Why did he suddenly cough up blood? Maeli frowned under the assumption that something must be going wrong. She had no way to tell what it was and there was nothing she could do. She could only stand aside patiently and hope for the best.
She looked at the blood splatter and then looked back at A'ina who seemed to be a millimeter away from death. She looked at Craig's twisted expression and trembling eyes and could tell he was trying his very best to save her.
"Please come back to me." She murmured as her gaze fell back onto A'ina's pale face. She had already calmed down from the initial fright. She knew Craig was somehow injured, but he didn't look like it was anything fatal. She hoped that he was fine.
.....
Inside the collapsing world, Craig was temporarily stunned for a moment. His ears rang as the sounds of the collapsing world and thunder grew minute for some time. He quickly recovered from the blow and even with how muffled everything sounded he crept up to his feet and ran to A'ina's side.
He knelt beside her and picked her up with the intention of running away from the quickly approaching darkness.
Whoosh!
However as soon as he grabbed onto her, the entire world suddenly entered slow motion. A large vertical crack appeared behind him, identical in looks to the one on the crystal he entered through. The crack appeared directly in line with the edge of the darkness. From within the crack, a single thread of golden energy appeared. Craig followed the thread with his eyes and noticed that it was attached to the left side of his chest. Whether it was there all along and was just invisible, he had no idea.
Suddenly, his entire body glowed a bright golden radiance, spreading from him to A'ina, causing her to glow as well. As her body began glowing Craig saw a stream of white mist twirling around the golden thread from within the crack. The same white mist he had seen from the outside.
The mist followed the golden thread until it arrived before Craig's chest. Then it circled around the two of them a few times before piercing into A'ina's chest. Like a dried sponge, A'ina's body seemed to have found water and began absorbing the mist in a continuous stream. More mist continually followed the thread through the crack and made its way to A'ina's body.
As the mist poured in to her, the world around started to change. The wall of darkness began moving in reverse, the pieces of broken land floated back from the endless abyss and reconnected to each other, the sky moved in reverse and like this the recently collapsing world was healing and returning to normal.
Craig was awestruck and speechless as he witnessed the scene. He smiled in ecstasy. He was right about A'ina being the key to stopping whatever this was. He figured this world was the embodiment of both her soul and her life. Once it crumbled along with her, she would inevitably die. Realising that what was happening was a good thing, he remained in place, kneeling with her in his arms.
He looked in the opposite direction, at the gigantic portal looking construct. It was the only thing out of place in this world and the only thing that wasn't affected. He didn't understand what it was and what purpose it served. The most puzzling thing about it was that it seemed to never get closer. As if it was so far away it could never be reached. Yet, at the same time it seemed so close.
He looked around at the recovering world and then looked down at A'ina. Her complexion was pale when he first got to her, however now, even underneath the golden glow he could tell that colour had returned to her, just from the way her expression turned tranquil and relaxed.
As the final remnants of the white mist entered her body, the golden glow faded out and her regular complexion returned. Just as Craig suspected, she looked rosey and full of life.
Her long blue hair glowed with lusciousness as it hung from the back, leaving her face fully exposed from all angles. Even with her eyes closed her beauty did not decrease in the slightest. Her pointed ears added a greater charm to her image. That perfect nose and those full pink lips, everything sent a rush through Craig's entire being as he looked at her. He suddenly had overwhelming desire to kiss her.
He hesitated. What was he thinking? He was here to save her life, not to kiss her? This was a life and death situation, not a wedding. Then again, she was in a wedding dress, which added even more charm to her at the present moment.
Craig's gaze was fixed onto her, waiting for her to wake up. If everything worked out well she should be fine now right? At least, that was what he should've been asking himself. But it wasn't. The more he stared at her, the deeper his urge to kiss her became. He tried to distract himself but the desire remained nonetheless.
The world was calm and bright, with blue skies and white, fluffy clouds. Everything had returned to normal apart from the large crack nearby. An infinite expanse of lush greenery spread as far as the eye could see. The only thing that was left to complete it was for A'ina to wake up
'Maybe... this is necessary?' Craig thought, feeling that this overwhelming desire to kiss her was part of the process. He hesitated once more, convincing himself that what he was about to do wasn't wrong. Of course it was, but this was a dream state wasn't it? No one would ever know, and he, deserved a kiss for all his efforts didn't he?
He had decided... he would steal this kiss, for all of his efforts, and so he leaned in....
.....
.....
It was done. He had fulfilled his selfish desire. He had kissed the soul of this beautiful elf. He would never forget how soft and amazing her lips felt. He would never forget this sensation that he'd never felt before. His desire to kiss her didn't decrease at all and nothing happened as a result of the kiss.
He waited... Yet she still didn't wake up. Then suddenly, a humming sound echoed from the crack that was floating in midair and he felt a strong force pulling him toward it. He tried to resist it but it was too strong and pulling harder than he could resist. 'Is it about to close?' He thought. Then that would mean the crack was probably about to be sealed. He didn't belong in here, so it made sense to remove him. However, A'ina should remain, after all this was her world, her soul. He placed her down gently as the pulling force lifted him into the air and sucked him in at high speed. He felt the same sensation as he did when he entered though the crack before.
