Path of Dragons

Sadie barely got out of the way before the door went flying off its hinges and smashed into the wall on the other side of the hall. The bricks cracked, but thankfully, the structural integrity of the wall remained intact. An intense wave of heat billowed from the opening, mushrooming out and enveloping Sadie and any of the former captives who were within fifteen feet of the door.

It only lasted a moment before Sadie used Blessed Bulwark, and the plane of ethera managed to seal it away. By that point, more than a little damage had been done, but Nico was already working to counter it. A cold ripple of ethera washed over everyone as the Healer used his powerful area spell, mending everyone within thirty feet of his position. That took care of the worst of it, but those at the front – including Sadie herself – had suffered more than all the rest.

For her part, Sadie had gotten away with a few blisters, but she could thank her high Constitution it wasn't much worse. The nearest captives weren't so lucky, and their emaciated bodies had been subjected to intense burns that left them wailing in pain.

"Help them!" Sadie shouted, using her own meager healing spells to ease their agony. It helped – probably enough to keep them alive – but her efforts fell a long way short of mending what had been torn asunder.

Fortunately, Nico wasn't far away, and he didn't hesitate to pour ethera into the task of healing the most injured. He knelt beside them, and swirls of life-giving ethera fanned out all around him. Sadie could see individual tendrils connecting to the most hurt, and before her eyes, their horrific burns scabbed over. Soon enough, those scabs sloughed off, leaving new, pink skin behind.

Nico sagged in exhaustion as the last of them returned to health.

Of late, Sadie had begun to question her perception of her brother. Nico was a curious mix of headstrong and easily led astray. A natural follower, he was never difficult to control. He'd fallen prey to the predations of manipulative people in the past, and it seemed that Sadie's absence had only opened him to more of the same. Yet, deep down, he had a good heart. He cared about the people of Heaven's Bastion, and he would do anything he could to help them.

And he had the power to do it, too. He was capable of great feats of healing that even Ron would struggle to duplicate. However, that power came at a cost, and in his case, the price was that he had very little in the way of Regeneration. Once his ethera was spent, he would need a long recovery before he could continue. That was why he was so conservative with his ethera usage. If approached healing like Ron, going all out, all the time, he would quickly become useless.

It was a frustrating dynamic, and Sadie hoped that when Nico ascended, he would be given an evolution that would shore up that weakness. But for now, he was practically crippled by his low Regeneration attribute. The only reason he could somewhat cope with that was his large pool of ethera and the potency of his spells.

Once the survival of the captives was assured, Sadie turned her attention to the dungeon door. It gaped open, but no sound escaped. She didn't have Elijah's senses, but she knew that no one was moving inside. She couldn't check until the heat dissipated, though. If she went in now, she'd need more healing.

Which did not bode well for Elijah's fate.

Her heart was beating out of her chest as she waited the long minutes for the heat to disperse. The dungeon walls were made of some sort of black stone Sadie didn't recognize, but it didn't take her long to establish that the material was highly heat-conductive. As a result, the dungeon had become an enormous oven.

Minutes passed, and she half-expected Elijah to come strolling out, make a pithy comment dismissing the danger he'd just endured, and ask when they were moving on. But he didn't.

After almost five minutes, Sadie judged that the temperature had dropped enough to permit her entry. When she stepped forward, Nico caught her arm and warned her against it, but she refused to heed his advice to wait a little longer. Instead, she jerked away and boldly strode into the furnace the dungeon had become.

The second she stepped a single foot inside, she began to rethink her decision.

The air scorched her throat with every breath, and she could feel her skin practically bubbling under the intense heat. The dungeon itself was unrecognizable, with the cages having melted under the onslaught. They had become puddles of rapidly cooling metal. Looking up, Sadie saw that the chains hadn't survived intact, either. Instead, they had twisted themselves together into a tangled and half-melted mass of metal. Closer to the ceiling, they had maintained their shape, though. It made for an odd sight – almost like a modern art exhibit – but one that only elicited disgust in Sadie's mind.

It took her a moment to find Elijah.

He'd collapsed near the center of the room, where he lay unconscious and mostly buried by cooling metal and piles of ash that must have been all that was left of the Chainspeaker. A wilted sunflower lay next to him, still intact but badly burned.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

As soon as Sadie saw Elijah, her heart jumped into her throat. He wasn't moving, and he was as badly burned as any of the former captives. She ran to his side, dropping to her knees and sliding across the floor until she reached him. When she laid her hand on his chest, she felt a subtle rise and fall that told her he was still alive.

But his breathing was shallow, and his heartbeat infrequent.

He lived, but only barely.

Sadie immediately used her healing spell, though it was like trying to fill a swimming pool with a bucket. The vital energy splashed down, doing little good. His Constitution was too high, and Sadie's healing abilities were far too impotent. The only person who could save him was Nico.

