The Wordless Mage
Chapter 47: Echoes of Death, Flames of Return

Chapter 47: Echoes of Death, Flames of Return

Liora’s float through space was entirely devoid of sensation, her ear ringing from a mind’s desperate plea to maintain its sanity.

Although she wished to survey her surroundings, she didn’t possess the ghoulish constitution that she had when she first entered Rowan’s mind.

Wait, but if I’m back in this sub-space.

She closed her eyes, imagining her bottom half combining into one. Air fought against the sudden shift in momentum from her limbs, but Liora didn’t care.

Once more, a tail projected from her bottom, translucent yet still visible.

"Alright, grimoire, lets get moving," she said, moving her hand to the side, "grimoire?"

It was gone, once more vanished somewhere outside the unconscious mind of her companion.

It was obvious, given that only her spirit could reside in such a realm, although she still felt the pangs of solitude eat away at her form, its shape becoming less and less solid.

"What do I do now," she spoke, acting as if the grimoire was still by her side.

Although her form didn’t have the conventional set of skin and nerves to offer sensory experience, she could still see the bright orange flame within her peripheral vision, brightening the surrounding space.

What’s that?

Keeping in mind the complete lack of air resistance and gravity, she slowly increased her velocity, stilling her tail once she’d been moving fast enough to cover the distance in ten seconds or so.

After she got close enough, she pushed her tail forward to halt her momentum, looking down at the beyond curious sight ahead.

"Khhkhhh... please..." the voice cried, tears streaming from their face.

It was a child, white hair spiking upwards to represent their unkempt hygiene and ragged clothes.

And yet, Liora could tell from a glance just who it was.

"Rowan!"

She screamed through the flame, her hand reaching out for his attention.

He didn’t look up--didn’t even jump from her intrusion unto his space. All he did was stay in his ball, crying his guts out.

Liora looked down upon her hand once more, willing its translucence to increase, almost flickering into full-on invisibility.

Charging forward, she attempted to pass through the flame, her body’s constitution growing more and more unstable the more she urged it to stay incorporeal.

Blinking past the ball of orange, she inched closer to the child-Rowan, searching the surroundings for any foreign elements.

There was just one--a big projection, displaying the outside world through the view of someone else’s eyes. It was a curious concept, but not one she was immediately interested in.

"Rowan!"

This time yelling his name and grabbing him by the shoulders, he looked up, the tears streaming down his face stalling from the new presence.

"L-Liora?"

"Yes, it’s me!"

His torso begun to stretch, his hair’s frays growing less and less wild as his bulk only increased.

He reverted to his adult form, the glow from his pupils bright like they’d always been.

Liora’s own tears began to form in compliance to the wave of relief ushering over her. She’d fought through tooth and nail to reach him, getting thrown through a few too many regions of the mind to finally see his face.

"How are you here?"

"Why, by entering your mind of course!"

Rowan’s eyes twitched up at the projection ahead of him, brightening in comprehension.

"Ah, so that’s why you’ve been slumped down on the ground for so long. I thought something happened to you..." He wiped away his tears, sniffling the snot rushing from his nose. "But, how do you plan for us to get out of here?"

"That’s... I don’t know. I kinda just assumed you’d know what to do."

Both of them looked down in exhaustion, sighing away any relief they’d felt in their meeting just moments before. Still, Liora’s eyes met Rowan’s with hope, her form flickering from the emotions bottled inside.

"Ya’ know, you’ve got everyone worried sick."

"Is that so..."

Some type of emotion lingered in the air to sicken his tone, although Liora hadn’t immediately caught on to its implication.

"What? There’s something you’re not telling me."

Rowan didn’t even open his mouth, pointing to the projection behind Liora.

Hesitantly, she turned to focus on what was playing out on its screen, watching carefully as several figures danced through its many fragments.

A bright spike of light struck the point of origin where the projection was getting its images, expanding to bleed into the entire screen.

Rumble, rumble!

The void within Rowan’s mind quivered from the power of its strike, shaking but not displacing either of the two.

"What’s happening?"

Liora’s closed eyes jumped between the endless black and the screen, the figure behind it only just obvious.

"The pope, he’s trying to kill me--us. He doesn’t care. He’s been trying to eradicate my existence the entire time I’ve been possessed. I-I don’t know what to do. I’d be fine with just me dying. After all, I was the one who made the deal with the demon. But I can’t bear the thought of being the reason someone like you dies."

His words were short-lived, another flash of white on the screen causing the shaking to ensue just as it had before.

Without granting Liora the chance to make any commentary on Rowan’s words, the fire began to dismiss around them, retracting equally from each side as if an outside force were willingly getting rid of its influence.

Both of the heroes looked up to where they’d sensed the growing presence, clinging to each other more tightly than they ever had before.

The figure was a towering black--even more than the emptiness encompassing it--serrated teeth popping out with its spit stretching down from its lips with a bubbling sizzle.

Its right hand stretched out, palm facing up with each finger pointed like shattered glass. It didn’t bother to conceal its annoyance, either at their presence or the happenings outside in the real world.

"Hah, so it seems Romeo and Juliet finally rekindle," it joked, clenching its outreaching hand, "Although, Liora, you do have to tell me how it is you escaped the trap I laid out just for you."