'Is that... her soul?' He thought in amazement. It did look like if anything had to be the soul it would be something like this. He was certain the crystal ball of tangled threads was mana. The sensation he got from the white mist was different from mana. It felt like life itself was mixed into it, however that sensation of life was very minute and growing weaker.
'It has to be. Even if it isn't, it definitely has something to do with her life.' He began diligently studying the mist, the crack and the light within. 'This crack definitely shouldn't be here.' He surmised. Which led him to the next question. How was he supposed to seal it?
His mind turned up a blank. He had no idea what he was doing. His original intention was to heal her the same way he had healed Greymont. He didn't expect things would be so different with A'ina. It was probably because her type of injury wasn't a physical one. Anything that had to do with the soul was bound to be complicated.
Craig's thoughts raced as he tried to figure out what he should do. He tried to gather the mist by interacting with it but there was no reaction from it. Since he could not interact with it there was nothing he could do on that front. He then focused his attention on the crack and tried to infuse energy into the crystal, but that only made things worse, causing it to slightly crack a bit more. He paused.
.....
On the outside Maeli could see beads of sweat dripping down Craig's face as his eyes trembled from intense focus. She clasped her hands and prayed to the heavens, looking down at A'ina with deep panic in her eyes.
.....
Craig eased away from the crack feeling a sense of helplessness. Nothing he thought of or tried wasn't working. Was he even in the right place? Was this the way he was supposed to treat her? He questioned himself repeatedly. All the while he could feel A'ina's aura getting weaker by the moment. 'Less than two minutes before she dies. What am I supposed to do?' He looked at large crack ahead and at the dim white light coming from within.
Maybe...
He moved his mind toward the crack once again and this time with a slight bit of hesitation he dove into the light.
Shew!
He felt as if he had entered an infinite tunnel of white, feeling a constant pull as if he were falling into oblivion. A moment later, he found himself standing on a large expanse of lush greenery. Above him was a dull grey sky filled with purple lighting bolts and grey clouds.
Far in the distance ahead of him there was a large strange looking gate. It was more accurate to call it a portal. It looked like a large black claw of a crab was protruding from underground, standing over a hundred feet in height. The gap between the pincers was large in width and a bright purple glow occupied its entirety. Streaks of purple lightning blots slithered on the surface of the portal constantly.
Craig was awestruck. He didn't understand what it was he was looking at. Why was there a large portal like this within A'ina's body?
His sight dropped downward from the portal as he caught onto a small moving figure in the distance. It was a woman with long blue hair donned in a white dress that dragged behind her. Step by step she leisurely walked in the direction of the portal.
'A'ina?' Although she was quite far away and difficult to make out, who else could it be? But, what was she doing here and why was she headed for that portal?
Suddenly, Craig realised that he felt a sense of reality coming from himself. Before he entered through the crack, he had been feeling more like a memory, floating around in someone's mind. Now however, he felt present. He looked down and realised that in here he had a physical body just like in the Divine Lotus.
Crumble!
Suddenly he heard the sound of something crumbling and felt a vibration from underneath his feet. Startled, he turned around only to feel a chill surge through him. What he saw was an expanse of pitch darkness, quickly devouring the world behind him. The ground beneath his feet was crumbling at a rapid pace and falling into nothingness. It wouldn't be long before where he stood was also devoured. If this continued, this entire world he was in would soon be gone completely.
He turned back around and looked at A'ina in the distance. He didn't understand what was going on but he felt that she was the key to stopping it. He dashed forward at high speed aiming to catch up to the her as fast as possible.
The world continued to collapse from behind at a rapid pace, almost identical to the speed he was moving at. He ran as fast as he could in order to refrain from being devoured by the endless darkness. He didn't know what would happen to him if he fell into it but he didn't want to find out. As for A'ina, he figured that if it caught up to her she would be dead.
The question was, what was that massive gate in the distance and why was she headed toward it?
"Princess!" He shouted loudly.
"A'ina!" He tried to get her attention as he drew closer.
***
A'ina had been walking ever since she woke up in this strange place. The first thing she noticed was that massive portal in the distance. Then when she looked around taking in the scenery, she noticed a horizon of darkness at her back, slowly devouring this world. She instantly panicked and started running away from it.
She didn't know what it was or why it was there. All she knew was she that it was nothing good.
She had also noticed the long white dress that she wore was exactly the same as her mother's wedding dress. Why was she wearing it? She assumed it was based on one of her memories. She knew that this world wasn't real and that she was unconscious at the moment. She hadn't expected the backlash from the ability she used to turn out like this.
What was she thinking forcing herself to fire two spirit arrows and still drawing a third? If she hadn't drawn a third one this probably wouldn't have happened. It was only when she did, that she felt as if her chest had suddenly collapsed and she knew she had messed up.
What's done was done, there was no changing it. All she could do now was suffer the consequences.
