When the ringing in my ears finally faded, the world drifted back in fragments color, sound, pain.
I was on one knee, breathing hard, smoke curling from what used to be my right arm. The entire limb was half-gone, bone showing through torn flesh, mana still hissing at the wound like a living thing unwilling to die.
Across from me, Nora wasn't much better off. Her own dominant arm was in ruins, half of her sleeve burned away, silver blood or maybe moonlight dripping down her fingers and evaporating before it could touch the ground.
For a long, silent moment, neither of us moved.
The crowd was gone, or maybe I just couldn't hear them anymore. All I could feel was the pulse of life mana crawling sluggishly through my veins, knitting flesh and bone together far too slowly. It wasn't enough not fast enough. Even for me.
