Sofi had already read every word in every book, but she often went back to see if she had missed anything, any detail no matter how small. But not all texts said categorically "Resurrection is a technique possible only by gods and their chosen ones, even if it is possible to reanimate bodies, it is never a true reanimation and always causes suffering if used with a soul still in the body, although it results in more undead powerful"
That wasn't what Sofi wanted, she wanted to reconstitute the body and let his soul integrate with it again, thus generating a complete resurrection, not like the one that gods or their clerics did centuries ago.
Leaving the book aside, she thought from another perspective and looked at the bottle with the remains of the potion that had saved Matt's life. She stayed up all night checking the properties to make sure it had no negative effects, of course she couldn't do a thorough job due to a lack of both reagents and samples to compare and a lack of guinea pigs (not that she would use it on them even if she had ).
But based on what she had achieved so far, she was sure that nothing in the potion was harmful or would have any negative events. Soon she took a few drops of the potion and began to check whether its composition could remain stable even when mixed with the blue liquid in the cylinder.
Just like the previous night, she didn't notice time passing and when she finished checking (just confirming what she was already expecting), it was already late at night. From what she could tell considering the position of the moon, it was almost midnight, she wasn't surprised by that, she had already spent literally days without sleep researching and testing new formulas to keep the body inside the cylinder cool and comfortable, as well as formulas to restore it. and bring him back.
She turned her attention to the new potion she had made, in theory it would be enough to regenerate the entire body, but not enough to restore the link between the released soul and the body, so she couldn't use it now even if she was sure (which she wasn't) that it would work.
For Sofi to create some inferior potions that closed up scratches, stopped bleeding, or temporarily enhanced the body a little was not difficult in itself (complicated yes, difficult no), but creating more sophisticated potions that could bring back limbs or enhance the body permanently? This was far beyond their capabilities whether before the Corruption or after.
She kept alternating her gaze between the new bottle, the cylinder and the books, she tried to check if it worked, but if she did so the body would no longer fit in the cylinder, if the memory didn't fail when he was still whole (and alive) He was almost 1.85, considerably more than the cylinder could support, she still remembered how much she cried when she had to "reduce" his body, which was already quite damaged, to fit into the cylinder.
She exhaled and decided to go a little outside, walking without a defined direction and soon found herself back in the square, now much emptier, with just a few improvised tents further away and the sound of some snoring and people moving on thin blankets.
Sofi looked ahead right where the small stone temple, more of an altar, was and stared at it. She didn't realize what she did until she felt heat passing through the clenched fist she used to hit him.
The sound of his flesh hitting the stone was low, almost inaudible but having a strange cadence that not even she noticed, but still louder than the whisper that she made.
"Why couldn't it have been before, why?... Because Now... because I couldn't do anything, because... I still can't?..."
The tears began to fall again as she repeated it because with each punch she threw, the rational part of her mind told her that no matter how much she asked she wouldn't get an answer, that hitting the rock would only hurt her hand, that nothing she could do would really any difference.
But this part of the celebration was blocked by the memories that she always tried to suppress with the support of her goal and more recently the new good memories she made in this small village that before should have been just a stopover but before she knew it became her home, something she hadn't had for centuries.
Her hand was already bleeding and it was almost possible to see the bones in her fingers and wrist, when she felt someone grab her before giving her another hand. Amazed by the sensation, Sofi raised her face and saw Constance looking worriedly and sadly at her.
"I can't answer why everything that happened. I can't even tell you what you've been through... Not even if anything I can say will help. But I know one thing Sofi" the young woman who barely entered adulthood said with the low and full of emotion, there was both sadness and resignation in her voice and if you paid attention you could also hear a little anger.
"No matter what you feel, you can always count on us." Sofi was about to say something but Constance cut her off beforehand. "No! No, I'm paying lip service, so don't you dare say that I don't understand or that we can't do anything to help. Yes, we probably couldn't really do anything and we might not really understand what's going on. But we can stay with you and bear the weight that you have to carry with you."
Constance stopped for a moment and took a deep breath before continuing.
"You know you don't have to bear everything alone, you've been with us for years and you should. No, you already know but you don't let yourself share this burden, and I don't know why, I don't know if they let you down or if you think you let someone down. But understand, here you've never done anything but help so let us help you too, even if it's just a little." she said in a tone that left no room for denial but Sofi still had the refusal ready on the tip of her tongue and was about to say it to the impertinent young girl who she herself had also seen growing up since she was born.
At that moment she realized the obvious, she saw this young girl grow literally from the moment she was born, she helped with her birth, and before her brother, and before her brother she saw their parents fall in love and saw the boy who was immersed in forest becoming probably the best hunter she had ever seen (and she would have seen many indeed), she saw the young couple who had taken her in when she was injured and exhausted grow old and become two elderly people.
She saw the small village, always peaceful, facing various problems from drought to pestilence, disease and floods, typhoons and merciless tax collectors and yet continuing with the same air of serenity and welcome that it had since the first day, an air that even when magic was more "common" and people in general were more "rich" few places had it and no place I've ever been had the same air as here.
Probably not even Sofi knew what she was about to say, but whatever it was died in her throat and was soon replaced by sobs as she let her body fall to the floor, but she was held by Constance showing a strength that she didn't even know she had, held the older woman while Sofi allowed herself for the first time in centuries to be completly vulnerable in front of someone.