Splashing down into the pool, Saya did her best to swim toward the boy as quickly as possible. Despite being composed of pure mana, the pool still acted like regular water, preventing her from breathing entirely.
Having one arm limited her movement severely, but thanks to the fact that her body sank quickly, all she needed to do was give herself a little push to reach Uru in no time. Using her only arm, she placed her palm under Uru’s back, lifting it gently and letting the water’s physics do the same.
Then, she raised her left knee to take its place and hovered her left hand over his chest where the wound had been inflicted. At this point, there was no more blood to spill, and the boy’s body had gone completely cold.
Deep down, Saya knew it was futile to try to save Uru, but knowing she had the ability to fast forward and reverse time, she would never be able to forgive herself if she never tried. Besides, she had come to terms with the fact that she could die at any time during this journey.
As long as she completed her mission to save Albo, that was all that mattered. Now that Sulva had freed him from his curse, she had nothing holding her back from fulfilling her own desires.
Closing her eyes, she activated her Soul Sight. Immediately, jolts of electricity spread all across her body. It wasn’t like the lightning she would conjure in her battles, however. This electricity was much more harmful in nature, similar to the one she felt all the way back in Kala when she was confronted by Veronica.
Was magic simply reacting strangely in this pool? Or was her body being too overfilled with energy to properly control itself?
Brushing her pain aside, a magical circle appeared before the palm of her left hand. It started spinning counterclockwise rapidly, causing the mana-filled water around them to bubble as if it were boiling. Using her Soul Sight, she pinpointed exactly where Uru’s Magical Gears had been split apart. If she were to repair his core structure first, then physical recovery would come soon after.
A thin, surgical beam shot out from the middle of the circle, infusing a thin layer of mana into the boy. More electrical currents shocked Saya’s mind, body, and soul. It felt like her body was being scorched before being put out by the water.
It grew increasingly harder for her to keep her hand steady as her body started to convulse violently. Each time she exhaled in pain, hundreds of bubbles shot forth from her mouth, streaming upward to the surface.
Meanwhile, Andalia watched worriedly from the surface, with her spiritual guardians at the ready. If the mage didn’t emerge from the water in exactly two minutes, then she would go ahead and retrieve both bodies.
True, it was illegal to tamper with the pool, but she would never be able to forgive herself if she not only vandalized it, but also left two rotting corpses inside a pool of sacred water. As much as she felt sorry for Saya and Uru, this was the furthest she was willing to go. There was pride as a Priestess and duty as an Aimafinan.
Saya’s visualization had been completed. Slowly but surely, the body started to mend itself back to a time period from when he was alive. Of course, just because she rewound his body didn’t mean he would fully remain revived.
She needed a way to freeze Uru’s time, or slow the time on his body to an absolute crawl. If she were to release the spell the moment she reached the surface, then his wound would instantly reopen, and blood would evaporate as per his current state.
After learning the technique, it was easy enough to do something as complicated as time reversal. To be honest, Saya herself didn’t know she was capable of casting such powerful and world-altering spells so quickly, but she wasn’t about to complain now.
In response to her magical usage, the roots of the tree, which had been lingering not too far in the distance, started to grow and snake their way toward the young mage. They watched curiously at first, but upon sensing the strength and danger she posed, they opted to remove this parasite using its own power against it.
From the corner of her eye, Saya saw the thin, pointy roots swimming toward her at a rapid pace. Knowing she had limited time, she tried to pick up the pace as quickly as possible. However, no matter how hard she tried, the circle wouldn’t speed up, and the body’s reversal barely made progress.
Due to being in the pool, she wasn’t able to see or even feel it, but her magical gears had been cranked up to their absolute maximum limits. Her hair was pure white. The only reason why magical circles to exhaust all that excess energy weren’t present was simply because the water itself acted as a cooling system for her body.
If she were to leave the pool in her current state, her body would surely explode like a balloon in a matter of seconds.
And yet, she needed to push harder. If she wanted to survive alongside Uru, she needed to push beyond her own personal limits. Straining her entire body, she furrowed her eyebrows as electricity surged throughout her body.
She could feel her bones grinding to dust before being restored by her magical gears. If she had to estimate, she most likely would have died at least ten times by now. Her magical gears spun so quickly that they generated heat, exceeding the cooling temperature of the magical pool.
