Emory glared, "You've never met someone like me." The sound of shattering glass echoed across the battlefield as she ripped his head off completely. Because of how she had done it, his headless body was flung to the ground with punishing force, while she slowly floated down just as Athos, Nephenee, and three others came rushing onto the field. Shock covered their face as they saw the utter destruction Emory had caused to the scorpion man.
"Start healing him right away," Emory commanded, "Don't worry about magik; I'll supply whatever you need."
"Right away, Commander," the three healers replied in unison as they began to activate their magik by laying their hands on Innes. By tapping their shoulders, Emory created a link with them to feed them magik as they consumed their own. This way they could continually heal him without needing to take breaks to restore their own magik. Athos bent down to look at the stinger still embedded in Innes's stomach while Nephenee kneeled at his side and clutched his hand.
Nephenee sobbed, "It's going to be okay now. Everyone's here. You'll be good as new in a little bit."
"The barbs on the stinger are still pumping poison into him," Athos assessed, "We've got to roll him on his side and pull it out. But we'll need to heal him really fast afterwards."
"Will we be able to? Even though they have the magik, their skill is only level two," Emory worried.
"I'll be honest, without an internal source of magik, we may not be able to save him," Athos rubbed his chin, "And even then, he may not survive the change."
Emory huffed, "I'll help with Life Sow for now and step in if I need to. Nephenee, help hold him on his side." Athos, Emory and Nephenee moved Innes onto his side which caused him to groan slightly while the healers continued pouring magik into his body. With one swift pull, Athos and Emory yanked the stinger out from the back, and blood began gushing out. White light like threads started coming out of Emory's hands and sewing up the hole. Blood continued spewing out though, between healing and Life Sow, it was starting to slow and clot. His breathing began to get more shallow and slower, so Emory focused her magik to dump more into him.
"It's not going to be enough. The poison has reached his heart," Athos shook his head, "If you want to save him, you'll need to cast Contract. Then it will be up to him."
"I've obviously never done that spell before; what do I need to do?" Emory asked quickly.
"Imbue a brand with some magik on him," Athos instructed, "Then he'll need to survive the transformation. In his condition, I don't know if it will work, but it's the only thing left to do." Emory nodded and created five orbs of Arcane magik no bigger than her fingertips. She pressed them into his chest, and a bright glow started emanating from his body. The light grew brighter and more intense until everyone had to close their eyes from the glare.
When Emory opened her eyes, she was in an infinite blank space, completely empty except for Innes on his hands and knees a few feet away. Emory called, "Innes? Where are we?"
"Emory? What are you doing?" Innes looked up but his dark face was almost as pale as Emory's, "How did you get in my mind?"
"You weren't getting better, so I used the Contract spell on you and then I ended up here," Emory lowered her head as she conveyed the bad news.
"Oh, I didn't know it had gotten that bad," Innes sighed as he slowly made his way to his feet, "Thank you for saving me."
Emory frowned, "I may have saved you, but now your life is forever tied to mine. If I die, so will you. I burdened you; I'm sorry. I couldn't just let you die on me."
"You've given me the best sphere of magik and saved my life, but you're sorry," Innes scoffed as he walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "I don't regret what you did, and you shouldn't either. If my life is tied to a person as strong as you, I'm sure we'll both be alive for some time. Thank you. Now how do we get out of here?"
"You just need to wake up. Athos said the transformation can be painful," Emory explained slowly, still feeling some regret.
Innes smiled, "Let's open them together then. The pain he was talking about already passed." Emory blinked, and once again, she was in reality just as Innes's eyes flickered. "What are those guys called, Uthid right? They're a hell of a lot stronger than Mantoan," Innes coughed.
"Innes! You're alive!" Nephenee exclaimed as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "Don't scare me like that ever again."
