Chapter 198 (3/15): Dust and Ashes
Camilla and Kagriss did not have to move a finger. All they needed to do was walk, and every door in their way, big or small, locked or not, opened by themselves for them. It was like there were invisible servants that had been awaiting their presence.
The whole time, Camilla memorized the layout of the castle in preparation for her planned assault on Amaranthine Point once she got back. As much as she would like to explore the rest of the castle, she dared not dally in this strange and unknown world where nothing was real.
Who knows when this world would last? All she knew was that there was something waiting for her, supposedly a child of the feathers. These past few days, she was especially sensitive toward the word “feather” and she couldn’t help but think about those ornaments in Victoria’s presence whenever she heard the word.
Her experiences in the dungeon told her that things were not as simple as she initially assumed. Those feathers weren’t just an item she needed to obtain for Victoria’s sake. In a way, the feathers were related to her or Kagriss somehow, even if Camilla wasn’t sure what the connection was.
“A child of the feathers… huh?” she whispered. “I wonder which of us that voice was referring to.”
“Does it matter if we’re always together?” Kagriss replied, totally unconcerned about who the child was. “Hopefully, the thing we’re supposed to claim is that feather ornament. I think that there’s a pretty high chance.”
Camilla bobbed her head. She hoped so too.
They finally arrived at a huge door made of an unknown wood that was richly brown in color and gilded. The sheets of gold made elaborate patterns on the door, ultimately forming a stylized rendering of a pair of wings attached to a hollow circle. Within the circle rested a crest depicting a bird of some kind. It was probably the insignia of the castle’s ruler.
The opening of the door split the crest in half and revealed a long audience hall that was spanned by a gigantic red carpet that stretched from door to throne. It was almost as big as the hall that contained those sculptures.
Like every other room in the castle, the audience hall was empty with no sign of life anywhere. It was as dead as the rest of the world.
Instead of strolling in immediately, Camilla stopped at the door and looked around, trying to find the source of the pulsating holy mana. With luck, the origin was the feather ornament that they were looking for, but she had no such luck.
Not only was there no feather in sight, but the pulsing also stopped once the door was opening. If Camilla wanted to know more, she had no choice but to enter.
She scowled. “This feels like a trap of some kind. It’s leading us here but now that we’re here, it took away the bait. Yet it still wants us to step into their trap?”
“But is there anything else we can do?” Kagriss asked. “It’s not like we can escape from this place when we don’t even know how this world was made. Besides, if they wanted to kill us, they had plenty of chances to do so considering they’re the master of this world. Yet, they’re treating us like honored guests.”
“I guess you’re right,” Camilla replied, though her heart wasn’t in it. The unknown frightened her and she preferred to have all the information already in her hands before she acted. However this time, she was going in blind.
But Kagriss was right; they had no other choice but to advance after coming this far. All other options that she could think of were also hidden in the shadows of uncertainty and closed to them.
All she could hope for was the benevolence of that sexless voice and hope that it hadn’t been joking.
Gathering her courage, Camilla took the first step over the line, and felt nothing except her boots sinking into the soft, luxurious carpet. Then she took another and stepped inside completely with Kagriss following close on her heels.
Still nothing.
Each step took a second as Camilla paused to make sure that there were no traps, and to make sure she regained all her power, or else she’ll be helpless if an enemy suddenly appeared.
With that slow pace, they walked up the empty throne and paused. Still nothing.
“What now?” Kagriss asked, looking curiously at the gilded and gem-studded throne. She had never seen a throne in person before, only read about it in her books. Excitement over her new discovery was quickly suppressed and replaced by caution about her current surroundings.
Camilla thought hard. What did people do before a throne? If the throne was empty, perhaps she might try it on for size, but if there was already whom she submitted to already, then she’ll kneel.
With her mouth fighting back a frown, Camilla lowered herself down to one knee and lowered her head.
Although Kagriss wasn’t sure why Camilla was kneeling before an empty throne, she quickly copied Camilla.
Right on cue, the space above the throne ignited and unleashed an explosion of holy energy, and when the explosion faded, all that was left was a single concentrated ball of holy mana that emitted so much power that Camilla felt its heat radiating onto her exposed skin.
She didn’t look up out of respect, and the ball didn’t allow her to look. Without even the slightest bit of warning, a ray of holy light shot out from the ball of holy mana, covering Camilla from head to toe instantly. Her kneeling merely made her a smaller target that was easily encompassed by the wide ray.
The pain was like when she was once splashed with a pot of boiling water when she was little, only instead of burning for an instant and in patches on her body, the pain this time was all over her and never ending. It was all she could do to not scream and choke out a warning.
“It’s a trap! Run, Kagriss!”
A split second later, a second ray of holy light shot out toward Kagriss who tried to grab Camilla and leave.
It didn’t take long for the hand that grasped Camilla’s collar to slip away. Kagriss collapsed onto the red carpet and the smell of burning flesh filled the air, drifting into Camilla’s nose.
Everything had happened so fast that there was no time for anyone to react. Camilla watched in frozen shock as Kagriss’s mana began to wane.