Steaming bubbles seeped out of her skin like a machine, sending the pool into a boiling frenzy. This had all but confirmed the mage’s danger to the tree, as the traveling roots shot forward with extreme ferocity.
There was little to no time for Saya to react. If she were to let go now, then everything she had worked for up to this point would have to be redone. The fact that she could go up to the surface and dive back in was still an option, but there was no telling how deep Uru’s body would sink, or if she would even have the energy to continue.
Time for Uru to rewind faster. Skin started knitting itself back to how it once was, and Magical Gears that had all but been shattered started to link. Now that his body was fully rewound, what mattered was bringing his internal biological properties back. She couldn’t let go of her left hand’s hold, or else her process would shatter completely.
So in response, a magical circle appeared on her right eye, shooting out the same surgical beam into where his wound was. This circle spun clockwise, fast-forwarding his body’s cell generation and recovery. If she were to use both techniques in tandem, then surely it would be possible to bring the boy back to life.
The sharp roots pierced through Saya’s back, causing her to scream in pain. Her muffled voice dissipated quickly under the pressure of the water. And yet, she held on to the boy’s body as much as she could.
This would be much easier if I had two damn hands!!!
Saya thought to herself as her own blood started to spill into the water. She thought nothing of it, but the tree reacted strangely upon tasting her cells. It held a sense of familiarity that it had encountered before, but couldn’t place when or where.
She was certainly not an Aimafinan. The tree made sure to take note of every newborn child that was baptized in its waters. No, whoever this foreigner was, it recognized her from somewhere far distant in the past, but in the future as well.
Its mind was split. Did it meet her before, or was it prophesying their meeting in the future? Regardless, if it wanted to learn more about the mage’s strange origins, it needed to extract as much information as possible through the transfer of blood.
And thus, the roots pierced along her back started to grow, spreading all across the inside of her body. Saya reacted immediately as she felt long rods crawling beneath her skin. She wanted to scratch it extremely badly, but knew that even if she did so, her situation wouldn’t change in the slightest.
All she could do now was finish Uru’s surgical process as quickly as possible.
Back at the surface, Andalia gave the command. Two spirits dove into the water. Since they were made of pure magical energy and were a part of the tree’s leaves, they were far less likely to be detected by the pool’s defenses.
Saya’s left eye went blind as the tree nearly spread itself across her body. She could feel her arm’s strength waning, and if her right eye were to be taken out as well, then her entire spell would be broken, making this process completely pointless.
From her estimate, she still had approximately thirty seconds left. Her consciousness could barely hold itself together, as her body had all but run out of oxygen. If the tree’s roots didn’t kill her first, then suffocation surely would.
The message from the tree was clear. “Get out, or be a part of me.”
Being the Tree of Life, it had no intentions of killing the young mage, and instead absorbing her as one of its own. It was the least it could do, as ending one’s life went strictly against its and its master’s code. However, it also had no intentions of torturing its victims until they died, and instead began filling Saya’s mind with pleasant memories.
Warmth spread through her mind, dulling the pain and pulling her thoughts away from the present. Her body grew heavier, her focus slipping as the world around her faded. It felt gentle, almost comforting, like sinking into sleep she would never wake from.
Just as she saw her own eyelids before her, memories started to flash before her eyes. This sensation felt all too familiar. It was the same as when she shot her first Gravefire Cataclysm, when she first met the silhouettes in the distance.
However, this time, all she saw was herself, standing on top of a mountain of bodies. The memory then flashed to show another version of herself. And another. And another. Until it repeated itself over eighty times, each flashing past in a fraction of a second.
Then, her final memory stopped on one particular scene. It was her, clad in her striking blue hair, with both hands gripping the root of the tree. Her vision slowly started to haze, but she was able to recognize the person in front of her, mocking and teasing this past version of herself as the magical circle beneath her feet started to expand.
It was Quintella, with a carefree expression on her face. Her other self, however, had a strained look. Sweat dripped from her temple, and her skin was bloated from the sheer amount of magical energy she was emitting.
The tree let out a non-audible cry. It finally pinpointed where it had spotted the mage. Somehow, it recognized her as the Prime that merged her own body and soul with its own. But it should have been impossible. The timeline should have diverted the moment the spell was cast. So how was it able to recognize her?
That confusion colored Saya as well. She didn’t know how she was able to recall memories that shouldn’t exist. Mirages through her Soul Sight were one thing, but actually witnessing past events like déjà vu was completely out of her understanding.
