Chapter Forty-Two

Jackson wasn’t worried about the frost venom. Melanie could heal from that, as she had a regeneration skill as well. It wasn’t as good as his, but she did have it. What Jackson was worried about was the axe, which the revenant had removed from Melanie’s shoulder—an action that must have been incredibly painful to her even if she could not scream—and was now coming down onto her head. Jackson had maybe a second before it cleaved into her, and he had to think fast. The world seemed to slow as his thoughts raced. He couldn’t move, but was that true? He had been paralyzed before, what seemed like an eternity ago, by Dylan, back when he had fought the swordsman in a duel. He had managed then to move, if a little bit. He had come far since then; he was at journeyman rank, for gods' sake!

The venom was blocking Jackson's access to his Domain. He would have to correct that. He hurled his consciousness at the barrier, battering against it like an angry monster, using all of the force his considerable willpower could bring to bear. The barrier cracked, mist hissing from the cracks in the wall, and Jackson redoubled his effort, slamming mental fists into that wall with all the force of an oncoming train. The wall shattered, and Jackson could feel his mana again—the phoenix concept power flowing through him, speeding up his regeneration. Outside of himself, he looked into Melanie’s hazel eyes, and they were filled with resignation. He would not let it end here, not like this, and not after they had come so far. Marshalling his will, a journeyman-level stat, he pitted it against the venom running through him, and for good measure, he tapped his spirit, empowering his phoenix regeneration skill. It was enough; his right forefinger twitched and lined itself up with the revenant.

Then Jackson wove. Blood Lightning Surge crackled into existence, swirling around his finger and humming a deadly song of blood, destruction, and power. The revenant's eyes and orbs of crystalline ice flicked towards him, the axe pausing in its deadly descent towards Melanie’s head. Jackson managed to croak out some words as his regeneration broke down the venom further.

“Tell me, you oversized snow cone, do you melt?”

His power surged, and the blood lightning shot forward from his finger in a triumphant blast of destructive energy, filling the air with the sweet smell of blood and lightning, like rain during a storm. It hit the revenant, who had managed to bring the axe around to block, but Jackson had empowered the weave with his now journeyman-ranked spirit, and the destructive power exploded against the revenant, utterly destroying its axe in a burst of frozen shards. It continued on, eating into its body with an almost insidious crackling, lightning arcing this way and that, warping the air around it.

The ice on the revenant's body turned black and began to smoke.

You have dealt a critical blow to the Ice Revenant.

Jackson laughed weakly and began to stand up, his finger still pointed firmly at the revenant as his regeneration did its work. He rolled his neck and took a deep breath as he began to walk towards the revenant, his blood lightning still doing its terrible work. The revenant tried to flee then, but Jackson cut off his weave and wove ebon eruption instead, the cloak of destructive power surrounding him in an aura of warping power, and he flowed, a blur of black and red in the swirling frigid air, and he hit that ice revenant with a veilstrike, paralyzing it.

Unable to move, the revenant simply stared at Jackson, with absolutely no emotion in its eyes of carved ice. Its body was breaking down, chips of ice falling from it, revealing a cold nothingness underneath.

“I’m not normally one who revels in violence. I don’t have any kind of demon inside of me that I wish to destroy. But you? You hurt my friend. The one person I truly care about in this world.”

Jackson leaned down, his iridescent blue eyes flashing with a cold hunger.

“You probably can’t feel fear, but I hope I am wrong. I want you to feel this next bit, because this is the fun part.”

He held up his right forefinger again, eye level with the monster, and black and red lightning began to arc and crackle around the edge of it, forming into an abyssal ball that built with pressure as he packed the weave with layers, like tightening a spring. Then he lowered his finger at the ice revenant's right eye, and with an utterly cold, utterly calm voice, he said,

“Boom, motherfucker.”

The explosive beam of lightning, layered as it was and at this range, was so devastating that it didn’t so much destroy the revenant's head as erase it. The body broke down, the huge shards of ice smashing into the iced-over lake and shattering further like delicate pottery thrown onto concrete.

When Jackson had paralyzed the revenant, its ice wraiths had also stopped. Apparently, they were connected to the thing somehow, which made sense since the wraith-like serpents had come from the revenant. It was a good thing too, since Jackson had simply ignored them while he had been wailing on the boss. He turned and rushed towards Melanie, who was clutching at her shoulder. The wound was deep, touched with a light blue.

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“Ow, this freaking hurts,” Melanie snarled, her hand turning a lighter white as she clutched her shoulder.

“Is your regeneration healing it?”

Melanie’s hazel eyes, filled with pain and anger, flicked to Jackson. “No, I figured I’d stop the skill because I enjoy being in pain. Of course it’s freaking healing it. It’s just taking time. Some of us don’t have expert-ranked regeneration, you know.”

