Part Sixty-Three — Welcome Back

　I tried Mid Healing the moment the chains fell away.

　Nothing happened.

　I tried again.

　Nothing――no response at all. The skill that had saved my own life more times than I could count simply refused to answer, as though whatever had been done to her existed somewhere entirely beyond its reach.

Come on. Come ON. Please, not now. Not her――

　"It's alright," she said faintly, her blind eyes searching uselessly for my face. "Don't be afraid. I know I don't want to die. But it can't be helped. This is what my fate is."

　Her hand rose, groping weakly through the air.

　I caught it, guiding it gently to my own face.

　"Don't die," I said, tears falling freely now, mixing with the blood already soaking my hands. "Please. I'll find a way. Please don't leave me."

　She coughed, blood gathering at the corner of her mouth, and somehow still managed to keep warmth in her voice.

　"I'm not going to leave you," she said. "I know I haven't been useful to you. But don't worry――from today, I'll do my best to cheer you up."

　A pause.

　Her grip on my hand tightened.

　"And I want to tell you something, Kai."

　"What is it?" I asked, desperate, holding onto every second as though it might be the last one I would ever get.

　"Thank you for everyth――"

　She didn't finish.

　Her hand went slack in mine.

　Her breathing grew shallow.

　And then, for one unbearable second――

　Nothing.

　I felt something inside me begin to come apart entirely.

　My aura started to rise, uncontrolled, the same pressure I remembered from a clearing years ago――the same total, world-ending grief searching for somewhere to go.

Not again.

I can't lose someone again.

　< Would you like to restore Eris's soul to its original state? >

　The question cut through everything cleanly, deliberately.

　My aura stilled.

　"You can do that?" I asked, disbelief creeping into my voice.

　< Affirmative. >

　"Then do it."

　I didn't hesitate.

　"Whatever it takes."

　< The restoration requires a sufficient exchange of energy and conceptual value. >

　Its voice was careful.

　Grave, in a way I'd never heard from it before.

　< Three of your skills must be sacrificed to provide the necessary foundation. Mid Healing. Arcane Creation. Mirror Skin. >

Three things I've earned.

Three things I've built years of survival around.

　I looked down at Eris――a girl who had already lost her family, her freedom, her childhood, and now, almost, her own life and soul besides.

　And I understood.

　There wasn't actually a choice here at all.

　"Take them," I said.

　"All three. Now."

　< Confirmation required. >

　"Yes."

　I clenched my hand.

　"Do it."

　The removal didn't feel like nothing.

　Mirror Skin lifted away first, taking with it the quiet certainty of being able to hide from the world.

　Arcane Creation followed, years of learning extinguished like a library burning in an instant.

　Mid Healing was last――a connection I'd relied on instinctively, gone.

　< Skill sacrifice complete. >

　Anti-Subconsciousness continued.

　< Mirror Skin converted to the concept of Identity. Arcane Creation converted to the concept of Reconstruction. Mid Healing converted to the concept of Restoration. Beginning reconstruction of the target's original soul. >

　The light that gathered around Eris wasn't mana.

　It wasn't anti-mana, either.

　It was something else――pale and quiet, existing somewhere between life and whatever came after it.

　Slowly, it moved into her.

　Searching through fracture after fracture.

　Scar after scar.

　< Restoration: twelve percent. >

Come on.

　< Restoration: thirty-seven percent. >

　I held her hand and refused to imagine anything except her waking up.

　< Restoration: sixty-four percent...eighty-nine percent...one hundred percent. >

　The light disappeared.

　For several seconds, nothing happened.

　Then Eris took a breath.

　A real one.

　"Welcome back, Eris," I said, my voice breaking completely.

　She stirred slowly.

　Her ruined eyes were still sightless, but her breathing was steady. Her pulse――when I finally checked it with shaking hands――was strong.

　Real.

　"Kai?" she said faintly, confusion in her voice. "Why are you crying?"

　She reached up, slow and careful, and found my face.

　Her hands were steadier than they had any right to be.

　She wiped away the tears there.

　"Everything's going to be okay," she said, comforting me even now――even broken, blind, and barely alive herself.

　"I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

　I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around her, gathering her carefully into my arms.

　"Let's go find Ace," I said quietly.

　"And then let's go home."

　We found Ace on the mansion's upper floor.

　He was standing over the cowering form of the man I recognized, with cold certainty, as Eris's former owner.

　Ace had him pinned, his jaws only inches from the man's throat.

　"Ace," I said.

　"Stop."

He deserves worse than a quick end, Ace replied reluctantly.

　"He'll get worse," I said.

　"Just not from you."

　The man's wife and two children huddled nearby, terror plain on all three faces.

　I gently set Eris down against a wall before turning toward them.

　"Do you know what your husband's business actually is?" I asked the wife.

　"He's a merchant," she said, trembling. "He's always been a merchant."

　"Really?"

　My voice was flat as I turned my gaze toward him.

　"Is that so?"

　He didn't answer.

　He'd already seen my blade.

　"So you've been lying to your family," I said. "They don't even know what you actually do."

　"Please," the wife said. "What are you talking about?"

　"It's better to show you than to say it."

　I led her down to the chamber where I'd found Eris.

　She broke the moment she saw it.

　"I thought my husband was a kind man."

　"You never really know what's beneath someone," I said, "until you're forced to remove the mask yourself."

　I looked at her.

　"Can you run a business?"

　"Yes," she said, faint but certain.

　"Good."

　I nodded.

　"Because we won't be needing him anymore."

　I walked toward the husband before Eris――conscious now, wrapped in my jacket――could stop me.

　"Anyone who lays a finger on what's mine again," I said, "death is too merciful for them."

　He didn't get the chance to beg.

　He was simply gone.

　"Eris," I said, turning toward her. "Were you going to forgive him?"

　"I don't know," she said.

　"I don't think so."

　"Please don't."

　I looked at her.

　"Because there was no version of tonight where I let him walk away."

　I crouched to the wife's level, softening what remained of my voice.

　"You can take over your husband's legitimate business," I told her. "In exchange, you'll supply my domain with goods."

　I paused.

　"But if you follow the path he chose instead――"

　The smile that crossed my face was, I knew, genuinely unsettling.

　"――I won't hesitate to end your life either. Understood?"

　"I understand," she said fervently. "I don't intend to follow his footsteps."

　"One more thing, if you're able."

　I studied her carefully.

　"Any information about the Church, in the Kingdom of Ashford――I'd be grateful."

　"I understand, my lord," she said.

　"...Since when did I become your lord?" I asked. "Please, don't call me that."

　"What should I call you?"

　"Kai."

　I sighed.

　"Just Kai."

　"Understood, Lord Kai."

　"You're kidding me," I muttered.

　Beside me, Ace's posture suggested he found the entire exchange far too amusing.

　"We'll offer you and your children our protection," Eris added, her voice quiet but firm. "Contact us through the guild in Roshan if anything comes up."

Home.

Let's go home.

All three of us.

And whatever comes next――we'll figure it out from there.