is, it cannot be Necromancy. Necromancy is using what is but not changing its essential form. Zombies are still dead, as are ghosts.

“That is why the theory of resurrection is so hard to make concrete. How do you make life? Only a God can do it, and you have no God to ask, do you? I’m telling you this to once again warn you, Zade. But not just to warn you. This is essential information if you want to attempt resurrection.

“And we can’t jump right into resurrections. First, you will need to learn a little of Necromancy, because it will be a stepping stone into resurrection.”

“How long will it take to learn?” I ask.

“Usually, a few decades. In your case, we’ll do as much as we can in as short a time. I know your patience is running short,” Master Thul says.

“Damn right,” I respond. “I want to attempt it today.”

Shaking his head, Master Thul speaks to me. “There is no way I can teach you that much in so short a time.”

“Well, teach me only what is essential.”

“I already was!” Master Thul’s indignant voice makes me smile.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Okay, what’s first?” I rub my hands, preparing myself for what is coming.

“The first step in Necromancy is always being able to tell when something is living or dead. You can already tell when something is alive. Now, I will teach you to recognize when something is dead. It is a relatively simple thing to do. It shouldn’t take you long. Firstly, You will need to bring me something dead.”

“From where?”

“You figure it out,” Master Thul shrugs.

A buzzing in my ears gives me exactly what I need. I concentrate on the mosquito whizzing around my room. Eventually, it stops and sits on my book. I slowly crawl up to it.

Crack.

My hand slaps down hard on the fly, killing it instantly. Picking it up, I bring it to Master Thul carefully.

“That is acceptable,”The man tells me, rolling his eyes. “Now, try to find the mosquito’s core. It won’t be there. But something else will.”

As I close my eyes and focus on my core, I can see the two cores in this room. Mine and Master Thul’s. I focus on where the mosquito will be, dead in my hands. There is nothing there, so I concentrate harder.

A glimmer of something catches my attention. I shift my focus to it, and I’ve found it. Instantly, I feel a thrill.

It would be hard to describe this. It’s not a core. It’s more like the absence of one. Instead of a pulsating ball, I can see thin white lines radiating from something. I just can’t see the something, because it doesn’t exist. It’s a surreal feeling.

“I did it,” I say.

“Good,” Master Thul responds. “Normally, I would tell you to keep practicing this. But I guess this isn’t a normal circumstance. Because you want to finish this today. I’m going to skip all the talking to the dead bits. They are extremely important but I do not have the time to teach you today.”

A twinge of regret builds in my gut at that, but I stuff it down. I’ll learn all that some other time.

“What I do hope to teach you now is how to manipulate the core of the dead. It is the first step in creating a zombie, and I will not teach you everything about manipulation, but I will teach you the beginning.”

“I’m ready for it,” I say.

“I’m sure you are, but make sure to check your mana ever once in a while. As much as you’ll be training today, the resurrection will not be the only chance you have of Burning. I advise you this: Be careful. This is a dangerous business.”

My response is curt. “I know.”

“Well, let’s get started then,” The man from my book almost smiles there, but it disappears quickly. His disapproval makes me question what I’m doing, but, once again, I shove it down.

I don’t have the time for that.

“What do you see when you look at this mosquito’s core?” Master Thul asks me.

“Um… It’s like an inverted core. Little light streams running off it.” I shrug. “Kinda hard to explain, you know?”

“I understand. You explained it well enough. Now I want you to grab one of the ‘light streams’ as you called them.”

Nodding, I close my eyes. The darkness envelops me, lit only by my core. I can see the mosquito’s non-core and all its tiny little streams coming off of it. They seem easy enough to grasp, although it is probably harder than it looks.

I reach tentatively for it, grabbing one of the streams like I would my core shield. It resists my touch, vaulting around it yet still staying straight. Clearly, I’m doing something wrong. Reaching for it from both sides, I try to clasp it, to feel the light in my hands.

Once again, it seems to decide it doesn’t want me, although this time it shrinks back, as if shy of my touch.

“How do I do this?” I annoyedly ask Master Thul after a few more tries.

“It’s different for everyone in general. I couldn’t tell you,” He replies. “I can tell you this. Those streams are intangible. You told me they were made of light. While that isn’t completely true, it’s a close enough description.”

“You can’t grab light!” I retort.

“Exactly!” Master Thul smiles. “You must figure out how to do it yourself. I can’t really help you with that.”

I groan but can’t really do anything about it.

Closing my eyes, I focus on the mosquito’s core. It seems to be fading. That isn’t good.

