Her body continued to bleed as she laid in his arms, the scent overwhelmingly becoming one with death. He had already begun casting the most powerful of holy arts to heal her wounds, with each rune increasingly depleting his magical reserves with each cast. He’d never been so desperate before, the mere thought of failing and losing her as well had already been so much to bear. Elais found himself becoming more physically drained as he continued to upkeep the spells back to back, feeling his mana almost run dry for the first time in a millenia. Despite his weariness and his efforts, the smell of death still lingered amongst her. 

His head pounded with exhaustion, becoming more weary with each second as he fought his waning physical exertion to save her. He closed his eyes briefly as he took a sharp breath. There was still one way left he could save her. Elais leaned over her body to reach her exposed neck and bared his fangs, readying to inject his blood into her. It’d been almost a millenia since he’d done so, and he wasn’t particularly confident in his abilities. But it was all he had left, all he could do to save her. He sank his teeth into her neck, feeling his blood flow into hers as her own trickled down her neck. He could still smell the scent of death in the air, and her skin was becoming deathly pale with each passing second. He needed to give her more blood, fast. He carefully snapped and removed the spear from her body, igniting her back wound with flame magic to seal the injury. He used the head of the spear to slash his arm open, pouring the waterfall of blood over her open wound. Elais embraced her tightly, continuing to provide her with more of his own life. If he could pass some - or all - of the years of his own life to her, he would do anything to do so in this very moment. Although he was not religious, he was desperate enough to turn to a higher deity to save her if it was possible. If his powers weren’t enough, something surely had to be. 

“Elais..” 

The gentle voice was barely audible, Elais truly believing that he was hallucinating under the veil of his weariness as he prayed for a miracle to occur before him. His eyes remained shut as he continued to plead to the universe to save her, continuing to provide her with a lifeline.

To his shock, she coughed, some blood leaving her mouth as her eyes slowly opened. Some colour returned to her face, as she reached to touch his face.

His eyes widened, uncertain if he was actually hallucinating from the blood loss. Her palms felt warm against his cheeks, no longer cold and still as they had been before. He closed his eyes and held his hand against hers, processing the reality before him. 

Before he could savour the tender moment, Elais heard the scuffling footsteps from behind them. He lunged towards the silhouette before they could leave his grasp, pinning them by their neck into the stone wall with his razor-sharp claws. “What is your intention for any of this?” he demanded, his voice much more stern than Yura had ever heard him speak.

The cult follower chuckled, their grin stretching out from cheek to cheek. “The world will be rewritten to punish those who have wronged us.” They pointed at him, giggling nonchalantly.

Elais felt a surge of rage fill him instantly, transferring into his fingertips as he remained a firm grip on the cult follower. The colour of their face paled as their struggle slowed to a stop, their giggling turning into silence. Elais dropped the body onto the stone ground to his shock. Had he done that himself, or was that one of the cult’s tricks? Now was not the time to question these things, he had much more important things to tend to.

He turned to Yura, who was now sitting upright on the cold floor. He ran to her, embracing her tightly as she sobbed. He shifted out of his demonic form, rather wary of its frightening appearance to many. He held onto her, processing her warmth and the echoing of her heartbeat against him, her rosy fragrance no longer lingering with death. Elais caressed her face as he wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. “I was.. So scared for you.” 

Yura held him tightly as her eyes continued to shed tears. “I was so frustrated at the whole idea of the cult taking away my freedom. So much that I thought you didn’t care about me at all, and that you’d ditch me after you resolved your immortality.” 

Elais’ eyes widened in response. He moved stray hairs from her now unkempt mauve hair away from her scarlet eyes, his lavender eyes softening. “That is definitely not my intention. I apologise for not being more reasonable in your circumstances and will permit more generous freedoms with supervision of a guardian until we figure things out with your powers.” 

The stillness of the building, alongside its general eerie atmosphere gave him the creeps. 

“We’ll discuss it more when we get home. I’d rather not stick around here too long.” 

He shifted form and carried her in his arms, his wings cutting through the harsh wind as they soared out of the stone tower and over the scattered cities beneath them. He strangely felt more strength in his body than he had upon arriving in the dungeon, despite the sting from the magic still persisting.