Whatever this place was had bound to be a dream or a nightmare. Although it felt real she knew this wasn't the case. But why was she dreaming of such a thing? She looked back as she ran, casting glances at the incoming darkness from time to time. Her dream was collapsing. 'Maybe I'm dying.' She thought as the possibility crossed her mind. That would explain what was happening behind her.
Did everyone who died experience this kind of nightmare beforehand? Her thoughts circulated around death as she ran. Her panic turned into bitterness and fear. She didn't want to die yet, but she knew from the moment she had used that ability that the possibility was high. After all, the book had warned her about the consequences which was how she knew she would have gotten a backlash. However, she hadn't yet read enough to fully learn what the backlash would entail.
She remembered the primary warning that denoted: 'With great power comes great sacrifice. Those who choose to ignore the limitations will suffer the consequences.' As promised, she ignored the limitations and was now suffering the consequence.
She looked at the massive portal ahead of her, wondering what its purpose could be. Maybe she could escape the collapse of this world through it? Would that mean she wouldn't die if she could reach it beforehand? She had no answers, only speculations that didn't make sense. No matter what this was a dream, nothing she did here would make any difference if she lived or died. This was probably just her mind's way of telling her she was dying.
Why hadn't she finished reading that damn book? Maybe it had an explanation for what she was going through.
Regardless, that portal gave her some semblance of hope. Whatever the result turned out to be, she didn't care anymore. She made it her goal to make it to that portal no matter what.
She ran and ran and ran, until eventually she stopped running and started to walk. She noticed that after such a long time of running it hadn't gotten the least bit closer. As if it was infinitely distanced away from her, and she could never close the gap. Yet, the world at her back continued to collapse. If she stopped, it would slowly close in on her. What kind of place was this? Death at your back constantly closing in and hope at the front that was unreachable. This really was a true nightmare.
She decided she wasn't going to just wait for the darkness to devour her, so she continued moving forward. Never drawing closer to the portal but continually keeping the darkness away from her.
Eventually she started to feel weaker and weaker as time went by. Her mind became slow and muddled and her feet became heavy. She felt each breath becoming more and more suffocating than the last. Her vision would blur every now and again. Her speed of movement decreased to the point where each step took a few seconds to execute.
A cold sensation took over her body and her surroundings felt vague as if she couldn't see further than a few meters. Her mind grew fuzzy and her presence of self slowly grew indistinct. At this point she could tell that the claws of death was reaching out for her.
She continued walking forward in this state by the pure embodiment of her will to stay alive. She had lost all sense of self and time. With a blank expression and absent eyes she moved forward step by step, unknowingly. She remained like this for a long time.
Until...
A tiny voice suddenly echoed from a far distance away, barely noticeable to the ears.
"Princess!"
The word echoed from the lowest volume possible, and continued to increase in volume with every echo.
.... princess ... princess ... princess... Princess... PRINCESS!
The word echoed until it was loud enough to understand. A'ina Barely reacted as her consciousness remained fuzzy and muddled.
"A'ina!"
Another call sounded again, following the same pattern, from the lowest volume till it could be properly heard and understood.
... a'ina... a'ina... a'ina... A'ina... A'INA!
The final loudest echo snapped A'ina's presence of self back into action. She stopped walking with a puzzled look on her face as she slowly regained clarity. She felt weak and sleepy, just wanting to lie down on the green grass underneath her feet. She could have sworn she heard someone call her name. She wanted to turn around but she was too weak to move any part of her body. Lacking any strength to remain standing she collapsed.
***
As soon as Craig called A'ina's name, he saw her suddenly come to a stop. Yet she didn't turn around or have any other reaction. She simply stood there for a moment and then, she suddenly collapsed.
As soon as she collapsed the entire world started to tremble. Cracks began appearing in the ground and spreading throughout the entire surface. The thunder in the sky intensified as thick bolts of purple lighting struck down from above. Large chunks of land broke apart and fell into the endless void below. Most terrifying of all, the darkness at the back of Craig tripled in devouring speed.
Craig looked at the sky and all the chaos that started happening after A'ina collapsed. He looked behind and noticed the increased speed of the darkness. His expression turned unbelievably grave and anxious. He tried his hardest to increase his speed as much as he could, jumping over cracks and dodging bolts of lighting.
He was nearly there, just a little further and he would catch up to her. He had no idea what to do once he did but his goal was to reach her. She was on a large fragment of broken land ahead. One last jump and he would successfully make it. He reached the edge and was just about to jump when...
Bzzzt! Bang!
A bolt of thick purple lighting struck directly behind his back sending him flying forward. He collapsed onto that fragment of land a short distance away from A'ina with a gruesome look on his face. The impact of the lighting had caused him a great deal of pain.
.....
Outside, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, that spilled into the air, falling onto the bed.
Maeli jolted in fright. This didn't look good!