As if reading my mind, Master Thul responds.

“Yes, it is fading. All Anti-Cores, as we call them, fade over time. Human Anti-Cores never truly fade, but they get so dim it’s almost impossible to control them. Animal Anti-Cores are different. A mosquito’s Anti-Core takes only a few hours to disappear completely. I would advise you to hurry up, unless you want to kill another animal, which I’m sure you don’t.”

I grunt in acknowledgement. Time to hurry up, then.

How am I going to grab it? It’s light, impossible to grasp. No one can control it. I know mages can create light, but I can’t do it myself. Clearly, I am skipping several steps to get here, and it’s not wise.

I need to think about this problem realistically. If I wanted to grasp sunlight, how would I do it? Is it truly impossible? It can’t be, right? Because most think mages can do anything, I did too. I’ve realized that isn’t true, though. Clearly, mages can only do what is in the realm of imagination and their own control.

I doubt any mages could level the world, for instance.

But grasping light shouldn’t be a problem for high level mages, I assume. So, therefore, if I figure out how they could possibly do that, I might be able to figure out how to grasp the streams of light.

And I’ve got only a couple of hours to do it.

Better get to it, then.

— — —

After an hour of thinking and prodding, I think I’ve figured it out.

Once again, I was thinking about it the wrong way.

You can’t grasp light. What you can do is let it grasp you.

What I need to do is let the streams land on me. If that works, I should have a hold on it.

That sounds unnecessarily complicated, but I’m relatively sure it’ll work.

So I close my eyes and instead of reaching for the Anti-Core, I imagine my touch as a finger under one of the streams. As the stream gently moves, I position myself perfectly still. Hopefully, it doesn’t move away from me this time.

At first, it acts like a frightened animal, afraid of going where my touch is. Slowly, though, my finger becomes like the rest of the darkness to it and it starts to return to its place.

Closer and closer it gets to my hand until…

I shiver. The stream is freezing, and I’m not even tangibly touching it. I attempt to move my touch away, and the stream gently goes with it. I think I can control it now!

“Good!” Master Thul exclaims when I tell him, although his face tells me he doesn’t think it's ‘good’. “Now you will have to do that to all of its light streams.”

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I groan. “There are hundreds of them! I don’t have time for this.”

“No resurrection then,” My teacher shrugs. “Okay.”

“Fine, I’ll do it,” I respond. “This better not take too long.”

It does.

Especially when the mosquito’s Anti-Core disappears.

— — —

I’m in the Zenyth Gardens looking for a fly or a worm when I spot Xavier coming in.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“I was talking to Yue, Zade,” he responds genuinely. “I’m worried about you. Clearly, you’re doing something I won’t like.”

“Don’t worry about it, Xavier, it’ll be fine.” My voice is reassuring, but he doesn’t seem convinced. “I’m better now. Nothing bad will happen. Do you trust me?”

Xavier sighs. “I have to, don't I?” When I nod, he sighs again. “Okay. I’ll trust you. Just please don’t do anything stupid.”

“Of course not,” I grin. As he leaves, though, my smile disappears. I hate hiding things from him but now I have to.

I keep searching for a dead animal I could use, and eventually I strike gold. There’s a dead bird on the ground under a tree. Sadly, it was young, and I feel a pang of sorrow. Picking it up softly, I carry it up to my room.

“I’ve got one,” I tell Master Thul.

“Oh my God!” He yells. “Did you kill that thing?”

“Of course not,” I reply indignantly. “I would never do that.” He breathes a sigh of relief.

“Well, you know what to do, Zade. Go ahead.”

It takes me five minutes to grab the first light stream and after that the others seem to be less reactive to my touch. It becomes easier to get them together. Instinctively, I start to clump them together, and they seem to join together, forming a thicker light stream.

After the first dozen, I start to really get the hang of it. It’s still tough and it takes patience but I’m learning quickly. The more I do, the easier it gets, and I know it’s not because I’m getting good. The more I grab, the more the streams want to be grabbed.

I’ve got another dozen.

Then another dozen,

As the time wears on,—how many minutes, I’m not sure—I realize that I only have a couple dozen left. I’ve probably grabbed a couple hundred at least. I can feel myself sweating. It’s tough work, but I’m really liking it. Hurriedly, I lay my finger under another, and it reaches for my touch almost immediately. Another two go for it as well.

More and more light streams reach for me, and I pile them all on the massive stream I’m creating.

Finally, there’s one left, and this one is the easiest of all. I don’t even need to reach for it; it slides over and joins with the monstrous light stream I’ve created.