Sadie ripped the melted metal away, taking skin and bits of Elijah's armor with it. Then, once he was free, she shoved her arms beneath him and ripped him away from the floor. He left a lot of skin behind, but she couldn't concern herself with that. If he wasn't already dead, losing a little skin wasn't going to kill him.

But time might.

There was none to spare, so Sadie stumbled to the exit and nearly collapsed when she reached the much cooler air outside. She barely maintained her balance until she reached Nico. Then, the effects of her short trip into the dungeon overwhelmed her. She fell to her knees, dropping Elijah's body harder than she'd intended.

Nico, of course, was quick to heal her. Even as she started to protest, she found that her voice was gone. All that came out was a strangled croak. Her brother's most powerful spell swept over her, instantly rejuvenating her body and mending the burns she had incurred.

"Not me…heal him…"

By the time she managed to speak, the damage had been done. She saw it in his eyes. The way they tightened. The slight slump of his shoulders. The frown. It told her all she needed to know – he'd used the last of his ethera.

"I can't. I'm out."

He didn't even sound regretful. In fact, his voice carried an undercurrent of smugness beneath his obvious exhaustion. In that moment, Sadie hated her brother. Aside from Song Tianwei, he was the only family she had left. She would always love him, but it was obvious that he had become someone she couldn't bring herself to like.

There was no time to focus on that, though.

Sadie focused on Elijah. Then, she turned her attention to the captives.
Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire

"Is anyone here a Healer?" she pleaded. "I don't care what level you are. Just help me keep him alive until his Regeneration takes over."

A few people raised their hands, and Sadie could tell that they were far too low of a level to do much good. However, in that moment, she didn't care that they had no chance of affecting any change. She had to try.

"It's useless, Sadie. He's dying. I can feel it. Just let him go," Nico said, his tone almost a sneer.

She glared at him. "I don't care. He's the only reason we survived. We can't make it out of here without him, either. But mostly, he's my friend. I'll do whatever I can to help him."

With that, she used Touch of Light.

Despite having the word "faith" in the description, it had nothing to do with her angel core. Instead, it was a generic Crusader spell that she'd gotten early on. So, at its base power, it was not very strong. Some of that was mitigated by her Core cultivation, but even so, it would never compete with the amount of vitality a true Healer could output. It was especially weak when it was directed at Elijah, who not only had achieved a higher level than her, but also had a much more advanced cultivation.

Sadie had learned over the years that healing people wasn't as simple as mending bones and curing diseases. That was part of it, but the power requirement increased significantly with higher levels. The result was that healing a level one was much less difficult than healing a level ten. That trend continued on an exponential track, which meant that if a level fifty healer were to try to mend Elijah's injuries, they would find their efforts almost entirely inconsequential.

There were other mitigating factors – like core cultivation, attributes, and uncommonly powerful spells – but the bottom line was that someone like Sadie, whose healing spell was already weak, trying to repair Elijah's wounds was a nearly useless endeavor.

But that didn't mean she wasn't going to try.

Even as her brother shook his head, Sadie emptied the contents of her core into Elijah. As she'd previously noted, it didn't do much good in healing him. However, when combined with his natural Regeneration, it did prevent him from getting any worse. Then, the other healers – it turned out, there were ten of them – knelt beside him and added their own spells to the mix.

Individually, their efforts would have amounted to nothing. Altogether, though, they managed to tip the balance in Elijah's favor. Slowly, he started to heal. Not visibly – his burns remained just as horrific as ever before – but each breath came a little deeper, and his heartbeat strengthened.

Then, the other Healers' ethera gave out.

One by one, they fell away, exhausted. Sadie's pool of ethera was much larger, and she managed to keep it up for a few more minutes. Eventually, though, her core ran dry as well. After that, she could only hope that it would be enough.

At last, Nico added a single heal. Almost as an afterthought, but Sadie could tell that it completely bottomed the Healer out. He fell backward against the wall, then slumped to the ground.

It was enough, though.

Elijah's eyes fluttered open. They were bloodshot, and his pupils were dilated. It took him a few moments to understand what was going on.

"Oh. Hey," he croaked, focusing on Elijah. "Fancy meeting you here."

It was only then that Sadie felt the tears streaming down her cheeks. Stress and worry had clearly gotten to her, and now, relief flooded her mind. "Be still," she said. "You're still injured."

He winced. "Kind of figured that one out," he mumbled, his words barely intelligible. "Oh. Shit."

"What's wrong?" Sadie demanded, panic once again suffusing her heart.

"I just realized that I'm probably bald," he said with a rattling sigh. Clearly, his lungs had not recovered. He added, "Again."