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Q: What kind of sacrifice is required to summon creatures from the other side?

A: A beast which is supposedly widely considered as the embodiment of purity, such as Unicorn, Winterheart Reindeer, Pegasus.

- - -

The wind curled around me as I came down, air drifted off like smoke from my back. Not much of the juice was left in the suit after last night’s usage. I reckoned it wouldn’t even last a trip down, even when I use it the most efficient way. Not even halfway down.

“It would take about two hours to reach the camp,” I said, coming down. My eyes drifted upwards at the gathering clouds. “Well, considering the blizzard didn’t hit us by then.”

Harth didn’t meet my gaze like always. While Mrs Kirien was still unconscious, her condition seemed better than before.

‘How easy it had been for her--’ I stopped at those lines of thoughts, biting my lips. She didn’t even know she lost her husband, did she?

Perhaps she’s the most helpless one among us. Oh dear, I know what it feels like, losing someone dear.

Sighing, I push down all those thoughts. The sun went down, while Pra’moon and Dai’moon came in its place, three more to come for the night or brilliance. It would take five or six hours for that. I should be able to go back by then, providing I got enough juice for the False-ward.

“Are you worried, mate?” I called Althan’s underling, trying to be friendly.

Harth had dark patches under his eyes, looked at me for a moment and looked away, still afraid as if I’m going to burn him alive.

“You’re aware of what happened to you, right?” I asked, to which Harth nodded with some hesitation. “Don’t worry, just don’t give in. I know it's still there, but all you have to do is, fight it.”

Harth nodded, even though he appeared more frightened than before. Seriously, he was a slave by mind magic, even though for a short while how could he pull himself up from it?

“You should go on your own,” he said finally, after a lot of hesitation. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough . . .”

I frowned at his words. That was going to be a problem, not even believing in himself that he can win against a compulsion that was already weakened. Personally, I have no experience with this, but I read in the book, a spirit practitioner was more resistant to compulsion than a normal person, but why was Harth acting like a normal person?

We eliminated most of the compulsion, nor was he under compulsion for that long.

“Don’t be pessimistic, mate,” I said. Honestly, my way of being friendly with someone was just imitating Julies. “Steel your heart and fight it. You know, external help is all good, but you got to have it in you. I know you have it in you, you just gotta believe it.”

Harth’s lips wavered. “How can you believe in me so much,” he asked, “when I can’t even believe in myself?”

“You know, sometimes you just got to put up with it and believe you can do it,” I said and stood up. The wind rushed like always, blowing my cloak. “Because the other option is just too much scary.”

If Harth really gave in, he would be a dysfunctional mess even after all the proper healing was done. Nobody can save him then when he didn’t even believe in himself.

I turned towards him again. “Act as if you can do it,” I advised. “That’s the first step.”

“I’ll try,” Harth said, nodding heavily.

Great, looks like I’ve come to some help. Now, I just hope I can make it in time.

“Alright, break is over. Let’s hit the road again.”

. . .

Shailyn stared down from a high ridge, while the stiff wind slapped against her face, chilling her body, though she didn’t react. She was looking down as if wanting to see her nephew was safe along with the others.

Now all she needed was to capture the warlock and rescue the students and warders. A tall order for two women, fortunately, help would arrive in time. At least the two knights who were in charge of the other region should have received Noyar’s signal already, and if nothing goes wrong, they would arrive soon enough.

She was not so optimistic about other help. The blizzard would come back soon enough, and covering dozens of miles, not to mention climbing the mountain, was never an easy or short work.

One of many things, William finally considered letting them show the layers of the warlock, though he hadn’t opened up about what ritual they were preparing for. Whatever it was, Shailyn expected nothing good. Well, as long as it's not some demon-summoning or tapping on the force of nature, she should be fine.

“We can’t trust his words,” a voice said from behind, as her partner came, brooding.

Noyar had been like that since the morning after she had discussed her plan to send Oscar away and venturing the dangerous land on their own. Noyar didn’t like that plan all that much, and her way of showing was that long, brooding and silent most of the time.

“We can never trust a Warlock’s word,” Shailyn replied.

“But we don’t have another option,” Noyar grunted. “You will not wait for the others to arrive, are you?”

Shailyn shook her head. “We don’t have time,” she said, “trap or not, we can’t wait for others to get here. In the end, we have to trust their judgement and approach on our own.”

“I suppose you’ll make the right decision even when you can’t go further.” She seemed so frustrated with that.

Shailyn turned, and Noyar looked away. Shaking her head, the magus touched the knight’s hands. They were warm, much warmer than her own. “Lives at risk here, Noyar,” she said, biting her lips. “More than we had assumed. We can’t wait.”

“I know,” the knight said, “it’s just . . .”

“I was right to send Oscar away,” Shailyn continued, firm in her words. “I know you think he can take care of himself, and he probably can, but I can’t risk it. His mental health is not stable. It may seem better than what I had seen all the time in last year, but it's not really. He just became really good at hiding it.

“Along with what he went through in the mountains, I better not risk losing him again.”

Noyar remained silent for a while and then nodded, staring into her eyes.

“Still going to brood all the time?” Shailyn sighed. “You think I’m thinking too much? Perhaps I’m, I hope, I am, but you haven’t seen him at his worst. After Eldest Sister’s death, he went from his best to worst. He already came to torture William if he let his anger flow more, I didn’t know . . .”

She remembered how Oscar has been for the last one and half years. He had left everything from being a practitioner to all of his dreams, and she could not blame him, as she didn’t know what it feels like to cause someone’s death, someone dear, nonetheless.

The scene was still vivid in her eyes. After the incident, when she first saw his eyes, at the very moment, she knew he was dead inside.

Because she knew, among the very few people, she knew.

The rogue warder last night was not his first kill.

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