I open my eyes, but subconsciously, I keep my hold on the stream.

“It’s done,” I say. “How long did it take?”

“Just over an hour,” Master Thul responds, and I gape. I didn’t think it’d been this long. “You must go to lunch.”

“Not yet. Teach me how to Control and I’ll go immediately.”

Master Thul huffs. “Check your Mana, Zade.” Reaching for my book, I wonder how much Mana I’ll have. I don’t feel too tired, but you never know with Mana.

My heart sinks as I see the number.

61%

I don’t have a lot left, so I need to be very careful.

“Let’s go,” I say. “I have enough.”

My teacher raises his eyebrows at me but doesn’t retort.

“Those light streams you have are now strings to a puppet. You are the puppeteer. Each string you pull can do something different. Something minute. I know that is not a lot to go off of, but you need to figure this out on your own. Be careful. I trust you can do this.”

Master Thul’s explanation leaves me a little confused, but like he said I can figure it out. It shouldn’t be too hard.

Closing my eyes once again, I reach for the massive light stream I have created.

The first thing I’ll need to decide is how I’ll control the bird. Will I make it fly? Jump around? No, after a little bit of thought, I know that just making it move a little will be hard enough. Hopefully, I’ll make the wing move. That should be enough.

Pushing on the stream, I try to pull apart a small strand. Gently, one comes off, and I smirk. This should be easy enough.

Oh, I’m a fool.

As soon as I try to pull on the strand, it reacts instinctively, pushing on me. It’s a small tug-of-war, one I quickly realize I can’t win. I cannot pull on the strand harder than it can pull on me.

Clearly, I will have to think about this differently.

Normally, if you pull on the string of a puppet, it will move. This is no normal puppet, but it also should act like one.

So shouldn’t it work if I pull on the strand?

Master Th’ul told me that every string will do something minute. Maybe I was moving something.

Or maybe I wasn’t moving anything because I didn’t think about moving anything. I’d told myself I would try to move the wing. But I hadn’t thought of the string as being attached to the wing.

Time to try again, then.

This time, when I try to pull on the strand it works, sort of. I can feel resistance, but it isn’t the pull I felt before. The feeling now is of an object too heavy for me to pull.

Maybe I need more strands.

That might be too advanced, though.

I’ll try to move a claw. Hopefully, that will work better.

Imagining the string pulling on a claw, I gently pull on it and open my eyes.

There!

If I’d blinked, I would’ve missed it, but I’m sure I did it. The claw moved.

“Great job!” Master Thul explains. “Now, you know how to manipulate the movement of a dead vessel. That does not mean you can command it. You only know how to make it move; you can only pull on it. We will skip control for now.

“I hate skipping all the theory and practice, but if you really want to resurrect your friend today—which I still think is a bad idea—then this is it. There is only one last part left for me to teach you.”

Shuddering in anticipation, I speak. “What do I need to do?”

“Eat and rest,” Master Thul responds. “Take a two-hour nap and refuel your mana. It is your best option. While you’re eating, pick up the book Resurrection Theory. I will not force you to read the entire thing, but you must read one specific part. It will be very important for what you want. Now go. You’ve got things to do.”

— — —

I eat as quickly as humanly possible. Xavier isn’t there; I assume he’s either studying or relaxing. For a minute, I want to talk to him and apologize for this morning. But once again, I remind myself that I just don’t have the time.

I can apologize later. Hopefully, with Astil by my side.

Passing by the library, I grab the book Master Thul told me too. It’s hefty, and must have at least one thousand pages, but it seems interesting enough.

Hopefully, it gives me the tools I need.

The clouds obscure the sun as I walk by a window in the direction of my room. Looks like it could rain later today.

That might make it uncomfortable going to the Dragon Head later today.

The High Mages are removing the bodies of the dead mages tomorrow, Astil included. That means I need to try today, or else I won’t have access to Astil.

Now that I think about that, it sounds evil, but I’m not here to do what sounds good.

I’m here to do what needs to be done.

As I reach my room, I begin to feel my exhaustion. My mana is down to about 50% now and I can’t afford to do any more magic until I’ve rested.

Master Thul was right, as much as I hate to say that.

I get to bed and as soon as my head hits the pillow, I start to lose consciousness.

There’s a lot of stuff I have to do now.

I just pray I’m strong enough to do it all.

— — —

Master Thul’s face smiles above me as I wake up.

“AAAAAAHHHH!” I scream. “WHAT THE HELL?”

Master Thul laughs. “You forgot to tell me to go away, so I decided to give you a little surprise!”

