It turns out Daniel is very bad at staying out of Meika's way.

Though my consciousness fades from time to time and my eyes grow heavy and cloudy, I can see the man I've come to know following her every move. For the most part, he pensively crosses his arms and hovers. More like a gargoyle than any duckling, even if she does whirl around and crash into him occasionally.

I wait for the moment she snaps and unleashes a flurry of curses and insults.

I wait for Meika to lose her grip on the control she clings to.

But she never does.

She doesn't lash out and chew him up with words, she doesn't fight him. Meika gives him a long, critical glare before sighing and ordering him around too. Perhaps this was Daniel's goal all along, forcing her into making him useful.

But the Demi-god goes over to the journal filled with notes and begins reading out a list of the things she needs. He then writes it all down and hands it to her on a spare sheet of paper, just so she doesn't have to continually ask.

They whisper to each other in secrecy and suppression, occasionally passing looks back to me and to the young girl laying beside me.

Shai' has long since disappeared, likely off scouring for ingredients and protecting the camp.

Never once have they let on about the toll Kiel's leash had taken. While I don't know if this is out of stoicism, there is no doubt in my mind they were subject to more torment than could be fathomed. Shai'rune does not carry a lick of pain in their eyes, carrying themselves with strength.

What I do know is the intense, searing pain coursing deep within my chest is unbearable. It's warm and sharp, bursting with every movement.

Remi had been tasked with watching over me, making sure I had easy access to water and food, and the blankets I continued to throw away from me. No matter how many times I have to bite my tongue about her lean hands tucking me in again, I know what they're doing.

Keeping her busy.

Keeping her mind working.

Making Remi feel useful while the two immortals work together in disjointed synergy. Taking her painfully sad eyes and broken will into consideration, if only to babysit me.

To make sure I don't die in the process.

My stomach turns with nausea and I roll away from Remi's sleeping frame to spit more blood against the dirty sand. With how hard they're all trying, I feel like it's my duty to fight. Even if I feel like I won't make it.

Even if right now it feels hopeless.

I failed him.

I failed Lindon.

His life being stuck inside an ancient temple and wasting away just like mine, but never escaping. Never breaking out of that hellhole.

For all I know, he could be looking for me all around the world too.

Heaven forbid...

Then there would be no saving me. There would be nothing left but our demise on separate continents.

The process of leaving our vessels is no less grueling. Literally rotting from the inside out without Mana until we are incapacitated and then reuniting on the astral planes. With more access to an infinite well of power, it would be useful to connect and destroy this world.

Rebirth it from ashes with a similar planet and new inhabitants.

Species that do not have the same freewill to murder and break, but instead know love and freedom combine in a beautiful harmony.

I was supposed to break free and find him...

But my body and mind were in no condition to travel alone and we made great time considering it only took three months to make it halfway across the world. Traveling across the sea, through the arid climate, losing Theron and facing the strange world Kiel had built. Everything considering, this journey could've been so much worse.

Even if the mark it made on us could be considered traumatic.

They thrive. Daniel and Remi dig deep within themselves and learn more and more about the world around them. Every day they stand up, they grow even though they don't have to. Not truly.

I observe every moment of their development, watching even Meika strengthen herself. She whose life story could be a historic event. Her heart portrayed like steel even through legends.

Every single one of them is fighting right now.

Meika takes a large staff up in one hand and begins dragging it around in the dirt, drawing a giant sigil with it. Similar to the ones we used outside of the old hotel. The underside of her staff burns the ground in its wake, leaving sparks of blue flame.

They dance, staying lit even after Daniel steps on them to get inside. He takes out some odd vial and begins doing a lap, pouring a few droplets every now and then. The fire reciprocates, growing and thickening.

Meika takes her turn, dropping what appear to be small leaves onto the meridians of the flames, thus making those small spots burn purple instead of blue.

It stays this way.

They work in harmony, sketching out intricate and waving patterns on the inside with concentration I've never seen before.

Daniel works hard, carving ancient words he once pretended not to know into the earth. Sweat runs down his dusty features, sticking no matter how many times he scrubs it away.

He flicks his worried gaze up at me multiple times, periodically checking to tell himself I'm safe. I'm alive.

Without saying more than a few words, I notice him pardoning himself from Meika's side and stepping out of the sigil more delicately this time.

Remi is snoring softly, attempting to steal the covers she kept putting on me.

I let her have them, looking up with concern when Dan squats down and stares me dead in the face.

It's a deep inspection, his finger and thumb grabbing my chin and angling my head from side to side.

"How are you feeling, Ira?" He demands with quiet urgency.

My brow quirks up and I give a tired laugh. "Peachy, why?"

"Ira, answer me," Dan snaps this time, temper flaring in a way I'd not seen before.

My eyes harden. "I'm exhausted and in excruciating pain. Otherwise, I'm okay. Why?"

Daniel softens, gaze flicking away. "I'm sorry, I just have to know... Drink more water, we're about half way done with the ritual set up."

"What scared you?" I ask again, pushing myself off the ground.

"Your eyes are silver... And red..."

I frown, lowering myself back down slowly. "Hurry."

He freezes when the word leaves my lips, paralyzed.

"You don't have much time now, Dan. I'm sorry, but you need to hurry."

I worry he'll get overly emotional and stop thinking or perhaps shut down entirely. Instead Daniel nods and rises again, dusting off and walking away without another word. He puts himself to work, powering through each instruction Meika gives him.