And then... Darkness.
His eyes opened, and he saw that he was standing in a forest. Ahead of him was an orc, holding two curved blades. There was a red aura around his body as he seemed to have activated his bloodline power.
On the opposite side, Craig saw his own self take a stance and ready his weapon. The orc suddenly dashed toward him and attacked. In a single strike he was sent flying and collided with a tree, collapsing to the ground on all fours, then passing out a moment later.
This was...
A'ina's memories. He was experiencing A'ina's memories just like Greymont's. This was the day he had tried to rescue her and Maeli, failing horribly at it too. He saw how weak and dumb he looked getting taken down in a single strike.
But none of this wasn't important. What was important was why was he experiencing this memory? It had been over ten days since it happened. He had thought that he'd experienced Greymont's most recent memory but looking at it now that wasn't the case.
He made a quick analysis. The common thing between the two of them was obvious. He was healing the both of them using the power of the Divine Lotus. Based on this speculation, he would see the memory of what caused the injury he was healing. This was why he had seen how the creature had injured Greymont.
Now that he thought about it, he didn't know exactly how A'ina was injured. Only that she used some kind of ability and had suffered a backlash as a result.
The memory continued with Morak preparing to attack A'ina. Then she suddenly dropped the two daggers in her hand and placed her palms together, forming a blue glowing bow in her hand. She then reached onto her back and pulled out a blue glowing arrow. She knocked her bow and fired and in quick succession, she had already pulled another arrow and also fired it.
Morak successfully blocked the first arrow but was unable to block the second one, ending up getting pierced in his shoulder and sent flying.
Maeli had prepared to fire a third arrow whilst he was down to take his life but when she prepared to fire it, the bow and the arrow vanished and she suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Then she collapsed to her knees.
Craig suspected that she was either too weak to use this ability or she could at most only handle firing two arrows, maybe even just one. This was elven sprit archery, which he didn't know much about. He only knew that the amount of arrows summoned was the amount a person was able to handle. Since she had a third, she should have been able to handle it. This was something he would have to ask her about personally.
The memory continued up until Craig saw himself picking up Maeli from the ground. Then just like with Greymont, it suddenly cut off.
Shew!
Craig ended up regaining awareness outside of the crystal ball of mana. He saw the final moments of the crack slowly closing up like a zip of a boot. The mist that was there before was gone. Everything had returned to how it should be. He hoped that was the case.
After some readjusting, he retraced his steps and left the through the flow of mana, eventually feeling as if he regained presence of self. His eyes trembled, and then he slowly opened them. The familiar elements of the main hut appeared in his vision.
To his side Maeli was kneeling at the foot of the bed, with one hand holding onto A'ina's leg. Her head rested on the edge of the bed with her eyes closed. Her expression was dull and mournful.
Suddenly Craig noticed a taste of blood in his mouth as his senses stabilised. Blood? He also noticed a splatter of blood on the back of his hand, Aina's clothes, and on the bed. There was also a dull aching pain in his chest.
He removed his hands from A'ina and took two steps backward, dropping into the chair behind him. A surge of tiredness overtook his body accompanied by dull but increasing headache. He had experienced the same thing after he had healed Greymont as well, however this time he felt much more beaten up.
Maeli was startled by the sound of him dropping into the chair. She quickly stood up and looked at him with a concerned expression. After seeing him spit blood earlier, she realised that this process was dangerous for him as well. As he had remained standing and focused, she assumed that he wasn't badly hurt. But looking at him now she felt uncertain. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"I should be fine after some rest, don't worry." He replied with his hand to his forehead. He lifted his head to look at her, "Did I, spit out blood?" The taste of blood in his mouth was obvious but he still decided to ask.
Maeli nodded, her eyes moist from sadness. She looked at A'ina on the bed who no longer had any aura and asked in a teary voice. "Is she... gone?" She was trying her best to hold back herself from crying. The reason she had knelt at the the foot of the bed was because A'ina's aura had disappeared completely at some point. She could no longer sense it and broke down at that moment. She had grabbed onto her ankle to feel her pulse and couldn't feel anything. Not knowing what to think anymore she just laid her head down and closed her eyes.
Craig didn't reply right away. He was certain that he stopped a world from collapsing. He was certain that the crack he saw was sealed. He was certain that when he left, A'ina had the rosiest complexion ever. However, he was still uncertain of whether or not she would wake up.
"I don't know." He replied shaking his head.
Maeli couldn't hold back any longer and placed her hand to her mouth as tears burst from her eyes. She sat at the side of A'ina and grabbed her hands, placing her head on her chest. "You can't die, okay, you can't. You promised you would never abandon me. Please come back A'ina. Please... Please don't leave me." Her tears poured out like a river.