"Are you ready?" I asked her one final time.
She nodded her head and pursed her lips, preparing herself for what would come. I stretched my hand out to her, since she was still kneeling on the floor. She gratefully took it and I effortlessly raised her from the floor. She smiled for some unknown reason, but I was just going to ignore that.
"Let us begin!" I stated.
Shamac merely watched the whole thing play out, while being silent the entire time. I guess being a shadow shifter really did suit him. I connected my thoughts and used my energy to sync all nine of the wings in order for them to obey my commands.
Even if I couldn't guarantee Talia's safety, I could at least increase her chances of survival. Currently, the chances were barely ten percent. Since I'd been avoiding the use of any Hex for the time being, at least until things died down, I didn't see myself using Hex to help if anything adverse happened to her or she died.
I mustn't lose focus of my original goal. Besides, just like I found her I was sure there would be countless others like Talia who would be willing to sacrifice everything for me just for the slightest bit of protection and an action on my end that would trigger within them a sense of overwhelming gratitude.
Such was the characteristic of the weak.
The nine wings which hovered above slowly descended, surrounding her. I used my energy which was already cloaking them to condense all the wings. Slowly, they began to shrink and change shape. A glass-like substance began to form around the condensing wings. Eventually, the wings which were a couple of feet tall were now barely the size of a thumb each. Not only that, but they had taken the shape of a round orb, coated with the glass-like substance.
The essence within the wings, having been extracted and calcified, were maintained within the outer shell. That proved to be the most efficient way to handle this. The nine orbs began to glow different colors. From red, to blue, to green, purple and the likes.
"It's time" I said.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then squeezed her face tightly, bracing herself for impact.
No impact came.
After remaining in the same frozen and bracing position for a minute, she grew uncomfortable and most of all curious. She peeked, opening only one of her eyes to see what the hold up was. The orbs still floated steadily about her, glowing in their radiance. Surprised that there was no change, she opened both of her eyes and loosened up.
She looked at me in a confused manner and decided to ask, since she was confused at this point.
"W-What's going on? I thought you said it was ti-?"
She was still moving her lips when suddenly energy burst from within the orbs and flooded her, sending her screaming in pain.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!" She bellowed in pain.
The sound was unpleasant to me, so I shut off the sound receptors in my ears, muting all the noise around me. Since I could manipulate all of my body functions, it was not impossible for me to block out sounds or switch off some of my nerves and receptors. I merely watched her lips move and her face squeezing and contorting in anguish.
The multicolored essence flowed from all nine orbs, covering her entire body in its power. This sudden rush of essence was enough to kill most fairies, as they could not handle it and Talia was no exception to the rule. She seemed to be fighting it now, however, at the rate this was going Talia would not be able to hold out for long. She was going to die.
Her skin began to crack and her body grew pale. The cracks began to shine, matching the colors of the orbs. More cracks appeared and soon enough, it covered most parts of her body. How useless, her body couldn't even handle this much. It just went to show how durable the gods made the body of mortals. Fragile and weak.
"Her body has started breaking down" I commented.
From the side, I could see Shamac looking with shock as he watched Talia die slowly and in pain. I could pretty much guess what was going on in his mind. He was surprised by my lack of empathy or emotion while watching Talia's worsening condition. He most likely expected me to stop the process or intervene in some way. I wasn't inclined to do so though.
I sighed.
Perhaps I ought to increase her chances a bit.
"Root" I said.
"Miscellaneous Treasures"
"[Category: Sealing]"
Immediately root of all showed a window before me and displayed all the items registered under the sealing class. I browsed through them, reading their qualities and description, though I pretty much knew them.
I also knew which one I would be going for.
"Item 32" I said.
Cocoon of Darkness
After choosing the item, purple-black energy wrapped around Talia, since I chose her as the target. I was able to decide where my items appeared, so far as the prescribed location was within range.
The dark mass of energy hardened and formed a giant lump, with Talia inside it. The lump beamed with purple light which glowed and dimmed with patterns. The orbs, which were still pouring out the essence were outside the cocoon shaped lump. They transferred their energy to the cocoon, which absorbed the Aspects and transferred them to Talia.
I looked at Shamac and saw his reaction when he saw the cocoon. Surprise filled his face as he saw the strange giant lump before him swallow such an intense amount of essence with no sign of it having had its fill. Other than surprise, he had a more perplexed expression, wondering what exactly the thing I had brought forth was.
"No need to look so surprised" I told him.
He looked flustered and straightened up when he heard my voice. Looked like I caught him off guard.
"M-My lord. If I may ask, what exactly is that thing?" He asked me carefully.
He was so different from Talia. I doubt he would ever address me comfortably the way she did, one of the reason I would prefer it if Talia lived through this.
"It's an item from my treasure here. It'll take too long to explain it in detail, but let's just say it will increase Talia's survival rate drastically.
"B-By how much?" He asked me.
"A lot. If she doesn't survive the rush with the cocoon helping her, then she never had a chance to begin with." I told him.
"T-Then." He said, looking back at the cocoon, which bulged and contracted itself.
"The cocoon is able to preserve anything within it. Using it on her will stop her body from completely breaking down, allowing her body to take in all the essence." I said.
"But that means she'll survive the..." Shamac cut in.
I glared at him.
"Do not interrupt me. I'm still talking." I said.
"Uh.. I'm sorry about that" He said mildly, shrinking back.
"It's fine. As long as you understand." I responded.
"What I was about to say before you interrupted me was that the tricky part comes after I remove the cocoon. With it gone, nothing will be present to preserve her body, therefore nothing stops it from breaking down or downright exploding due to the excess amount of Aspect essence" I said.
Shamac's expression changed to shock.
"All we have to do now is wait, and see what happens next" I said to him, turning back to watch the cocoon as it twitched.
Talia remained inside, in a peaceful slumber, like a child in the womb, awaiting her rebirth or her destruction.