I know better though.

His hands shake when holding the paper now, muscles tense. The distant look in his blue eyes is chaotic and static all at once.

Meika gives some instructions, looking at me and seeing something that appears to make her understand.

Then I barely hear her murmur one thing to him.

"She'll be okay..."

It's a small concession, but the comfort grazes something inside Daniel because he gets back into their rhythm.

Covering my head with the softest jacket I could find, I make myself rest. They continue to shuffle and prepare, gathering everything they need for this dimensional transition Meika refers to.

I need my strength.

The darkness washes in and out of my sight until there is none hours later.

With the sun high in the air and baking us from the dark grey-blue skies above. I smell sweat now, as if Meika and Daniel's labor just evaporated deep into the air and wrapped around my nose.

I smell their panic too.

It confuses and concerns me, but it makes sense.

Ripping the jacket the rest of the way off my face, I sit up and find them surrounding the exterior of the sigil in stones. Remi is helping this time, straightening them in Daniel's wake.

Shai'rune is also back, standing tall in wolf form and watching over the operation. They sniff in my direction and turn, padding over to me and shove their nose straight in my face.

I run my fingers over their snout and manage a small, weary smile.

"The time is almost upon us."

My brows furrow in shock and confusion. "I thought Meika said it would take days."

"It has been two, one of which you stopped breathing. They have worked without rest."

Tears burn in my eyes and I rub them, body stiff and rigid. "I... Did?"

They nod.

I don't remember anything, but it could explain the dull ache in my head.

I swallow the raw iron feeling in my throat, past the lava and muck. "What happened?"

Shai' looks back over to where the three beings slave themselves away, posture and frames aching to rest. Exhausted.

"The male imparted mana from his own soul into yours. Your body responds to his more efficiently because of the species resemblance. He saved your life."

I nod again, reminding myself to thank him. To hug Daniel for everything he's done for me.

To forgive him for whatever he needs to apologize for so incessantly.

My blood stains the ground around us and my lips fall. So much. More than any ordinary vessel contains. More than I remember coughing up last.

Remi let's loose a little cheer and spins around. Daniel and Meika sigh in unison, but neither let on to the excitement. They instead ignore the girl and turn to me.

Fragile, broken eyes.

Hopeless agony threatening to break out of them.

Slowly and carefully, they jump out of the sigil and come over to us.

Daniel offers me a smile that doesn't belong on his face. It only hurts in my chest to watch.

"You're going to ride on Shai'rune's back," Meika explains slowly, checking one last time with her familiar.

The wolf nods.

"Do you need help getting up, Ira?" Dan asks, reaching down to help me.

Pridefully, I tuck my feet under my butt and try to stand, only to waver and fall over. He catches me, lifting me off the ground more gently than I could've ever expected.

Daniel slides my legs onto Shai's back, wrapping my arms around their neck for me. "Be careful. We have to walk in front to keep the portal from collapsing. I need you to make it just a few more hours."

Remi is instructed to sit behind me and keep me from falling off, which she happily obliges to.

"Dan..." I reach out for him before we start moving. "What... What were you trying to tell me?"

The glass layer holding away all those hundreds of emotions fractures and nearly shatters. He blinks them all away, leaving nothing but vacant compassion.

"It's too late now, Ira. We need to get you to Lindon."

My heart breaks for him, for those stupid lies inside his head.

"It's never too late."

He shakes his head again. "You don't understand... I'm sorry."

Daniel turns away from me and with Meika at his side, leads the three of us into the heart of their blood, sweat, and tears. Every ounce of hard work crafted into the most intricate sigil I've ever seen.

Remi holds onto my waist, secure but not tight. She sits up straight, trying to catch a glimpse of all the magic.

Meika and Daniel begin a fast-paced Latin incantation, slinging the words off their tongues as if they had been doing this every day since they were born.

Heavy orbs of light and mist come raining from the heavens, morphing into a tunnel of power and swirling electricity around us.

Slowly, the tunnel shifts downwards, stretching out in front of us for what looked like eons.

I swallow roughly.

Even I knew this kind of magic was rare and seldom perfect.

One wrong step and it would swallow us whole.

We would become nothing more than atoms.

But without warning, we move forward, Shai'rune racing with us tightly on their back. No matter how fast they run, Meika and Daniel walk a calm pace in front of us.

Time and space.

Every single world could be walked through.

Touching the sparks of warmth in the air, I smile and take a deep breath.

In a world that is mostly unrecognizable, the beauty of magic so far lost doesn't escape me. There are still things in this world, pieces worth saving and cherishing.

I feel myself fading.

Falling away from reality piece by piece.

Drifting off.

I wonder if this is what it felt like for Theron. I wonder if Death welcomed him just the same, a fuzzy, warm, chaotic storm of magic.

The truth is, I don't want to know.

I don't want anything.

I just want Lindon.

Dun-nun. Dun-nun. Dun-nunununun.

Three chapters away from the end, Destroyers. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it means a lot to me knowing there are still so many of you all the way out here on this chapter with me! 

I am dedicating this chapter to one of my wonderful best friends nonja25 who has been with me from the very beginning. I believe literally within a week of me creating this account nearly seven years ago. I know you don't read this story Monkey, but you supported me through everything and you mean the world to me. You always will. 

This is her new account so give her some love if you find the time <3

If you enjoyed the chapter, leave a vote and comment friends! I'll see you in the next chapter! <3