“No! Kagriss!” she screamed. Fighting the scalding pain on her skin and a weight on her shoulders, forcing her to her knees, that felt like a thousand tons, Camilla staggered toward the collapsed lich and picked her up. She charged with heavy steps to the side, but she was much too slow. The ray of holy light followed her movements with ease.
All of her strength exhausted, Camilla fell back down to the ground and did her best to cover Kagriss with her body. Never before had she hated her small body as she did now. Why couldn’t she be bigger? Why couldn’t she be taller?
Although the thought of being a man was now unthinkable to her after all these months in her new body, Camilla found herself wishing that she were Carmen again. At least then she could shield all of Kagriss with her body.
She watched helplessly as the cold mana faded from Kagriss’s body, immolated by the devastating holy power that targeted them. It had all happened so fast… all because Kagriss didn’t possess the holy affinity that Camilla had and took the full brunt of the ray.
Camilla failed her. She was supposed to be protecting Kagriss, yet she failed.
“Kagriss, please wake up! Kagriss!” she cried. “Please talk to me!”
The body in her arms stirred at her voice and slowly, Kagriss’s eyes opened. Blackened pieces of her eyelids flaked off and dissolved into ashes, but that moment Kagriss’s opened her eyes, Camilla swore that she had never seen anything more beautiful. She looked into those violet eyes that looked so full of vitality and felt hope rekindle in her heart.
But that flame was quickly extinguished as Camilla realized that Kagriss’s mana was still draining out. She hurriedly created a shield of holy magic to offset the rays and began feeding her own mana into Kagriss, but all it did was slow the draining.
Kagriss was like a broken bottle with a hole bigger than the bottleneck. No matter how fast Camilla poured water into her, that water would leak out faster. Despair descended onto Camilla’s shoulders and she could scarcely speak.
“Kagriss…”
“Milla… are you okay?” Kagriss asked, her voice raspy.
“What are you talking about? I’m fine! This kind of firepower is nowhere near enough to kill me!” she said. “So stop worrying about me and worry about yourself!”
“But… it hurts…” Tears formed at the corner of Kagriss’s eyes. For the first time, Camilla saw Kagriss cry. “It hurts so much… I didn’t know such pain existed…”
Camilla gritted her teeth and forced her barrier to expand until it encompassed all of Kagriss’s form and then some. Sustaining such a large barrier spread her reserves thin, but it was worth it if she could spare Kagriss the pain.
“Is it better now?”
“…yes...” But Kagriss’s voice was even weaker than before. The hole in the bottle was not repaired. Her eyes closed again.
“So why aren’t you getting better?” Camilla shouted. “Didn’t you promise to stay with me forever? You promised, you promised! We were going to go hunting and then hide away in a little cabin. We had all of eternity ahead of us! You promised me!”
Her shouts seemed to reach Kagriss at least and she shifted. Her mouth moved slightly, yet her eyes remained closed.
“Promise… I did, didn’t I… “ Kagriss whispered. “…that reminds… me… I had wanted to wait for you… but… it seems that I can’t… don’t… worry…”
The words that came from Kagriss’s mouth seemed like pure gibberish, but Camilla didn’t care, as long as Kagriss kept talking. But no matter how long she waited, no more words came from Kagriss’s mouth.
Camilla knelt there in that burning light, holding a motionless body, herself unmoving.
One moment, Kagriss had been with her, and now, all that remained was silence. She was alone in this false world devoid of life.
It had been all too sudden. But it wasn’t like there hadn’t been hints. The holy light had always been nearby, after all. It’s just that Camilla always told herself that she’d be able to protect Kagriss and look at her now. She should’ve known and she should’ve just abandoned the mission and ran.
In a lapse of attention, the barrier collapsed, and the flood of holy power crashed into her again with renewed force. Like tongues of flame consuming paper, the light first charred Kagriss’s body and then burnt it away, bit by bit, until there was nothing left except empty clothes and a tiny black orb in Camilla’s hand.
The little orb sucked the warmth from her hand and lapped hungrily at her mana.
Camilla froze. “What… is this?” She pushed out a bit more mana, finding it quickly swallowed up until it was all gone, leaving no trace behind. The orb grew a little colder, until… it was almost as if she was holding Kagriss in her hands.
Without thinking and without daring to hope for anything, Camilla cradled the orb in her embrace, curling into a ball to completely cover it with her body, shielding it from the light. The barrier that had collapsed in her despair sprang up again, stronger than ever.
“It’s you, isn’t it, Kagriss?” she whispered. “I...won’t worry… I’ll definitely protect you.”
It was difficult and painful, but Camilla began absorbing some of the holy mana in the air. Compared to the mana of the undead that refreshed her when it entered her body, each bit of holy mana that she took in felt like she was breathing tiny pieces of glass. The silver lining was that there was a lot of it and in high purity too.
Using her mastery over blood mana, she produced more undead mana to replenish her reserves, and more importantly feed Kagriss’s orb. Every bit that she produced, the orb devoured.