Athos smiled, "I'm glad that worked. I wasn't sure it would be because of how powerful Uthid poison is. Though there are a number of things we must discuss that we didn't do before due to the seriousness of the situation. Let's get inside and I'll go over everything." The rest of them agreed as they stood up, though Innes remained laying on a stretcher Emory made of magik for him. Nephenee held his hand tight as the group continued back, not letting go for a single moment. Once they returned, the squad cheered for them initially before seeing Innes's condition and preparing the medical bay for him. After hooking up several monitors and allowing Jask to run a full diagnostic check on him, everyone was relieved to see his vital signs trending in the right direction. Athos, Emory, and Nephenee sat around Innes on a patient bed.
"Emory, how much do you know about the Contract spell?" Athos asked softly.
"Just what my spellbook says, that I can permanently transfer some of my magik to another," Emory shrugged, "And from our conversations, I can assume that made him into a Hexblood."
Athos nodded, "That's indeed the basics of it. Innes, you have become a Hexblood, though because you became one through Contract, your life force is bound to Emory. Otherwise, you'll still have your own source of magik and Arcane Sight just like any other Hexblood. Also, we need to talk about your sphere, since you had Flame, right?"
"What's wrong with my sphere?" Innes huffed, "My family has practiced Flame for a decade."
"Since you gained the Arcane sphere and Flame is a subdivision of Arcane, it's more like your sphere got upgraded than replaced. Once you get used to it, you should be on the second level, working on the third level and be able to transform your Arcane magik into pure Flame magik if you so choose. Though you'll find your Flame stronger than others of the same level because it's really Arcane," Athos explained carefully.
"Now that we're not in danger, I've processed that you're not human," Nephenee noticed, "You're really a Fae, aren't you? Just like all the stories?"
Athos grinned, "We call ourselves Elandrian, but yes, I am a Fae from Earth stories. My name is Athos, pleased to meet you."
"Nephenee," she replied as she vigorously shook his extended hand, "I can't believe you're real. This was your anonymous source, Emory? Wait, will Innes get as strong as you now?"
"Yes, he was my source, but no, my situation is a little more complicated. My mom was a Hexblood, and my dad was something else. I spoke to one of these other things when I reached level three; she called me a fire child and a dragon. Honestly, I'm still sorting this whole situation out," Emory sulked.
"You are what my people call an Ancient, though I find dragon to be an appropriate moniker. I had a short chat with the woman while you were transforming," Athos added, "She said that the reason you have so much magik is because of one of your gifts called Limitless. Even when we were speeding up the process for you, she mentioned that half of her mana pool was only equivalent to a third of yours."
"So, what's the plan, Emory?" Innes questioned painfully, "At the very least, the Apleem will know their ship was destroyed. This was only the first meeting; they'll be back with more."
Emory clenched her fist, "We need more troops immediately, not in over a week. And the Supreme Commander needs to be updated about the situation. Athos, can we do a mass teleportation?"
"If you're asking if I can mass teleport people, then I would say that my limit is five," Athos had a wry smirk as he continued, "But you, miss, have much more magik than I do. You can do feats I previously only dreamed of. I am, however, interested in this Supreme Commander you speak of; I think it may be time for the Elandrian and humanity to join sides."
"The RRS can support five people on one side. I don't mean to be rude, Athos, but are you authorized to make this kind of deal?" Emory lightly inquired.
"We haven't spoken much about Elandrian society, but I can assure you that if they allowed me to wander alone, I am more than capable of doing this," Athos laughed, "But your naivety does bring up a valid point. Give me an hour to collect another of the Five. While I'm gone, you should speak with the woman; she said her name was Ninian."
Innes groaned, "Is it coincidence that the woman mentioned in Tana's report was also named Ninian? I doubt it. Be careful, Emory; we keep encountering progressively stronger figures out here in the cosmos, and she's definitely powerful." Emory nodded as she stood up with Athos.
"I'll meet you back where we arrived in an hour. Good luck," Athos smiled as he disappeared in a puff of vapor.
"Nephenee, stay here and watch Innes; we should still monitor him for some time," Emory directed, "I'll head to the command center to try and contact Ninian. Will you please let Tethys know how everything went. I'm sure she's worried."
Nephenee wiped away a tear, "Thank you, Emory, for saving Innes. I don't know what I would have done if he died." Emory shyly shrugged her shoulders and gave Nephenee a thumbs up before turning around and heading to the command center.