Bursting out of the doors of my basement, I could feel both tiny and huge pieces of rubble cracking under my steps. While I was only lightly boosting the capability of my body with the feeling of pressure adding both the weight and the speed to my steps, I couldn't imagine the effects it actually had being anywhere below the actual second phase of the normal cultivation.
My perception of my surroundings slowed as well. This time, it wasn't something as intricate and glorious as time manipulation, just a feeling of urgency heightening my senses and the processing power of my mind.
This was the beauty of witchcraft. Almost flying through the devastated area that separated my basement from where the garden used to be, I contemplated over the nature of magic that I learned back in Ayda's world.
While the real secrets of wizardry were still hidden from me, the general idea was pretty simple. Instead of using something intangible as emotions, they would spend many years to carve out their wishes to their artefact and channel the magic through its respective points to cause different phenomena. On a small scale, one could create temporary artefacts, yet their power was generally pretty limited.
But that didn't mean those trinkets weren't useful at all.
Instead of simply running through the place, directly towards my mom, I circled her position. Dropping a small, wooden bead directly on the ruins, I would quickly follow towards the next marking point.
Each of those beads was an effect of my hard work. While I only managed to learn one wizard's skill, I made sure to bring its designed use to perfection. Only when a huge area around my mom's position was surrounded by a circle made out of a handful of those beads did I dare to angle myself towards the centre of this figure. Towards my mom.
With the wizardry part of my mission now done, I was finally free to rush towards her. Springing without any reservation, I could soon see how she appeared to be drawing her last breaths.
"Fuck…"
Completely ignoring the fight that my parents always advised against cussing, the situation instantly managed to overwhelm me. All the bottled feelings that I tuned down through months of exile to different worlds now returned in their full force…
Only to be cast away in the very next moment. I didn't have any spare room to pull my attention away from the prize. Because my work has only now begun.
Dropping into a slide, I covered the last meters that separated me from the lifeless body of my mother, but instead of catching her in the arms or even attempting to save her, I invoked the most vibrant feeling that Ayda forced me to accustom myself to.
Disgust and repulsion.
As soon as I felt the familiar, sharp pull on my body as if a long-unused muscle started to move, I focused my attention on the intent left over in the beads, firing up the spell hidden in their structure.
Kling.
As if the gears that turned the world around suddenly faced an obstacle, the entire atmosphere of the ruins seemed to stall for a moment. For the shortest of times, everything just stood in place.
And then the time resumed its relentless march, breaking through the obstacle its gears faced and unleashing a powerful road of magical energy throughout the place!
"Damn!"
This was something that I didn't expect.
Focusing all my will on the familiar feeling of repulsion, I pressed against the seemingly unmovable mass of magic hanging in the air. With no flower to consume it, the area of the garden was quickly infused with the same amount of this energy that existed in the surroundings.
And now, all this insane amount of magical energy that allowed people to cultivate or use other magical arts, was now forced aside, right towards the ring of my wooden beads.
The structure of the formation I created was pretty simple. Instead of relying on some mystic figures or markings, I used the basic geometry and math to solve the equation of my problematic situation.
With the surges of magic pressing against the active beads, the spell hidden within them finally found a source of energy. That was yet another reason why carving out a proper artefact was a long process. Once its user would lose the touch with the tool, it could be activated by any passing current of force, making it not only extremely volatile but also dangerous for the user.
After all, no one would like to die from a spell one created by himself!
But this time, I was going to make the full use of this property of those temporary, wooden beads.
With their intent fueled with an enormous storm of energy, all they did… Was accelerate its momentum.
This was the bet I was making with this kind of method of saving my mother. While the testing that I have done in other worlds could prove to be faulty on earth, I didn't really have any other way to go about it.
And just like I hoped for, once the beads finally shaped the free energy that was infusing the area around them, the sudden move of the magic currents created a vacuum of magic, sucking out all the remaining energy that remained within the circle.
"Mom…"
For now, those beads were expected to last at least a good few moments. Infused to their limit with the energy that I repulsed, they could keep all the magic away from the circular area for long enough for me to actually attempt saving my mom.
After all, it wasn't that just the presence of magic was hurting her. The injuries she already sustained were already dangerously lethal.
"Krist…?"
Hearing the weak, breaking voice of my mom seemed to break something apart in my heart. Losing all the sense of urgency, I could feel how the world around me accelerated, suddenly cutting the time I had to do something by half.
"Krist…"
Only the second time when my mom called out to me, her words managed to reach my inner self. Raising my eyes at her face, I could see the overwhelming maternal love filling her eyes. For this one moment, her face regained peace, as if all the pain and injuries were powerless in face of her determination to achieve what she was trying to do.
"I can't hold on."
After a moment of hope caused by the small flush that returned to her cheeks, all my dreams were shattered by this single sentence.
"I will be going to your father now."
From the sad expression on my mom's face, I realised that she was perfectly aware of the fate of her husband and my father. No mortal could survive the disaster that struck the mansion.
With my knees caving under the weight of what just burdened my shoulders, I powerless fallen down on them. My eyes glued to my mom's face only increased the insane pain that I felt while seeing her slowly wither away.
Because in terms of healing her, I was completely powerless.
No matter what world, no herbs, no artefacts or treasuries would help here. As costly and hard to obtain as they were useful, they all had a fatal flaw that made them completely useless in the current situation.
All those items worked only because of magic.
And it was magic that inflicted all those injuries on my mom in the first place.
"Mom… no…"
After three months of exile, this moment wasn't going as I planned it. With tears trickling down my face, my lips twisted and flinching, my entire body seemed to refuse to listen to my commands.
That was the degree of my desperation, unleashed after three months of enslavement at the back of my tired head.
"I will be… going now."
Contrary to what I was going through, my mom regained her peace. As little as it meant, I could tell that she didn't feel any pain.
"I'm sorry I won't get to… watch over you. But I have… a request."
Despite how she was already unable to move at all, I could only watch with powerless surprise as my mother somehow found the strength to move. Pushing her weight over to her extended arms, she placed her hand on my cheek and looked me directly in the eyes.
I could see how her usually bright tears were now filled with thick tears of regret. As much as she didn't want to show it, it was clear that she also despaired over all the moments that she wouldn't have the chance to see.
"Krist… Sweetie… Don't be in hurry to join us, okay?"
Feeling the slight vibration of my mom's hand on my cheek, I covered it with my own palm while feeling the cold touch of the tears that flown down my face.
"Can you promise this to mommy?"
As soon as she uttered those words, her voice weakened and I felt her hand relaxing completely. Before I could do anything, her lifeless body fell on the sharp pieces of rubble that surrounded us, definitely ending a huge chapter in my life.
"Mom…"
Kneeling on my bleeding legs, I simply remained in place observing the corpse of my mother. My entire soul seemed to be stunned as if it hid in a metal bell before someone suddenly rang it. I could feel whistling in my ears. The sharp winds of the night caressed my face, making me realise that the tears on my cheeks somehow dried up.
But there was no sadness in my heart.
Just one big son of an overwhelming emptiness.
And then I heard a rustling behind me.