With a guttural scream I felt from the very depths of my soul, I shot a barrier of Destructive mist into the sky, barely a few feetabove Alois’ and my prone forms. No sooner was the barrier in place than the projectiles began to rain down, turning to nothing more than fine dust as they passed through my shield.
I screamed as I held my magic, a burning sensation taking root deep within my chest and spreading throughout my body until it felt like my very blood was on fire. The effort to keep the barrier intact was monumental, nearly impossible with the little magic I had available.
Stone after stone passed through the shield, bathing Alois, Gisei, and I in a thick blanket of grey dust. No sooner had the barrage stopped—the last few stones so large they must have broken off the Academy—than I released the hold on my magic, but I feared it was too late.
Where my body was hot, I was shivering, my muscles aching and contracting.
Fever.
I could faintly feel the telltale leaking of blood as it trickled out of my nose and into my open, panting mouth, flooding my tongue with a warm, coppery tang. I swallowed, having no energy to turn and spit, and my stomach roiled with the taste.
Gisei’s hand was limp in my own, her fingers twitching enough to let me know she was alive, but a quick glance proved she was unconscious, twin streaks of blood gushing from her nose and ears.
I dislodged my hand from hers before rolling on my side to face my friend. The effort of that movement was exceptionally painful, and I let out an agonized cry as I felt something move in my back that should not move.
Fuck, this is bad.
“Alois?” I husked. My friend didn’t respond, didn’t even move, and my heart beat erratically in my chest.
“Alois?” I called again, urgency bleeding into my tone.
No, no, no.
I didn’t even wait for an answer before I started dragging my limp legs behind me, crawling arm-over-arm to reach Alois’ mangled body. Magical blasts shot over me the whole time, the earth rumbling periodically with an Earth Mage’s attack. The rainstorm had stopped earlier, leaving the courtyard full of bloody puddles.
I wished the rain would start again to wash the dust away that covered Alois and I. I needed to see how bad the damage was—to find how to fix my friend.
My body inched along, dragging dirt, debris, and bodily fluids with me as I moved. The closer I drew, the clearer it became that Alois’ body was not right.
While his chest faced the sky, his lower back and legs were twisted in such a way that it appeared as if his knees were facing the ground. Almost like his spine was completely snapped and twisted.
Holy fuck.
My face hovered just above his abdomen as I took in the black and purple, swollen, mottled mess of his stomach. I wasn’t a healer, but I knew enough to know that wasn’t good.
“Alois?” I asked, my voice cracking at seeing the extensive injuries on my oldest friend.
“Rohak,” he rasped, eyes never opening. “Are we in hell?”
I tried to laugh, but it came out dry and humorless.
“No, but it feels that way.”
“You s-s-survived?” he asked, and I nodded before audibly confirming when I realized he still hadn’t moved his head toward me.
“That’s good, Rohak. That’s good. S-s-she was never in danger,” he said, his voice warbling and catching as he spoke.
“What?” He was speaking gibberish.
“Faylinn. Faylinn was never in d-d-danger. I j-j-just n-n-needed you to . . . fight me. This . . . needed to h-h-happen.” His teeth were chattering now, his hands pale and jumping.
I pushed myself to my elbows before pulling my useless body toward my friend’s head. I looked down when my elbow suddenly came in contact with a slippery, warm pool of something. A quick glance down confirmed there was an increasingly large pool of blood beneath Alois’ head, accompanied by a chunk of something hard and full of pieces of Alois’ hair.
My gut roiled, and it was all I could do not to be sick.
“D-d-didn’t expect t-t-to go l-l-like this,” he whispered.
“You’re not going to die, Alois. I’ll get a healer. I’ll find Faylinn,” I rambled desperately, but Alois flicked a tremoring hand at me.
