The weight of Emily crushed onto Amy. With a jerk of her hand she raised a wall of fire in front of them. Pulling Emily by her hand, she ran as fast as possible.
"I told you... to stay!" she said between ragged breaths
Between the ruined buildings her backpack appeared out of the corner of her eye, she threw herself onto the backpack and laid Emily on the side. Her hand reached for the point of impact.
Blunt force...
Her shaking hand reached to Emily's pulse.
Flat... Amy's face fell to the ground. Her breath became excessively rapid.
Flat... Her eyes filled with tears.
Pulse... She let out a big sigh.
She's still alive.
Her eyes darted around.
Backpack... where is it?
She found her backpack just beside her hand, reached for it, then stopped
I... don't know how to fix internal bleeding.
Seconds passed, but Amy stood frozen, soft tears leaving her eyes with every passed moment.
Spore-bearer's hand slammed onto another building.
Amy's hand reached for Emily's heartbeat once again.
Flat...
Flat...
And flat.
Her hand pulled back as her eyes blankly stared at the ground. The smell of spores and the sound of destruction blurred away. She wiped away her tears and rose from the ground with her sphere in her hand.
She slowly caressed the sphere, then one of her hands raised a rectangle of mana from the orb.
By closing her hands she made another sphere made of pure mana, then threw it on her side, where the spore-bearer wandered.
The sphere expanded in size, its form stretched and shifted, then morphed into an arrow, pointing at the spore-bearer at all times. Amy slowly walked towards the arrow and gave it a gentle push.
The arrow exploded in velocity, rushing at its target with a terrifying speed.
Her hair flowed through the air in the gust of wind created by the spell, clouds of spores formed alongside her.
She slowly walked out of the corner only to find the spore-bearer impaled by the arrow, gushing white resin.
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That should've generated a sound...
The spore-bearer suddenly reached for the arrow.
Still alive, I see.
Her face didn't change, no fear, no disgust, no nothing. She simply raised more mana from her orb. Her hand drew half of a circle above her sphere, her other hand gripped the orb so tightly that it began shaking.
Suddenly the arrow of mana exploded inside the beast. Without missing a beat she jerked her hand in reverse chopping motion. The half circle above her head dashed towards the beast, slicing it like a cleaver.
The gushing resin solidified in place. The beast opened its mouth but no voice was heard. Then the beast fell to the ground, embraced by the softness of the ground.
Amy stared at the dead beast for a couple of seconds and let out a sigh.
How do they bury people in this spongy dirt?
A clump of blood suddenly rushed through her mouth. The coppery taste of blood filled her taste buds. She opened her palm to stop the rushing lifeblood only to see her worn out, reddish skin.
That's the result of not following the principles...
She stumbled backwards. Everything drifted away as she tried to regain balance. A constant hum rang through her skull.
Soul damage... I'll have to wait until it ends.
Letting the gravity do its thing, she fell to the dirt beneath back-first. She stared at the ceiling. A large slit caught her still blurred attention.
Was this always here?
Her consciousness slipped away.
*******
Hours later, she opened her eyes to five or more around her chatting about stuff, their words too blurry to understand. She sat up on the ground, rubbing her eyes and then she looked around again.
A shadow leaned closer.
"Are you okay?" A gentle and unfamiliar voice called.
She turned to the source of the voice.
It was a tall lady in white clothing. First thing Amy noticed was her goat-like gray horns and her soft smile.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay" She stopped for a second
"Where is Emily?"
Conversations died and the Fair Lady froze for a minute.
"Oh... You're talking about... Her..."
The lady's gaze shifted away.
...
Amy's eyes darted around. She couldn't find her anywhere.
"She didn't make it."
Amy couldn't open her mouth even if she tried.
She just covered her eyes with her hands.
"Can... I see her?"
"...Yeah."
The Fair Lady said, she gracefully held Amy's hand.
"Come with me."
She lifted Amy off the ground and led her away from the group.
The air and the faraway mushrooms closed in. Amy's heart felt heavier as they continued their march.
The fine, gray spores lifted off the ground. But now they smelled different.
Ash... did something burn here?
The Fair Lady stopped and let go of Amy's hand. She looked at the ashes but didn't say a single thing.
Amy's thoughts stopped for a moment.
Cremation... How did they get that much heat here?...
Not like it matters now.
She knelt down.
I should have known more about her.
Without any noise she continued to stare at Emily's ashes.
I should solve whatever was written on that obelisk and get out of here.
I've stalled my group enough.
She rose up and turned to the Fair Lady.
"Miss-"
"You can call me Seraphine." She smiled softly.
"Seraphine, did you see my sphere?"
"A sphere..."
She tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I put it in a backpack we found lying around..."
She looked back at Amy
"That should be yours too, right?"
Amy nodded.
"They are back at the group. It should be next to the caravan."
"Thank you, Seraphine."
Amy walked back to the group with her. As they walked closer, the conversations became more apparent.
"...It's one of those damn ruin-walkers!"
The guy spat on the dirt.
"Have you ever seen a... Hic... a mushroom, randomly turn into a spore-bearer, huh?!"
His head bobbed from side to side as he spoke.
Ignoring them, Amy walked towards the white caravan. She took a step in and looked around as their conversation grew more irritating.
Her eyes shifted from one corner to the other.
The backpack... it's not here!
Her fingers lifted and brushed every single item present.
"Seraphine, the backpack is not here."
A zipper sound rang through her head.