Jackson held up his hands in apology. She was hurting, and he forgave her for taking his head off. He walked off to her bag, which had fallen some ways away on the lake when the fight had started, and he retrieved a health potion. Taking it back to her, he tipped the bottle of red liquid down her throat. She swallowed and then sighed as the wound on her shoulder knit together faster. Her clothing was already repairing itself, and she rolled her shoulder experimentally, and then winced.

“Still a little sore, but much better. Thank you, Jackson. Sorry I took your head off.”

Jackson swallowed as he looked at her smile. Acting without really thinking about it, he reached up a hand and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear before letting his hand rest on her face. Melanie grew still, so still that Jackson thought she might bolt at the slightest movement.

“I thought I was going to lose you. Seeing you there like that, unable to do anything... I was terrified. I, uh, I love you, Melanie.”

As he said it, Jackson realized it was true. He wasn’t sure when it happened—maybe during training, maybe during their journey together. He didn’t know, but it had happened.

Melanie’s eyes melted into softness, and before Jackson knew it, she was kissing him. Her lips were soft, full, and hot, and she tasted of citrus on a summer day. Jackson's arms wrapped around her, and for the first time since they entered this trial of ice, he felt warm. That warmth built within him, spreading through him, and the world faded away.

That is, until Lazarus let out a loud and very obnoxious cough.

“Ahem. Hey now, hey!”

They broke off, both of them flush and looking embarrassed.

“First off, it’s about time. Secondly, don’t you think we should leave before you two completely freeze over?”

Jackson nodded, “Yeah. Uh. Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

He stood and offered Melanie a hand. She took it and rose gracefully before hugging him tight, biting his right earlobe playfully, and whispering into his ear.

“I love you too, you big lug.”

Jackson chuckled, “Big lug? I’m not even that big.”

Melanie smiled, her hazel eyes shining with amusement. “A work in progress then; I could call you my blood sucker.”

Jackson winced, and Melanie giggled. “Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something good.”

Jackson sighed, knowing what he was in for in the days ahead. The icy lake and the surrounding world began to twist and crumble as they found themselves back on the mountain path. Before they headed through to the next arch, which led to the mountain summit, Melanie turned to him.

“By the way, what was up with those lines back there?”

Her gaze turned into a mocking version of a serious expression, lips turned down, eyes hard, yet with a subtle shining amusement within, and her voice was over-the-top deep.

“Tell me, do you melt?”

She burst into giggles.

Jackson shook his head, laughing. Something had changed back there, with the revenant. Melanie had opened up somehow, as if she had let a wall down that he hadn’t understood was there. Her emotions were more open, and then it dawned on him. Melanie had been treating him as a trusted ally before, maybe even a friend, but this Melanie? Melanie was the one that those she considered family saw—the one that was present when she was dealing with someone she truly cared about and loved.

“Hey, I never said I was clever or anything. It seemed cool at the time.”

Melanie’s voice was still deep, her eyes glittering with unmasked humor. “I hope you feel fear!”

Jackson put his hand on his face and groaned. “Okay, okay. You’re right. It was a bit edgy. Come on, we have a summit to reach.”

Lazarus flashed in front of them, shaking his head. “You should really rest first, children. You will need all of your strength for what lies ahead.”

Jackson looked at Melanie, and they exchanged nods before sitting down, just outside the arch, which was already shimmering to reveal the path forward. Jackson could feel heat and see black and violet lava sloshing and swirling in a vast pool, surrounded by cool, shining black stone.

There was no sign of the wyrm, but there was an undeniable aura of danger that emanated from that arch. Melanie scooted until she could lean against Jackson, and he allowed his arms to wrap around her. It felt good to hold her; the warmth of her body against his felt undeniably right. Perhaps this relationship was progressing too fast; it wasn't that long ago when Melanie had wanted to kill him, after all.

Yet Jackson did not care. They had faced trial after trial together, saving each other's lives and facing down danger after horrifying danger. Literally demons, for crying out loud. It felt like they had quite literally stormed the gates of hell.

Melanie looked up at Jackson. Her hazel eyes shining in the light; they almost looked like gems of green gold. Jackson tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. He ignored Lazarus's pantomime gagging. The spirit would not ruin their moment.

“You know I would have respawned, right?”

“Hmm?”

“If the revenant had killed me, I would have respawned.”

Jackson chewed on his tongue a bit. “It didn’t feel like that in the moment. Besides, respawn or not, I didn’t want to see that axe in your head.”

Melanie snuggled closer, sighing contentedly. “You know that place you want to build?”

“Yeah?” Jackson replied, absently running his hands through her hair.

“I want to come with you. Help you build it.”

Jackson perked up, straightening a bit. “Really? You know you don’t have to. You don’t owe me anything.”

Melanie readjusted, burrowing deeper into his arms if that were possible. “It’s not about debt, silly. I realized that I don’t want to face this world with anyone else. Whatever is important to you is important to me. So let’s do it. We build that home together.”

Jackson beamed and kissed her soundly.

In that moment, just that one quiet moment, all was right in the world. There were no monsters to fight; there was no advancement. No judge or worry about death and violence.

Just a man and just a woman who loved one another