I spent the rest of the morning with my friends. There were just twenty minutes before the first warning from the pyramid, and I wanted these few moments of joy before the blood and deaths.
So I sat at the cookfire, and I talked with Bari and Dara. I listened to Bari complain about the porridge and tell his terrible jokes. I listened to Dara talk about her research, her eyes lighting up when she described the patterns she had found in the pyramid’s resonance. I watched them laugh and argue and exist, and I memorized every detail of their faces, their voices, their mannerisms, because I knew that in a few moments, I would be alone again.
"Elric," Dara said, her voice cutting through my thoughts. "Is there something on my face?"
I blinked and shook my head. "No, I am just admiring your beauty."
Silence fell on our small gathering, and even Rex, who was looking away towards the pyramid, turned towards me. Bari’s mouth was slowly opening in shock.
"It’s not just your face; it is beautiful, but it is your mind, Dara."
I could say more, but I don’t think I have the right words, so even as Dara’s cheeks flushed a deep crimson, I turned to Dara, "And you... are the best friend a guy can ever hope for."
I was surprised that Dara swallowed and teared up a bit. I turned to Rex, and he flinched a bit before looking at me with suspicion. I nodded at him, "Do what you have to do, but trust me, it will not go the way you want."
The suspicion in his eyes was firmly planted, and he frowned, "And why is that, Voss?"
I smiled, "Because I am here."
I looked away from him back to my friends, who had not let what I said to Rex change their mood, and I smiled when Bari reached over to hug me. It was clear that he wanted to make it a surprise, but with my perception, he could as well be moving in slow motion, but I stayed still and let it happen, because I needed it.
Bari patted my back and whispered in my ear, "You are the best, Elric. Never change, but you have been holding out on me. The balls on you to talk to the prettiest girl in the class like that?"
I could not help but laugh. Did that take courage? Maybe of a different kind, but it did not seem that important in the long run, not unless I made this timeline to become permanent.
Dara punched me on my shoulder, and I subtly moved my body to reduce the shock of her blow, or she might hurt herself. "Real smooth, Elric, but two can play that game. Your eyes are the prettiest shade of blue that I have ever seen, and I guess you are tall..." she faltered when she saw that I was not drawing back; in fact, my smile was becoming wider.
She snorted and looked away, and I caught Bari’s high five behind me.
The morning passed in a blur of small moments, and the time for battle came much earlier than I wanted.
∞
With my Anima Sensitivity at the Arcanist level, what happened next did not escape my sight. I saw Rex being drawn into the Caelith by Scholar Orath, and I waited for four seconds; the pyramid screamed its warning.
[Warning... Seventh Seal Loosened... The Pale Matron Stirs.]
Of course, to everyone else in the camp, the sound was like a foghorn, and the world began to change as the sky bled red and the pyramid began to glow the same color.
I knew that what I was looking at was the remnants of souls shredded into nothing but pain and fear being expelled by the pyramid, in a last-ditch effort to protect what remained of the Jade Oracle from being poisoned by the blood of the innocent that was being pumped into her core.
This was not the only thing I felt; there were dozens of complex laws that I did not recognize being folded and compressed into something that felt like a spear, and it erupted from the pyramid base that touched the earth, and the ground began to crack as the demons emerged.
I did not move, even as I watched the first Khaaz emerge from the fissure, with its reddish-black chitin and pale tendrils that were twitching in the air.
I watched as the Adepts scrambled to their feet, their spells already forming, and panic filled the camp. Bari and Dara reached for their magic, and the demons began to converge towards the camp.
But I did not see the camp anymore; all I saw were the faces of the dead. I saw the city of Tarth, with the road lined with bodies, the children who had died holding each other, the woman who had been impaled on a broken cart, her arms still reaching for her child.
I saw my parents, lying in the back room of our house, their hands still reaching for each other. I saw Mel, turning to ash in my arms. I saw it all, and I felt the cold thing in my chest stir.
But I pushed it down with all the strength I had, because I was not going to become that again... I was not going to let the world burn.
∞
"Elric!" Bari’s voice cut through my thoughts. "Elric, stay behind me and ready any spells you have!"
I looked at him, standing in front of me, his staff raised, and I smiled.
"Bari," I said, and my voice was calm. "It will be all right; I am here."
He stared at me. "What? No. You can’t..."
"Bari," I said, and my voice was steady, breaking past the commotion in the camp. "Trust me, it will be alright."
He swallowed and looked at the demons rushing towards the camp, and perhaps he thought his friend had gone insane with fear; he steadied his shoulder and looked determined to defend me. After all, he had pretty much done this for two years.
Whatever stress I felt for what was to come faded away as I saw the determined posture of my friend, and I turned to the Khaaz. They were close now.
I raised my hand, and the Loom answered. I wove a single thread of lightning into a circle around our camp, and I opened my hand, and the thread expanded for a thousand meters before it vanished, and in that moment, every Khaaz that had appeared was cut in two, leaving the entire area in silence.
Four thousand-odd demons were killed in an instant.
The camp became silent, and I saw everyone slowly turn towards me. I had barely used any magic, but any mage with Anima Sensitivity would have felt me, because for a moment, they must have sensed the depths of my soul, and I could imagine it was as if a volcano had just appeared in their midst.
"Elric," Bari said, his voice shaking. "What are you?"
I looked at him, and I felt a warmth in my chest that had nothing to do with the cold. "I’m your friend," I said with a bit of sadness in my voice. "And I’ll see you again."
I raised my hand, and Lightning Edict answered, and the camp fell asleep. Bari, Dara, the Adepts, the porters, the researchers, all of them collapsed where they stood, their bodies crumpling to the ground, their breathing slow and steady.
I looked at them, at the faces of the people I had failed so many times, and I made a promise.
"I’ll keep you safe," I said. "This time, I’ll keep you safe."