“That was uncool,” I respond.

“It woke you up fine,” My teacher shrugs. “You seem energized now.”

Cursing, I glare at Master Thul. I reach for my book.

My mana is at 72%. Not amazing, but it should be enough. If not, then I guess I’ll have a high risk of Burning.

“Don’t worry,” Master Thul tells me. “You will still have a chance to rest. I want you to read pages one seventy-one to the end of that chapter. Your mana will regrow while you do that.”

“How long will the reading take?” I wonder. “I’ll need time to still try the resurrection today.”

“You better get to reading, then,” Master Thul responds. “Books don’t read themselves, you know! At least, this one won’t.” Chuckling, he disappeared.

Well, I guess I have no choice.

I flip through the book, finally landing on page 171.

The Theories

There are three main theories on how a resurrection can be done. The first has been disproven. The others have not been, and may never be. Not many mages attempt resurrections, and, from those that do, many assume if they just had more power, they could have accomplished it.

Of course, none of them did.

What is life if it does not have an end? There is no point to infinity. It goes on forever. Of course, that is not the point of this book.

But please, dear reader. Do not attempt any of these methods.

You will fail.

You could Burn.

You could even die.

And as you probably already know, coming back is impossible.

With that out of the day, I shall now proceed to describe the different theories.

Theory #1: The Anti-Core Theory

Maybe the most popular theory was the Anti-Core theory. And then it was disproved. I will endeavor to explain it anyway, if just to put the process into words.

This theory proceeds on the belief that if the Anti-Core could be reversed, it would become a fully functioning core again.

The procedure of this one is simple. All one needed to do is force the strings being excreted from the Anti-Core back into the Anti-Core. It is a grueling process, and in the end it came to naught.

It took one mage two straight days to force every string back into the Anti-Core, but, once he did, he realized the extent of his mistake.

By putting the strings back in the Anti-Core, the man had created a shade. The shade has a core, yes, but a dark one. An empty one.

Clearly, this theory was proven wrong.

Theory #2: The Strings Theory

This theory is the most popular one now, and, while not having been disproven yet, it is most probable that it does not work.

This theory involves a lot of work. I would not advise anyone under Level 30 to try this.

The theory is simple. The mages think that the strings are not coming out of the Anti-Core, they are going in. By removing the strings, they might be able to reverse the effects.

No mage has so far been able to remove all the strings. It takes a lot of effort to remove the first one, and the more one removes, the harder they are to remove. Also, they regenerate if one takes too long to remove them.

Still, if one were able to remove all the strings, my personal opinion is that whatever happened to the core would create something worse than a shade. Something monstrous.

Theory #3: The Core Theory

To me, this is the most plausible theory. While I do not think this will work, of all three, this was always the one that made the most sense.

This theory is based on the idea that Anti-Cores need something else to survive.

The process for this theory is easier to perform than the others.

All one must do is impute some of their core to the other core. When done properly, the Anti-Core will start to fill up.

But it depletes quickly. No one has been able to fill it up in time.

This is also the most dangerous of the three theories. More people have burned out with this one than with any other.

That is why it is the most uncommon and least popular.

Once again, I must advise you not to attempt any resurrections.

The next three chapters will explain the theories in detail.

I finish reading the chapter, yawning. To me, the most appealing theory is the third one.

That is the one I need to try.

Calling up Master Thul, I tell him what I think.

“Okay,” He grimaces. “Theory three it is.” He sighs. “Zade, I really don’t want you to do this. It’ll only be bad for you.”

Trying to ignore what he says is harder than I thought it would be; I know he’s right. Inside, I know that nothing good can come of this.

But I have to try.

Master Thul sighs for a second time. “I can’t stop you, can I? Well, here’s what you need to do. You will not be able to resurrect this bird, but you must practice the technique with the dead animal. Just familiarize yourself with it.

“When you feel ready, go find Astil, I guess.” Shaking his head, he disappears.

I breathe out slowly, in and out. This job might be the hardest I’ve done, and if I fail, it will have the worst consequences too. I need to get this perfect.

Grabbing the dead bird, I close my eyes and focus on its core. The strings are all still united and in my control. This shouldn’t be too hard.

I have done imputation of my core before, specifically on the Fireball. Therefore, I already know some of what I need to do. Channeling a little of my core, I begin to funnel it into the dead bird.

Of course, I am not trying to resurrect the bird. Not only would that take too much of my mana, but if I tried and didn’t work, I would get unmotivated.

