Laid in a puddle of his own blood, Astor was still alive, by some miracle. His heartbeat was faint, nothing Cayn couldn’t heal. He started with the ribs, caved deeply into the flesh.
Extending his hand, he activated [Heal] with a simple thought. The light grew bright, and the injuries resorbed as it went on. Astor’s lost blood was being replaced, Cayn simply had to buff the bone marrow with [Heal], to produce more. That way, he could replace the blood cells along with producing more platelets in order to stop the bleeding faster. He had done it many times before, not to this extent, but it should be fine. He was more worried for Bel.
She had been cut in half, horizontally, right in the middle of her abdomen. He hoped her brain was intact, or at least repairable, that way he could still find a way to resurrect her. That is right, nothing was over yet, from now on he had twenty-four hours to bring her back. So once Astor would be back on his feet, they would have to find a [Necromancer], in order to stop the body decay and to repair it as well.
He finished healing. Astor’s body was perfectly back to normal. But to really make sure he’d be totally fine, he buffed the white blood cell with [Cure]. The protocol would prefer to buff the whole immune system itself but Cayn was running short of mana, as he drank his daily five
Astor opened his eyes.
“Slowly,” Cayn told him.
Astor held his head a bit before looking at Cayn. “What happened?”
How was he supposed to tell him about Bel? Had he ever seen someone died before? Witnessing a death was no easy pill, not everyone could withstand the fear of death, especially not one so gruesome. Cayn knew that much.
He took a soft voice. “Bel killed the World Boss,” he took a breath. “And she didn’t survive the aftermath.”
Cayn had seen the fight unfolding before his eyes, powerless as his brain couldn't process skills. He just laid there, inert, with a blurry vision and an unreactive body.
“How long have we been out?” Astor asked.
“Not long, it just happened.”
“Can we make it?”
Cayn thought about it, putting away the fear consuming him. Twenty-four hours: first, finding a [Necromancer] and second, an [Archpriest]. [Necromancers] were a rare class, only a few existed, but given that they were near a new dungeon, they surely had at least one around. Also, each Land had a dedicated [Archpriest], it was definitely doable. “We can do it.”
Cayn grabbed the two parts of Bel’s remains, not wanting to put pressure on Astor; he already went through two healings.
They ran to the dungeon. Monsters had leaked out from there, going around the Second Land as pleased. It was a given, of course, for once a dungeon core had been destroyed, the control it had upon the monsters would vanish leaving nothing but pure chaos. Still, Cayn had hoped that the adventurers had a plan to prevent the leak from happening in the first place; wasn’t it the reason why they gathered so many adventurers in the first place?
Astor took care of the passing monsters as Cayn continued to search for a [Necromancer]. He felt bad for letting Astor, a recovering person, do so much, but he needed his help so they couldn’t do otherwise.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Necromancers] were known to control dead bodies, therefore Cayn had to look for what could be moving corpses, a human or an animal with uncanny moves. Maybe there wasn’t any? He hadn’t seen one during the two days of exploration. No, he had to keep hoping. There has to be one, a dungeon involved serious deaths like Bel’s, they had to be one around.
Adventurers started to notice Cayn, and most notably what he was holding. “[Necromancer]!” they yelled. Words were being relayed around. Cayn felt hopeful, if they shouted for one, it meant there was one. Please.
Three persons ran toward him. One was moving normally and two with much more trouble. A [Necromancer] and two ghouls. They were right outside of the dungeon, near the entrance, surrounded by fights.
“What do we have here?” the [Necromancer] said.
Cayn replied, “She got cut in half and is missing some organs.”
Astor protected them both with a barrier.
“Let me check.”
Cayn laid down the body parts and waited as the [Necromancer] inspected them.
“I can repair her,” he said, “but not here, I will need to concentrate for half an hour.”
Good news, they just had to go to the local church and find the [Archpriest].
But before Cayn could put a word, the [Necromancer] spoke, “However, I bear bad news.” What? “The [Archpriest] got a heavy injury to the head and cannot use [Resurrection] right now.”
No. Not again.
“But we can go to the Third Land right now and go to their [Archpriest].”
Cayn wanted to say yes, but couldn’t as having the [Necromancer] all for himself wouldn’t be appropriate. He couldn’t accept, even if Bel needed it so much.
“What about the other adventurers?” Cayn asked, resigned.
“You’re in luck boy, my assistant will take care of everything!” Another [Necromancer]? “Not only that but we don’t have an [Archpriest] anyways. So if need be they’ll have to hurry to either the Third or the First Land, and the Third don’t have a [Necromancer] at the moment. I was headed there prior to now, so…”
Cayn spoke, hand on his chest, “If that means Bel can come back, then I will do whatever you ask of me.”
“That’s the spirit! First, tell your friend to undo the barrier, we have no time to spare, her body could decay past repairability.”
Cayn did so and Astor undid his barrier, the three of them then headed to where the dragons were.
“Hey! You!” the [Necromancer] called a dragon rider. “Can we go to the Third Land on this one?” he pointed at a dragon.
The dragon rider agreed as soon as he saw Bel. They hopped on the dragon, holding tight and bracing for the lift off.
“Sorry about that, we will have to keep her disembodied for ergonomy reasons,” the [Necromancer] said. “My name is Dietrich by the way, nice to meet you.”
Astor and Cayn presented themselves and they drifted away into the horizon. Soaring the skies, among the clouds, they departed from the sky-scraping mountain, leaving it in chaos. Did the strongest party ever manage to vanquish the dungeon boss? What will happen to the dungeon afterward? Many questions will stay unanswered for the time being, as the priority was Bel.
Deep in the night, Cayn gazed at the lights coming from the mountain fading away as they distanced themselves. Astor was staring at the moon, he often did that and his eyes would glitter with its profound blue. Looking at Astor felt serene. Cayn’s heartbeat slowed down, there was no need to panic, everything was going to be alright, and Astor comforted him in this idea. Believe.
They advanced rapidly, the dragon was faster than most dragons Cayn had rode before. Of course, they were in a hurry after all. He held Bel’s body parts tightly, making sure they didn’t fall by accident, that’d be unfortunate.
Far away, he could see the Third Land. A vast archipelago in the middle of the sea held by a gigantic coral. It was protected with a barrier at all times, maintained by a single [Archpriest], in order to repel sea monsters. To enter, everyone had to go through a specific entrance: at the port, where the only breach in the barrier was.
“Brace yourselves, we are going down,” the dragon rider said.
The dragon descended rapidly, some monsters jumped and tried to take it down but it was agile enough to dodge everything. They arrived at the port.
“Thank you for the ride,” Dietrich said, as his ghouls descended from the dragon.
The dragon rider wished them good fortune before going back to the Second Land.
Dietrich took the lead and guided both Astor and Cayn. Direction the church. They navigated through the islands, going on boats to get from one island to another; it could feel like a maze, but Cayn had already been here before.
Church was wide open, even this late at night. The [Archpriest] came up to them. “Cayn boy,” he saluted, “what do you bring me here.”
“Greetings, Uncle.”
Xorac, [Archpriest] of the Third Land, Cayn's uncle and member of the Fleeting Ones.
Dietrich got to work and repaired Bel’s body slowly but surely, bit by bit, organ by organ. Astor and Cayn observed the process. All the while, his uncle was staring at him, probably thinking something along the lines of “poor Cayn.” They always said that.
hit that bell button, jk)