Just as she was about to be lost in thought, from the bars of her eyelashes, she saw a tinge of movement coming from the boy she wanted to rescue. He twitched his finger.
It was like flicking a light switch, as Saya’s leftover adrenaline kicked into full force. Her magical gears spun rapidly, deterring and grinding the invasive tree roots into dust. Right now, she didn’t care about whatever Oktavia had done in her past life or her connection with the tree. Her mind and soul were solely focused on saving the boy and getting back home to Albo.
Saya felt a pair of arms wrapping around her waist, as the spectres had come to retrieve her body. One carried her, while the other carried Uru. She maintained her hand and eye position despite both of them being moved, but the surgery had all but been completed. All she needed now was a bandage to finish the job.
“WIBBNS!” she called out from the water. What she said was incomprehensible even to the spectres, but the book that clung so diligently onto her belt sprang up in response. Slamming open, it flipped through the pages rapidly. Unlike regular paper, the spell book seemed resistant to natural forces.
Pink ribbons shot forward from its pages without a target location. Using her visualization and magic manipulation that she had learned, the wide pieces of fabric started bending to her will, extending further and further out until they touched the boy’s skin.
Even though Saya herself didn’t possess the focus and strength to keep up her spell, the book would surely be able to consistently maintain it through autonomous magical energy exertion. There were five seconds left until they reached the surface. If Saya still had her surgical instruments out by then, her body would explode from the lack of cooling.
Closing her open palm into a fist, the ribbons tightened themselves around Uru’s chest. Then, suddenly, he burst back into life, gasping for air that wasn’t there. He inhaled a bundle of magical water, which was just the boost he needed for his magical gears to kickstart at full motion.
Immediately, Saya shut down all magical energy functions. Right on cue, she felt her hearing unmuffle, as her lungs finally caught the first breath of fresh air. Her body was placed gently onto the ground, as her chest frantically rose up and down, trying to catch up on all the air she had missed out on.
Her mind was pounding in pain, most likely from the lack of oxygen, and she coughed out an unthinkable amount of water. Currently, her body was at its maximum survival state, and the last bits of adrenaline were being pumped into her as a reaction.
Then, she lay flat on the grassy floor like a starfish, gazing into the starry night sky delightfully. Bells chimed behind her, a sound she had grown all too familiar with. She raised her left arm as best as she could, pointing at the boy.
Andalia’s wooden platform shoes squished the wet mud beneath her as she ran over to the boy’s side. Her Birthmark started to glow a bright blue as she began to cycle out all excess water from Uru’s body. Within a few seconds, he started coughing out all the water as well, life returning to his eyes.
Saya wanted nothing more than to get up and rush to Uru’s side. But all she could do was watch the skies in relief of everything that had happened.
“I did it…” she mumbled quietly, still out of breath.
The tension in her body quickly started to dissipate, and her eyes began to slide back down into a world of slumber. After getting attacked by the gray monster back at the cabin, she had been working herself non-stop. Sure, she was stuck in the land of dreams, but she was barely at ease.
She knew she broke a taboo in Aimafina, and there was no doubt that by the time she woke up, she would most likely be in a prison of some sort. The smartest thing to do right now would be to force herself back up and run away as far as she could.
“Nah. I’m too tired for that.”
“Plus…” her head fell to the side. All sensation in her body started to fade. Even if she wanted to move now, her body would most likely refuse to. In her current state, she was like a pilot stuck in a non-functioning vehicle.
“I did my job.”
Andalia looked over her shoulder, only to spot Saya sleeping peacefully. She wanted to rush over to check on the young mage, but something deep within her told her that she was going to be alright. As such, she resumed her treatment on Uru.
Saya’s deductions were correct. Andalia would have no choice but to persecute the mage for not only breaking and entering the sacred site, but also vandalizing the pool by fully submerging herself and a corpse.
The tree that stood high and mighty admitted defeat for tonight, as it pondered what, or who, the mage truly was. It didn’t understand the vision and nostalgia it experienced, but since her raw magical strength trumped it, the tree backed down for now.
In Atrila, under the gleaming moonlight, a certain blonde boy slid his eyes open, only to be greeted with a beautiful full moon through his window. He felt dehydrated, sluggish, and it felt like his head was about to burst into a million pieces. Despite the overwhelming sensations flooding his senses, he could only think of one name.
“Saya.”