No, here, I’m just practicing the process. If I get the process straight with this animal, it will get much easier with Astil’s Anti-Core.

As I funnel more of my core in, the Anti-Core seems to light up slowly. This must be how it fills up, so I concentrate harder on imputing my core in it. Eventually, though, the Anti-Core starts to deplete, and I feel the urge, the desperation, to give it more, to not let it get empty again.

But I can’t. I need to conserve my energy.

I let the core drain, and I open my eyes.

I am ready.

Time to resurrect my friend.

— — —

The Dragon Head looks lonely when I arrive. The marble house feels haunted, but I enter with no hesitation.

For the first time, I wonder why no one came to take the bodies away. It’s been two days since Astil died. Normally, the mages would’ve already come to collect his corpse.

Maybe they’re just too occupied. I guess with the tournament happening, most High Mages won’t have time to deal with petty squabbles.

The corpses aren’t going anywhere, after all.

Except for Astil’s, obviously.

I enter the room where the fight took place, and immediately the carnage makes me wince.

The room is in ruins. Pillars destroyed, bodies on the floor, blood pooling everywhere.

It looks like a battle scene. I guess it was.

Walking over to Astil’s rigid body, I feel tears forming in my eyes.

“I’m bringing you back, Astil,” I whisper. “Just wait for a little.”

Breathe, Zade. Breathe.

It’s time.

I close my eyes. Relaxing my core, I search for Astil’s Anti-Core. I shiver. There are a lot of Anti-Cores here. That makes sense, obviously, but it only adds to the creep factor of this place.

I want to be done with this as quickly as I can.

Astil’s Anti-Core isn’t too hard to find; it is the closest one to me. It is still fresh, a thought that gives me goosebumps.

Also, it feels familiar. I didn’t expect that, but I guess it makes sense.

Preparing myself, I start to impute my core into Astil’s dead core. Slowly, it begins to fill up. The bird’s Anti-Core was filling up faster at first, but, due to Astil being a human, his core just has more essence.

It’ll be harder than it would be with the bird.

Sweat begins to form on my brow as I impute my core. I’m already beginning to feel tired, and Astil’s soon-to-be core is only a quarter full.

Push, relax for a second, push harder. That is my process and I can’t afford to stop it.

Especially when Astil’s Anti-Core begins to drain, slowly at first, but soon, faster than I can infuse my own essence.

My brow furrows. My head begins to hurt. My core pulsates faster. I am breathing faster now and my concentration is unwavering. There is no stopping; I push harder than I have before. I can feel pain, but the risk of Burning is far from my mind now.

All I can think about is my friend. And how I can resurrect him.

Astil’s Anti-Core is only about a fifth full now. As the essence I gave him starts to disappear, I struggle to fill the empty space. I need to go faster.

Grunting in pain, I force myself even more.

Then the core stops emptying. It takes me a minute to realize it, but when I do, I smile. Somehow, I am going fast enough to rival the speed of the Anti-Core.

My core, though, is clearly not okay. It’s pulsating quicker than I’ve ever seen it, and the colors are diluting. The size also seems to have changed. If I’m not wrong, it’s gotten smaller.

But I’m close.

I push. And push. And push. And suddenly, a barrier breaks.

The feeling is like if I had been leaning against a wall, and it had randomly disappeared. Now, Astil’s Anti-Core loses its resistance.

I’m not sure what I just did, but once again, the Anti-Core starts to fill up.

Bile comes up my throat, and I desperately want to throw up. This is not good for me. I’m feeling sick, and I’m sure that if anyone could see me now, I would be pale. Hell, even my core is pale now.

I think I’m on the verge of Burning.

But the Anti-Core is this close to being full.

Half of it is encased in the light from my core, and the rest is filling up quickly.

Three-fifths.

Two-thirds.

Three-fourths.

Groaning again, I ignore the pain in my core. I am this close.

“AHHHHH!” I yell. The pain is blinding now. I don’t know if I can do this. I…

I must. For Astil.

One last push.

Steeling myself, I once again force my core on Astil’s. There is only a tiny bit of darkness in it now, not even enough to see. The light streams, or strings as the author called them, start to disappear.

I can’t believe it! Somehow, I am doing it!

The Anti-Core begins to reshape itself. Slowly, color starts to grow back into it.

Just a little more, and it’s done.

I’m beginning to lose consciousness, but I think I still have a few minutes left before I faint.

The little darkness left starts to dissipate. It’s beginning to look like a real core now.

With just a small imputation, something happens. I breathe a sigh of relief.

I think I did it. I think I…

Something explodes.

The world goes black.