Levia rushed through Theo's veins, crackling with desperation. Hurry, dredge up every last spark he could find, cast the strongest healing spell he knew –
But the Levia just wouldn't come fast enough. As his panic climbed higher, a firm hand grabbed his upper arm. Whirling around, he came face-to-face with Darian. She met his gaze with stern, serious eyes.
"Theo, stop it."
"What do you mean? I have to do something!"
Darian gave a slight shake of her head. "A healing spell won't work. Not when he's a homunculus."
"Then, then, we can take him to Nevy – "
Her jaw tightening, Darian shook her head again. "She can repair his body, but his core itself is damaged."
His core was damaged. Just like...just like Avia. Theo threw a wild glance at Zenith's prone body, at the sparks fizzling in his broken chest, and a horrible pressure squeezed his heart until he felt like he was going to explode.
"There's gotta be a way!" he yelled, grabbing Darian's shoulders. "Right? A way to fix his core. I'm his wizard, there has to be – "
As he babbled nonsense, a thousand awful images whirled through his mind. Avia collapsing into a heap in front of Hellebore. The sparks scattering from his clenched fist, just like the ones in Zenith's chest. And later, a limp pile of armor sprawled on the floor...
No, no, NO! As the breaths whistled in his throat, the world began to blur at the edges. He couldn't let it – he absolutely couldn't –
"Theo." Darian's voice seemed to drift across a vast chasm. "Your spells won't be able to do it."
"You don't know that!" Somehow, the scream managed to break free. "My, my dream-spells – "
Maybe he was going crazy, but he didn't give a damn. All he knew was he had to do something, anything, before it was too late. If – if he lost Zenith like this, it would all be his fault. Because he hadn't been there for his familiar, because he hadn't done his job as a wizard.
Armored hands gripped his shoulders, shockingly cold. Victor's low voice murmured in his ear. "Theo, calm down."
Sobbing in fury, Theo swiped out. His fist struck hard armor, but he didn't feel any pain. Nothing hurt as much as the sight in front of him, Zenith's core dissolving while he couldn't do anything to stop it.
"Theo!" Darian's shout stopped him before he could hit Victor again. He'd never heard her like this, so harsh. Desperate, even.
When he blinked the tears from his eyes, Theo saw her glaring at him. Her mouth was trembling, her eyes dark with an emotion he couldn't begin to read.
"You don't have enough Levia to cast those spells. So please...leave this to me."
"What?" He couldn't make any sense of this – not the words she was saying, nor that strange grim expression on her face, almost like she was warring with herself.
"I'm his liege," she said, barely above a murmur. "This is my duty."
With that, Darian rose to her knees and drew her rapier. The skiff rocked as she leaned forward and faced her fallen knight.
As she stabbed the rapier to the sky, a familiar power deepened in the air. A Levia as vast as the night sky above, glittering with hundreds of stars. It swept through Theo in great waves, dragging at his insides like it was trying to scour him clean. His own dawn light sparked in response, but sputtered to nothing beneath Darian's cosmos.
The Levia pushed on his shoulders, forcing him onto his hands and knees. With a dull thud, Victor fell down beside him. The skiff rocked harder, cold water splashing over the edge, but Theo barely felt it. For an exhilarating heartbeat, he was soaring through that endless night sky again...
And then light flared beneath him. Deep blue just like the cosmos, just like Darian's eyes. But a thousand times brighter.
Just when he thought the light would blind him, it finally died down a little. Now he made out the lines spreading beneath him, weaving together to form intertwined circles and jagged starbursts, along with all sorts of arcane symbols.
Barely daring to breathe, Theo lifted his head. The diagram spread not only beneath his knees, but engulfed the entire skiff. No, further – expanding across the still dark water. Reaching toward Zenith.
Heart hammering, Theo threw a wild glance at Darian. She knelt at the center of the diagram, rapier still pointed to the sky. Around her, the sapphire Levia blazed so bright Theo could barely make out her outline.
When a shudder raked through his Levia, he whipped back around – only for his jaw to drop wide open. Because something was rising out of the water, glowing with the same blue light as Darian. Something like a body, or a limp marionette....
And in the center of its chest, almost invisible beneath the intense blue, a pinprick of white light sparkled like a star. It swelled as more sparks joined it, gathering and condensing until they formed the shape of a sphere.
When the sphere reached about the size of his fist, it flashed like lightning. Theo reeled, tears streaming from his eyes. As quick as he could, he wiped them away.
The sphere was still there, though glowing more dimly than before. Not to mention something soft and pale was spreading across it, knitting together to form a smooth surface....
Flesh?
Just when the thought struck Theo, the flesh covered the sphere completely. A strange sound greeted his ears next, almost like skittering insects. Agog, he watched as the broken edges of Zenith's armor began to creep across his chest as well, joining together bit by bit until not a single gap remained.
It was as if Zenith had never been injured at all.
Then Levia surged in Theo's heart – an achingly familiar white light. Though weak, it pulsed with a steady rhythm.
The same light glowed within Zenith's eyes, wiping out every trace of azure. But not for long. His eyes slid shut, lashes fluttering, before snapping open once more.
Relief crashed through Theo when those eyes met his. Though still bleary, they were no longer terrifyingly blank like earlier.
But beneath the fierce glow of Darian's Levia, their pale blue seemed strangely washed out. And as his vision focused, Zenith's gaze turned away from Theo to land on the prince beside him.
His eyes flew wide open. The shock quivering in them struck Theo like a punch to the chest.
For the first time, the diagram wavered. Then it fractured into blue sparks that spilled into the sky like rain in reverse, and darkness shrouded the night again.
Gasping for breath, Darian fell onto her hands and knees. The rapier clattered by her side. Theo turned toward her in concern, but that was when a tremendous splash came from behind. Whirling around, he saw large ripples spreading across the water.
Theo didn't have to think. He flung himself out of the skiff and swam as fast as he could, fighting his heavy robes all the way. As he neared the base of the pole, Zenith's head bobbed out of the water. Hair plastered to his face, eyes wild and bewildered – but very much alive.
One last kick, and Theo closed the distance between them. Crying out incoherently, he threw his arms around Zenith.
His nose bumped into Zenith's chest and his fingers struggled for purchase on the wet armor, but he didn't care. Zenith was here, really here. His body solid beneath Theo's hands, his breath brushing the top of Theo's head.
With a gentle splash, he raised his arms out of the water. Slow and hesitant, they closed around Theo's back. Then his hands pressed between Theo's shoulder blades, reassuringly firm, and pulled Theo tight to his chest.
A relieved sob welled in Theo's throat. He didn't know what had just happened, but right now it didn't matter. Not when Zenith was alive.