Outside, almost immediately, we were assaulted by the miasma. It attempted to cling to our bodies, to our skin, but the low, brilliant glow of power covering us pushed the miasma back and kept it from sticking. On the way, I scooped up the pair of blocks and dropped one off as we exited the building.
Outside, the effects of the miasma were already telling. The grass had taken on a slightly greyish tinge, the leaves on the tree curling up slightly. All around, I heard the hacking and coughing of individuals caught in the cloud, their bodies weakening as the mana they unconsciously circulated was slowly corrupted further and further.
Together, we hurried toward the fence. I found myself turning my head constantly as I attempted to locate both the Templars and the spirit. I noted neither were present, which was for the better at least. Hopefully, the skunk spirit had managed to get away. Otherwise, all of this had been for nothing. Then again, considering the amount of damage it had caused by its defensive measure, perhaps the Templars were right. Of course, that would be a better sell if the Templars hadn’t triggered the entire incident by being obstinate asses, so the entire incident could be considered as wash.
At the fence itself, we quickly found the first break in the runes. I frowned at the hastily scratched out rune and grunted. Fixing it with Mend—the physical portion anyway—was possible. It would just require delicately adjusting the spell formula while it worked, a slight alteration from my usual, almost careless use of the spell.
Mend Cast
Synchronicity 64%
Minutes later, I finally had the rune fixed. When I opened my eyes, the rune was indeed fixed if slightly worse off than before. With my practiced eye, I could see where the rune had not been mended correctly, where the lines were off, but as they said, it was good enough for office work.
“Next,” I said out loud.
We moved, shifting from spot to spot on the fence until we found another broken rune. Thankfully, there weren’t many, and they were mostly clustered close together. Each of them required Mend, but luckily that was not a mana-intensive spell, especially since the fixing I was doing was relatively minute. Still, toward the end, my head was throbbing again.
“How much longer?” Alexa asked, pushing against my arm slightly to get my attention.
“Just have to restart the spell,” I said softly, wincing as my head throbbed. When Alexa opened her mouth to ask, I just shook my head. Instead, I suited action to my words and raised my free hand and pressed it against the runes.
Restart the spell. It was easy, since most of the runes were already enchanted. I just needed to feed enough mana into the rune structure, fill the empty spots with the actual correct spell formulas, and blammo. Containment ritual complete.
Simple. If I wasn’t already running on fumes. If my head didn’t throb like a jackhammer. If the mana around me wasn’t corrupted and impossible to refresh myself from. Simple. I shuddered as mana flowed from me, drawn forth and pushed ahead by my will. My head throbbed further, my vision greying out as the light that encompassed us dimmed slightly, Alexa struggling to protect us. Simple. I licked my lips, a slight warmth and iron taste appearing on my tongue as the liquid flowed away. I reached out with my other hand unconsciously, wiping at the nose bleed even as the spell formulas danced in my mind and runes slid into place.
Simple.
With a thrum, the ritual burst into being around us. The press of mana on the ritual, a spell so intimately connected to me, made me waver. I frowned, noting how the world was leaning backward slightly and realized I was losing my balance. With a sweep of her feet, Alexa dropped me into her waiting arms and the princess carried me back into the orphanage.
“Block,” I managed to cough out, waving despairingly at my bag.
After a moment, Alexa pulled the second block out and tossed it onto the grounds before dragging my limp body into the gym. Inside, she sagged to the floor, sweat matting her pale hair.
“Lily’s going to kill us,” she said with a groan, obviously imagining how the jinn was going to complain about my mana overdraw. I wished I could answer her, but lying on the comfortable floor, my eyes decided it was time to close.
When I next woke, it was to the insistent prodding from Alexa hours later. With the major concentration captured within the fence, the remaining escaped mana had slowly dispersed or been cleansed. That left the pair of overworked empowered blocks to finish up the job on the inside. Unfortunately, I had also left the orphanage staff with pendants, which is how the abbess had managed to make her way back to glare at us.
“I know, I know. Leave,” I said with a huff.
“You and Ms. Dumough are no longer welcome,” the abbess pronounced, and I sighed. Well, duh.
“Of course.” Alexa bobbed her head in acknowledgement. “And I apologize again about the damage… and failing the orphanage.”
“Yes, you should be.” The abbess paused, then continued, her voice softer and slightly kinder. “However, the Templars have informed us that they have ensured we will be given the requisite time to complete the projects. And made a sizeable donation to deal with the inconveniences we have faced.”
I paused, my eyes wide. “Wait. They could have fixed this? Then why didn’t they?”
“This was a test,” the abbess said, her voice calm.
“But—”
“Henry.” Alexa placed a hand on my arm and shook her head.
“Why aren’t you angry about this!” I said, waving a hand around. “This, this was garbage. We went through all this for nothing!”
“Garbage?” Alexa asked softly, then shook her head. “We freed a spirit that was imprisoned for decades. We helped slow the spread of a dangerous drug. And… Okay, the mushrooms weren’t particularly useful.”
I snorted.
“But I also learned something about myself. And them.”
“What? Self-knowledge is the best knowledge?” I asked sarcastically. Sure, the test itself probably never placed the kids in any real danger, now that I knew what had been kept below. The skunk spirit might have been angry, and we might have ended up fighting it, but the abbess would never have let the children be around during such a battle. Even the mana poisoning had been a slow process, one that could easily have been fixed with a trip outdoors, but still—
“Yes,” Alexa said serenely.
I glared at the ex-initiate, but in the last six hours, she seemed to have gained a sense of peace over her decision. I opened my mouth to prod her further before I shut it. There had been flash in her eyes when I was about to speak. Perhaps she might have accepted her decision and the consequences, but the pain was still there. In the end, it wasn’t my place to prod her.
“Fine,” I grumped and then looked at the abbess who just stared at us serenely. I sighed and waved a hand goodbye at the woman, tromping outward. “Let’s go, partner.”
“Coming.” Even without looking around, I could hear the smile in her voice.